Money saving stuff we do, please suggest more!

[Frugalmommy :)]

Money saving stuff we do


Maintain a simple monthly monthly budget to act as framework.
Only spend what we have.
Only buy what we will use.
Never pay full price!!!!
Figure out the best quality for the least price per unit.
Pay off credit cards every month.
Never accrue late fees for anything.
No impulse buys.
Think about and research large purchases in depth. Read other consumer reviews too.

Shopping:
Having a young baby, we do most of our shopping online
We almost never pay for shipping
Use retail me not to find promo codes and free shipping for online shopping.

We shop at walmart homefree, they have low low prices and ship to our house for free if we spend $45. No more lugging catfood and toiletries around the store and the car.

We shop at peapod- grocery delivery. Shop store brands and sales. The delivery fee is 6.99. If we schedule a delivery for on Wednesdays, we get $5 off our order bc it’s their value day. So, we get our groceries delivered to our house for $1.99 plus a $2 tip we give the driver. We get great prices on groceries, don’t have to go to the store and spend an hour shopping, they lug the groceries in the house for us, and no spending on gas to and from the store. (we live 20 minutes away from stores) There are some things that are more expensive to buy on peapod- we avoid those items and buy those from walmart homefree and amazon, and in store when good deals are on. And when you use your stop and shop card, it counts towards gas points to use at stop and shop gas station or shell.

Signed up for amazon mom. Get free amazon shipping and 20 percent off of diapers and wipes for $79 a year. (which is recoverable and way more saved in the amount of diapering supplies we need)

Use store credit cards for the gap, old navy and kohls. But from the clearance on 30% off days. Get cash rewards towards next purchace.
Shop in the clearance section of gap, old navy, kohls, walmart and target. $2.50 for a pair of pants for my daughter, $7 for a vest for me to wear at work where professional work attire is needed… yes please!!!!

Use amazon “warehouse”, get a huge discount on items that the boxes are damaged or returned. I recently got $9 off of a box of Luvs diapers bc the box was damaged. Who cares?! Diapers are for poop anyways!

Buy in bulk
Use stop and shop rewards card to get $ off per gallon of gas
Stock up on food staples like flour, sugar, mustard, etc. at pricerite- $1 for a large container of mustard
Buy salon quality shampoo and conditioner at TJ MAXX and Marshalls 12.99 for a huge container of conditioner that at the salon is over $20
Second hand clothes shops
Use EBAY
Buy select a size paper towels
Use coupons and search through the circulars
Use consumer reports to help with buying safe, high quality, best prices on products.
Shop around for car insurance rates. We recently switched to esurance and are only paying $75 a month for two cars, full coverage.
Use microfiber towels to clean up spills
I have a lot of dental issues, so I have two dental insurance plans. One is through AAA, and gets a great discount.- I pay $456 a year in insurance premium and can get $1000 worth of dental work done each year.
Clean the house with vinegar and water and baking soda.
Donate or sell what we don’t use to unclutter the house.
Buy a safe, high quality, used car instead of a new one- with good gas mileage.
Took advantage of first time home owners financing program.
Got low rates on mortgage and car payment.
Trade services with people.
Use the library! Rent books and movies every week! Use their free activities and discounts on passes for entertainment.
Cut dryer sheets in half, use what the line actually says to use on washing machine detergent.
Keep up the maintenance on what we own. To take care of what we have and keep longer.
Do small home and car repairs by ourselves and ask for suggestions from family.
Use the internet for help on doing small home projects- how to sites and you tube videos.
Sew on missing buttons and holes in clothes to keep them longer.
Touch up my hair dye on my own at home and go into the hairdresser less.
Bought a pair of good hair scissors and trim my sister and my moms hair for free.
Pluck my own eyebrows, do my own nails.
Freeze foods, make big batches and put away for during the week.
Do not buy junk food. Make our own cookies and snacks.
Do not buy soda. Drink water and juice.
Got a filter for our well water, no bottles of water needed.
When we use the stove, cook a few things while its hot- to reduce the number of times needed to have it get up to temperature.
Changed all our lightbulbs to CFL.
Use power surge strips, unplug stuff when not in use.
Keep the heat under 65 in the winter, air off or at 72 in the summer.
Changed banks to a local one with no fees.
Swap books with friends.
Use houseplants to purify in home air.
Cut my cell phone bill a TON. Bought an unlocked smart phone (needed for my work) and use straight talk cell phone service by walmart. $50 a month for unlimited data, talk and text.
Wait til home heating oil tank is ¼ full to fill again. If I order over 150 gallons at a time, I get .09 off per gallon- that’s $13.50 off each fill up!
Clean all the filters in the house on appliances to allow for better and cleaner efficiency.
Shut the lights off when not in the room.
Eat left overs.

Vacation
Stay in bed and breakfasts to reduce cost of high end hotel
Always try to get a vacation place with a kitchen, to avoid going out to eat every meal. Eat most meals in, a few dining out.
Go off season. Take a road trip.
Travel on days that the tickets are the least expensive- with promo codes.
Find no/low cost fun activities to do while away.

I’m sure theres a bunch more, these are what came to my mind. I would love love love any more suggestions!


What we are working on:
Reducing television/internet/phone bill. We have the bare minimum bundle- and its $113 a month. We live in a rural area, with only 2 providers. We are investigating buying a six foot antennae and using our amazon mom- prime subscription for tv/movie viewing, and then just getting the internet from the provider and shutting off the phone.

Reducing college loan debt…….. already federally consolidated to low interest rates. Even with income contingent payments, they are HUGE.

Reducing food waste. We throw out too much from the fridge.

[mgkimsal]

You go to target - it's worth it to get their redcard tied to your bank account. instant 5% off anything. You also get extended return times on things should you decide to take them back. My wife suggested this a while back, and I resisted, but we did it last year and it's been great. Their store brands - archer farms, up and up, etc - are all generally good, and taking an extra 5% off is even better. I went for a pair of jogging shorts last week - had some for $17, but I noticed a 'reduced' rack - some where there for .. $7 I think, plus 5% off on the redcard.

Your other ideas are all certainly good - glad they're working for you - but if you go to target already, there's little reason not to have the redcard to get the extra 5% as well.

[mgkimsal]

Also, look at combining home/car insurance. Our home insurance kept going up - from $700/year to almost $1300/year a few months ago. Broker found another company that would combine home and 2 autos for $1400/year. Our cars were ~$1100/year, so this was around $900+ savings per year. As much as I don't like 'bundling' stuff, and I miss geico, it's worth saving $900 per year.

[Frugalmommy :)]

Also, look at combining home/car insurance. Our home insurance kept going up - from $700/year to almost $1300/year a few months ago. Broker found another company that would combine home and 2 autos for $1400/year. Our cars were ~$1100/year, so this was around $900+ savings per year. As much as I don't like 'bundling' stuff, and I miss geico, it's worth saving $900 per year.

Excellent, thanks. I will look into both suggestions. Anyone have additional thoughts?

[Frugalmommy :)]

Just bundled the cars and house $185 yearly savings and signed up for target card! thanks!!!!

Also, look at combining home/car insurance. Our home insurance kept going up - from $700/year to almost $1300/year a few months ago. Broker found another company that would combine home and 2 autos for $1400/year. Our cars were ~$1100/year, so this was around $900+ savings per year. As much as I don't like 'bundling' stuff, and I miss geico, it's worth saving $900 per year.

[mgkimsal]

Great job!

[wendykw]

Looks like you're doing great

You have a great plan. I would suggest that if it is available in your area, that you sign up for equal pay plans for your utilities. It makes budgeting so much easier, and we end up with a month that our utilities are lower priced, free or even get a refund.

[Frugalmommy :)]

Thanks. Yes, budgeting for utilities can be challenging. I do a similar system of my own. I keep track of combined yearly utility costs, divide by 12 months and set that aside every month. Even if the bills are less expensive that month. This helps sooooo much when oil bill comes in!

[Tree0164]

Great list!

I will also 2nd the Target card it ties right to your checking account which is great and you save 5%

[Jerry91]

Exchange old clothes online. Moreover, you do not need new clothes for every occasion. So, if you can avoid your shopping spree, you can also save quite a good amount of money!

[Frugalmommy :)]

I just heard about the exchanging clothes online. I think I'm too picky for that. But, I did go to the consignment store today and got 25 quality items for my daughter for $52.00! I am a HUGE fan of consignment, just wish there were more places around me!

[Frugalmommy :)]

We cut our cable/internet/phone expenses! Finally! We were able to buy the big antenna online for $60.00. We shut off our cable and phone. Upgraded internet to the faster one to stream movies. And continuing the amazon mom subscription for the year to have free shipping on products, 20% off of wipes and diapers and access to soooooo many free movies and tv shows. So, now our monthly bill is $65 for internet, $79 amazon mom divided by 12 months= approx $7 a month- total $72 a month. A $41.00 a month savings, which will pay for the antenna in 1.5 months. So, this will save us $430.00 this year, and $492 for years after that! Yippee! So glad we finally were able to figure out something that worked for us!

[lorraineb]

Stop using fabric sheets in the dryer all together -- just use a ball of aluminum foil which will do the job of taking away static and last about 6 months.

[Frugalmommy :)]

Will that hurt the dryer? How does that work?

[Manthony]

I just changed my energy supplier to a cheaper option for the 2nd time now since deregulation has caused competition in this area. Not all states have this though but more are deregulating all the time. Might want to check in your state for energy supplier options. These are usually cheaper than your current supplier who has usually been the deliverer of your energy as well.

Also, suppliers are getting more "green" options available which support more localized renewable energy sources, like wind power, etc, coming onto the national power grid.
For example, for a 20% green package, whenever I pay my supplier bill, 20% of the amount paid per kwh goes towards supporting the local renewable energy source in my area, which happens to be a wind power farm.

Overall, this is a good way to save money and help the environment at the same time.