How did you save money lately?

[texasroni75]

Washing machine stopped working on Saturday. I looked up the problem online, found out that it was probably a $20 part. Found a site with pictures of step-by-step instructions, and also a youtube video. It's back up and running now after 2 hours of work disassembling, replacing the part, and reassembling. The internet and some elbow-grease saved us the expense of having to pay someone to fix it for us (or buying a new machine, which I probably would have done back when we were a 2-income family!

Oh, and saved up enough Swagbucks to purchase a new family tent. We plan to do a 5 day camping trip this summer, and decided to go with a tent site instead of paying more $$ for a cabin.

 

[lovesmurfs]

We've just revisited our budget and my "aha" moment was the amount I spend on eating out for lunch. Downtown Chicago -- It's hard to eat for under $10.

So I've been bringing my lunch to work -- healthier and tastier. And cheaper!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Well, its not the best way to "save" money in general, but I just upgraded to the Premium Disney Visa card. I hate the idea of cards with an annual fee, but running the numbers I expect to make waaaayyy more than the annual fee back in Disney dollars every year. I've already got $400 saved to go towards my next vacation, but with upgrading, I'm hoping to add at least $100 more to that before we go.

 

[javeyloveschelsi]

we planted a garden - it was an investment of about $120.00, but we will not have to buy fresh produce all summer. My parewnts are growing tomatoes and cucumbers, so we will trade with them, plus give some to my grandma. The leftovers will be sold at our local market.

We recently got a walmart, so we will save money on gas to get our other groceries.

We have also started paying things in cash. We have applied the "envelope system" to our grocery and entertainment budget. I keep a "change baggie" in the car. When we spend cash, the change goes into the baggie and when we get home, it goes into a jug that we have apoxied the cap to. the ONLY way to get into it is to physically cut the jug.

We purchased year long memberships to our local zoo and botanical gardens - this will save us money overall during the year, becuase we will not have ot pay the $14.00 each everytime we go to the zoo or the $10.00 each ever time we go to the gardens. 2 times to the gardents and that is paid and 3 trips to the zoo and that membership has paid for itself

You don't happen to live in the middle of KS do you? We just got a walmart also right where we live and won't have to drive any more, plus we buy zoo memberships as well (Not botanical gardens as of yet though!). Just curious since it sounds so much like my neck of the woods!

 

[javeyloveschelsi]

We have been saving a lot by buying our meat from Zaycon Fresh. They now have their chicken on sale from coast to coast for $1.69 a pound and I love their chicken! Yes, you have to freeze it yourself, but it's worth the savings and it coming fresh straight from the farm. We also got their hot dogs recently and they are great and I have ground beef coming next week!

 

[verleniahall]

You don't happen to live in the middle of KS do you? We just got a walmart also right where we live and won't have to drive any more, plus we buy zoo memberships as well (Not botanical gardens as of yet though!). Just curious since it sounds so much like my neck of the woods!

I DO! I live in Hillsboro KS

 

[star72232]

We have been saving a lot by buying our meat from Zaycon Fresh. They now have their chicken on sale from coast to coast for $1.69 a pound and I love their chicken! Yes, you have to freeze it yourself, but it's worth the savings and it coming fresh straight from the farm. We also got their hot dogs recently and they are great and I have ground beef coming next week!

I wish that I could find chicken anywhere near me for a price near that. A great sale on bone-in breasts or thighs here is 3.49/lb, 3.99+/lb for boneless.

 

[javeyloveschelsi]

I DO! I live in Hillsboro KS

I'm in Marion! Such a small world!!!

 

[javeyloveschelsi]

I wish that I could find chicken anywhere near me for a price near that. A great sale on bone-in breasts or thighs here is 3.49/lb, 3.99+/lb for boneless.

Does Zaycon not come around your area? I am not sure if I can post sites here, but it is zayconfresh.com. We love it!!!

 

[verleniahall]

I'm in Marion! Such a small world!!!

Im FROM Marion! Born and raised! My parents still live there! OMG!

 

[star72232]

Does Zaycon not come around your area? I am not sure if I can post sites here, but it is zayconfresh.com. We love it!!!

I'm in Canada.

 

[HM]

Instead of grocery shopping once or twice a week, I've been going a lot more often and just picking up what we need for the next couple days.

Use Groupons for restaurants we frequent and for pedicures (go about once every 6-8 weeks). Bought an "Entertainment"-type coupon book and try to use it when we want take-out food or other experiences.

 

[verleniahall]

^^^ Actually, going multiple times a week, nuless you are ONLY getting things on a list will actually cost you more than going once a week on a set day.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I asked DH to do the grocery shopping one night per week after work. It's a half hour drive to the store we shop at, but it's under 10 minutes from his work so it saves a lot of gas money. It also saves on our grocery bill. I make a menu, and give him the list. He sticks to the list way better than I do. I'm bad at impulse buying. It also saves me 1/2 a day on the weekends since I'm not spending the drive time and my time leisurely perusing the shelves!

 

[verleniahall]

I've noticed that I impuse buy as well - when we were on active duty, I would get my eyebrows waxed once a payperiod, and in the shopping center there was a grocery store, so I would get my eyebrows done and DH would do the shopping....hum....makes me think we should try that again!!

 

[DisneyHardin]

I called Time Warner last week and re-negotiated our bill (cable/phone/internet) down $15 per month.

We have really cut down on our eating out since the first of the year. We just eat out every other Friday. We used to eat out two or three times per week.

I have built up quite a stash of food in the freezer, so we are going to start a freezer/pantry clean out the next few weeks and that should cut down on the grocery bill some.

 

[pryncess527]

I realized our iPhones through Verizon were out of contract. Instead of upgrading to the 6 (which I really do not want), I contacted Verizon by chat and asked if we were eligible for a line discount on out of contract phones. Sure enough, they reduced our bill by $15 for each out of contract phone.

And, I also just reached out to Time Warner via online chat and asked if my account was eligible for any promotional discounts. They lowered by bill by $5 a month for the next year. Not much, but better than nothing. $60 for less than 5 minutes of effort.

 

[xlxo]

• New carb for the car corrected fuel economy issues
• embrace low gas prices
• avoid food waste... pack restaurant leftovers
• trim cable packages little used
• switch off cellular data when at home. Discovered phone went to cellular data when the wifi signal was weak at home.
• ask for the highest deductable for home and travel insurance
• cruise with oceanview rooms instead of balconies. Get the largest window that makes you feel you have a balcony.

 

[verleniahall]

Just a reminder!! If you are military and go through Verizion, you are eligible for 15% off your bill!

 

[Kbee]

I bought a large water filter (not the pitcher kind) for the fridge and I stopped buying water bottles. We drink mostly water and would go through at least 4 30 packs a month.
We don't do contract cell phones, so for the 5 of us we pay around $80/month
I'll be planting some veggies this spring for salads
I do more and more shopping at Aldi