Tips for Saving Money, Cutting Expenses, etc.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Has anyone noticed that people are focusing on their health a lot more now than they did a year ago? I've always been a gym geek, but now my friends are focusing on home-cooked meals (since you can control the salt, sugar, and fat you take in), working out, and not drinking as much.

I don't know how much of it's the economy, and how much of it's just us growing up and realizing that the midsection fluff does not go away so easily now!

At least with my friends, it has a lot more to do with keeping busier schedules and seeing how older business associates have aged. I've talked about it with a couple of friends, and we realized that as we've started to work longer (harder) hours, we needed to be in better physical condition. If you're writing a report or drafting a document at 10 pm, you don't want to be lagging. Being in better physical condition helps to deal with those longer, more intellectually-challenging days, at least in my case. Even though I go to the gym at 5:30 am, and sometimes don't get home until 11 pm or later, I still have more energy from 3 pm onwards since I've started the early morning gym trips.

Plus, I think that a reasonable person starts tallying up the calories in those late night take-out meals, or even at business lunches out, and realizes that they should try to cut calories (and costs) as much as possible.

[ThetaPrincess24]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

I still have more energy from 3 pm onwards since I've started the early morning gym trips.

I've noticed a difference in that and better sleep from working out. I've been able to cut back on ambien usage for sleep since I started early morning workouts and my migraines/treximet usage is also less frequent. That in turn saves me money because I'm not refilling as often.

[texas*princess]

I forgot to mention this in my earlier post: My mom plays the "grocery game".

It's basically a service online - they tell you where to get what coupons and what stores in your area you can go to for redeeming. My mom has come out of CVS with BAGS and BAGS of stuff - deodorants, shampoos, body wash, RAZORS, air fresheners - just tons of stuff, and only paid like $0.30. (yes, that's 30-CENTS)

I believe it's a paid service, but it's saved her a ton of money. She always said she wishes they had that when we were growing up, because I have 3 siblings so our family would go through stuff so quickly. She takes advantage of those and stockpiles everything and when we visit home we 'raid' the stockpile and bring stuff home

The Grocery Game

[VandalSquirrel]

I haven't been doing anything different, I've kind of always been doing these activities as I have grand plans that require quite a bit of funding. I've managed to have some bills taken directly from my paycheck so I have a very accurate idea of what money I have. I received grant and scholarship money last year and paid all my rent up front which at least assures I won't ever worry about being homeless. I had a lease though, and in some places paying up front can bring up strange legal issues, not so much in my case.

I still wouldn't use just cash for big purchases as credit cards provide buyer protection. Just transfer the money immediately and it is the same situation. Also for traveling I can't think of many ways you can pay for a rental car or plane tickets in cash.

I guess I also just like proof of payment for certain situations as well, sure you can get a receipt for cash. I was burned once and was reported to collections as I made a payment and an employee stole the cash, which was a huge hassle to fix.