Tips for Saving Money, Cutting Expenses, etc.

[ThetaDancer]

I mentioned in another thread that a few of my close friends have been laid off fairly recently, or had to take unpaid time off, reduced hours, etc. It's made me much more aware of how mindlessly I spend money sometimes, so I'm trying to be more careful and find ways to stop being such a spender. I'd love to hear other people's tips and ideas for ways to save, especially on the "everyday" sorts of things.

Some little things I'm trying:

I've been bringing my lunch to work pretty much 4 out of 5 days instead of going out.

I'm making coffee at home more often now and trying to make Starbucks a treat instead of an everyday stop.

I'm trying to utilize the library more often instead of buying books all of the time.

Any GCer's have other things they've been doing to cut back? Thanks!

[ComradesTrue]

I buy as many groceries as possible at Target instead of the grocery store. In my area the cereal can be as much as $2 cheaper at Target, and milk is almost $1 cheaper. Everything else is approx .25-.50 cheaper, which adds up really fast for a family of four.

When I was first dating my now husband he was buying EVERYTHING at the grocery store- shampoo, paper towels, cleaning products, trash bags, etc. I broke him of that soooo fast. Needless to say, if any of you bachelor-types out there are buying anything at the grocery store that they also sell at Target (or Wal-Mart, or K-mart, or your discount store of choice) then you are crazy!!! You would be shocked to see how much you save.

[PhoenixAzul]

I mentioned in the other thread that my husband and I are in a bit of a bind lately because of my injury/lack of jobs out there, but we've been doing a lot of what you listed up thread.

-Keeping our heating/lighting costs down by opening windows/blinds.
-staying in and playing rock band or watching our NetFlix rather than going out
-If we go out, we split meals or take home leftovers
-At least one of us cycles to work every day so we can save cash on gas.
-Library books
-Coupons and double coupons if we have to go to the grocery store
-Aldi (hey, a can of tomatoes is a can of tomatoes)
-Growing our own veg with some friends of ours who have some land...they provide the dirt, we provide hands for weeding.
-The credit cards are on lock down.

[RaggedyAnn]

I mentioned this in another thread, but a great way to save on the electric bill is to turn off or unplug everything when you're not using it. A phone charger uses electricity even when it's not charging. We unplugged our base this month for our regular phone and my bill went down again. The phone lasted a good week without a charge. Our TV and cable box are also attached to a power strip which we turn off if we're not watching it. We turn off the internet as well.

I also lump all of my errands in an area. That saves time and money.

[RaggedyAnn]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul

-Coupons and double coupons if we have to go to the grocery store

That's honestly the only reason I get the local paper anymore. (The writing has gone down hill.) They offer a weekend subscription.

[AGDee]

And shop the sales. I plan my menus around what meats are on sale that week. I buy the fruit that's on sale, etc. I too have been packing my lunch, not only to save money, but to save calories. It's better to know what I'm eating ahead of time than to wander around the cafeteria trying to find what I can eat. I use my freezer a lot. I used to find that I could buy a package of lunch meat and throw away more than half of it because I couldn't use it all by the time it went bad. So now, I divide it up into individual portions when I buy it and freeze them. You can put frozen lunch meat on a sandwich that's going into a school lunch and it will be thawed by the time the kids have to eat it and I don't buy lunch meat as often.

[jennyj87]

Originally Posted by Blondie93

I buy as many groceries as possible at Target instead of the grocery store. In my area the cereal can be as much as $2 cheaper at Target, and milk is almost $1 cheaper. Everything else is approx .25-.50 cheaper, which adds up really fast for a family of four.

When I was first dating my now husband he was buying EVERYTHING at the grocery store- shampoo, paper towels, cleaning products, trash bags, etc. I broke him of that soooo fast. Needless to say, if any of you bachelor-types out there are buying anything at the grocery store that they also sell at Target (or Wal-Mart, or K-mart, or your discount store of choice) then you are crazy!!! You would be shocked to see how much you save.

Thats weird. the target in my town is more expensive than the gorcery store....hmm.

[WVU alpha phi]

I've always been borderline obsessive about money, so I watch my spending and cut costs anywhere I can.

-Track EVERY penny spent. I have a notebook that is broken down monthly into categories (bills, gas, groceries, going out, food [not groceries], miscellaneous). I write down the date I bought something, what I bought, where I bought it, and how much it cost. I total everything up at the end of the month. It really keeps my spending in check, the first month I did it I realized I had spent $300+ eating out, so I've kept that around $100 since.

-Coupons and grocery shopping at WalMart. The closest grocery store to me is a Harris Teeter a mile away, and WalMart's about 10 miles, but HT is WAY too expensive. I save atleast $20 each time I go to WalMart.

-Entertainment book. It's worth it if you eat out a lot, like me and my boyfriend do. We get to try new restaurants and get good deals at the same time- we each got Italian Ice last weekend for only 43 cents!

-Packing my lunch versus going out. I bring a lunch 4 days a week and eat out one, and on that day I always go to Firehouse Subs for their employer appreciation day (you get free chips and a drink, saves $2).

-Going out one night a weekend. We do a lot more renting movies/drinking wine nights. Trader Joe's has $3 bottles of wine.

[christiangirl]

2 words: Student. Discount. Even if you're not in school anymore, if you've got your old ID card and you still look like the picture... I only go to Moe's on SD day (which is today, so I'm tempted). Plus, I eat free at work so whenever I go in, I have my meals there and the caf staff gives the extras to anyone who wants them. I've brought home days worth of meals that way.

[WVU alpha phi]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

2 words: Student. Discount. Even if you're not in school anymore, if you've got your old ID card and you still look like the picture... I only go to Moe's on SD day (which is today, so I'm tempted). Plus, I eat free at work so whenever I go in, I have my meals there and the caf staff gives the extras to anyone who wants them. I've brought home days worth of meals that way.

Good point! I use my student ID still for discounts at the movies and offer my monthly tanning package.

[texas*princess]

A few things I do:

* Every paycheck, I put away $75 in a separate account for Christmas gifts / holiday travel. That way, when the holidays roll around, I don't have to worry about finding $300 for airplane tickets and money for gifts.

* Make automatic transfers every 2 wks to a savings account away from my normal bank - this helped me build my emergency money. Ideally you should be saving 10-15% of your income - whether that be your 401K, emergency fund, saving for a car/house down payment, or a combination of them. Most people don't ever stick to budgets and won't save money if it takes EFFORT. If you make the withdrawals automatic, you don't have to think about saving money - it just happens.

* Don't use credit cards if you can't pay the balance off in full every month. Finance charges are invisible money suckers!

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by WVU alpha phi

Good point! I use my student ID still for discounts at the movies and offer my monthly tanning package.

Yup yup. I just had a fantabulous Moe's dinner and even saved half my food for lunch tomorrow. 2 meals worth for $5. I also get an SD at my hair salon. I usually only go every couple months for a relaxer because I've learned the value of DIY maintenance. I do my own hair and nails.

I cycle out clothes--when the seasons change, I'll put my clothes in a trunk and everything in the trunk comes back out so my wardrobe keeps refreshing itself without my having to buy anything.

I also have a huge bag of clothes I was going to donate, but I just saw a sign in front of Plato's Closet that they are "now buying." A lot of my clothes are stuff that are in nice condition but I either no longer want or they no longer fit. I figure I could make a little money off them and what doesn't sell can still be donated.

[oncegreek]

The ninety nine cents only store now carries groceries, and produce. You can get bags of lettuce, tomatoes, all sorts of produce for under a buck. Just get there early, before everything is picked over. The .99 sells tons of other stuff, too. Between discount stores and Trader Joe's, I manage to completely avoid the supermarket.

[KSUViolet06]

I'm definitely cooking more instead of going out to eat.

[amanda6035]

Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University changed my life. I graduated from the 13 week course this past Sunday. I look at money so differently now. I cut coupons, I have a written budget, and I dont use credit cards anymore. We use cash for everything, including gas (yes, it means walking inside to prepay gas instead of swiping the card - but it works). We are following the "envelope" system and once the money in teh envelope is gone, we're SOL until the next payday and the next allotment of money for that type of item. We use 3 envelopes: entertainment, groceries and gas. Cash "hurts" to spend, so it makes you more aware of how much you are spending.

I buy stuff in bulk at Sams Club (only because there is no Costco or BJs in this silly town), and I've started reading the drug store circulars each week to see what the prices on our normal toiletries are there, I used to NEVER shop at drug stores, and for the most part, I only get a few things that are on a super sale. I usually get generic rather than name brand, unless I have coupons which make the name brand cheaper.

My husband is still not working. We moved back in October for me to start the job of my dreams, and i LOVE it. However, the economy is so bad, he cant even get a part time job delivering pizzas right now. The good thing is, the course taught us how to budget, and we're able to easily live on my income right now (which would not have been possible a year ago) which means when he DOES finally get a job - whenever that mgiht be, it's going to be extra money to pay down our debt, and then maybe we can finally start house hunting.


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www.daveramsey.com