Re: Money saving tips...

Bring my own lunch everyday

Cook dinner at home and eat out only once a week

cut back on shopping for stuff that isn't necessarr like designer clothes, shoes, pocketbooks, expensive make-up, manicures, pedicures, expensive hair salons, etc.

Re: Money saving tips...

We go out to lunch, rarely dinner. It's cheaper.

We have fuel efficient cars, both get over 30 mpg highway.

We don't buy designer and are not clothes-horses.

No cleaning lady. Buy cheap cleaning products... ammonia, Bon-ami.

No landscaper.

Never pay an ATM surcharge. We go once a week and take out a set amount.

Pay off credit card bills in full each month.

DH gets $$ back from his health insurance company for his gym membership.

Negotiate all home improvements/major purchases for cash whenever possible.

Buy all my meats at BJ's, Costco.

Stock up on pantry items when on sale.

No vacations now that the twins are coming.

Re: Money saving tips...

Beth it sounds like you are being reasonable.... no reason to become a miser....(miser - misery - get it, lol). Saving $$ is a great idea as long as you remember to live life and have fun too! As my grandmother used to say, you can't take it with you!!

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Re: Money saving tips...

Posted by LisaW

Posted by karacg

Beth it sounds like you are being reasonable.... no reason to become a miser....(miser - misery - get it, lol). Saving $$ is a great idea as long as you remember to live life and have fun too! As my grandmother used to say, you can't take it with you!!

Exactly!!!

Re: Money saving tips...

save money?

Imean yes I try...but like Kara said....cant take it with you....

Some saving on things like groceries is one thing...Stoppign having fun like no vacations or no occasional dinner out is not having fun in life to me.

( Im a big coupon girl though!)

Re: Money saving tips...

i NEVER (and i mean NEVER!!!) tried to save money until we got married. i used to get my nails wrapped which was was $50 every 2 weeks, got pedicures weekly, drycleaning was $50 a week, cleaning lady was $80 week, i bought breakfast and lunch everyday, $80 haircuts, $200 highlights, and the list goes on and on!!!

now that we're married i NEVER get my nails done unless i have somewhere to go, i give myself pedicures (which is actually a bit fun!), we clip coupons together every sunday, no more cleaning lady, no more dry cleaning, i need a hair cut desperately but refuse to pay more than $30 so i'm looking for a new hairdresser, and most importantly i eat breakfast at home and now that i'm working from home i just eat leftovers from the night before! i'm so proud of myself!!!

ETA: my biggest money saver (and life saver!) is that i quit smoking!!! i used to spend $5 just about everyday on cigarettes which was $1800 a year!!!!

Message edited 11/8/2006 8:40:02 PM.

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Re: Money saving tips...

we cook ALL the time and DH takes leftovers for lunch.

I cook in bulk...crockpot all the way, freeze leftovers if there is more than enough beyond a lunch or 2.

We have 1 car w/ no payments and it gets amazing mileage. Now that I home more than I'm at work, DH will take the Tahoe until we get new tires for the other car, so we are cutting back on gas.

we eat alot of pasta and rice...I have a rice cooker and long grain rice is ALOT cheaper than the instant stuff. 20 minutes and I get amazing rice PLUS I can steam veggies in it with the special tray.

coupons, buying online with great deals (I frequent slickdeals.net for their freebies, coupons, and online deals. julz33 got me hooked on it!)

we only eat out on a gift card or order take out if we have surplus money for the week (or if my cravings are that bad).

I go thrifting and sell stuff on Ebay. I sold one thing for over $50, I paid $4 for it.

Heat is set at 68 at the HIGHEST. We still have warm days down here, so the heat will only run at 66 at night. we will get firewood and use our fireplace again this winter (it's more for show than it is for function, but it helps!)

We did budget billing for our electric bill (we are all electric), it averages our usage over the last 12 months and averages it out. Over the summer our bill was only $94 and that was with CAC running at 80, 76 at night.

I am always signing up for free samples. If there is a coupon for free something in the paper, I use it. A few weeks ago there was a coupon for a free package of Electrasol dishwasher tabs (the box I got was 25 tabs....that's 25 loads of dishes!!) We get a free sunday paper from the cable company and then I buy one too for the coupons. I trade coupons.

Many products you use have their own coupons if you go to their website. Magic Eraser, The Scrubbing Bubbles automatic shower cleaner...$7 coupon printable online (saw the commercial on tv last night).

WE don't buy clothes unless they are on sale or we ask for new stuff for gifts.

We try to be energy efficient. We are going to put doors on the fireplace because with just a screen, you lose alot of heat/ac up the flue. We plan on buying those compact flourescent bulbs which last YEARS longer than regular lightbulbs and use less wattage. I think if you replace 4 of your most used lights in your house with these, you can save over $50 a year.

Our biggiest guilty pleasure is ordering Wrestling PPV which are $40 a pop, but we only get the ones we REALLY want to see. We'll have friends over and we buy the PPV, they'll bring food or chip in for pizza.

I stopped getting my solar nails....$50 a month with the pedi. I haven't gone since July I think. No haircut since July. I need one and go to someone that does it in her home, so my highlights and cut are only $40. DH shaves his head, so that costs nothing. It was $20 for the buzzer and that was ages ago.

hope that helps!!!

Re: Money saving tips...

great list. just by doing these few things will really help.

To add one more, we always hit the sale racks first at stores. You'd be amazed what you could get. Just about all stores have clearance racks.

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Good for you beth!

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wow some great tips here.
as far as grocery shopping, I just looked up an old post for you for tips on which stores etc.

LINK

and I'll also add for anyone close to commack. Pathmark in Commack now TRIPLES coupons (up to 99cent coupons) for good (or until they decide to stop it)...
I get LOTS of things for free or close to free after tripling a 75cent coupon

Also as far as clothes shopping, I barely shop for myself anymore these days, but if I happen to see stuff I like on clearance,end of season, I grab it and put it away, and when the next year rolls around, cool new clothes at low prices

I agree with still enjoying life though

Re: Money saving tips...

Posted by JodiBabe

Posted by BNL2005

save your change in a jar

We always throw our change in a big jar & when I fell up to it I roll some of it to go to the bank into our savings account. I actually don't mind rolling coins - find it a bit relaxing and do it while watching TV and tonight I rolled $75

Re: Money saving tips...

Congrats Beth. Good for you! This post has been a great way for me to get some more saving ideas too.


Thanks!

Re: Money saving tips...

We both bring breakfast & lunch everyday...

We rarely go to dinner, if we do, we don't really splurge

Limit our monthly purchases on clothes & useless items

Clip coupons & use the store "discount" cards.

Do bulk shopping at BJ's for items that we use a lot of.

pay cash for most items.

Save on gas by doing my errands on the way home from work

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One thing we do is not using coins when we buy things but use all dollars. When I get the change back it goes into a big jar. I once used our jar to help fund a trip to Scotland.

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This is a great thread, i had no clue S&S doubled coupons, coupon clipping here I come

we bring lunch almost every day, we don't eat out much and we stock up when stuff we use is on sale in order to save money.

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Food shopping - I buy the Generic brands when I can. It is hard b/c I buy a lot of organic, but for somethings I still do.

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I do a lot of the things everyone else mentioned - coupons, bringing breakfast & lunch to work, etc... and just recently when DH & I want to go out to eat we get a gift certificate from www.restaurant.com first. If you sign up for the e-mail list you get coupon codes for 50% off all the time. That's the only time I order one.

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thanks every- esp for the scrubbing bubbles coupon- that is on my shopping list for the week!

I really don't think I could cut back any more then I am

but I am going to keep up with the coupons!

Getting free breakfast and lunch at work has really helped me cut back on my weekly spending- it's like getting a raise- I was eating out almost every day at my old job- and buying breakfast and snacks to bring to work on top of it- I would say I was spening $10 to $15 a day!

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every night, empty your pockets of change and put them in a jar. When the jar is full turn it in and pu the money in the savings account

Re: Money saving tips...

Posted by Elbee

every night, empty your pockets of change and put them in a jar. When the jar is full turn it in and pu the money in the savings account

Re: Money saving tips...

Posted by Beth1210

Posted by Elbee

every night, empty your pockets of change and put them in a jar. When the jar is full turn it in and pu the money in the savings account

I tried that- but we have a snack machine in our building and I keep catching my husband taking the change and getting snack!

I might have to hide it in my closet!