Money Saving Tips

[stemikger]

Here is what I have learned over the years and how I never really got into debt. I never made a ton of money, but I have made good traction. Here are some tips.

1. The best thing I every did was buy an affordable house with a fixed rate 30 year mortgage. I pay extra on the house and will have it paid off in a few years. In short, never buy too much house and if you can get a 15 year fixed, even better. If you borrow too much for a house you can forget about the rest of your financial life. Unless you plan on making the big bucks or working like a dog. A big house was never something I would want so badly that I would trade time away from my family.

2. Max on the 401K. This is the first year I stopped contributing. However, I wil go back in shortly. For the last 13 years I had my company take out the max allowed. This is a very easy way to save money without budgeting. Also, invest in index funds (if you can). They are much cheaper then managed funds and they beat most of the managed funds in the long run.

3. For the men if you wear short hair. Buy a clipper and cut it yourself. O.K. it's easy for me to say because I used to cut hair for a living, but really with the attachments it is very easy.

4. Live within your means and if you do use credit cards pay them off in full each month.

5. Set up an emergency fund of at least 3 months of expenses.

6. Now that the digitial t.v. conversion is happening, cut the expensive cable or whatever other service you pay for. I paid to have an antenna put on my roof and I get a better picture then I did with Satellite and no monthly fee. O.K. It does take a little getting used to but I now pocket that $70 extra a month. Also, if you have the internet, you can see all your shows for free on sites like HULU, Youtube, etc. More of these sites are popping up every day. And don't forget good old DVDs. Pop one in whenevery you want to watch a movie.

7. Go to Disney when they offer discounts (free dining is even better) and always stay in a value. I have been to Disney the last 4 years and pay less then a vacation at the Jersey Shore and I live in New York.

8. Buy sub-compact cars and keep them for at least 10 years. We are a one car household, my wife doesn't drive and we always bought sub-compacts. I keep them for at least 10 years, more if I can. I just bought a brand new Nissan Versa for $14,000 and the best is I bought it outright. I coudln't imagine doing that with a $40,000 car. So I now have a brand new car with no payments for at least 10 years.

O.K. that's it folks. Would love to hear what you guys do.

 

[mominwestlake]

Here is what I have learned over the years and how I never really got into debt. I never made a ton of money, but I have made good traction. Here are some tips.

1. The best thing I every did was buy an affordable house with a fixed rate 30 year mortgage. I pay extra on the house and will have it paid off in a few years. In short, never buy too much house and if you can get a 15 year fixed, even better. If you borrow too much for a house you can forget about the rest of your financial life. Unless you plan on making the big bucks or working like a dog. A big house was never something I would want so badly that I would trade time away from my family.

I think this is key. I have a lot of friends who bought/built large, very impressive homes. We bought a traditional colonial that was very reasonable. It needed a lot of cosmetic work like wallpaper and paint. The bathrooms are nothing fancy. I don't work and we wanted a reasonable house payment. Yes, I have had some house fancy over the years but I feel now for friends who have large house payments they can't afford because of the economy.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

When we moved back to the US and decided I would continue to stay home, we downsized. Bought almost exactly the same house we sold, but with the same house payment (and we gained a basement!).

Got a Vue instead of an Expedition, got a 4 cyl 4 dr instead of a 6 cyl sport model. Our car payments are much much less (we pay less for both cars than we did for just the Expedition b/c we put down 1/3 of the price on each) and we use half as much gas. This is saving us at least $800 a month from our previous, double income life.

In the summer, dh commutes on his motorcycle. It gets 50+ mpg and gives him some exercise (pushing around a 400# bike is good for the muscles).

When meat is on sale, I buy a lot of it. Chix breast at $1.99 - get 5-8# and individually wrap each breast we don't use. Same with pork chops. Cheap ground beef - buy it, fry it up, and portion it into individual freezer bags. This is great for use in casseroles, spaghetti sauce, taco night. Vary the portion size - 1/3# for spaghetti nights, 1-1/4# for tacos, etc. A sharpie makes a great reminder for how much you have in each.

I try hard to find a use for my meat leftovers. Chop leftover chicken breasts to put in pasta sauce over penne. Same with sausage. Leftover ham slices can be fried for another meal or chopped to put in omelets or green beans.

Many recipes can have the meat portion reduced. If you are making a casserole that calls for meat, you can often reduce the meat by 1/3 - 1/2 and have no difference in the taste. Just add some extra pasta, beans or veggies depending on the recipe.

Try cooking only one piece of meat for each family member. The rest can be individually wrapped and frozen for another meal. With chix breasts, I can almost always put back one or a portion of one. If you cut each breast into smaller pieces or medallions, you feel like you're getting more when you may actually get less.

I try to do my grocery shopping as soon as I drop the kids at school. The stores are nearly empty and I have the pick of the day old bread and cakes and the reduced meat. I can get a beef roast at half price and put it in the freezer for when I feel like making pot roast. It's a great way to pick up stew meat, too.

Consignment, Craigslist and eBay - I sell my kids clothes at a twice yearly consignment sale. Sure, I have to give 30% to the church for missions, but I get to write that 30% off my taxes. I get 70%, and since I can mark each item at $3-5, it beats the heck out of garage sales. I also buy boys clothes at consignment. I got 10 pr of jean shorts for $3 each - and they were Urban Pipeline, Old Navy, Wrangler. They have barely any wear and will last through both my boys.

I have sold (and bought) larger items off Craigslist and been very pleased with the outcome. And I tend to buy things for my boys off eBay. I tend to keep that to known, name-brand things, but I can get them barely used Lands End parkas for 1/3 of new, and still be able to sell them for the same or close to it when they finish with them.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Save on kids' lunches:

~ don't buy baby carrots, buy regular ones and cut them yourself. They keep longer in the fridge and are cheaper.

~ same goes for chips or snacks. Buy the big bag and portion them out yourself. You can go for ziplock snack bags (much smaller than a regular chip bag) or use a returnable plastic container (see below). I do this with chips, cookies, crackers, anything that constitutes and extra for the lunch.

~ don't use plastic bags unless you have an unusual sized item. I invested in a variety of rubbermaid / take-n-toss containers and they fit nearly everything I might put in a lunch. They cost more initially, but they save money over time.

~ use reusable juice boxes or thermoses instead of sending cans, throwaway plastic bottles, or tetrapaks. My boys are 10 and 8 and they take all their drinks (except on field trip days) in re-usable rubbermaid containers I bought to store breastmilk in 10 yrs ago. Really. It's much cheaper to buy juice or gatorade by the gallon and portion it yourself. It's even cheaper to buy gatorade powder and mix your own to pour in. I have gotten my money's worth out of those bottles many times over. (and you can order more straws, thought I just wash them out and re-use them)

~ last, I don't overpack. I have a good handle on what my kids eat, and I know that my oldest can only handle a sandwich and one extra item (fruit, carrots, chips). It's a waste of money to send him more. My younger son can eat more in the 20 minutes they get, so he gets more, but not so much that he's coming home with half his chips and half his sandwich.

 

[Inigo]

One way I save is by using the butcher at the grocery store. Last week, boneless pork chops were on sale for $2.19 a pound. The pork loin roast was $1.88 a pound. I bought a five pound roast, which was in a long skinny plastic package. I took it to the butcher and asked him to cut off a 2 pound section for a roast, and then cut the other three pounds into chops. When I got home, I divided the chops up and froze them into sets of 5 chops. I took the bigger chunk, threw it into the crockpot, and made pulled pork.

 

[JeMarie6]

We love going out to eat, though I'd say we go out less than 1x per week now a days, but even then I try to save money by using coupons. I sign us all up for all of the clubs/emails at our favorite restaurants. Usually they send out free kids meals coupons on all the kids birthdays, and often free appetizer/$5 off coupons on the adult birthdays. So when we do go out to eat, we can get a good deal. We also watch for the gift card bonus deals around Christmas time - buy $20 gift card, get $5 gift card bonus, etc. As long as you understand the terms of the offer, we can use the gift card (though not always the bonus) with one of our free birthday coupons! Also since we have two kids it pays to know when kids eat free.

 

[Bektasmic]

Cutting corners on all sorts of stuff, but still like to feel like we can treat ourselves every once in awhile. My advice is to find ways to "indulge" or treat yourself for less.

I asked my stylist for the "recipe" for my haircolor and now do it at home and only go in 2 times a year for professional (need to color monthly to cover grays). It's about 12.00 (takes 2 bottles) to color at home vs. 75 (plus tip) at the salon, so this has saved tons. And now my bi-yearly salon color feels like a treat instead of a monthly "chore." I do the same with pedicures...Iget a good one every so often and then do the rest at home.

We've trained ourselves to appreciate drinking water and milk, rather than juices and soda (healthy and less expensive), but Hubby likes a soda during church and son's sporting events. Instead of purchasing on location, I stock up on bottled soda when on sale and he drinks that instead (33 cents on sale vs. 1.50 on location)-keep these in a garage fridge so they don't just get gobbled up out of the fridge

Have subbed out my 3-times-a-week Starbucks for "fancy" coffee creamers which make me enjoy the coffee I have at home and at work so much I don't even miss Starbucks (well, much)

Have switched out regular date nights with husband (cost of sitter, dinner, movie/show) for regular lunch dates instead (cost of lunch w/coupon cheaper than dinner and no sitter cost). Saves money plus fun to have a break in the middle of the workday. Still do evening date nights, just not as often and we don't waste money seeing movies/shows that we don't really care about.

Find trades-after husband lost his job, rather than pulling my son out of preschool, I traded my bookkeeping services for his tuition. I also trade with my daycare provider-she gets first swipe through my garage sale items and then we trade the amount she would have paid for hours of daycare. Since she ends up taking more than she would if she paid cash, I come out ahead. I'm also planning on doing an accessory-trade party with my girlfriends where everyone brings purses, shoes, costume jewelry, scarves, and clothing they are just sick of and then we can trade to refresh our wardrobes.

 

[semo233]

I found many of my money saving ideas on.....DisBoards! Here are a few that I continue to do:

Cut dryer sheets in half
heavy towels are dried on a drying rack and finished in the dryer to fluff for 10 minutes
Make my own powdered laundry detergent (better for environment too)
Use vinegar to clean almost everything
Cutting coupons
Arranging menus around sales flyers
Got my family to use my chili for tacos...I use 1/2 pound of beef and lots of
beans..it's healthier and cheaper..even make my own taco seasoning (less salt)
Shop at Target and Walmart for groceries when possible
I save and reuse ALL leftovers...even a small piece of beef goes a long way when added to onion or lentil soup
Pay bills on line (no stamps)
Bought slipcovers instead of new furniture because I no longer like the fabric
Get all my toothpaste and shampoo for free by shopping the sales at CVS and Rite Aid...plus lots of other great deals
Use ebates and cashbaq sites when purchasing an item on-line
Will be getting rid of premium channels on cable
Just saying "No"

There are many more I can be doing and try to take them on one at time so that it is not a big change for anyone.

 

[semo233]

Just thought of one more....
We have never really had any credit card debt, but I now have a job that pays less than half of what I should be making (looking though!).
I just started paying for everything with cash. I budget $200 per week and that needs to cover EVERYTHING! For the first few weeks, it may not be enough, but when I start having money left over, I will save it for weeks where I need more. I just started this and need to register my daughter for cheerleading this Sat...$155! I am saving all my reciepts so that I can see where it is going also.

 

[FINFAN]

I think this is key. I have a lot of friends who bought/built large, very impressive homes. We bought a traditional colonial that was very reasonable. It needed a lot of cosmetic work like wallpaper and paint. The bathrooms are nothing fancy. I don't work and we wanted a reasonable house payment. Yes, I have had some house fancy over the years but I feel now for friends who have large house payments they can't afford because of the economy.

Not to mention the cost of utilities on said McMansion and FURNISHING it! I could pay a year of my DD college tuition on what my neighbor spent on her bedroom alone!( and my kids tuition is $26,000 p year)
We havea lot of " seasonal" decorators here too, they change their furniture , not just their knick knacks....it amazes me.

 

[tuliptwirls]

Thanks for posting such great tips. I think this will save my family in the long run.