Baltimore Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
How do you 'penny pinch'?
Just looking for ideas to help us save money in general, around the house and even to help our household be more 'green'. Feel free to share, please and thank you!
Re: How do you 'penny pinch'?
I stopped buying cleaning products and clean with vinegar, and baking soda.
I keep a bunch of rags under the kitchen sink and use those to clean up messes which reduces the amount of paper towels we buy.
Coupons! and looking through my grocery store's circular before I go. Meal planning, making a list, sticking to it! I try not to buy beverages....they add up.
I've been rounding up stuff I don't use around the house and selling on Ebay/CL.
I don't buy anything unless I seriously need it, and then only if its on sale or have a coupon/code for it.
I make our laundry detergent. It only takes about 1-1.5 hrs and lasts about two years. Cheap, all natural and smells good. We also use white vinegar as fabric softener for the same reasons (clothes do NOT come out smelling like vinegar, I promise!)
Buy all of our bulk items on Amazon (7th Gen paper towels, TP, dishwashing detergent, cereal, granola bars, etc...). Free shipping and cheaper since it's bulk.
Coupon clip and only buy things on sale
CSA/grocery delivery - this actually saves us money (we signed up for Arganica Farms through the Groupon a few weeks ago. They deliver, too!)
Pack lunches everyday for myself and DH
Only eat out about 1-2x per month
Eat mostly vegetarian at home (I was one for about 7 years and still cook a lot of vegetarian food)
Netflix instead of going to the movies
Bathe/trim nails of the dogs ourselves
We also consign clothes, sell books online at Cash4Books.net, and sell stuff on CL or eBay if it's worth enough to bother with.
Food: We drink coffee at home vs. buying it, I take a bottle of water and lunch with me everyday, we eat out at the most once per week, and when we grocery shop, we buy generic (although frequently generic organic) and/or what's on sale. So I'll put "fruit-2" on my list, and get 2 types of fruit that are on sale; if I need spaghetti sauce, I buy the brand that's on sale, etc. I found a great, inexpensive local produce source for spring through fall, can't wait to start using that again!
Credit Cards: We have cash back rewards credit cards and pay for almost everything using those. We never carry a balance so we never pay interest, but we get the cash rewards, which add up over a year.
Miscellaneous: We have a modest tv/internet/phone package, I buy redbox groupons and use free codes to get DVDs instead of ordering through the TV, I check out books from the library vs. buying an e-reader or books, we frequently use gift cards or groupons for dates, and I limit splurges on things like manis/pedis. I use coupons when I have them. We also recently started selling furniture that we don't want/need on craigslist.
We use baking soda and vinegar because it's cheap and also because one of our cats has asthma, so we try to limit our chemical usage.
We also recently purchased some microfiber towels from Amazon and have a microfiber swiffer-type mop.
We use coupons as much as possible and buy generic for just about everything (even soda and gatorade type products). We shop at Wegmans, and I think they have excellent generic products. We meal plan and always make a list, and try to plan a few vegetarian and cheap meals (spaghetti w/ homemade sauce, homemade pizza with homemade dough, etc). In addition, we only buy meat on sale, and we buy in bulk. We're lucky to have been gifted a second freezer, so we have room to store it.
We don't eat a lot of pricier meats, mainly ground beef, ground turkey, chicken breasts, etc. On occasion, we'll eat fish, but we usually buy frozen because it's much cheaper.
We do belong to BJs, but only go every couple of months and check prices before we go so we know if we're getting a good deal or not. BJs also lets you use manufacturer's coupons in addition to theirs, so that really helps. We've saved as much as $50 in one visit, which more than pays for the membership. We mainly buy toiletries, pasta and some convenience frozen items (like fish sticks, etc). We do try to limit our convenience food purchases and try to make some items ourselves - waffles, pancakes, etc and freeze extras.
We use my credit card for almost everything. I get excellent rewards points (5x on gas, groceries and drug stores/medications), so we cash in the points for restaurant gift cards. Then we can have a night out for $10-$15 including tip.
I also take leftovers for lunch every day - we cook for 4 people even though it's just us. Rarely do I order out, though there are people who do every Friday.
I also try not to impulse buy, and try to make purchases that I've thought about and/or where I can get a discount. When I am shopping, I always check to see if that store has a special offer with my cc where I can get extra rewards.
For things like vet visits, I try to schedule their annuals when our vet offers discounted vaccine times. Last year, I saved over $120 doing this. It sucked taking all 3 to the vet by myself, but it was nice to save money. I also order the cats' wet food online because it's $10 cheaper than our pet store and has free shipping.
ETA: We try to use reusable plastic containers rather than plastic bags. I got a 76 piece Rubbermaid set for $20 at BJs several months ago.
ETA: We buy as much as we can in bulk - rice, veggies, etc. If Wegmans offers it in a club pack, we're buying it.
5 cats. 1 baby.
We use CFL bulbs in all of the lamps that we can - especially the ones that we have on every night, night after night.
We limit our eating out, and when we do eat out, we try to have a coupon.
We pack our lunches and do not spend money on coffee, etc (make it at home, if needed- but most of the time we rely on our own energy).
I use coupons on everything I possibly can - also, when we shop online, we make sure we get free shipping or have some other offer from retailmenot.com.
We try to only buy items we need. With a baby on the way, budgeting has been more challenging to get the major items, but usually this works out for us.
We don't use harsh cleaning chemicals. We also pack our lunches in ToGo Ware, so it reduces our dependence on plastic baggies for our lunches. In addition, we bring our own reusable bottles of water to work, versus buying bottled water in plastic at the store. We have wrap-n-mats to pack our sandwiches instead of plastic bags.
This is true! Wegmans saves us so much money on their generic products- and they are always delicious! We live far away from a Wegmans now, but I will still go 1-2x/month to stock up on products, because our grocery bill is so much cheaper compared to shopping at stores near us.
We clip coupons, meal plan, and buy in bulk.
We rent Redbox movies when I get a free code.
We use unpaper towels...this has been a HUGE money saver.
We use vinegar and water to clean. Not only is it greener and healthier for Aiden, but a gallon of vinegar is super cheap!
miscarriage on 11/26/09 at 5w6d
Ditto most of the PPs.
Simplifying the cleaning products is a big one. Vinegar can be used to a bunch of things- fabric softener, rinse aid in the dishwasher, glass cleaner, to clean toilets (flush toilet, as it's re-filling pour in a cup or so of vinegar- clean bathroom, after the 15-20 minutes that takes dump in some baking soda and it will fizz up, use the toilet brush then and you can either flush or let sit another 10 minutes.)
Use less- you can get away w/ using less laundry detergent, D/W detergent, shampoo, etc. than you think you need. I bet if you did your laundry right now w/o any detergent there would be suds because there is detergent residue in your clothes from previous washings.
When you use the D/W and W/D only run the machines when they are full.
Don't use the heated dry on your D/W- open up the dishwasher when the machine is done and open a nearby window and your dishes will dry by themselves. The heated dry cycle uses a ton of electricity.
Don't overdry your clothes. Not only does it shrink/wear out your clothes more quickly- over-drying is what causes most static electricity and clothes dryers are total energy hogs. If your machine has a moisture detection setting (most energy star machines do) use it, it really works and helps prevent over-drying. Ikea has some great drying racks- one that mounts on the wall- try air-drying.
We use un-paper/tea towels/rags/microfiber towels 95% of the time. We keep paper towels on hand- otherwise my mom will bring a roll w/ her when she comes, so I buy 2 rolls at a time, that way we aren't tempted to use them and use less- if you buy them in bulk you are more tempted to use.
Buy second hand. If you need something look in thrift/consignment stores or on CL before buying.
Join freecycle. I have easily gotten over 1k in baby/kids' stuff off freecycle alone- people give away really nice stuff- I have gotten NEW clothes for DD, a wooden train table w/ train and accessories, swing/playset, sandbox, etc.
~coupons
~meal-plan
~freeze extra food - there's less chance of it going to waste that way if we dont' eat it in time, and then we always have food in the freezer so it cuts back on how much we order out. I make several batches of pizza dough and pizza sauce once a month or so and we haven't ordered pizza in months.
~cut down on energy consumption - turn off lights, keep the house a bit colder in the winter, keep heat and AC off for as long as possible to help keep our BGE bill as low as possible
~walk to as many places as possible to save on gas
~dont take my CCs/debit cards with me places. It's much easier to walk away from that deal if you dont have your debit card.
~ at the same time, learn to recognize a good deal. This is the hardest one for me - learning to buy something that I need anyway when it IS a good deal but not to buy something just because it's a good deal. It's a fine line sometimes.
And finally - sit down and take a good look at your budget. Most of my tips center around food/grocery shopping/etc - but if your grocery budget is pretty small already, that may not be a good area for you to trim. Figure out where you spend the most money and where you can afford to cut back and trim some fat.
I feel stupid, but I'll ask anyways...
To clean with vinegar do you just put some on a rag and go? I've been tempted to try that (especially now that I'm pg) but don't have a clue what I'm supposed to do. I'm sure it's simple.
I thought of one more- which applies to those that are PG- be team green- unless you are one and done and then it doesn't matter.
If you are team green you are a lot less likely to get a ton of outfits your baby will never wear (because they are the wrong size/season) at your shower. Also all the gear, bedding, etc. you get you will be able to use for another baby regardless of sex.
Yeah good point....we were pretty careful to pick out gender neutral gear for DS and will be using it all for baby #2. A bunch of his clothes we will be re-using too, regardless if it's girl or boy. We aren't doing the team green thing, but you can still apply these to your situation.
Ha....I actually made money off the tons of outfits DS was given and never worn. I consigned them
but wouldn't you have rather gotten something you could have used in the first place?
Yes, I would prefer to have never gotten them to begin with. People for whatever reason just feel inclined to pick out outfits as part of a shower gift. My SIL was team green and it even happened to her. She got about 200 green and yellow outfits with ducks and frogs on them.
Haha I always end up buying new serving platters as impulse buys! They're like shoes! Can't have too many