What preventative measures do you take?

[2moretrees]

What are the most important preventative measures that you take to save money. Stuff like brushing and flossing so you don't have high dental bills or changing your oil regularly so your car doesn't break down and lasts longer. I'm sure there are some I'm not doing, so I was curious what everyone believes are the most important preventative measures everyone should take?

[34saving]

Not sure these are the most important, but from a landlord perspective: 1) Don't put greese down the sink. 2) Turn off the water to the outside during winter. 3) If you have a water softener, put salt in it. 4) If your siding isn't vinyl or aluminum, paint frequently -- before siding damage occurs. 5) Stay on top of window frames -- new poly when necessary. 6) Fix the leak before it's big. 6) Keeping things reasonably clean will extend the life of flooring, appliances, cabinets, and fixtures.

[Fern]

Mostly ocmmonsense stuff, really.

1. REeular maintenance of things before they break down, ie annual cleaning of oil furnace. Oil changes for car and other routine maintenance, addressing home repairs promptly

2. Eating healthy, healthy lifestyle habits (no smoking or excessive drinking) and regular exercise to avoid illness/disease later on

[pennywise]

Being wary of what people tell me. Looking for their bias for the statement they are making to me. knowing that fear is the best motivator to get people to do what you want them to do. So figure out if a new refrigerator saves 10% on the electric bill but costs me $1000 to buy I have to calculate the return on the purchase. Electric bill is say $50/mo X 12 = $600 per year. This saves me $60/year, so it will take over 12 years to recover the cost of the new refrigerator. Should I do it, no, in 12 years I may not be living here and need to buy a new one then, I may die before the life of this refrigerator is over, etc. So my preventive measures: cost analysis and knowledge are the best.

[Tree0164]

Preventive medicine on me and the kids. Trying to eat healthy, exercising and good cleaning habits to watch the spreading of germs. I don't smoke but hubby does and wished he didn't.

We take our cars in for regular maintance with my new car-get free oil changes every 3 months.

[akaivyleaf]

1. Eat right and rest is the best thing I can do for my body. Keeps the doctor away.
2. Rotating tires, balances, oil changes, even a bath for my car so that road grime won't negatively affect the paint job
3. If its broke, fix it immediately. Don't put off minor repairs, they can become major repairs if allowed to fester. Thats for anything mechanical or physical.

[jmjj215]

Writing down what I spend and actively planning expenditures each and every month.

[CRFSaver]

Originally Posted by pennywise

Being wary of what people tell me. Looking for their bias for the statement they are making to me. knowing that fear is the best motivator to get people to do what you want them to do. So figure out if a new refrigerator saves 10% on the electric bill but costs me $1000 to buy I have to calculate the return on the purchase. Electric bill is say $50/mo X 12 = $600 per year. This saves me $60/year, so it will take over 12 years to recover the cost of the new refrigerator. Should I do it, no, in 12 years I may not be living here and need to buy a new one then, I may die before the life of this refrigerator is over, etc. So my preventive measures: cost analysis and knowledge are the best.

I agree. Just teaching the notion of present value in school would help so much I think. Most of the time even in business we forget about how much is a dollar worth today. Is that dollar I save today worth more then I save by paying more?