i've read a couple of the books-the tightwad and cheapscape ones, the problem i encountered were the average prices they quoted were in no way in line with my area. also, a lot of them were very labor intensive-to the extent that if you were a 2 parent household with both parents full time employed-you would never get to see your family!!!
here are a few tips i can pass on (on the big end and on the small end)-
If you a considering changing cars-first call your insurance company and find out what the change in model will do to your premiums (premiums vary greatly model to model). same thing goes if you have a second or third car you are thinking of selling-you may be getting a multi-car discount that you could lose via the sale (and it may be more than you are putting out to just register the extra car and keep it parked in the driveway).
Consider paying a little more to save a lot-we opted to add rental car insurance to our auto coverage (pays for 20 days of a rental car or $500.00 which usualy covers more than 20 days)-costs us only $5.00 more per month/roadside service was $30.00 per year which was a large savings over 3-A.
We also raised our homeowner's deductable to $1000.00-it reduced the premium by over 50% which we used a small portion of to buy a security system. the security system further reduced the premium plus-if we are robbed and the system fails (when it is tripped the service auto calls the local police), the security company will pay the $1000.00 deductable.
grocery shopping-
#1 TOP TIP (yes this works-i do it on a very regular basis): before you pay an outrageous price for ground beef or stew/soup meat. CHECK THE PRICES ON EVERY CUT OF BEEF IN THE STORE! often london broil steaks or beautiful rolled roasts are on sale at as much a few dollars less per pound. have the butcher grind or cut it for you (stores do this free of charge). i have had a butcher look at me and ask "Mam-do you realy want me to grind this beautiful roast up?"-i always say "yes, it's x number of dollars per pound less than your ground beef and it has a lower fat content". then they say-you know you're right
now my local grocery store's butchers just smile and ask me how many packages i want it broken down into
i also will buy large racks of pork ribs when the are on sale and have the butcher saw them down the middle into babyback style (a savings of about 2.00 per pound recently).
stock up on items after the big foodie holidays-we eat cranberry sauce all year long with chicken, so i get it when they are clearing it out for 10 cents per can after thanksgiving. i bought vanilla canned frosting for 19 cents each (because it was a week after july 4th and the little container on the top had red, white and blue sprinkles), right now you will start to see big sales on condiments-we use mayo, mustard, catsup and relish all year long (bbq sauce as well) i buy a few smaller sized turkeys right after christmas (4.99 each) to put in the freezer and cook on the weekends. if something is on a very good sale that i use on a regular basis-i stock up on it (but only if it is non perishable).
you have to find what works best for you and your lifestyle.
