What are your best money saving tips that people don't take advantage of?

[disneysteve]

Society is becoming too nerfed. People no longer get their hands dirty. You have great advice but it will fall on deaf ears.

Do you grow your own vegetables? Bake your own bread? Make your own pasta? I know people who do all of those things.

Did you build your computer from individual components or did you buy one ready to go? I have numerous friends who start from scratch.

Didi you lay your own carpet? How about your hardwood floors? Did you put on your own roof? I have at least a few friends who have done those things themselves.

I'm guessing you pay others to do at least some or all of those things even though you could do them all yourself. Why is that? Does that mean you're "nerfed" (whatever the heck that means as this is the first time I've ever seen that word used).

There are things we choose to do ourselves. There are things we choose to pay others to do for us. I don't know why you have such a problem with that concept.

[Gailete]

Do you grow your own vegetables? Bake your own bread? Make your own pasta? I know people who do all of those things.

Did you build your computer from individual components or did you buy one ready to go? I have numerous friends who start from scratch.

Didi you lay your own carpet? How about your hardwood floors? Did you put on your own roof? I have at least a few friends who have done those things themselves.

I'm guessing you pay others to do at least some or all of those things even though you could do them all yourself. Why is that? Does that mean you're "nerfed" (whatever the heck that means as this is the first time I've ever seen that word used).

There are things we choose to do ourselves. There are things we choose to pay others to do for us. I don't know why you have such a problem with that concept.

Im rather fussy about 'nerfed' as well. I live in a house that my husband built with his own hands, with some assistance at times from family members. And in doing it he was able to use recyled materials such as marble, wood, etc. I didn't know how that would count against us when we had to get fire insurnce for the structure. They wanted to insure our hause for $500,000 - Yikes! It had cost maybe $125000 to build. Our taxes are through the roof as well. My husbands dad was a trucker owner/operator and did his own oil changes, rotating tires, etc. anything to keep the money and profits in his own wallet. He ended up putting 3 children through college even though he had only an 8th grade education as he had to drop out to help raise brothers and sisters. Things were so different a long time ago.

Most of my life I made my own clothes, we sleep under quilts I've made and most of my life I have cooked from scratch and preserved garden bounty. So I sure never have understood not doing things for yourself when you can.

At times I see those commercials on TV where dad doesn't want to spend his weekend doing some sort of chore as he wants to spend time with his kid. Does he not realize that you can take that same kid and have them help him and they would be learning valuable lessons at the same time.

[BG550]

At times I see those commercials on TV where dad doesn't want to spend his weekend doing some sort of chore as he wants to spend time with his kid. Does he not realize that you can take that same kid and have them help him and they would be learning valuable lessons at the same time.

That right there is exactly right. Great point. Time spent together doing something productive, teaching life skills, having a conversation, being good stewards of what you own...

[Gailete]

I'm afraid that I cringe at many commercials no matter which channel they fall on. Every once in awhile one resonates with me, but too many are only reinforcing behavior that goes against bringing parents and children together in a closer relationship.

[disneysteve]

At times I see those commercials on TV where dad doesn't want to spend his weekend doing some sort of chore as he wants to spend time with his kid. Does he not realize that you can take that same kid and have them help him and they would be learning valuable lessons at the same time.

Sure. Last summer, my daughter and I spent a few days renovating her bathroom. We stripped the wallpaper, sanded the walls, painted, and replaced the light fixture.

This summer, we hiked the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

There are valuable lessons to both of those experiences.

[disneysteve]

I'm afraid that I cringe at many commercials no matter which channel they fall on. Every once in awhile one resonates with me, but too many are only reinforcing behavior that goes against bringing parents and children together in a closer relationship.

And they almost all reinforce behavior that goes against everything we preach here at SavingAdvice.

[disneysteve]

And they almost all reinforce behavior that goes against everything we preach here at SavingAdvice.

Actually not watching TV is a good money saving tip. The less you expose yourself to commercials, the better for your wallet.

I also see a lot of trouble from shopping emails. People sign up to get emails from all of their favorite stores and websites and are constantly bombarded with coupons, special offers, sale notices, and more. I'm sure that encourages a lot of people to make purchases they wouldn't have made otherwise.

[Gailete]

Actually not watching TV is a good money saving tip. The less you expose yourself to commercials, the better for your wallet.

I also see a lot of trouble from shopping emails. People sign up to get emails from all of their favorite stores and websites and are constantly bombarded with coupons, special offers, sale notices, and more. I'm sure that encourages a lot of people to make purchases they wouldn't have made otherwise.

I have been unsubscribing to so many sites in the last few days. I'm overwhelmed by emails. Some I did sign up for and you heard from them once a month, then once a week, then a couple times a week and then daily and then worst of all, several times a day! And these are legitimate websites.

I have no idea how to get rid of emails for blue or orange pills, or marijuana (if I didn't use it in my teens back in the 70's, why would I want to use it now?) as well as just pure smut. I don't know how to get rid of those as I won't take them from my junk file to inbox to click the unsubscribe and then they just start sending out more smut. Anyone with ideas? And then there are the phishing emails coming from supposedly legitimate sites like Amazon, all of which begin their emails as "Hello, Costumer"! Not one of those spammers has taken the time to correct the mis-spelling of 'customer'.

Other than a few things I have learned to live without lots of items. I guess it is something that if you have been frugal all your life, when you hit your 60's that is just as hard a habit to break as shopping till you drop. I don't play the lottery or gamble, but I have though when the news is full of how high the Powerball payout will be, I figure in my head how I would spend it. Mostly in acts of charity and those that would make my life easier such as a full-time cook, housekeeper, gardener, and chauffer. Never once in mulling over those amounts would I be going shopping for clothes and assorted stuff. I'm sure I would still prefer my thrift store to shop in than a high-class department store (I have no clue what they might be named as I don't use them).

[disneysteve]

I have no idea how to get rid of emails for blue or orange pills

Do mean stuff like Viagra? I'm not sure what blue and orange pills are.

You can't stop the outright spam other than with spam filters. Definitely don't hit Unsubscribe to those. Just mark them as spam and delete them.

It's fine to unsubscribe from the legit ones.

[Gailete]

Viagra is the blue, then they now have orange ones for basically the same thing. At least I think so. From what I can see from the Subject line. I have no need for those items any more than I need beautiful Russian, Asian, etc. women.

[Gailete]

Another thing I don't see people taking advantage of is senior discounts at restaurants. Even getting a drink for 50 cents is better than paying $1.50 or more. Maybe when a person looks old enough for the discount they don't have to ask for it. I have to ask as most people don't think I look as old as I am.

This is just a little thing that can save some money, and even though not much, those little bits do add up, especially if you grab lunch every day at McD or others like them. Depending on the restaurant you could be saving between $5-10/week x 52 weeks = $260 - $520 saved for just getting a senior drink. Of course, if you don't go out much, you can still save but just not too much.

Figure out what all those small daily things that you spend on and see if you can cut them out or find a way to get it cheaper. If you buy a can of pop a day, figure out how much you will save by buying them in bulk at the grocery store and then bringing one to work every day.

[disneysteve]

Another thing I don't see people taking advantage of is senior discounts at restaurants.

Not just restaurants - and not just seniors. There are all kinds of discounts out there. AAA has a ton. Many places give military and law enforcement discounts. Some places do discounts for teachers or nurses.

If you work for a decent size company, check with HR if they are part of any type of employee discount program. My job is tied in with Working Advantage which offers discounts on hotels, theme parks, movie theaters, rental cars, ski resorts, and more. We also get a pretty significant discount on our cell phone bill from AT&T because of where I work.

Lots of discounts go unused because people don't know about them.

[Gailete]

Years ago I worked as a clerk typist at a college where I collected and totaled donations received and sent out the receipts. Some of the donors also were able to give matches for their money because of where they worked. I remember distinctly getting checks in that were received after a person's donation. PBS still mentions those types of donations so I assume that some employees can do matches as well. It might not be money in your pocket, but it is money in the pocket of charities that you care about, so you are basically doubling or giving another 50% to a cause you care about. Some of those places doubled or tripled the donation!