The Save Money/Cut Expense Thread

Make a shopping list before going to the shops and stick to it. Helps to limit impulse buying.

Peanut Butter & Jelly in the same jar was on sale for 99cents today. Bread 1.09... Milk 2.99 = Dinner!!!

CREAMY!!!!

-Walk/bike to work if you live close enough, if not use public transit.
-Change your diet, for most people this means cutting out the sweets, and look at healthier alternatives which are lower in cost.
-If you go to a gym or want to become more active, use the outdoors; there's plenty of resources at our fingertips to get healthy without having to pay ridiculous amounts of money for it.
-Move to Canada you crazy Americans basic health care is covered here, if that's too much of a cost for you how about finding a shared accommodation; and since you'll be spending more time outdoors, or if you're attending Post-Secondary then more time at a library or something, you probably won't have to deal with other people too often anyway.
-Don't have children, lol jk.
-Thrift shop, bargain hunt, and garage sale.

A few things I can think of right now, maybe I'll add some more later.

Great idea, Strav! Especially since gas just went back up to $3.50 a gallon

Unplug electrical things when you aren't using them (just turning them off isn't as good, if it's plugged in it's still using power).

ALWAYS turn off lights when you leave a room.

Never leave things in chargers unattended (cell phones etc), unplug them as soon as they're done charging or if you leave the house or go to bed or whatever.

The dollar store can be your best friend! But make sure you compare prices with other stores, because some things will be selling at the dollar store for $1 but it'll be half the size of the other places. Stuff I always get at the dollar store: napkins, paper towels, shampoo, "feminine products" (sorry guys, but it's SO much cheaper), pet products (except food), applesauce, bread, milk, cereal, snacks, toothpaste, toothbrushes, medicines, and more.

I know others have already said it, but buy bulk groceries whenever possible! A whole chicken, a big bag of frozen vegetables, and a bag of pasta or rice, and you've got a week of easy dinners for less than $10.

Avoid "impulse buying" like the plague. Grabbing that soda, candy bar, bag of chips, etc at the checkout lane will suck money faster than you can believe. If you don't NEED it, don't buy it!

Don't shop at malls. Seriously. Walmart or Target can clothe you just as nicely for half the price. Malls are designed to appeal to your impulses! And if you're a small size (guy or girl), take your butt to Goodwill or the Salvation Army! They have TONS of clothes, NICE clothes, brand names. It just takes a bit more time to sort through the racks. And I say "small size" because it generally takes a lot longer for a plus-sized person to find things that fit. I know I can spend 3 hours in Goodwill and never find anything at all. I envy the little people lol.


Always look at the top and bottom shelf, and walk up and down the entire section of products before grabbing something. The cheaper items will almost never be at eye level.

Do the math! Take a little calculator with you if you have to (I suck at math). It might be tempting to grab one package for $1.99, but if you stop to realize you can get the big package, which has 5 times as much, for $8.99, you're saving a dollar in the long run. Again, the store is counting on the fact that you're going to be in a hurry and not using your noggin.

For winter: Turn the heat down to about 60 if you're the last person out of the house. First person who comes back in will find it warm by comparison, and can always turn it back up.

What Sketch said ^ Put on a sweater, another blanket on the bed, get up and walk around to keep warm, and keep the thermostat down! Also, anytime the weather is tolerable (for me, anything between 50 and 80 degrees outside), I open the windows and leave the heater and a/c completely off. If the sun shines in your windows during the day, keep all the blinds and curtains open to let the sun heat your house. In the summer, close the curtains and blinds to keep things cool, and open the windows at night. It really works.

Instead of paying $1.00 or more for a little bottle of water, buy a gallon jug of drinking water for about .75 and pour it into a reusable bottle. Bottled water is one of the biggest money hogs around AND creates insane amounts of trash. (Recycle your plastics!! another thread, I know lol)

- Eat nothing other than ramen with a single bullion cube; drink nothing other than water
- Only flush the toilet after number twos





...Kidding.

But seriously: Cancel entertainment subscriptions. All of them. Internet can be useful for business, but TV? I don't think so. If you're coming up $20 short every week and paying $80 per month for passive entertainment, you have no one to blame but yourself. If you absolutely need diversion, you can buy a used book for $2.50 that will keep you occupied for days.

Cut down on heat by using more blankets and wearing more clothes.

Buy cheaper food. You can do with bologna for one week out of the month instead of honey-glazed baked ham. And if you can't do without your comfort foods, go generic.

Keep all lights off while the sun is up, and after dark, turn every light off as you leave the room.

Walk, cycle, or carpool whenever you can.

And after you save up some cash after a few weeks of cutting back, go to a wholesale store and buy in bulk for the next month or so. Do that as much as possible.

Also, if your goal is to increase your savings, do that first thing after getting paid - and put it somewhere you can't easily get to it. Buy silver bullion, for example, so you aren't tempted to withdraw from a savings account. I find it is much less tempting to bring my silver rounds to a coin shop than it is to swing by the bank and pull out $10 when I'm thinking Arby's.

Creamy Chicken Top Ramen is the BEST. I also love the Chili flavor. I hate people look down on Ramen and Hamburger Helper... they're divine dishes.

car insurance: check how much you are paying vs what you are getting, consider if you need as much as you have, sometimes dropping a fancy extra can change the price quite a bit, take the higher deductible get rid of towing and car rental etc ... make sure you aren't doubled up on services, i paid for towing from insurance and from AAA for a while, also paid for gap insurance from my bank and from my car insurance and it was cheaper at the bank so i dropped the other. check with insurance company, certain car features (car alarm etc) will qualify you for small price breaks, having AAA will also help (depends on the insurance company)

if you are trying to save money in the long run check your loan rates (car house etc) and see if you can switch to a lower( don't forget to constantly ask for the lower rates when their rates drop, existing customers should be able to get the new customer rates).

if you are trying to save money from month to month, refinance over a longer time span and spread out the payments a bit more, i halved my monthly car payment while i'm at school for 2 years, then when i get back out i'm gonna fast track the loan and pay it off as fast as possible. Its all about what you need at the time.

shop discount grocery stores almost every area has one ... in my area its the sharp shopper, in your area it will be called something different. if you walk in, and everything is on pallets and the store is kinda dingy and has a lot of poor people in it, you are in the right place. It is not a pleasure to shop here, but you will save big bucks. I can get items for half price and less at a store like this and save a lot of cash. Just be careful what you buy, not everything is fresh so shopping here is going to be supplemental to regular nicer grocery stores, but get as much as you can from here, and save yourself the money. They have name brand foods just a lot of dented cans and misprinted boxes so they buy these from places that wont sell them and save the customer a lot of money.

K
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____F

grow your own veggies; on a windowsill or if you have a yard. I've done this with tomatos and it's just the price of seeds and soil and a container.

couponing can really help; but often coupons are for kid centered food full of unhealthyness. You have to be flexable; know a deal and know the double coupon days.

also, (and this is really a hard one but can save a lot of money in the long run) keep a grocery store journal. If you are buying , bread, shampoo, etc...everyweek; then write down the price each week. Stores usually go through price cycles- find out what the low price is for the things you get each week and stock up during it's low point; freeze or store it. and then you don't have to buy it again until you see it's low point again.

Cancel cable/satellite TV/Netflix/landline phone/whatever you can get by without. Visit the library!

Cook with staples. Challenge yourself to spend less than you think is possible for a week's food - shop smart and you can pull it off! If you garden/fish/hunt, use that to spice up the menu and save money.

Drink tap water. Quit buying soda, coffee or alcohol.

Turn down the thermostat. 60 degrees is perfectly comfortable with a sweatshirt on.

If you need to buy clothing, check thrift stores first.

I rarely switch my lights on. I'm usually either on my laptop or watching TV and neither require my lights to be switched on. I now get uncomfortable when I have to switch them on when I get visitors or when I feed my fish late.
Another way I cut my costs on was with preparing my own lunch. This doesn't take up much of my time because I prepare it at the same time as I am preparing my supper.

And the 'Wash dishes by hand' advice may not be fool proof. I have read articles that claim that most dish washers use less water and energy than handwashing does. I suspect it's just a marketing gimmick but it's worth investigating given that dish washing is (or should be) a frequent exercise.

MacFall said:

-...
But seriously: Cancel entertainment subscriptions. All of them. Internet can be useful for business, but TV? I don't think so. If you're coming up $20 short every week and paying $80 per month for passive entertainment, you have no one to blame but yourself. ...

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This is a tough one for me. I watch lots of sport on TV and we have no sports channels only service. You only get the good sport channels on the full TV subscription. That means I pay for about 80 channels and only watch 7 of them and even for those, only at night or on weekends. I'll switch to internet TV subscriptions once we get decent internet packages but those seem a long way yet.

mandyangel said:

Creamy Chicken Top Ramen is the BEST. I also love the Chili flavor. I hate people look down on Ramen and Hamburger Helper... they're divine dishes.

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Sounds like you haven't quite expanded your palette, I think they're not bad for food; but, there's gotta be something else that you enjoy.

A particular scripture comes to mind when you say that people look down upon certain foods, and I believe the gist of the scripture says that we're to eat that which is served in the poorer sections of the city:

1 Corinthians 10:24-26 (King James Version)

24Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.
25Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:
26For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.


Out of curiosity, what do you enjoy to eat?

Have less impulsive, more materialistic roomates who buy things and let you use them.

.Vicky. said:

Great idea, Strav! Especially since gas just went back up to $3.50 a gallon
....

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Are you living in, like, yesterday?
($3.99 here, now.)

Buy music at thrift stores. I bought a two cd compilation (Judas Priest - Metal Works) for 1 dollar. No joke.

For students, like myself:
-get a student banking account. You usually have a limit on your transactions, but you pay less fees (or no fees at all)
-if you go downtown or barhopping on the weekend, drink before you go. Why pay six bucks for a beer downtown when you can have one at home for less than 2?
-GET THE SPC CARD. Best thing I ever did. It's only 8 dollars and it's valid for a year, I've literally saved hundreds of dollars using it, and there's tons of places you can use it.
-Invest in a costco membership
-Learn to love Kraft Dinner
-Instead of going out to eat and paying 20 bucks plus tips and taxis, invite friends over and have a potluck
-buy secondhand clothes, you can find pretty cool stuff at thrift stores
-The 2 dollar shampoo works just as well as the 20 dollar shampoo
-Go to a used book store. Books that are 20 bucks at Chapters may only be 2 or 3 bucks at a used book store.
-Go to the chapters website and search through the "used books" section. They take debit online and even with the shipping costs, it's still cheaper than buying new.
-Dye your own hair, it's a lot cheaper than getting it done professionally
-Learn how to do nails and give manicures, then have a girls night and do each others nails, cheaper than getting your nails done at a salon!
-Watch tv on the internet. Most networks have their shows online.
-Learn to knit. Instead of paying 30 bucks for a trendy scarf, make one yourself! Even make dishcloths, socks, and nerdy sweaters.
-Go to movies on cheap night
-Do online surverys. There's a few websites that let you save up points and redeem them for ten dollars into your paypal, or giftcards. One website I visit has given me over 60 dollars in gift cards, and another website entered me into a monthly draw and I won 1000 dollars. Just make sure it's a legit site.
-turn down the heat, carpool or walk, go for a walk instead of buying a gym membership, switch lights off.
-Don't grocery shop hungry

kaatieed said:

-Don't grocery shop hungry

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How true! In my case, I also can't let myself go to the grocery store if I'm feeling sick - I'll completely forget everything I came for and just start buying random stuff.