Top tips for saving $$ - Page 2

[mamamelia]

Originally Posted by homemommie

Dd and I made the switch to cloth TP this week. Even though DH is still using the paper stuff (He's not ready to switch) I can tell a drastic difference in the usage. The roll has lasted all week for just him! V/s we used to go through a roll a day. So it is definately proving worth it!

cool!!! i think i'll give it a whirl this weekend!

[slsurface]

Originally Posted by homemommie

One of the simplest things I do to help save money. I think about how much money my dh makes an hr and compare that with the cost of the item I want to buy. (if you work then even better because you are thinking in terms of *your* time and labor) Is that $30 sweater worth 2 hrs of my husbands time. Would I really expect him to work 2 hrs so I can have a sweater that I could just as easily live without?

Believe it or not just that change in my thinking has really changed my spending habits.

I did this when I started working as a teen. This habit has really shaped spending and always kept it to a minimum.

[slsurface]

Originally Posted by homemommie

Dd and I made the switch to cloth TP this week. Even though DH is still using the paper stuff (He's not ready to switch) I can tell a drastic difference in the usage. The roll has lasted all week for just him! V/s we used to go through a roll a day. So it is definately proving worth it!

I still can't bring myself to do family cloth. I do mama cloth, but not family cloth. But we use less than a roll a week between the three of us.

[slsurface]

A lot of great advice here! I do most of these things (stay out of stores to prevent consumer lust, never had cable TV, check movies out for free from library, walk or bike when possible, meal plan, etc).

The only thing I want to add is pay in CASH. Somehow it's more painful to pay in cash than with plastic. DH and I take out a fixed amount every two weeks. This amount is based on our budget for food and gas, plus a little extra wiggle room. Once the money is gone, no more spending. This keeps us from eating out or making other impulse purchases. If you know you have to make a purchase outside of the usual budget, then you can take out X amount for it before you go shopping...and always shop (or travel) with a budget.

[painefaria]

We only wash diapers in hot, everything else is in cold.
We hang the clothes out and plan our laundry for days that it will be sunny.
Buy local at the farmers market
We go to scratch and dent grocers and buy when they have what we need.
We have switched to baked oatmeal instead of cereal!!! I thought that we would struggle with this but it has been relatively easy.
NO Cable, NO internet, NO home phone (just cell phones)
We use our exhaust fan to pull in cool air in over night and close down the house(closed windows, blinds, and curtains).
In the winter we keep the house at 58 - 62 degrees and open the blinds! I know my goodness, but that is why we have sweatshirts!
I have unplugged everything that I can and purchased a surge protector that turns off the power draw for the TV, VCR, DVD, stereo. It turns back on when we turn on the TV.
We switched to the DIVA CUP and glad rags.
We don't use any paper products except for TP and I am close to switching!
All of these things have been an easy change...

[laneysprout]

Originally Posted by karne

Have you found that buying a CSA share actually helps you save money? I haven't, so I'd love to hear how others incorporate this into their budgets as a money savings.

Yes! For us, since we are vegetarian, this has helped reduce our budget enormously. Our farm offers summer and winter shares, plus a fruit share during the fall. We spend far less per week on this enormous variety of organic, local goodness than we ever would paying for it at WF or even the local HFS. For example, the fruit share cost us $80 for 2 months, which averages out to $10/week for two small bags full of local peaches and apples. Most of our grocery budget goes to rice and grains, legumes, raw milk, eggs, butter & oils, so that's where the savings is.

[wendyland]

Originally Posted by homemommie

One of the simplest things I do to help save money. I think about how much money my dh makes an hr and compare that with the cost of the item I want to buy. (if you work then even better because you are thinking in terms of *your* time and labor) Is that $30 sweater worth 2 hrs of my husbands time. Would I really expect him to work 2 hrs so I can have a sweater that I could just as easily live without?

Believe it or not just that change in my thinking has really changed my spending habits.

That's a great idea. This reminded me of when I was in high school and worked at McDonalds. I used to think of prices in terms of value meals. If something was $15, I'd think that I could buy like 5 values meals for that price. I laugh at that now, because I don't eat fast food anymore. It still got me to think about what I was spending my money on.

[mosesface]

make a budget, stick to it, and PAY WITH CASH.

everything else we do to save money stems from there.

[GardenStream]

I'm mostly reading this to get tips, but I do have a couple to add.

1. Grow your own veggies. I just had a couple pots out on the deck this year with bell peppers in them. Very cheap to do and I got about 25 red bell peppers off of them. We love them and they're very expensive to buy.

2. DH puts all of his work expenses on our personal credit card. We get cash back on the credit card so it's just extra money coming in. Obviously this will only work if you know you can pay the bill every month. I think we got back about $200 last year.

[AngelBee]

:

[holidaymama]

These tips are fabulous!!!!: I thought I would share a few things we do, although many have been stated!

1.) For actual money saving: We organize jars! So for Christmas we try to put extra money into it throughout the year. I started last June so that was about 5 months before I started my Xmas shopping and I had about $600 in it.
We also will be doing a vacation jar and flooring jar after Christmas. I know we don't gain interest, but we need to see the money! And these things are extra savings not our 10% takeout that we put into the savings account.

2.) We use the cash envelope system. I even put our HOA funds into it. I have a grocery, entertainment, gas, medical, car maintanence, HOA, clothing, gifts, 1/4th beef (yearly order), trip to MN gas (new one we are using for our trip for Xmas), House maint....I think those are about it.

3.) We shopped around for Car Insurance...we went through a friend's husband and he saved us about $20/month

4.) Use sales flyers to help plan and stock up. We only eat Blue Bell Icecream, and normally it's about $6 for 1/2 gallon...I only buy it when it's on sale for $3.99 and then I stock up. I know it's still expensive, but it's my hubbies fav. treat.

5.) Take this advice from someone who didn't follow it...stay away from the warehouses! I have frankly decided that *IF* you have regular access to stores, they are not worth it becuase you can find better deals in reg. stores.

6.) Carpool. We drive 40 miles a day roundtrip to our jobs. We carpool all but one or maybe two days a week when my husband has to tutor.

7.) We buy used books when we buy them. Unless we have a gift card from a reg. book store!

8.) Well, I am a coffee addict, so my way of saving my "Starbucks" money is to buy a smaller size...Instead of me buying the Venti with an extra shot of expresso and flavoring for $5, I have switched to a grande no flavor for $3.5o. I know it's a frivolous treat, but it's what I use my entertainment money on!

9.) If you go out to eat, share a meal. THey are always huge! Or go on a night where the kids eat free...almost all restaraunts do that! Or, go to a healthier fast food place like Panda Express where they use fresh vegees or Chipotle where u can get lots of beans...they are still unhealthy, but if you are going out you can feed a family of four for less than $20 and it's still a treat out.

I know some of my saving methods are different or very frivolous for some, but baby steps are better than deprivation for our family!

[Alyantavid]

We don't have cable, just one channel on tv and netflix. And friends who own every movie ever made I think.

Meal plan, cook from scratch and shop once a week. I shop sales and use coupons.

We have basic phone service. We wouldn't have it at all except we have no cell reception at our house and the internet is bundled with the phone.

We raise most of our own veggies and fruit and freeze for the winter. We also raise our own beef and pork so much cheaper and healthier than buying from the store.

All the maintenance type stuff around our house is done by dh. He's fixed our dryer, my mom's dryer, our oven, etc for just the cost of a part instead of replacing the whole appliance or having a professional do it.

We go to the library every other week for new books, magazines and movies.

We rarely ever ever eat out. Lunches for dh and I are leftovers or sandwiches, always.

For family entertainment, we do a weekly movie night, we do free stuff that our town has.

I've found that while my little grocery store here in town has higher prices for some things, its cheaper than driving 20 miles to a bigger store. And I try to go alone.

I've switched over to the vinegar cleaning. I need to find some cloth napkins and things we can use for paper towels.

[holidaymama]

Yes I forgot about cleaning products!

We use vinegar for everything! I works so well! We also have some Dr. Bronners that we use now and then. Also, rubbing alcohol works well as a window cleaner

[Kyamo]

When things goes on sale (that you already use) buy a LOT. Freeze the bread and meat, cheese stays good for a really long time unopened in the fridge, dry/canned stuff of course lasts long too. Cheese in particular goes on sale for almost half price fairly often. I never pay full price for cheese.

Don't consider meat as always the focus of a meal or mandatory for every dinner. (This tends to go out the window a bit in the summer for us, DH loves to barbeque.)

Try to reduce eating out as much as possible. I always bring my lunch to work. And when we do eat out, we only order water to drink, they charge a ridiculous amount for a glass of pop or juice.

I use the Diva cup too, but honestly I would use it even if it cost more than disposable stuff, I just love it.

Wash stuff on cold. No diapers in this house yet, it works fine for everything else.

[Tangled Hill]

I know this is totally lazy, but I've got a blog post (non-commercial) on this very thing - just a list of lots of little things we've done that have really added up. I've been mucking with the blogs (current and old ones) today and running across all these old posts. Anyway, here it is:

50 Small Steps toward Frugality

Hope this is helpful for somebody out there.

[ArtsyMomma]

Originally Posted by slsurface

I still can't bring myself to do family cloth. I do mama cloth, but not family cloth. But we use less than a roll a week between the three of us.

It's not that bad! I just keep the diaper pail near the potty, and toss the used wipes in the pail. It was a while before I was willing to use family cloth for #2 for myself, but since I was dipes every day or two it's not a problem.