Advice That Makes a Lot of Cents : Personal finance: In these tough economic times, a publisher finds a market for people who want to learn how to stretch their dollars.
frug (froog) n. 1. A dance performed with thrusting movements of the arms, head and torso. 2. One who practices frugality.
Adrianne Ferre wants to be known as a frug--and not because she is swift on her feet.
The publisher of The Frugal Times coined the second definition to describe herself and others with a penchant for pinching pennies.
Ferre, a Hawthorne architect and mother of two, launched the monthly newsletter three months ago for fellow frugs who “want more but have less.” So far, 350 of them have shelled out $9 a year for an annual subscription. (The price went up this month to $12 a year.)
The eight-page newsletter is full of budget-saving hints, ranging from how to stretch the life of pantyhose to recipes for homemade Play-Doh. And if you follow just a few of her money-saving pointers every month, Ferre promises the newsletter will prove itself more than a bargain.
“If I can do it, anybody can,” Ferre, 34, said. “I’m convinced you can significantly improve your lifestyle just by saving a little here and there.”
When you snag a pair of pantyhose, cut off the leg with a run. Wear it with another pair of one-legged hose and cut your pantyhose bills in half. I thought this would be uncomfortable, but it isn’t.
Ferre’s newsletter, one of more than 20 on the market, is part of a budding cottage industry looking profit from the recession and the green movement’s emphasis on recycling.
One of its natural targets: baby boomers who have assumed the mantle of parenthood, a stage in life when people find they no longer have unlimited spending power.
“They’re hitting that point in life where they really need to learn how to manage their households,” said David Stewart, a professor of marketing at USC.
Stewart is not surprised that the boomers are reaching for newsletters to learn how to cut back. They don’t have the time or opportunities their parents had to seek such advice in more traditional ways, he said.
Skimpers looking for penny-wise advice will not find information on tasks that take a lot of time--like refinishing your furniture or growing extensive vegetable gardens--in Ferre’s publication. But she does warn her readers against such wasteful practices as sending clothes to the dry cleaner that could be washed by hand or buying sodas in six-packs instead of liter-size bottles.
“I’ll be researching easy ways to frugality,” Ferre promised in her premier issue. “Many of us work and/or have children that require most of our time. For me, I simply don’t want to spend the small amount of free time that I have working on projects to save a buck.”
When you find that rare bargain on eggs, stock up. Eggs will last six months in the freezer. Two ways to freeze; either lightly scramble yolk and whites together . . . or separate white and yolk, mix lightly and store separately.
A tour of Ferre’s home is a lesson in thriftiness.
The two-story, contemporary-style home atop a hilly street in Hawthorne was designed by Ferre, an architect who works as a facility planner for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
In front is a triple-tiered wall of rocks that Ferre and her husband collected from a riverbed in Irwindale. By serving as her own contractor, Ferre says she saved about 30% on the cost of building the home.
The day-to-day savings that generate the fodder for her newsletter are revealed on the other side of the front door, inside her cupboards, closets and pantry.
Her living room is furnished with sturdy, but decidedly un-chic, pieces purchased at a local thrift shop. The centerpiece of her efforts, however, is a well-stocked kitchen and a garage that doubles as a pantry.
A calendar taped on her refrigerator shows all the meals she intends to cook this month. Tonight is chili, made with meat from a previous meal.
With the energy of an evangelist about to win a new convert, she climbs atop her kitchen sink, opens a cupboard and begins pulling out several large coffee cans storing oatmeal, salt and rice--all bought in bulk from a discount market.
When she descends, she heads into the garage and opens a freezer (bought used, of course) and pulls out pound-blocks of margarine, huge canisters of tomato sauce and serving-size baggies of shredded cheese also bought in bulk.
“This is a mistake,” she says, pointing to one of several frozen pizzas she purchased with coupons several months ago. “The crust is hard and there’s not enough cheese. I thought it was a good deal, but it turns out it’s cheaper to make your own pizza once a month.”
A few moments later, she is in her bedroom closet, where she shows off several thrift store finds, including a handsome tweed blazer ($7), a yellow cotton sweater ($2.50) and a green wool jacket ($10). Then she moves into the dining room, where she rummages through a sideboard that hides Christmas ornaments she has fashioned out of seed pods, crumpled sugar packets and the serrated edges of boxes containing aluminum foil.
If you already have credit cards that are “loaded” and you don’t have the savings to pay them off, you could transfer the balance to a card with a lower interest rate and/or no annual fees.
Ferre, an energetic woman whose face is framed by a large mane of brown hair that a girlfriend trims free every other month, wasn’t always so thrifty. In fact, for years she was a downright spendthrift, she says.
The daughter of Argentine immigrants, Ferre says her parents indulged her and her siblings so much that they grew up with little understanding for the value of money.
“I never realized it until I got older how much they gave us, because we (the children) always came first,” Ferre says.
It wasn’t until she and her husband, Neil, an advertisement salesman, had their first child two years ago that Ferre began to think twice about her spending habits. She began to wonder why she and her husband, who together earn about $100,000 a year, were unable to save more money, take nice vacations or drive expensive cars.
“I would think, ‘We make good salaries, but we don’t take vacations and I don’t even have curtains,’ ” Ferre said. “That really got to me--not having curtains.”
The onetime spendaholic began keeping track of how much she spent at the grocery market and on clothes. She started a ledger listing food prices at various markets and began seeking out thrift shops and discount stores. She stopped buying chicken that already had been de-boned and learned how to make her own baby food and window cleaner.
Every time she did something frugal, she stashed the savings in a long-necked bottle.
Thanks to her penny-pinching efforts, the couple now saves about $24,000 a year that used to go toward groceries, clothing, credit card bills and occasional splurges in Las Vegas. The savings has allowed them to purchase life insurance and a new car, and to set up college funds for their two children.
To make your own window cleaner, mix together in a one-gallon jug: 1 pint rubbing alcohol, 1/2 cup household ammonia, 1 teaspoon dish soap and enough water to fill the jug. If you like, add a little blue dye for coloring.
Ferre’s interest in publishing isn’t just altruistic. She hopes to eventually make enough money at frugality to quit her job and spend more time at home with her children.
After boning up on the topic at the local library, shopping around for a reasonably priced laser printer and computer drive, and learning how to do her own bulk mailing, she was ready to create her first issue, which premiered in July.
The 3,000 copies she sent to hospitals, beauty salons and schools were met with disappointing indifference. But when local newspapers and the Associated Press distributed a story nationwide about her newsletter, she began to attract a small following.
Today, 350 people, including an Illinois-based psychologist who treats people with spending disorders, subscribe to The Frugal Times.
Ferre, who offers a money-back guarantee with the newsletter, is convinced that frugality is a concept that is here to stay. And to those who remain skeptical, she has this to say:
This issue could save you between $2,913-$1,837 if you implemented the ideas into your life. And this little paper didn’t even cost you a buck! Pretty good return on your investment, won’t you say?
