The economy is making its way out of the gutter but still needs a change of clothes and a bus ride home. We’re all trying to stretch income, so I figured I’d start a thread to share info about saving money or cutting down expenses.
Cliffs (for those who could not read those two LONG A$$ sentences above)
Cheap? Post here and share!
One small thing I do is not order soft drinks at any restaurants. I just order water. It saves me 200+ calories per sitting and also anywhere from $1 to $5 per sitting depending on where I am eating. If you eat anywhere with me, whether it’s 677 Prime, or McD’s you will notice that I always just order water.
It’s not going to make me rich, but it saves money. Note: almost every food establishment makes the largest margin on drinks. Well known fact. So if you are value conscious, you will realize that you are putting more into their pockets and getting “less” when you order beverages as opposed to food.
Two banking related things, real quick.
One- make sure your checking account is a free one. Easier said than done these days. I’ve been using my Bank of America student checking for a long time now, and I find the service is pretty good without any monthly fee. I don’t think there’s a minimum either. Some banks charge as much as $10 per month. If there is a minimum, sometimes the bank will waive the fee if you have one ACH transfer coming in per month. So set one up through work and make your checking account free that way.
Two- try to bank at a place either very close to, or with ATMs close to your home. The idea is to avoid the fee when using another bank’s ATM. This is a minimum of $1.75 these days and I’ve seen as much as $4 before. Sounds simple, but I’ve read an independent study that showed more then 40% of people out there are paying fees at ATMs. It’s unnecessary- go to Target or Price Chopper and use a debit card to get cash back instead after buying something you need. No need to pay the bank ATM fees.
I’ll add a bit to this. For quick small meals I have found that Wendy’s and Taco bell are the cheapest fast food answers. Their actual food items are very cheap but you can quick lose your savings if you get a beverage, so I will swing by get like 2 jr bacon cheese burgers and a 5 piece nugget for $3.21, bring it home have a beer with it and be stuffed for dinner.
Doing one large bulk shopping is sometimes not advantageous. I find that when hungry my gf and I spend close to $150 on a grocery list and get home and do not really have meals that fit together just a bunch of random foods. Make a list. Go shopping on a full stomach. I also found that for stuff like fruits and vegatbles and some foods its better to go to the store during the week and buy them fresh than purchase a “sustaining amount” all at once every 2 weeks. i do this for Produce, Milk bread, and meats. I had issues with wasting apples and oranges, milk and bread. SO I now buy a tiny thing of milk and like one or two rolls form the deli rather than a gallon and a dozen rolls in a bag. This way none go to waste.
This also work for me cause I can walk to the grocery store just down the street
Good stuff. Don’t forget insulation is key in keeping the temperatures down. Close bedroom doors when you leave the house and close the blinds to keep the temps low.
When in a pinch, ghetto style A/C using dry ice in a box and small fan as a sort of draft air setup can be useful on hot days.
Dry ice huh? :lol I have used the ac twice so far this year, and a total three times last year. I keep popsicles on tap always, keeps the kid, and myself cool. I also never get a drink when we get fast food. Also I cancelled my cable, so thats $50 a month saved. Dropped my Netflix from the $13 to the $9 plan. During the winter, my apt has electric heat, instead of using the base board heaters, I have a portable radiator I move to what ever room we are in. I also DD a Honda, lol. I am a piker to the greatest extent.
I’m a cheap bastard. Sales are down for me so I have to stretch every dollar I can.
Energy saver bulbs in all my lighting fixtures at home. I run the AC only in my bed room when i’m home and I run one during the extremely hot days through out the day for my dog.
I save all bottles I can get a deposit on and return them.
I use the Price Chopper card at Sunoco and will ONLY fill my tank at a Sunoco.
Rarely do my girlfriend and I go out to dinner and when we do, our beverage of choice is water.
We shop at BJ’s Wholesale for items we need in bulk and everything else we tend to buy generic brand at Price Chopper.
Going shopping when full is definitely a good tip. Not wasting is another. We stretch out food well in our household too. Whatever isn’t finished for dinner- goes in my lunchbox to bring to work the next day. Kind of like the spaghetti I brought today.
Yeah we cancelled our cable too and now use a USB stick / TV tuner connected to a PC- it works wonders with Windows 7 Media Center in getting the basic channels to display on the LCD monitor in the living room. Lot of internet sites too can be used to pull down episodes and stuff for free.
In the end, my wife didn’t miss the cable too much. As for me, I never watch TV anyways so it was a risk free experiment to cut the cable haha.
Heating only the room you’re in is very common in Japan- no central heat in many houses. When I go to my in-laws, one or two rooms are somewhat warm and the rest of the house is like 40 F in winter. Tough on the system but good on the wallet.
Have to balance this approach out though too since hospital bills for pneumonia are not cheap, either. :lol
Steal toilet paper and paper towels from work.
Literally tens of rolls per month.
J/k, I work at a small business lol-
if it were a corporation though…
The heating and cooling thing is a huge deal for me too. I only have an AC in the bed room. When I’m gone during the day its off then its on when we get home. We also keep all the shades in there drawn to keep the heat and sun rays out which keeps the room cooler as well
ANYONE WHO GOES TO PRICE CHOPPER FOR GAS SAVINGS
Do the math. You are falling victim to whats called a marketing scheme.
If you shop at WalMart and buy the exact same things you’d buy at PC,
you will save twice as much as your gas savings would have been.
I give my neighbor rides to the store, because he cant drive. He likes Price Chopper, and uses the card, but I get the gas savings. I shop at Walmart. Win/win.
Nope, not in all cases. I’ve done this and found it still to be more cost effective to shop at Price Chopper. I do ALOT of driving for my job and the savings I make by using the Price Chopper Advantage Card for gas fill ups helps tremendously.
Dont pay for gas with a debit/credit card… most places have a price for cash payment on gas and a higher price for credit transaction gas.
If you use your debit card somewhere use the “credit” option at the register/pump. Saves you the $0.35 each time for th debit transaction fee.
Take your credit cards, and put them away in a safe at the house, so your not tempted to use them. But leave one in the wallet just incase your fucked somewhere far away and need cash for an emergency.