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cost cutting
Everyone (ideally) is finding ways to cut costs these days on EVERYTHING! I am curious...what do you do to trim down spending every day/week/month/year? Some things we do...:
#1: No heaters-ever! Luckily we don't live in below freezing temps, but we simply pile on more clothes at night, and actually use blankets. This saves HUGE!
#2: Make just a couple big grocery shopping trips monthly. The more small trips we make, the more likely we are to impulse buy. When the bill is reaching higher and higher, everyone is less likely to buy unnecessry things!
#3: Bring lunch to work-never makes sense to buy groceries for home AND buy food elsewhere.
#4: Eat leftovers!
#5: Energy-saving bulbs.
#6: Make all "in-town" trips at one time, as in, "You need to go to the bank and drop off mail? I'll go with you and stop by the store and pick up the dry-cleaning".
#7: Ditch the gym-it's so much more beautiful outside! I have lost around 60 pounds by doing it the old-school way. And it's free!
#8: Unplug appliances not being used.
#9: ONE cell phone, one landline. For anyone who can't afford the unlimited plans for 2 cell phones (us), get a BASIC plan, lowest minutes, and only use it for emergencies and same-network calls, and use the landline for ALL other calls. The one cell is soon leaving us soon too...
#10: Buy generic of course. Hardly any difference in most products!
#11: Stock up! Buy larger quantities of thing like meat, toilet paper, cereal...when comparing prices, it really adds up how much you can save!
#12: Re-use large plastic bags, if possible.
#13: Cut some habits to ONCE per week (like Starbucks, movie renting, etc.).
#14: CUT COUPONS AND USE THEM!!
#15: Use sturdy grocery bags for trash bags.
All tips are much appreciated!
Re: cost cutting
Oh my gosh, you are good! Many of your suggestions I do myself, but I can think of a few more:
# 1: At Starbucks, I only get drip coffee, then I get refills for .50 or free sometimes. If I'm with my mom or husband, we get one large drip coffee and share it (via double cup), instead of getting two. Same idea with the refills.
# 2: Cherry pick at the grocery stores. I pour over the weekly circulars and only buy the great bargains at each store.
# 3: Happy hour for dinners out about twice a month. We have a flexible work schedule right now, so this works wonderfully for us.
# 4: Wedding presents: thank God for people registering at BB&B, because they always send those 20% off coupons. Also, Macy's always has sales. I never buy at W-S or Pottery Barn.
# 5: Someone on the travel board just tipped me off to fatwallet.com. There are forums on there where people share coupon codes and other deals. I've already saved big time just cruising the boards.
# 6: Autos: H changes our oil, oil filters, air filters, windshield wipers, break fluid, headlights, etc. by himself to save money. He likes cars.
# 7: When shopping for clothes or other stuff, I often put the item over my arm or toss it in my cart and walk around with it, then walk out of the store empty handed. For some reason, I still get my retail fix but I don't have to spend money.
# 8: Check out books and dvds from the library.
# 9: For vacations, do in-town vacations and be a tourist in your own city or state. No plane tickets, and if you plan ahead and search wisely, you can get great deals on gorgeous hotel rooms, especially off season. I love to travel afar but with airline prices, I'm finding this an attractive and cheaper alternative.
# 10: If you can, do it yourself instead of paying repair person Even if you have to pay someone else to fix it, it's usually cheaper than buying a new one!
# 11: Craig's list for used everything, and a bunch of free stuff too!
I have more to add!
1) Wear everything (except underwear) at least twice/three times before throwing in the laundry. Saves $ and energy. I know, kinda gross, but get over it.
2) Walking/biking everywhere as much as possible versus taking the car. Again, saves $ and energy.
3) Consolidated to 1 car so only 1 car insurance payment bundled with renter's insurance.
4) Better quality dog food (although initially more expensive, but decreases vet bills with less health problems and we're feeding less because they aren't needing as much food).
5) I charge everything on a CC w/ cash back rewards and pay off everything. ?3% back on top 3 categories and 1% on the rest. We have a choice to cash out at $50 reward increments but if we save up to $200, we get $250. ?
6) Minimal furniture, only our necessities since we are renting. ?I refuse to buy new furniture until we own.
7) Buy beer at the grocery store or direct from the brewery. ?Always a plus when I don't feel like getting ready to go out or socialize, DH and I hang out with beer and pizza by ourselves or invite friends over instead of going somewhere, paying tons for drinks plus tips.
8) Utilize the library for books. I refuse to buy books, especially new books.
9) I've figured out our favorite magazines, so we have subscriptions to those and we're never tempted to pay $5/month for an issue of Portland Monthly, etc.
?
WOW you ladies amazing! DH and I are into saving right now. We have a new home and are trying very hard to fill it.
I love craigslist, ebay and overstock.
If you are into online shopping you should really join MyPoints.com. I buy a lot off of Overstock and get 10 pts per dollar. I can then use points towards gift cards. I'm just got my $100 Pottery Barn gift card.
I subconsciously do many of the things you mentioned, but it looks so smart when it's all written out.
Great post!
Planning ahead helps us save money in so many areas. Planning out our meals and going to the grocery store regularly has cut down on our food bills.
Planning ahead also helps us spend less on gifts given, and we usually end up getting things that people are more likely to enjoy than those last minute "oh no, I forgot to buy so-and-so something and I need it today" presents.
And it helps us cut down on transportation costs by combining errand trips.
Also, for shopping online, I've found I usually get more $ back through ebates.com than from mypoints.
1) I also wear clothes more than once. Usually not shirts, but definitely pants.
2) Make shopping lists and buy bulk at Costco. We love their stuffed salmon, but one of those is big enough for two if we combine it with veggies. So when we come home we freeze each in a separate ziploc bag.
3) When we go out to eat we check and see if we have any coupons. We sometimes have Chevy's coupons for buy one get one for $3.99. Or we buy a $50 Newport Bay gift certificate for $40 at Costco. The food is so much we always end up taking half home. We are very conscious of how much we eat, so we have leftovers frequently.
4) We made our own wine once. True, it was more for fun than for cutting costs, but it ended up costing only $4 per bottle for 30 bottles (that includes the wine kit which you can buy at FH Steinbarts and the bottles and corks, but not the initial purchase of the utensils needed). The wine actually tastes good too.
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Wow! This is great, you ladies have some great stuff.
1) Created a yearly budget seperating needs and wants. Needs come first and if there is money left over we spend on wants. Cannot tell you how much it has helped us focus on what we actually need and minize debt.
2) we buy bulk at costco: they have the best quality meat at great prices so like the beef patties we seperate into baggies and freeze them, same with shrimp, fish, chicken, bread, bacon, butter. We buy their organic frozen vegetables and fruit, makes for great salads and smoothies and we don't waste because it went bad.
3) pump gas only at costco..they are usually .10 to .20 cents less
4) got the coscto amex with 3% back...has more than paid off for their executive membership since we buy gas and groceries there.
5) No more gym memberships...we take advantage of the outdoors mt biking, hiking, walking, jogging at least once a week.
6) Switch to Soy milk, cost less and last longer...healthier too.
7) buy at local organic farms...corn, avocados, cucumbers, limes are way inexpansive. People still don't buy enough organic so thats why it's expensive at grocerie stores
8) Coupons, coupons, coupons, at http://printable-coupons.blogspot.com/2006/03/target-coupons.html
9) ebates.com
10) Use Red Box for new DVD rentals at $1 per day
11) Starbucks not allowed
12) Buy generic...Kirland costco brand is better or made/handled/bottle by popular companies. Kirland Coffee = Starbucks, check the label, but the cost is like $10 less.
13) no land line, only cell phones with mobile to mobile.
14) dates nights/dinner out on special occasions for now.
LittleC--I love your wants/needs list! What a great idea, and I know H will love it.
I use Quicken to watch it monthly, but I cannot emphize enough how much it helps to to get things done and still have fun! Quicken came free with my laptop but I started out with just an excel spreadsheet and it works too.
I like your idea about Happy Hours for dinner!
So I signed upfor ebates and should be getting a $10 gc for Target in the mail. But one thing I wonder about is how and where you tend to order stuff. Usually the savings don't cancel out the shipping charges. For instance, I looked at BabyGap and you get 6% cash back, but they charge $7 for shipping.
Maybe I should just use it for diapers and big ticket items?
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