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TOP ideas for saving money - Page 3

post #41 of 61
8/5/05 at 1:57pm
Winterizing saved us $100-150/month during the cold months, even with higher energy prices.
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post #42 of 61
8/13/05 at 8:06pm
Have one night a week be soup night. You can use your leftovers, vegetarian or no, and it's easy for you. (Homemade popovers go great with soup, and even a non-baker can manage them.) Have another night be bean night- could just be vegetarian night, but beans are cheapest. Breakfast at night is also usually cheaper. Shop at the discount grocery store- in my city they are dirty, and have lots of processed food which I won't buy. But staples are cheaper there. Use baking soda instead of toothpaste and deoderant. Makeup is a waste of time and money, ditto shaving. If you register for the baby, do so at Target, etc., and return the cutesy crap- get stuff for you, that's how I got my stroller and first cd's (national brand crappy though they were- they were free. As for winterizing, DAP just came out with a seal and peel caulk, so even renters can seal every window gap/ air crack and peel off in spring. (There's another brand too but it sucks). Never throw away food- it can almost all go into stock. Think of money in terms of yearly, not monthly. So, buy winter clothes at goodwill in the spring. Learn how to freeze and can veggies. A lot of the farmers at the farmer's market will save me their bruised stuff at the end of the day. At the end of September, a bushel basket of peppers etc goes cheap. Get rid of or limit TV- it is just a vehicle for the commercials, trying to get us (and our older kids) to buy buy buy, and to feel bad if we can't. Only drive one car.
post #43 of 61
8/15/05 at 11:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mama22girls
Have you ever heard of the keeper? www.keeper.com It's for when you are menstrating. An aquaintence raved about it and she has several children, so it can't take very much time to use. I have neglected to get one, but I just figured out much it costs a year for me to use tampons and pads. : I'll be ordering one soon. Has anyone here tried one?

That's all I can think up. All the others have been mentioned.
I have been using my Keeper for almost a year and I LOVE it! I can't rave enough about it. In addition being a huge money saver it saves all that stuff going into a landfill or the water system.
post #44 of 61
8/15/05 at 12:17pm
Another recommendation for the menstrual cup - there are 3 options I'm aware of:

* The Keeper (latex rubber?)
* Diva Cup (silicone)
* Mooncup (sillicone)


Apparently they're all similar in shape w/ slight variations, and as such, fit may vary for each individual. I use the Diva Cup because I wanted silicone, plus it can be boiled (Keeper cannot be boiled). But yes, well worth the $25-35 investment - extremely frugal and environmentally friendly.
post #45 of 61
8/15/05 at 12:53pm
i dont think BICYCLING has been mentioned yet. great exerise, no pollution, easy on the joints and other important body parts and most importantly fun. in college towns the college ususally has a place where they sell the bike for very cheap that have been left. in my town there are several place that will teach you how or fix you bike for free.

churches give away groceries, and the church near my house has a sale once year, if you voleenteer you get first dibs on the good stuff. i (used to) volenteer at a co-op grocery store for the discount too. 25% everything. it rocked...

maya
post #46 of 61
8/16/05 at 3:51am
If you don't have a cell phone and want to save on long distance...we got a calling card. First at Costco, then at Sam's. Long distance costs us 2.9 cents a minute. The cheapest long distance plan our phone company offered before that was $20 per month for 250 minutes, and we didn't even use a fraction of those minutes (plus they didn't carry over every month).

Now we recharge the card $20 about twice a year...saved ourselves $200 per year in long distance!

Only drawback I've found is sometimes it can be a PITA to dial all those numbers but then I remind myself how much money I am saving.

Ditto on the asking for lower DSL rate. After a year, our DSL bill went up $20, my dh looked around and found a local company that would charge us the same cheaper rate the phone company was charging us previously. He called the phone company and told them he was going to switch and they dropped it back down to what we were paying before. Savings $240 a year.

We are seriously considering cancelling cable too. We hardly ever watch it, the only time the tv is on usually is early in the morning when dd watches some cartoons. Otherwise we have stacks and stacks of videos, our own and from the library (much more educational content, too).

Freecycle, yes! ANYTHING you are looking for, whether you think it's a long shot or not, post it. Some people here were looking for a plug-in travel cooler, and lo and behold I had one in storage I had been debating getting rid of. Mine was the only response they got.

Also, I posted on freecycle for canvas tote-type bags for grocery shopping, got a ton of them and when I use them at my grocery store they knock 5-10 cents for every bag I use off the grocery bill.

If you have some kind of parent center, utilize those resources. We have a place here called the PEACE Project (Parent Eduation and Child Enrichment), they have a clothes closet of donated clothes, I have gotten tons of clothes there. They get so many donations, every time I go in the program coordinator asks me to look through them and take some.

Take advantage of garage sale leftovers, I have seen notices on our freecycle group or just driving around on weekends, people leaving everything out after their garage sales to be taken for free.
post #47 of 61
8/16/05 at 3:59am
Oh, and I can't say enough about library fundraising sales....I hate the cost of new books and refuse to buy them unless absolutely necessary...I can spend $55-75 at the book sale twice a year and bring home boxes and boxes of books. I have found tons of AP books, Super Baby Food, not to mention stacks upon stacks of books to use for homeschooling.

Something else I used to do for pocket money (haven't had time lately), there is a place here where you could donate blood plasma for money twice a week. Granted, the clientele is generally, shall we say a bit scruffy, but I would get $45-50 a week for visiting on Mondays and Fridays, took a couple of hours each time.
post #48 of 61
8/16/05 at 8:18pm
I completely forgot about the library book sales. We go every year and get tons of books for 50 cents a piece.

We are going to start volunteering at the food coop b/c for every hour you volunteer you get 10% off per week. Maximum of 30%.

Time to order the keeper. Thanks for the advice ladies.
post #49 of 61
8/17/05 at 12:14am
Sometimes those books from the library will be worth surprising amounts of money if you resell them on Amazon. I've done that quite a bit, and it amounts to a nice chunk of change from time to time.
post #50 of 61
8/17/05 at 12:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HollysMom
I have been using my Keeper for almost a year and I LOVE it! I can't rave enough about it. In addition being a huge money saver it saves all that stuff going into a landfill or the water system.


Ditto on the Keeper and it's great benefits, economically and ecologically.
post #51 of 61
8/19/05 at 7:40pm
Thank you so much for the Keeper/Diva recommendations. Just got the Diva and only wish I had tried it sooner. Fabulous!

Other ideas: has anyone mentioned a Steam Cleaner? I love that I don't have to use products (even natural ones) to disinfect/clean the kitchen and bathroom--saves lots of time since you don't have to rinse. just steam and wipe. We got the Hot n Handy off of ebay.

We're also our clothesline and have barely been running our dryer since putting that up.
post #52 of 61
8/20/05 at 3:10am
one thign we have done as far as saving money, is sort of like envelopes...but just give myself whatever anoutbt of maney a week to spend on groceries gas etc and when its gone its gone....i have become very creative with food because we have run out of things early...hth

nak
post #53 of 61
8/20/05 at 11:19am

Drain and flush your water heater

We just did this yesterday. We drained the water heater (used the water to water the lawn) flushed it out (used that water to water the plants) and then refilled it.

There are alot of deposits in the heater that make it run harder and use more power than if it is clean. We couldn't believe how much deposit was in ours!

If you do this at least once a year it will help with the power bill.

Water heater care

Also take care of the heatpump if you have one. Here is a good link for that

Maintaining your heat pump


Hope this helps
post #54 of 61
8/20/05 at 12:23pm
water heater:
once a month I drain about 1 gallon from the bottom. (we have a little faucet that requires a screwdriver to turn it on). If the water's clear then I use it to mop the floor. I also change the furnace filter at the same time. Both are right next to one another and then I don't forget.
post #55 of 61
8/27/05 at 8:02am
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post #56 of 61
8/27/05 at 9:21am
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post #57 of 61
9/1/05 at 10:04am
Check out www.stretcher.com. Don't vaccinate, so you can skip some of those co-pays and well-baby visits. Even if you decide to vaccinate later, when your child can better process the toxins, you will have saved the co-pays during the first couple years. Learn about homeopathy and herbal medicine for kids: $7.95 for earache tablets is much cheaper than copay and antibiotics. Learn how to no-poo. Start in July, and make all your Christmas/Hanukah/Solstice/Birthday presents. Start your own business. I started mine almost by accident, and I don't advertise and actively try to keep it small- just little bit to help out. That way, you can use skills you already have that others don't, instead of babysitting, which is a good idea too. But why not run a baby sitting service instead?
post #58 of 61
9/1/05 at 12:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by provocativa

Yes! The Stretcher talks about EC aka Infant Potty Training, and I think the brief article is well written/accurate. Though don't worry if your baby is no longer an infant - you can really start any time learning to communicate w/ your child about elimination. We were late starters w/ dd at 8-9mos old, and we were using the potty for *the vast majority* of pee/poops by 11 mos old!). We're excited to EC from birth, though, with our babe #2 coming this Jan 2006.
post #59 of 61
9/2/05 at 9:58am
Save money on tomato paste and beef/chicken stock by buying the biggest size you can and freezing it in icecube trays. Anything you use half a can of (like evaporated milk) freeze the rest of it for later. Having it in small portions means you can use just how much you need. Saves lots of $$$.
post #60 of 61
9/5/05 at 12:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by luvtjones
Now we recharge the card $20 about twice a year...saved ourselves $200 per year in long distance!

Only drawback I've found is sometimes it can be a PITA to dial all those numbers but then I remind myself how much money I am saving.
You can program these numbers into most phones. All we have to dial is Memory 1 to dial the number, then memory 2 for the pin.