Saving Money/ Cutting Costs

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  • windycity_ali
    windycity_ali Posts: 3 Member
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    Been there. Still there. Here's what I did.

    1) cut cable channels but kept Internet service. I stream what I want to watch and it is still cheaper than cable
    2) evaluate your cell plan and car insurance. Are you over paying?
    3) eliminate mag subscriptions and stop buying books, just go to the library
    3) stopped buying beauty products because i wanted them (I'm a sucker for cool packaging/design), now I buy what I need when I run out.
    4) grocery shopping iis planned around what is on sale and in season. I use coupons if they apply to what is on the list and gives me the best deal. Sometimes they aren't the cheapest. Do not be embarrassed to use a calculator to figure out cost per unit at the store.

    Good luck to you!
  • BroiledNotFried
    BroiledNotFried Posts: 446 Member
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    I totally agree with planning your meals, and not going (severly limiting) out to eat. The restaurants all serve junk anyhow.

    If you shop at Kroger or Publix, use www.iheartpublix.com or www.iheartkroger.com. These websites match the weekly deals to coupons (both online and newspaper). Publix in Florida - you can use 2 coupons for every item purchased. A manufacturer's coupon and a competitor's coupon. If it's buy 1, get 1, then you have to get 2. But, if it's 2 for $5.00, then you only have to buy one. Know your state's coupon rules. The stores rotate their deals. Yogurt is almost always on sale, and speghetti sauce and cleaners run alot on sale too.

    Buy the newspaper. The website swill point you to the date of the newspaper and packet company that had the coupons.

    On the newspaper, take out the coupon insert. I don't cut coupons, but I do label the packet with the date. I keep them in a drawer for about 3 months. After that, they are stale.

    But, with couponing . . . . only buy what you need and what you will need before it goes bad.

    Meat goes on sale on Sunday & Monday nights at most grocery stores. At the specialty "green" grocer, their organic meats are 50% off on Tuesday night.

    Costco is a big saver for me. Wines, especially Kirkland, taste super great and are super cheap. Also, best place to buy frozen salmon and other fish & greens.

    In the summer, go to a farmer's market for your fruits and veggies. One $20 bill gets me a fridge of fruits and veggies there.

    If you have to rent a car, don't ever rent at the airport. Better to take a cab to a nearby rental car company. Example. Rented a car in Los Angeles for 10 days. At the airport - it was almost $2,000. At the same company in Torrence (5 miles), it was $600.

    If you have kids, don't take them with you (LIIMIT) shopping.
  • RunIntheMud
    RunIntheMud Posts: 2,645 Member
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    I've got a few things I've done throughout the past couple years that have helped....

    1 - Budget (and stay within it)
    2 - Stop drinking Starbucks (it went from daily to weekly to a once a month treat)
    3 - Comparison shop for groceries....seems petty, but we have 3 grocery stores within 5 miles of the house. I go to 1 for my meat and another for everything else. The third is closest to the house and I only go if I'm in a hurry.
    4 - Find cheap/free events in the area and go to those. Our Children's Museum offers $1 night once a month instead of the normal $8 admission. We also have a lot of different festivals and events that don't cost anything to just attend.
    5 - Cut down to the lower level of cable. I found that we didn't need all 1000 channels....so we're down to 200+.
    6 - I have a prepaid cell (Straight Talk). After issues with Verizon, I needed something fast while looking at other carriers. 3 years later, I'm still with them. I pay $45/mth for unlimited talk/text/web. The downside was that their phones are a little outdated but they've recently added the Galaxy. They also started a new program where you can bring in any phone that is compatible with AT&T or T-Mobile (to include the iPhone). You pay $15 for the SIM Card and you're set.

    Anyway, just a few things that work for me. Good luck!
  • twentytwelve12
    twentytwelve12 Posts: 245 Member
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    having a budget
    don't buy things that I don't need
  • Darkskinned88
    Darkskinned88 Posts: 1,177 Member
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    be single *rimshot*
  • LMT2012
    LMT2012 Posts: 697 Member
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    I am following a facebook post I saw this year. Save $1 first week of January, $2 second week, so on and so on up to 52 weeks. That will add up to about $1400 bucks. If you do that religiously, you can still pay off stuff at end of year.
  • cheerforsteelers
    cheerforsteelers Posts: 686 Member
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    Plan your meals at home and don't eat out (save up for it if you want to). Pay cash for things. Set a budget. Don't buy things you don't need, run errands all at once instead of mutiple trips during the week...of course other things may come up that you'll need, but try. Do your own nails, switch to a cheaper phone plan, cancel anything that you pay for and rarely use.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    Largest bags of frozen veggies.

    Start using rewards cards at your favorite stores where you shop already.

    Wait for sales on good quality items.

    When buying something on sale ask yourself if you'd pay full price for it, because if you're buying it JUST BECAUSE it was half off but you don't need it or really love it, it's not a bargain, it's just wasting more money.

    Choosing quality over quantity.

    When you get to that 1300 dollars goal. 1) You could use half to pay down the credit card instead of paying it off. And use the other half for the shopping spree. 2) Or pay it off completely and then shopping spree on half the card if it gets you rewards points and then you could pay it off and cut it at half the year if you're sure you can manage that.

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