Help me find more ways to save

[NokOnHarts]

We're also planning for Oct. 2014. Some great advice here. We are saving for our most expensive trip yet, a land / sea trip for the first time, and it's my challenge to save for as much of it as possible with "extra" cash - nothing from our income. Any little bonus, birthday cash, cash from selling stuff or side jobs (etc) goes into our vacation fund. It's amazing how much you can save when you have a goal!

I have also made $500 in surveys in 4 months, since end of May. I really like MyView.com and I've had pretty good luck with ipoll.com. I do some every evening and on the weekends. I buy the $50 visa virtual gift cards, and then buy disney gift cards from the disneystore website. Works great and shipping is free. Or you could use the gift cards towards things you need from other stores online and then put that cash you would have used into your vacation fund. Just make sure to keep any gift cards in a safe place.

For airline tickets, we put everything on our SW card (pay it off each month), and I also do surveys through e-rewards which gets me extra miles. We should get 2-3 of our 4 tickets free for our trip using points.

We still got a year to go so lots of time to save if you work at it!

 

[happymommy]

Do you coupon? I had always dabbled at it, but when I lost my job 4 years ago, it became my part-time job. Between couponing, maximizing sales and stockpiling items I know we will use, it is still almost like the income of a part time job. Now if I could get as disciplined about eating out as I was when I wasn't working, we would be saving big time now.

LOL!

Anyway, to the OP - do not underestimate the savings by doing this. Get the week's sales offers for your local stores, compare the deals, and search for coupons, then stock up when you find a great deal (you'll be amazed how many things turn out to be free with coupons). Make sure you have space for storage of things.

I did this for about two years - one year it was like a part time job (I could do it while the kids were at school) and saved enough to buy an extra week of our Marriott timeshare in Hawaii ($5,000) as a surprise to my husband. The money I would have been using on groceries and toiletries I would put into a separate savings account every week or so (first it was in a drawer, but that didn't seem safe, LOL).

Also - cooking at home, everyone says this but it's true! I can load up with a cart of groceries at Walmart for $100. If we 4 go out to eat, it's always that much. Plus it's healthier for the most part!

A good helper for me was Fly Lady - google her. She helped me organize my meals (which is hard since DS has food allergies, so we can't do dairy or egg, which rules out all those easy casseroles with cream soup as a base).

If we did go out to the movies, I would do other things like have kids bring friends over for games or movies and popcorn at home. Personally though, I am not a big movie going fan - but when we do I am shocked how much it costs!

I love the PP suggestion of the coin jars!

The other posters have great suggestions too - if it were up to me, I'd cut cable but I'm overruled by my family!

Also, I do agree that unless you're a big coupon shopper (like I was at one point, I could go in and get $150 of groceries for $20 or so but it took a lot of planning, and I'd usually go several times a week for smaller loads of deals) go shopping infrequently. Make your list for the week and just get that and any good deals that can store up like frozen things. Don't shop too often - you will waste gas and buy impulse things. I agree with the PP - stay out of the stores. I never go to the mall (I hate clothes shopping, would love a personal shopper LOL) but used to and found "deals" on clothes I didn't need. Shop in your closet!

Good luck!

 

[mhara]

Set up a budget in advance every month and stick to it. Once you've planned what to spend on bills, groceries and other expenses, you can ear-mark the surplus amount for your savings. You're a lot less likely to buy a cappuccino or a take-away if you have to take money out of your "savings" to pay for it.