Your best ever money saving tips

HawkeyeTy

Take Dave Ramey's Financial Peace University

HawkeyeTy

Anyone cut the cord from cable? I have looked into that, just going to antennae and internet. I spend about $110 per month for freaking TV and I barely watch it anymore.

What would be the best alternatives?

Internet and Netflix is what I have. There's plenty of other free TV online as well.

ETA: You can also haggle with your cable company. Went from $120/mo to $90/mo with more channels because we were "thinking about switching to Fios because of the faster internet". Don't talk to a sales person, talk to account cancellations, they have more 'power'.

You're still spending almost $1200/year on......TV

Andy_83

1. Borrow movies from Walmart.
2. Hunt your own food.
3. Borrow your neighbors car when they're not looking.
4. Watch cable Tv when your neighbors leave their blinds open.
5. Don't get hair cuts or shave.
6. Don't pay your bills, mortgage or rent.
7. Use the same water in bathtub for the whole family. Then wash your dishes in it.
8. Have sex more often.
9. Never move out of your parents house.
10. Get rid of your cellphone. What?!

Points for 2. Loving the terminology on 1, feel 5 and 8 might clash and if they don't 8 and 9 definitely do

icyeyes317

I use the Dave Ramsey Envelop System. It's AWESOME! I've saved $25,000 in two years. I stopped for a while, but I am returning to it as we speak! It was the smartest thing I ever did. I created a budget and then allocated cash for EVERYTHING....utilities, house payments, groceries......literally everything. If my electric bill budget was $50 and I had allocated $100.....I put the extra $50 into a separate place marked electric and just kept building up my stash. It was GREAT!

This has been around a lot longer than some guy named Dave Ramsey. My great-grandmother (passed in 2011 at age 98), was doing that since the great depression. It works, incredibly well, if you are disciplined.

Slacker16

Something I used to do (and really should start doing again):

Figure out how much money you need for a week, withdraw that amount every monday and ONLY spend money from that stash (except for real emergencies, of course). When you've burned through it, live on what you have until the next monday.

Sort of like a mini-budget. Forces you to stay frugal short-term. I somehow managed to live on 40$/week as a student this way...

AusAshMommy

1. Get a Brita Pitcher and a re-usable water bottle/cup use this to drink water vs. buying water bottles each week - saves on trash & money - filters are something like $8/ea and I always get a coupon from Target whenever I buy one for my next one, saves me $1 - $2 each time.

2. Cut the cable - we did this some 6+yrs ago and enrolled in Hulu Plus and watch all of our TV that way - hubby has found alternate means to watch the Skins games via Redskins.com on Redskins radio or through NFL.com; We also can watch most network stuff through the network websites streaming; though our DVD collection has ballooned to nearly 500+ DVD's (most bought from the $5 bin at Wal-Mart of through Amazon.com for like $0.99/ea)

3. Shop thrift stores for clothes - we have several in our area for women & kids and I buy nearly all of mine and the kids' stuff there - I never pay full price for clothes. If someone ever opens one for men I'll buy hubby's stuff there too!

4. Do your budget weekly, then account for how much you actually spend, after 6-mos or so average everything out across the board and make adjustments as needed.

5. We do the weekly cash withdrawal system for our weekly expenditures - Gas, Groceries, My hubby's bus fare, Cat/Dog/Bearded Dragon Food/Weekly Pizza Dinner and whatever is left is used for Misc. spending during the week should a need arise - like forgotten groceries, our kids' ADHD prescriptions, etc. - and on Thursday's the balance is put into a piggy bank and saved for larger purchases - like bday party items for the kids, we used some last year to buy my daughter a new bike - or it's deposited into our Mutual Fund account when it reaches a certain dollar amount.

6. I agree with those who have said to take a lunch and brew your own coffee - we do both and have saved $$ in the long run - I only eat out for lunch if it's absolutely necessary (which is hardly ever is) or my company pays for lunch out!

7. When making larger purchases - like furniture, TV's, appliances, etc. - shop around and find the best quality and deal you can, often times you'll find that you can get the best quality and price when you do this.

These are just a few we use...we live paycheck-to-paycheck and neither of us have the 401K option so we're still figuring that part out.

HardcoreP0rk

Something I used to do (and really should start doing again):

Figure out how much money you need for a week, withdraw that amount every monday and ONLY spend money from that stash (except for real emergencies, of course). When you've burned through it, live on what you have until the next monday.

Sort of like a mini-budget. Forces you to stay frugal short-term. I somehow managed to live on 40$/week as a student this way...

I put myself on a $10 daily expense budget. I took out $150 in tens from the bank and only took that one $10 bill with me each morning. It was useful

seltzermint555

Never let your kids go to the grocery store with you

Better still don't have kids. LOL

all of the YES