Money saving ideas (mrstjohnson)

I shop around and I clip coupons. I plan for the entire weeks meals based on sale only products. I also buy genertic products for shampoo, body wash, face wash, soda, chips, etc at Wal-Mart or Sams Club. We rarely eat out anymore. And when we go to the movies we go before 5:00pm because tickets are cheaper. Hmmm....we do more, I just can't think right now!

 I stopped buying bottled water and switched to a large in-frig Pur water filter.  I pack a lunch for work everyday to compensate for the gas money it costs me to get there.  I'm cooking much, much more than I used to.  I'm using Costco to it's best advantage.  I changed up my TV/internet package and actually saved $10 per month and was able to add premium channels by bundling my package of services.  Returning to work has increased my costs in work clothes for the courtroom and doggie daycare, so I estimate I'm about breaking even.

• My thermostat is set at a forkin 59 degrees ('cept sometimes I cave and turn it up to 65 for a few hours).
• I'm making my own dog treats out of year-old venison stew cuts
  
• We only have one cell phone and no home phone
• DH is taking the bus to work
• Instead of doing dog training 2-3 nights a week (45 mins each way) I'm only doing two or more classes if they are on the same night
• When we go out we get an appetizer and share a meal
• Dates = second-run cheap theater! ($3.50 tickets)
• Cars are on PLPD
• I didn't sign up for a flex account at work
• I joined the Healthy Habits program through work's health insurance so I get $75 quarterly
• I called Comcast and told them I was switching providers, so they lowered my rate
• Made a deal with the landlord's to do yard work to keep rent down
• Wash all my laundry with cold water 
• Didn't plug in the electric blanket this year
• Stopped buying some expensive things I like (speciality cheeses, mangos, booze...)
• Generic cereal, often 1/2 the price of name brand (Cap'n Crunch is $3.99 and Crunch Attack is $1.98)
• Only buy lunch during work one day a week (Tues - Southwest chicken wrap day) and bring a week's worth of lunch food each Monday so I don't even have to make a lunch each morning, I have sandwich fixings and fruit at work
• I'm on food plans at both of my pet stores where I get X-back after I spend X, or get a free bag of food every 10th bag
• I didn't re-hire my dog walker after Christmas
  

 BF and I are doing okay financially, but we're naturally frugal. Some things we do:

1) no TV subscription. In our location, the cheapest basic cable would be about $65/month. We don't watch much TV anyway, and prefer to spend our entertainment money on video games. So we watch TV shows online and have a "rabbit ears" antenna for our TV.

2) Using our freezer. A LOT. We buy in bulk, buy when things are on sale (particularly meats), and make large batches of things like chili or soup. That all goes into the freezer. No need for expensive "ready-to-eat" foods when you have your own cheap, healthier home-made frozen meals!

3) (This is me exclusively) - Splurge on packaged tea, but don't go out for coffee/tea. For $9 you can buy almost 20 cups' worth of really nice tea. Or, for $9 you can get around 7 cups of tea in a coffee shop, or around 3 tea drinks (lattes or whatnot). Much cheaper to just front the money to begin with and stay home!

4) Shopping at discount stores. We had to buy a really big rug since we moved to a place with hard floors and we have rolling kitchen chairs. This could have easily run us $200 or more. Instead, we found a low-pile but perfectly decent 8'x10' rug for $70 at a discount store.

5) Trying to make things "from scratch" as much as possible - cuts out "middleman" costs and is healthier, too!

6) Price-comparing EVERYTHING. We shop online obsessively, even for groceries. Most grocery stores have their sales listed online - let us know which grocery store we should visit, depending on what we want to buy and what's on sale. Sometimes even specialty stores that are considered expensive (like Whole Foods) will have much lower prices on some items (like tofu) than more mainstream stores - I guess because of the different shopper demographics/demands. (Example: Whole Foods brand tofu is usually about $1.20. The cheapest tofu at any of our other local grocery stores is between $3-4.) So we try to find the cheap places to buy things, and then stock up when we're there.

7) When we "go out," we typically do takeout instead of sitting down at the restaurant. Not quite as nice an experience, but it does save 15-20% on tip. And we have our own beverages at home.

We read the newspaper on line instead of subscribing.  That's about $15 a month, and Mom saves me the coupon sections on Sundays.

I USE the coupons, coupled with store sales.  Depending on the sales, between $15-20 per week.  Added to that, I ALWAYS have a weekly menu plan before I shop.  I don't stick to it, as in Monday is X, Tuesday is Y, but the meals I have planned for a particular week, are the meals we EAT that week.  Since my "landlord" eats more than the 3 of us put together, I'm feeding the equivalent of a family of 6 or 7 sp I HAVE to use store brands, sales and coupons.

I make a LOT of casseroles so that I don't have to use "straight" meat.  I honestly can't afford to feed her a normal meat and taters kind of meal.  I fixed a 5 lb pork roast one day last week....NO leftovers.  So, casseroles can save a bundle.

I look for the best prices possible on dog food.  I don't buy Blue at Petsmart unless they have one of their petperks deals going on.  I can save as much as $5 per week, depending on how much the petperks bonus is...or isn't and I get it at Tractor Supply.

I also shop at SaveALot, our version of Aldi.  Stuff like English muffins, cheese and nachos, meat for the dogs homecooked, and veggies as well.

I use the Sara Lee bakery store for almost all our breads.  They cost 99 cents at the bread store, and wayyyy more in the grocery.

The 'other" breads, I pick up at Gordons Food Service.  I absolutely LOVE Bay Bread, a local bakery, but a one pound loaf of spinach feta or sour dough is 5.99 THERE while I can get the THREE pound loaf at GFS for the same price.  I also get most of our veggies at GFS as well.

I found the lemon scented Simple Green on sale at Mennerds for 2.50 for a spray bottle that makes 5 gallons, so stocked up on that. Other than that, I use primarily white vinegar for cleaning.

i cook a lot more often.

i buy my groceries at a wholesale market (walking distance from my house anyways!)

i dont have cable or a home phone. in fact when i moved in here i told my landlord specifically to please disconnect the phone line. 

i take a subway whenever i can, instead of taking taxis (used to be my main means of transportation)

i stopped shopping for clothes, except when i seriously need something.

 I use my crockpot about twice a week at least.  Its much easier to go home empty handed when I know I've got supper ready when I get there.  Otherwise its super tempting to grab something on the way. 

I keep cut up veggies and lots of fruit in the fridge.  This sounds expensive, but it means that when I'm not hungry at supper time I can just toss a pot of KD on for the kids, toss some veggies on the plate, a glass of milk and some fruit for dessert.  Most of the time its just us home at suppertime and its tempting to toss a frozen pizza in or something.  This way its about a $1.50 for each of them instead of $10 for the pizza, of which half will end up in the garbage anyway.  Bonus, its healthier too.

We do lots of no name stuff here too.  Pop, Tomatoes, Beans, Cereal, School Snacks etc.  Also cereal is mostly Rice Crispy type or Puffed Wheat.  We have our special breakfast on the weekend, sometimes waffles, pancakes or fancy cereal.  

I've learned where my discount meats are at Safeway.  Lots of that goes to the dogs, but some of it gets tossed in the people part of the freezer too.  

I started adding a couple tablespoons of baking soda to the wash.  I only have to use half the amount of detergent then.  I also only use half a dryer sheet and I haven't noticed a difference.  For things like sheets or blankets, I'll toss a couple of used dryer sheets in just for added static control cause who likes static in the sheets?

Cooking at home has been a big money saver for us...we cook every night now and maybe eat out once a month tops. I have lunch with a girlfriend twice a month, but we keep it under $10.

I shop around for sales on food and buy one get one deals and buy store brand of almost everything.

Things we dropped...home phone service, pest control service, lawn fertalizer service.

We cut out all entertainment, movies, stuff like that...I was close to dropping cable, but haven't done it yet.

Keep my thermostat set really low for winter...in fact it's turned off completely now, but I do live in the south...gas bills have been less than half what they were last year though....same with electric. Keep things turned off and unplugged when not in use.

 keep my thermostat set on 60 in winter and around 80 in summer. i open windows until it gets too hot to stand it in the house in the summer. unplug everything that i dont use everyday or almost everyday. even last summer my electric bill wasnt much more than the minimum.

no cable or internet or phone at home. saves well over $100/month. cell is paid for by work. the only luxury i still have is netflix, and it is less than $20/month. less than i would spend renting the same number of movies at blockbuster every month.

 i buy store brands of lots of stuff. i dont keep extras at the house for 2 reasons... 1. it will go bad before i use it all and 2. helps me to lose weight if there isnt extraneous food in the house. i'll have to take a pic of my fridge/freezer for you guys. it is almost empty most of the time. i dont buy soft drinks, tea, or bottled water anymore. truthfully, i spend more on food for sydney now than i spend on food for myself most months.

lately, i have had some unexpected expenses so i havent been able to save as much as i would like, but normally i put all that money that i used to spend on luxuries straight into savings when i first get my pay check. dont miss the money most of the time. 

Washing in cold water is an excellent money saver.  I make my own laundry detergent too, a mixture of fels naptha soap, borax washing powder and A&H washing powder.  The combo really cleans our clothes well, even in this crappy water, and I only use 2 tbsps per wash.

Totally agree on the dryer sheets too.

The days that I work I do take my lunch.  Once in a blue moon will spluge and spend $2 on soup from Subway.

I do buy water.  No choice.  What comes out of the faucet here can't be used by man or beast....just nasty stuff.  But, I lug five gallon bottles since it's cheaper that way and refill at the grocery.  And I use a water bottle that I refill when I go out, anywhere for any length of time.  Gotta take water.

USING the freezer is another good trick.  and not just for the stuff I find on sale, but also when I cook there is always at least ONE meal to go in the freezer.  That saves time AND money since it only has to be defrosted and reheated.

Its really hard to think of all of the things we do, since they are so ingrained that they feel like second nature.

Bradley, you sound like me - empty fridge and spending more money on Bear food than myself! 

I do most of these things already.  I can't tell you the last time I ate out, rented or went to movies.  I buy store brands, keep heat down, don't have internet at home, don't have a/c, don't have a cell phone.  In the nice weather I hang my clothes outside and in the winter, some stuff goes on drying racks, not in the dryer. 

I think the number one thing that many can do to save money is to go grocery shopping once a week and stick to the list.  Stopping 2 or 3 nights a week can add up - even if it is to cook stuff at home, who goes into the grocery store and doesn't grab an impulse item?

sharismom

I think the number one thing that many can do to save money is to go grocery shopping once a week and stick to the list.  Stopping 2 or 3 nights a week can add up - even if it is to cook stuff at home, who goes into the grocery store and doesn't grab an impulse item?

I couldn't agree more.  I spend for a family of 3 for a week about $65 (not including meat).  It is primarily cheese, yogurt, fruits/veggies, some frozen chicken nuggets for the little one, and a few stables here and there.  I can't wait until Spring when the farmer's market is open so I will be able to save even more and get better produce.  One thing I realized is how much our garbage reduced after switching from pre-package/pick-up meals.  We are down a whole bag a week now.  We didn't eat out much before, maybe twice a week, but it surprised me.

 i ALWAYS hang my clothes to dry. i dont even have a drier!

DH and I have always been pretty frugal, but I did recently call and cancel HBO off my cable pkg. We never watched it and it had been free for 6 months and then I'd just not paid attention to the bill.

I use coupons and buy items that are on sale when I grocery shop. When I went last weekend, my total saving was 35% and that's pretty typical. I really want a small freezer though so I could take advantage of more of the sales. As it is, I sometimes have to use brute force to stuff things into my small side-by-side freezer.

I really thank my dad for raising me to appreciate the value of a dollar. I sometimes thought we were poor because of the way he acted, but as I got older, I realized he had plenty of money but he just wasn't frivolous with it.