the annual little ways to save money list!! Give us your best ideas

[eliza61]

One popular new years resolution for many of us is to improve our financial situation. Whether your trying to get out of debt or like me, you had to dole out a lot of cash last year and need to build back up your savings.

So budgeters,list your easy (or not so easy ways to save money )

I'll go first:

I'm a coke fiend, so at work, I was always running to the soda machine getting a soda for lunch. Well soda in the machine is 1.75 each. Last week, I brought a 6 pack on sale and now take it with me. Don't ask me why it didn't click how much I was spending on drinks maybe because I wasn't breaking a big bill.

I'm only saving 5 bucks a week but its a start.

 

[Dashzap]

Here are some things we've done:

• downgraded our home phone to limited service (calls up to 8 miles from home); costs under $20 a month
• make long distance calls via google; domestic US calls are free this year
• cancelled cable TV (bought a converter box and antenna; now get NBC and public television only....it's enough for us)
• learned to make great coffee at home and bought a decent ceramic travel cup
• added unlimited texting to all our cell phones and downgraded # of minutes

 

[2disneyboys]

We have gone to using only cash for certain expenses (like entertainment, eating out etc) and when the cash is gone, the expense is done... I'm amazed at how it causes us to really "think" if we want to run thru that drivethrough or got to that movie, when I'm looking that the cash dwindling... Thats a big one for us!

Also, I buy cases of bottled water @ the warehouse store and bring that to work rather than buying from the local deli or the drink machine... even $5.00 a week ads up... $5 a week x 52 weeks = $260.00 a year..

 

[thebeesknees]

I plan my menus a week or two at a time to take advantage of the sales circulars. It has the added benefit of saving me that 5 o'clock panic of "What's for dinner?". That has saved us a lot over the last couple years that I've been doing it.

 

[Darcy03231]

I used to stop at Dunkin Donuts for coffee every day on my way to work ($2/day). I bought a travel mug for $10 and now take my own coffee. I also stopped eating out at lunch.

Bought an insulated bag and take my lunch. I do allow myself to eat out 1x per month. I've gotten so I hate spending the money now so it is usually only every couple of months.

We got rid of our landline phone a couple of years ago and now only have cell phones.

 

[stich1fan]

So we have New Jersey Manufacture Insurance for hom/auto. They are now offering free road side assistance as of Feb 11. So we will not be renewing out AAA membership. That will save us a nice little bit of money annually.

 

[hinodis]

I have started to say NO more often to my children. I told my 20 year old son just this morning that his Dad and I are not working to give him money. Those college books are expensive so he needs to figure out a way to pay for them. I wish I could have seen his face

 

[MissAndrea]

Drop cable/satellite, drop land line, lower thermostat a few degrees, clip coupons, plan ahead and try to buy things on clearance in the off season. Shop around for cheaper car insurance. Take lunches to work. This summer, shop garage sales! I have found some fantastic deals at garage sales! To make some extra money, sell some stuff on craigslist on ebay. You'd be surprised how much you can get rid of and how much money you can make. Check basement, attic, back of closets. And never assume that something is worthless because again, you'd be surprised how much some things will go for that you would consider throwing away!

 

[ah1126]

When we eat out, we really look at the menu to find the cheapest way to order what we want. At Wendy's we order off the value menu. Two of us can eat for less than $9.00 instead of $14.00.

 

[mrsklamc]

Go to your state treasurer's office website (and any other state you've lived in) and search to make sure you don't have any unclaimed funds.

 

[MacFam4]

We've pretty much stopped eating out. Maybe once a month we eat out as a family, DH eats out for lunch occasionally, but nothing like we used to. I have found some fabulous recipes for the crock pot. We live in a fairly small area so are not really tempted by restuarants, and we don't eat fast food. Any time we have leftovers, DH takes them for lunch. This is a pretty big deal for us because we used to eat out ALL the time, but we don't really seem to miss it anymore.

I plan my menus for 2 weeks at a time and I pretty much stick to my grocery list. I stay out of stores unless I NEED to be in there to pick up something.

We pay close attention to the thermostat. I seem to be the only one that gets cold in my family, so I wear a sweater around the house or cover up with a blanket when I watch TV.

I started cleaning using vinegar and water. I found a great thread on here a while back about making your own cleaning products. There is a great website called www.vinegartips.com with lots of ideas. I haven't started making my own laundry soap yet, but I would like to sometime soon.

We disconnected our home phone and only use our cell phones.

We don't stop for coffee anymore, we make it at home and it still tastes great!

We recently have started selling unused stuff on Bookoo.com.

We're not afraid to tell our children no.

We haven't had to be thrifty in years, but I recently quite my job (back in Oct). It's been wonderful so far, but we knew that we would really have to watch our budget and stick to it. So far we've been doing pretty good, even through Christmas.

 

[KTSMOM]

I round up to the nearest dollar when I pay bills from my checking account. In 6 months I had saved $50.00, which I then moved to my savings account. It was like found money. I also buy almost everything with my credit card and earn the points to get cash rewards, which I then also put in a savings account. (I only recommend this if you pay your credit card in full... interest on those cards is high)
I have a set budget each month and then divide remainder of our money by how many weeks there are in the month. That gives us an idea of how much per week we can spend. It makes us think twice before we go out and spend money.
I also go to my local thrift store which has a lot of upscale clothing and search there for something new that I may need before I hit the regular stores. I have found a lot of nice clothes from JCrew, Banana Republic, etc that I only pay $5 or $7 for per item.
I make my list of dinners for the week before I go to the grocery store so that I follow my list and not impulsively buy things.

 

[MacFam4]

I forgot to add a couple of things in my previous post...

I don't buy books anymore, I get them from the library. Our library also has video games for the Xbox 360 and Kinect, so I get a new one a week for the boys to play. This is also a great way for them to preview a game to see if it's worth buying or not. Speaking of the boys...they get quite a bit of money for their birthdays and Christmas, plus a small allowance. When they want something, they buy it themselves. This makes them think twice about impulse purchases!! It's easy to spend mom and dad's money, but when it's their own, they're actually quite thrifty too!!!

We make sure that we always save our change. We've been saving "silver" for a while, and now have over $500 I have no idea how much we have in pennies, but it has to be quite a bit.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We use an old but simple way to save on gas (heat) and electric - opening the blinds/ curtains on the south facing side of the house during the winter to let in the sun/ heat. And keeping them closed during the summer to keep the house cooler. Also we keep our therm at 59 duing the winter (sounds cold but it's not bad if you're moving around or cuddled up on the couch) and 80 during the summer. Our last gas bill (during December with record breaking cold was $113 and that includes hot water - aka we have gas hot water).

I shop at Wal-Mart after checking other grocery store flyers. They will happily price match on most things (Not on buy one get one free but on anything with an actual price printed on the ad)

We've stopped eating out - that had gotten out of control.

There are canned sodas in the fridge and a small soft sided cooler in the car so we can always grab a few to take with us if we're going somewhere (saves us buying a drink while out).

We get Netflix peridically and never buy DVDs anymore because we can always get something again when we re-activate Netflix.

I started keeping a list of all money spent it's on the fridge and it is really neat to see it all layed out there.

Ditto PP making a menu in advance comment - that always saves me tons of money.

 

[shortbun]

Cash only. I never buy anything unless I can afford it. Never. Also, I window shop a lot for something I want. Wait for it, think about it, find the best price, think about it some more....finally decide either yea or nay. I've saved mucho bucks by making sure I wasn't doing spontaneous buying.
OK-I admit to two spontaneous purchases this holiday season. I'm thrilled I bought them, they were things for ME and things I've been wanting for years. I could not believe I found them and I bought them on the spot. One was a beautiful aluminum Christmas tree that I had been searching for for years without any luck-I mean it's one of the lush and well made antique trees with the color wheel that still works. The other thing was a white, large felted Christmas tree skirt-I've hated the one I've been using for at least 15 years and wanted a white one. I am still excited!!!

 

[usnuzuloose]

We bought a roku box and watch hulu plus and netflix so the only cost is 20.00 a month. When we had comcast it cost us 160 a month.

We have internet and land line as it only costs me about the amount that I paid for internet only on comcast. But I get land line with it for the same price a month. Savings about 100 a month.

We have one credit card for emergencies and put about 20 a month on it to keep it open. I do not want to pay cc fees any more.

I grocery shop about every six weeks, for 2 of us. I use coupons and I end up saving about 30 dollars.

We no longer have a mortgage after selling our home so big mortgage down to rent in an apartment.

So many ways to save money. I will keep reading with all the good ideas, hope to pick up some more.

 

[HLDisney]

Use cloth towels instead of paper towels. I use old washcloths to wipe up spills and to clean counters, etc. And over the summer, I found packs of baby washcloths on clearance and bought 2 packs of them. We use them instead of paper napkins at mealtime.

Other than the week when my DD and I both had colds, we haven't had to open up a new box of tissues in months. Same thing with our roll of paper towels.

It's probably just a tiny bit of savings but everything helps!

Helen

 

[littlezar]

I plan out all my errands so I do them all in one day and I'm not backtracking.

My 9 year old takes his lunch (most days...except Wednesday since it's pizza day ) and uses a Tupperware sandwich keeper and small plastic containers for snacks. I also bought a widemouth thermos this year and heat up chicken nuggets, wrap them in foil and then put them in the thermos. He claims they're still really warm at lunch.

 

[eliza61]

Go to your state treasurer's office website (and any other state you've lived in) and search to make sure you don't have any unclaimed funds.

Hey does that really work? I always see the commercial but really never believed it.

 

[figment3258]

We just bought ourselves a keriug to make our own coffee drinks at home

Also I give my kids a nice allowance each week 50cents per year old and I make them pay for anything they want besides basic need(food cloths ect.)

It helps when u hear them whinny I want that well save up if u really Need it.