The List on How to Save Money on Everything

[gogirlanime]

The List on How to Save Money on Everything

I was thinking, "we need a list where people can contribute if they like on how to save money on virtually everything" anyone may contribute and I will edit this post and add your idea. I will list everything in alphabetical order. Please be as accurate as possible provide how much in savings or just provide the savings idea in general. If you do decide to include how much you save please do it by how much savings X how much time (example: $10 saved every month). Please research into an average, remember, the cost of things are different for different places in the country or under different circumstances so please find the average in the U.S.A to give everyone a general estimate.

Please contribute your findings so we can all help each other save more and better!

• Air conditioner / Heater - If you don't use your heater or air conditioner all year your approximate savings would be between $960-$2556
• Books - Using the library or internet for information instead of books (if you bought about 12 books a year at an average of $20 a book) a savings of approximately $240 a year
• Birth control - Getting free condoms at a clinic instead of buying about 15 boxes a year approximately $225 savings a year!
• Coffee - Choosing not to get Starbucks coffee everyday approximately $1460 savings a year!
• Condoms - Getting free condoms at a clinic instead of buying about 15 boxes a year approximately $225 savings a year!
• Couponing - (coupons combined with a sale) for food/drug/toiletries combined approximately $1134 savings a year!
• Dishes - Washing dishes by hand without a dishwasher savings of approximately $113 a year
• Eating - Choosing to cook 1 meal a day vs eating out once a day approximately $1134 a year savings!
• Electric bill - Unplugging everything (or as many things as possible) in your home everyday and only plugging them in when you use them savings of approximately $144 a year
• Fast food - Choosing to cook 1 meal a day vs eating out once a day approximately $1134 a year savings!
• Flushing the toilet - Flush every other time average annual savings of $90
• Food choices - Choosing to cook 1 meal a day vs eating out once a day approximately $1134 a year savings!
• Food couponing - Food (combined with drugs/toiletries and buying when on sale) approximately $1,300 a year
• Gas - Getting gas at the cheapest place between work and home when you need it approximate yearly savings of $100
• General things - Buying things at a dollar store vs other stores for various things approximately $400 a year
• Hair Trimming - Approximately $60 a year (if you trim 4 times a year)
• Heater / Air conditioner - If you don't use your heater or air conditioner all year your approximate savings would be between $960-$2556
• Laundry - Air drying your laundry approximately (with a household of 2-4 people) savings of approximately $300 a year
• Laundry detergent - Making your own laundry detergent vs pre-mixed and pre-made a savings of approximately $70 a year
• Starbucks - Choosing not to get Starbucks coffee everyday (at a $4 average) approximately $1460 savings a year!
• Showers - Taking your daily shower at your gym everyday approximately $30 a year
• Stuff - Buying things at a dollar store vs other stores for various things approximately $400 a year
• Things - Buying things at a dollar store vs other stores for various things approximately $400 a year
• Toilet - Flush every other time average annual savings of $90
• TV - Choosing Netflix and Hulu (getting both) instead of HBO and cable approximately $480 a year
• Water - Invest in a rain barrel, average yearly savings, no average, it differs from person to person

[josetann]

I think examples that are more qualified would be better. Your book example was ok; if you buy 12 books at $20 a pop, that's $240/yr...use the library or internet instead, that's $240 saved. I get that. But then you have something like "Buying things at a dollar store vs other stores for various things approximately $400 a year". Buying WHAT things, at WHAT price, and compared to WHAT? In fact, I could make the exact opposite argument, that you can save money by buying things NOT at the dollar store. But what things are we talking about exactly?

I won't nitpick anymore though. I'll try to contribute instead

1. If you have high-speed internet, use voip for the majority of your calls. Something like Google Voice (free on your pc, $50 for a hardware device that'll let you use a regular phone handset, or a few bucks if you get an app like GrooveIP on your Android mobile phone), MagicJack, Ooma, whatever. Savings - $20-$50 (or more) a month. Yeah yeah, you have a cellphone plan with unlimited minutes, which brings me to...

2. Ditch your mobile contract and go prepaid. Without trying hard, you can get a tracfone-ish setup for what, under $8/mo? Heck, a $100 AT&T gophone card will last a year (well, it expires in a year, but keep usage low and you shouldn't have much of an issue making it last at least 6 months). Sure, you won't be streaming netflix via 3g all day long, and you won't be talking to your friends all day on your cell. But you can text pretty cheaply (get a google voice number, then the google voice app, now texts use data which is much less expensive than sending it as a regular text message), still check facebook, get the really urgent calls, and you can talk all you want at home using your voip phone. Savings - $20-$90 a month (or more...how expensive of a plan do you have, and how many people in your family are on the plan?).

3. Cancel cable/satellite. Exception...if you have cable internet (and dsl isn't any cheaper), it's possible that you won't save anything (or will save very little) if you drop the tv portion. But if you're paying more than $10-$20/mo, I'd drop it. If you live in a city of any decent size, you probably can receive some decent OTA programming. So borrow an antenna, see what you can get, and go from there. If you have high-speed internet, try hulu and/or netflix (personally, I'd alternate between the two; hulu one month, netflix the next, repeat). Savings - $20-$100 or more per month (my satellite bill used to be nearly $150/mo, ouch!).

4. Got kids? Give them a set allowance, clothing budget, etc. and that's that. I see parents buying their kids something every time they go to the store. Our son knows that if he wants something, he has to pay for it (even a McDonald's toy costs $2...poor thing...no worries we do pick up the tab for the food itself). $5/week (or whatever amount) is cheaper than a $10-$20 toy every trip to the store. And if your child doesn't have the money to buy something...that's his/her fault, NOT yours (takes a little while for the change to happen...but when it does, it's nice). Bonus, you get to teach them about saving up for larger purchases. Savings - varies, but look at just how much you're spending on them now, and figure how much a reasonable allowance would be, and you've got your numbers.

5. Shop thrift stores. Even if it's just a cursory look during their sale days (woot for Value Village $1 Mondays!). Do be careful, it's easy to buy crap you don't need. But scoring two winter coats for $1 each (couldn't make up my mind, finally did and gave the other away), brand new pants for $1 (with tags still on 'em), lots of shirts, etc...well I can buy 6-12 articles of clothing for what one brand-new one would cost at the store. And you don't have to buy EVERYTHING at the thrift store. Maybe you get your jeans at a department store on sale for $20 and the shirt at a thrift store for $3...that's better than jeans for $40 and the shirt for $20. Savings - varies.

[JoeP]

We do most of these now, and they help us stay out of debt.

For OTA television, take a few minutes to do a little research. The type of signal (UHF/VHF)has a bearing on the type of antenna you'll need, and your availability affects which way to point it. Unlike the old days where channel 4 was obviously low VHF, now channel 4-1 is virtual and might be on another band. I used a site called TV Fool to see what is available in my area, and then read through the "Local HDTV Info and Reception" forum on HighDefForum.com.

And the cell phone: my pay-as-you-go plan from t-mobile is awesome. I pay $80/year on my phone service. No texting, no internet...it's just a PHONE that stays off until I want to use it. It requires letting go of the idea that you need to be available 24/7. A few people know my work number, more people know my home number, and almost nobody knows my cell number. DEAL WITH IT.

[Ima saver]

I keep my hot water heater turned off until I am ready to take a shower, or run the dishwasher. I wash clothes in cold water.

I don't have any kind of cell phone. I prefer NOT to lug around a phone all the time. I hate phone calls.

[gogirlanime]

"Buying things at a dollar store vs other stores for various things approximately $400 a year". Buying WHAT things, at WHAT price, and compared to WHAT? In fact, I could make the exact opposite argument, that you can save money by buying things NOT at the dollar store. But what things are we talking about exactly?

That's true, I found this statistic on weusecoupons.com but I changed it to a easier unit of measurement. Thank you for your contributions!!

Thank you everyone for your contributions so far!

Shooot... I guess I can't edit things

[bjl584]

Shooot... I guess I can't edit things

You should be able to edit your own posts. What I see on the screen is slightly different from what you see, but there should be a tab in the corner of your post that says "edit."

[snafu]

It's extremely cost efficient to make a meal plan based on loss leaders and what's on hand. It's less stressful to know dinner and take-to-work lunch has been taken care of. It needn't be 'written in stone' but needs to take into account family activities so that busiest days have the easiest meals. Save at least 30% eating at home than restaurant.

Don't use shopping as entertainment. Never shop without a list if it's for appliances, car, clothes, food, furniture, house, school program or whatever.

Buy non edibles at Discount or Dollar type stores, cleaning and detergent products have high market ups in food stores.

Use Gas Buddy info & plan errands to incorporate them into commuting or other activities to use less gas. Gas is discounted at several outlets here every Wednesday. It's not advertised or well known, what day in your community?

Check your cell/smart ph bill. They are making errors which can be significant and only correct these when asked.

[Johansen8]

[*]Condoms - Getting free condoms at a clinic instead of buying about 15 boxes a year approximately $225 savings a year!

Nice advice. Thanks

[ThriftoRama]

For gas savings, I:

Use discounts from my grocery store loyalty program. I take advantage of gift card promotions to boost the discount, i.e. when they give 40 cents bonus per $100 spent on gift cards, I buy gift cards for planned purchases at other stores.

For instance, we just finished (framing, drywall) a basement room, and I bought Lowes and Home Depot gift cards for the building supplies. It netted me a total of about 3.80 per gallon in extra discounts for multiple fill ups. I was going to spend the money anyway, might as well max it out.

I also use gas buddy apps to find cheaper gas prices, as if I only have a 10 or 20 cent gas discount, sometimes other stations are cheaper, so I can save the discount and still pay less.

As for allowances, I agree. I give my 4 year old $4 a week in allowance. He must save, spend, and plan with that. This summer, we are learning that he can buy a lot more and better toys for his money by shopping at yard sales than at the traditional store. And, no more I wants. He either has the money or he doesn't. We also took our first trip to the bank to deposit the money in his savings account. It was exciting for him. Childhood is the time for cultivate this excitement.

[cptacek]

Wow, condoms must be twice as important as anything else on the list, since they appeared on your list twice :/

NFP is free, by the way.

[KiwiJo09]

The List on How to Save Money on Everything

[*]Flushing the toilet - Flush every other time average annual savings of $90

I think I'd like to spend that $90.

[bdwilliams]

Condoms hahhahahahahhaha

[JoeP]

Like the old joke goes: you can re-use condoms by turning them inside out and shaking the F out of them!

[DiscounThem]

"Showers - Taking your daily shower at your gym everyday approximately $30 a year"

Going to the gym costs $30 every month plus gas trip to the gym.

[Jimhassel]

The List on How to Save Money on Everything

• Air conditioner / Heater - If you don't use your heater or air conditioner all year your approximate savings would be between $960-$2556
• Books - Using the library or internet for information instead of books (if you bought about 12 books a year at an average of $20 a book) a savings of approximately $240 a year
  
• Couponing - (coupons combined with a sale) for food/drug/toiletries combined approximately $1134 savings a year!
• Eating - Choosing to cook 1 meal a day vs eating out once a day approximately $1134 a year savings!
• Electric bill - Unplugging everything (or as many things as possible) in your home everyday and only plugging them in when you use them savings of approximately $144 a year
• Fast food - Choosing to cook 1 meal a day vs eating out once a day approximately $1134 a year savings!
• Showers - Taking your daily shower at your gym everyday approximately $30 a year

The aforementioned were good ones, thanks for the post.