Are there just no ORIGINAL money saving ideas out there any more?

[Gumbo4x4]

I think unfortunately it IS new information for a lot of people. Schools (largely) don't teach financial education any more and many parents have little knowledge to pass on (just look at Americans' debt averages). But you are right once you are doing most things right, at least for your family, there is not much to add - but that's when I look at things that help us earn more or just enjoy what we have more.

There does come a point where the effort expelled trying to save exceeds the effort you could have put toward earning more. I try to be careful not to wind up on the wrong end of that anymore than necessary.

I've mentioned previously that my parents bartered for free golf twice a week. They show up about an hour before the morning scramble & get all the carts out of the cart shed. In ecchange, the course lets them play the scramble for free. Saves them $100 a week. To me, that's worth the effort, particularly for a retired couple.

 

[barkley]

Oh, about the Yardsale sites, I added up my sales in the past year and it was $400! Of course, I also bought a fair amount of higher end stuff from other people, too, so maybe that money funds those purchases.

it might be a money saver if parents sending their kids off to college took a look at these sites that are local to where their kids will be attending-not to see what they might purchase but to see what the college kids are selling off! with 3 universities near us there seem to be 3 peak periods of sales by the college students-about a month after school starts, right after Christmas break, and the month school is letting out. I suspect a good percentage are items parents bought but the students found their roommates already had them (so duplicates) but there are also items that pretty much scream 'well intentioned gifts' that when they are listed as 'like new' it means they were just taken out of the box once but never actually used (the $50ish George foreman grills regularly sell around her for $5-$10, programmable crockpots about the same).

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Well the new to me idea 2 years ago was the 52 week challenge.
Then the beginning of this year was the penny challenge.
I also discovered swagbucks and Ibotta.

I've gotten one $25 gift card from Swagbucks (started Jan 7) and I'm putting that towards my Disney trip. And the Ibotta app, I have $49 banked, when I hit $50 that will get deposited to my paypal account.

 

[viaggiamo]

Check out the Mr Money Moustache forums. His blog and the forums are full of awesomeness on frugality and optimising savings.

 

[bigmamimia]

One way I have been saving money for the past few years is by only running the oil furnace when I need it to heat up hot water during the warmer months. I used to go through 100 gallons every 3 months just heating the hot water. Now I use about half that. Oil prices are relatively cheap right now so I am only saving about $300 a year but the past few years I have saved almost $1000 a year.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Sell your home. Live in a tent. Bathe in the watering hole. Eat grass. Theres a ton of ways to save money. The question is how much more do you want to do without?