We've done the grocery tips, how about general money saving tips....

[CheapMom]

YES- We use an no fee equity-accelerator for our mortgage and our monthly payment is split in half and paid on the 1st and 15th (it is due on the 21st) Our 30 year mortgage will be paid in full in 21 years!!! I understand DisneySteve's theory and it makes sense but I have a knack for making crappy investments (ie: Disney stock) and I love watching my mortgage balance go down, down, down each year.

10. Matinees or the second run movie theatre
9. the library
8. INGDIRECT
7. Make your own baby food
6. When shopping online ALWAYS look for a code before you checkout (flamingoworld.com...)
5. Buy a house in a neighborhood where the the public schools are good. This protects property values and saves huge $$$ vs. private or parochial schools.
4. Drink water (at restaurants and at home, I take a water bottle with me everywhere)
3. STAY OUT OF CREDIT CARD DEBT and pay your bills on time to avoid finance charges and late fees.
2. Ebay (clear clutter and earn a little $$)
and number one... drumroll please...
1. BREASTFEEDING

 

[CheapMom]

Just a quick clarification- we are not paying more principal- we are just paying early and therefore reducing the amount of interest that is accrued.

 

[barbeml]

Lot's of great tips here!! No wonder we can all afford to go to WDW!

DH and I have the same money style, and one of the best things we do is maintain our cars and keep them long after they are paid off. Benefits:

1. DH happens to enjoy washing & waxing (he says it relaxes him) and he does some of the basic maintenance himself (saves $$ right there).

2. Well-maintained cars get better mileage and run longer.

3. When a car is paid off, we keep making the monthly payment into our savings account.

4. When my 7-year-old car (still looked new and ran great) needed a costly repair in June (and was going to need brakes & tires soon), we were in a great position to take advantage of a huge GM rebate (plus my GM credit card rewards), and were able to get a brand new loaded car for less than $12,000 out of our pockets (with tax & misc charges) and pay cash.

5. We are now "paying ourselves back" with a monthly payment into savings.

Also, we drive fuel-efficient cars. Our friends with SUVs have been moaning about gas prices for months.

Barbe

 

[Lynn CC]

No offense taken at all!
I'm 41 and mortgage free, we have quite a nest egg and to tell you the truth our 401K's, SEP IRA etc...haven't made a whole lot of money. Hopefully, ours will do better than some of the people that we know, that have retired in recent years. Those people didn't quite get back what they expected, and some are working part-time to suppliment.
I just think that for the next (how ever many years we choose to work before retirement) we will spread the mortgage savings around some to be sure we don't end up disappointed.
Diversification is key. I wish I could expect high returns on our investments over the years and hope that we will be pleasantly surprised, but I won't count on it. We won't be worrying about it either, because with all the $ that we make from now until retirement we can save because we live debt free and quite comfy! Nothing was handed to us, just a lot of hard work and started off paying ourselves first at a very young age, which included paying double the principle.

 

[EeyoreJMH]

Oh, I thought of one other idea. If you have a AAA membership, some local offices may sell discounted movie pass books. Around here I can buy a 4-pack of passes for about $24. You can use these for evening shows after a movie has been out about two weeks in the theaters. Since DH works off hours, we can never get to a matinee, so we just wait until passes are permitted for the movies we want to see.

Of course,if we're being really good, we wait until the movie is out in DVD and rent it for free from the library.

And speaking of the library, ours lends passes to local museums and zoos at no cost, so we plan ahead for day trips and use these when possible.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We have a Sprint Cell phone and we also have Sprint Long Distance.

They had a promo for new customers to get free long distance on their home phone. We were existing customers, but we asked for it and they gave it to us--so we have 50 free long distance minutes on our home phone. Though we still mostly use our cell for the long distance--sometimes it is nice to speak on a land line for free

 

[mom2alix]

I LOVE my Entertainment Book. It has more than paid for itself and saved us tons of money too. In our area, the book has monthly coupons for $5 off a $50 grocery bill at HyVee which made the book worthwhile right there. With the restaurant and attractions coupons added in, it's really been a good deal for us.

We also purchsed one of those refillable cell phones from Sam's and now my monthly cell phone cost is down to $10. I don't use the cell phone for much (just good to have for safety reasons) and this was a big savings for us vs. what we were paying through Sprint PCS.

 

[mrspaha]

These tips have been great. A few of my moneysavers:

Use the public library. I look at the bestseller list each week in the Sunday paper, and for any book that looks interesting, I reserve it online; then the library calls me when it's available. Nice timesaver, and I get to read the current books.

I shop at Aldi's for most of my staples. I have had absolutely no problems with their brands, and my family can't tell the difference. Things like peanut butter for 1.29, bread for .39. buns for .49, spaghetti, rice, baking stuff (choc chips, brown sugar, etc. is cheaper even than the best sale prices at Jewel or Dominicks. I buy my fresh meat only on sale at Jewel or Dominicks or Cub.

Hotwire savings club has saved me a bunch. I've been getting Target and K-Mart gift certificates and using them to purchase paper products, hair shampoo/cond, laundry products, soda pop and snacks that are on sale; then use the gc's which save another 20%. It's helped also these past few weeks with school supplies and badly needed new socks and underwear for everyone.

My thanks go to these boards, by the way, for turning me on to Hotwire. It's also saved me lots with the theatre tickets. I have 2 teenagers that go just about every week.

 

[minnie1928]

I started this thread and had no idea how well it would take off, thanks for all the responses!

Earlier this year my DH wanted a new monitor, I whined that the old one was just fine. Granted it was a 21" monitor that was the size of a television (tube and all, it was HUGE!). But I finally caved and said go ahead and get one. We went to ciruit ciy, found a slightly smaller flat panel monitor for less than $400. I made him use my Disney Visa (extra reward$) and since circuit city is a Upromise supporter I got some $ that way too. But here's the kicker! The first month after buying the new monitor my electric bill shrank over $30! I figured it was a fluke, until I got the next several bills and they followed suit! Who knew the old monitor would be such an electric hog?

I'm enjoying my new monitor and lower electric bill, but I'm not going to tell DH. Who knows what he would buy next if I told him he was right!

Keep the ideas coming!

 

[Muushka]

Originally posted by minnie1928
I started this thread and had no idea how well it would take off, thanks for all the responses!

Earlier this year my DH wanted a new monitor, I whined that the old one was just fine. Granted it was a 21" monitor that was the size of a television (tube and all, it was HUGE!). But I finally caved and said go ahead and get one. We went to ciruit ciy, found a slightly smaller flat panel monitor for less than $400. I made him use my Disney Visa (extra reward$) and since circuit city is a Upromise supporter I got some $ that way too. But here's the kicker! The first month after buying the new monitor my electric bill shrank over $30! I figured it was a fluke, until I got the next several bills and they followed suit! Who knew the old monitor would be such an electric hog?

I'm enjoying my new monitor and lower electric bill, but I'm not going to tell DH. Who knows what he would buy next if I told him he was right!

Keep the ideas coming!

Interesting monitor story. Just wondering how old was the old one? My husband has been wanting tp get a new one also (he has a 21" now) and I have been reluctant to spend the $$ Maybe this is the boost he needed!

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by mrspaha
Hotwire savings club has saved me a bunch. I've been getting Target and K-Mart gift certificates and using them to purchase paper products, hair shampoo/cond, laundry products, soda pop and snacks that are on sale; then use the gc's which save another 20%. It's helped also these past few weeks with school supplies and badly needed new socks and underwear for everyone.

My thanks go to these boards, by the way, for turning me on to Hotwire. It's also saved me lots with the theatre tickets. I have 2 teenagers that go just about every week.

I've heard of Hotwire so many times, but am not sure what it is or how it actually works. Could you explain please?

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by minnie1928
I'm enjoying my new monitor and lower electric bill, but I'm not going to tell DH. Who knows what he would buy next if I told him he was right!

This is also very true for refrigerators. If your refrigerator is more than about 10 years old, chances are good that it would be cheaper for you to replace it than to keep it. The cost of the new one could be quickly recovered in the form of lower electric bills. Fridges have gotten far more efficient in the last decade and electricity has gotten more expensive.

Of course, this assumes that you don't go replace your basic fridge with one twice the size with more bells and whistles .

 

[Muushka]

Originally posted by disneysteve
This is also very true for refrigerators. If your refrigerator is more than about 10 years old, chances are good that it would be cheaper for you to replace it than to keep it. The cost of the new one could be quickly recovered in the form of lower electric bills. Fridges have gotten far more efficient in the last decade and electricity has gotten more expensive.

Of course, this assumes that you don't go replace your basic fridge with one twice the size with more bells and whistles .

Funny you should mention this. We had a 13 CF freezer that was so full it was scary. It was 12 years old. We went shopping to replace it and get a larger (and I had a friend who could really use a freezer, so it was a no-brainer) 21 CF and it ends up less expensive to run even at that very large size! It didn't have any electricity using bells and whistles though.

 

[minnie1928]

Originally posted by Muushka
Interesting monitor story. Just wondering how old was the old one? My husband has been wanting tp get a new one also (he has a 21" now) and I have been reluctant to spend the $$ Maybe this is the boost he needed!

I think we bought the monitor in early 2000 or late 1999, and it was refurbished at that time. We ended up donating it to our child's daycare (non-profit, church sponsored) and they were thrilled with it!

 

[MrsPete]

Y'all have taken most of the good ones already, but I'll throw out one more money-saving idea: Several people said skip meals out. We all know that can save big bucks in a hurry, still sometimes we need a break from cooking! Here are a couple ways to eat out for much less:

Take home something from the grocery store deli. Chicken Marsala at my favorite Italian place is about $13/person. At the grocery store deli it's $3.50/serving. Granted, the quantity and the quality aren't the same, but neither is the price! You can "deli out" your family of four for $10-15, depending upon what you choose -- it's hard to eat out anywhere except McDonald's for that price.

Don't overlook specials and coupons. A burger place near us has kids-eat-free every Tuesday night. Pizza delivery coupons are easily available.

Chinese take-out is cheap, and two meals are more than enough for my family of four.

If you do the real sit-down-and-eat-out thing, order water instead of drinks. A family of four can shave $6-8 off the bill just by doing this!

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by MrsPete
Y'all have taken most of the good ones already, but I'll throw out one more money-saving idea: Several people said skip meals out. We all know that can save big bucks in a hurry, still sometimes we need a break from cooking! Here are a couple ways to eat out for much less:

Take home something from the grocery store deli. Chicken Marsala at my favorite Italian place is about $13/person. At the grocery store deli it's $3.50/serving. Granted, the quantity and the quality aren't the same, but neither is the price! You can "deli out" your family of four for $10-15, depending upon what you choose -- it's hard to eat out anywhere except McDonald's for that price.

I was just thinking that same way this morning. We ordered the "everyday special" from our favorite pizza place last night. Of course, I thought "I could be saving $21 if I just made dinner", however, I just needed a break from cooking, didn't feel like going out or spending the money it would cost for all 5 of us to eat out so I took the money I had left over from my weekly allowance & bought the family dinner.

While I could have put the money towards a Disney trip or something else, we all had a taste for a pizza & I was just too tired to cook anything, so sometimes you just have to "splurge a little" & just spend the money!

 

[disneysteve]

Originally posted by MrsPete
Several people said skip meals out. We all know that can save big bucks in a hurry, still sometimes we need a break from cooking! Here are a couple ways to eat out for much less:

My biggest tip for dining out on a budget - SHARE. As we all know, as Americans have gotten more and more obese, restaurant serving sizes have gotten obscenely large. An average platter now easily serves at least 2 people.

For example, DW and I went to Bertucci's recently (it's an Italian chain). I noticed chicken picatta on the specials for $13.00. It included salad and bread. DW just ordered a house salad for $5.00. I ordered the special. The platter came with 3 whole pieces of chicken and a side of pasta. We also got a basket with 5 large dinner rolls (keep in mind there were only 2 of us at the table). So we each had a salad, one piece of chicken and shared some of the pasta. We also each had a dinner roll. The 3rd piece of chicken and remainder of the pasta came home and I had it for lunch at work a couple of days later. So for under $25 (with tax and tip included), we had 2 full dinners and 1 lunch.

Unless you want to take home a lot of food, it is rarely necessary anymore to order a full platter for each person. That lowers the cost quite a bit.

 

[j's m]

disneysteve,

We just did the same thing at Bertucci's with the eggplant parmesan and spagetti, except we ordered an extra soup and meatballs. It was way cheaper than 2 full dinners and there was more than enough for us.

Another favorite saver of mine is our coupon exchange at the library. One wonderful woman is a coupon maniac and keeps the coupon box straight and organized. She's there several days a week, clipping away and sorting. Everyone just drops off extra coupons and takes what you need.

Since I'm there to pick up my library books and coupons, I also read the current newspapers instead of buying them.

 

[momtofour]

Great thread!!! Thanks to the OP and all who have contributed with their wonderful ideas. Let's keep this one going!! I have decided to skip my usual three to four Costco trips per week. I absolutely love the store and all that it offers! However, last month I spent over $1000 there and I really cannot figure out where it all went! (Other than gas, which is alot!!) I typically spend at least $500 per month there without even thinking about it. Well now I am thinking about it!! While there is no doubt they have some great buys, I just really got caught up in it all! I am going to shop at the local grocery stores, watch the sale ads, and see how it all goes! I have a sneaking suspicion this membership is really costing me!

 

[Pink Flamingo]

I've heard of Hotwire so many times, but am not sure what it is or how it actually works. Could you explain please?

MELSMICE - I was wondering the same thing. I found a little info. on their web site, but it doesn't give too many details. Here's the link: http://www.hotwire.com/customer-care/hsc-faq/index.jsp
You can get a free 30 day trial membership, but after that it's 7.95 a month. Not sure whether I would benefit from this or not. Maybe someone here who has a membership could give a few more details.