Money saving stuff we do, please suggest more!

[Liopleurodon]

Wow, I like your money saving ideas and rules. Here's a few that I'll add to your list

- Replace CFL bulbs with LEDs. They last longer and use far less energy. You could leave every light in your home on 24/7 and still save energy versus your current CFLs.
- Cancel that consumer reports subscription. Their methods of determining quality aren't scientific, they don't publish their methodology or data, etc. Its not worth the paper its printed on. You can obtain reliable reviews on the internet for free.
- Dryer sheets aren't necessary. Besides the foil ball suggested above, you can also buy "dryer balls" (knobby tennis ball sized balls) that will accomplish the same goal
- Actually using the dryer itself isn't necessary. Hang drying your clothes saves money and is far less damaging to the fabric/colors of your clothing
- Only wash clothes with cold water. Its less expensive and less damaging.
- Drink your water out of the tap if you already don't.
- Juice is expensive and just as sugary as pop.
- Priceline.com can allow you to get a nice hotel for less than a bed and breakfast
- Update your appliances if they're more than 10 years old, a new fridge and air conditioner could save over $100/mo over the summer on energy costs
- 72 is an expensive temp to maintain. Keep it at 76 and use ceiling fans.
- If you have an electric oven, its a massive energy hog, use a toaster oven whenever possible.
- Weigh the ROI on "green" products, they often don't save enough energy to offset the costs.

[gogirlanime]

When you want something, be patient. I almost never pay more than 25% of the original price when something first came out. Money will come to those who wait.

Sometimes a good way to speed up that process are those 24 hour deal websites.

[snafu]

s-t-r-e-t-c-h money...
Auto: use Gas Buddy on-line/apps], keep tires inflated correctly, follow manual's maintenance, use coupons/sale for oil change & compared to dealership price, check/clean/replace air filter to improve mpg about 7%

Bank: review fees, they now charge for previously free items, ask fees be waived, use free automatic bill paying/online services; understand your mortgage amortization table - how much is paying principal, how much escrow, insurance, interest etc.

Cards: are fun to make or buy a handful @ Dollar Store to use as events occur

Debt: use visuals like bar charts to see your progress; charts stuck to wall with a dab of toothpaste

DIY: challenge yourself to try a repair; look up on You Tube 'how to fix ________'

Entertainment: look at free/nearly free events of interest, kids events, library programs, park & rec.

Food: meal planning based on loss leaders & avoid expiry waste, don't shop when hungry, crock pot replaces oven in hot weather, plan brown bag lunch, challenge yourself to make bread, relieves stress, rewards you with huge savings, and it's fun, buy generic/store brand if cooking,

Medical: recheck all medical invoices, they are notoriously full of errors; store meds in a cool dry, safe cupboard

Money: log spending daily for awareness and leakage


Cancel newspaper & magazines if you don't have time to read them; ask fees be waived - worst they say 'no'

Research major purchases: don't buy extras you don't need and not likely to use.

[Filmigos]

Movies: You can join free screening sites like gofobo to get tips on where to get free advanced screenings in your area(newspapers, local magazines, thrift stores)

Movies: Save popcorn bucket from previous movie. Bring it in next time, and get a free refill! Totally tricky.

[karenjcarlson]

Thanks for sharing your list

Your list offers great savings - not just in money - but time. I'm going to try Walmart homefree and some of the other services you recommend.

For the baby - do you use cloth diapers? We used them and saved hundreds on buying diapers. We washed them in our laundry machine and dried them outside to save on energy.

[ESMonitor]

dental

Dental issues stood out to me. My tip would be to bring toothbrush with you to work and keep it in a travel tube. Brushing your teeth after lunch will be the most enjoyable one of the day.

Also, floss your teeth every day, no exceptions.

Go to dentist twice a year for teeth cleaning.

My teeth have had their issues too...the committed lunch brush and daily floss will help reduce your yearly bills on that.

[Mesem]

Me:
Never use loans (unless emergency)
Never use credit cards
Shop at Wal-Mart
Stay mentally disciplined

[JoeP]

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!

We did something similar by buying an antenna about 4 years ago and getting our programming over the air and with Netflix. Being on a small hill, we can pull in stations from 70 miles away along with my local channels for a total of about 37 stations (includes sub-channels). It doesn't work for everybody, but we took advantage of our topography and the almost straight-line heading to the local and distant towers.

There are a lot of internet guides to evaluating your ability to receive OTA signals and selecting/installing the appropriate antenna. Send me a message if you'd like to learn more about this.

[katherinejones24]

Here are some practical saving tips that I do:

I try to avoid using my credit card and when I do I make it a point that I pay the whole thing so I avoid paying additional interest.

I make a grocery list and stick to it (things you did not list are usually not important). “Buy only what you need.”

I always take time to list my bills and allocate my monthly budget each month.

[mom-from-missouri]

I changed my search engine to swagbucks and earn a $5 to $10 - walmart gift card each month (or more) I also do all my online shopping thru them to earn even more. If I wait and order several needed items at once, I also get free shipping. Since it is 30 miles to the nearest Walmart, this is a huge savings after a month of not going to walmart weekly.

So far, for free, I have used my gift cards for a new pressure canner, swingset, and several books off of Amazon.

[FrugalSensei]

A little late but I just saw this post - where is the original list from Frugal Mommy? Would love to see it.

[Wino]

I don't know what's wrong with the forum, but I remember seeing the list earlier. I was only able to dredge up the following:

"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..."

[Wino]

Here it is... I hope it works this time:

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.

[Wino]

It won't let me post, but if you go to Frugal's first post, and "quote" it, you can read what it said, even though you can't post it.

[williampatrick]

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