What Are Some Of The Ways You Save Money? Any Ideas Are Welcome

Depending on the meal (supper), we will split one. When we eat steak at home, we only have one. We use our AAA Auto Club membership for motel discount. When we do eat out, a lot of times we will use discount or "buy one/get one free" coupons. Funny that a lot of folks where we live, throw those coupons in the trash can by the mail boxes. Guess they are fairly rich young folks (LOL).

We don't cook at home as much as we use to. We figured out, for us anyway, it's cheaper for us to eat out than "buy and make".

Another way we save, my wife takes her lunch to work almost every day. Egg salad and tuna salad are her favorite sandwiches, along with a Fruit Cup. Sometimes, I will, using a "buy one/get one free" coupon or discount coupon, buy a sandwich for her and have lunch with her at work. Before meeting me, she would eat out most of the time. She was/is an office worker and most office workers make a descent salary and do eat out. I never made that kind of "descent" salary, being on an hourly wage, so it was "pack a lunch" for me all the time.

 

I always try to impress on my Wife, that if we don't buy it....we save 100%

 

We usually share a steak too, not to save money but because we don't need to eat that much. We cut it into before cooking because I like mine done and she prefers hers less done.
If a potato or sweet potato is pretty big we'll just cook one and cut it into. Again, saving calories, not money.

 

I've carried a lunch to work, for 40 years. It just depends on who is packing them!

 

I'll go check your video out. Thanks Yvonne!

 

Hey all.

I think the first, most important way I and my partner save money is that we don't spend that much. We have just about everything we need, so we simply don't spend.

I also take my packed lunch to work. Between the 1 or 2 Euros my homemade lunch costs and the ten it costs me at a restaurant, well, 8 Euros a day times five is a 40 Euro a week savings, 120 Euros a month! And I cook better than any restaurant, really.

Don't use credit. I do use a credit card for grocery shopping, but it is like a deferred debit card and I don't pay anything to use it because my paycheck is automatically deposited in that bank account. The month's spending is automatically charged once a month. Here in Spain, we don't pay for anything with checks, people don't have check books, either credit or debit cards.

Even when I bought my first new car, I paid for it up front. The dealer tried to get me to finance it, but I wasn't going to buy anything I didn't have the money to pay for, so I saved literally thousands in interest charges for the car loan.

The house was another matter, no one in my economic class has 125,000 Euros in their pocket to buy a house outright. So I did have to take out a mortgage. How did I save money? Well, every year I make sure I've advanced money against the capital on the loan, meaning that I've lowered the interest I have to pay. Where I began paying 530 Euros a month (and because it was variable, it got up to 840 a month for a few months a few years ago), I am presently paying less than 200 Euros a month. As interest here is calculated on total capital remaining to be paid, the sooner you reduce that remaining capital owed, the less you pay in interest fees.

I always buy clothes during the traditional post-Christmas and August sales months. These are full months where shops try to reduce stock by dramatically reducing prices. Never buy clothes outside of these times.

I also buy expensive footwear. Now, I'm not talking about Gucci shoes, I'm talking about high-quality boots or shoes that will last over a year. I usually buy new boots once a year (I wear them almost every day of the year!) so the higher cost is spread out. Buying cheap boots or shoes often means having to replace them sooner and you end up paying the same amount.

My only vice is tobacco. Don't drink. Don't do drugs. Don't go out to clubs or bars. Live a quiet life, lots of time at home. The lifestyle contributes to the savings as well.

peace,
revel.

 

Well I save money in different ways.

I used to save money by buying cheap clothes at thrift and second-hand stores or the flea market, later I started sewing my own clothes, and nowadays I don't buy clothes, but have some people who donate them to me, and most of these clothing is almost new and oftentimes expensive, so I rarely buy an extra garment.

I don't longer wear makeup as I used to do in the past, so buying a good quality eyebrow pencil, lipstick and blush is enough to me now, and these may last for the year round.

When it comes to food, I prefer non-branded products that are usually cheaper than branded versions, but it took me some experimental time (and money) find out what of those non-branded products are good quality to make worth the saving fact. Saving in food sacrificing taste or quality is a waste of money overtime.

In addition, since I'm living alone, I prefer to buy smaller presentations of the different products than the larger which are often cheap. A large packet of "x" food may cost way too much less than 4 packets of the same food, equivalent to the large presentation content, but if I only need one of this packets, the extra proportional cost for this one is worth to pay because a large presentation may get rotten before it's over in my case, and therefore the savings for these large products turn into money lose.

And whether for food or other items/appliances/product/objects I may need, I have an Excel spreadsheet with a list of all my requirement, the name of different stores (including both brick & mortar and online shops), besides prices and other information that I use to find out where those things are cheaper to go for them or order from home.

Probably the only thing I don't care to buy relatively often and pay for the best quality is buying tennis shoes because I walk a ton and I'm not longer doing it in high heels as I used to do when I was a teenager still and throughout my youth days.

Today comfort of my feet have no price, and I never sacrifice a dime to thank them for let me keep my walking time up

 

I save up for older, well-running cars so I don't have a car payment. I had my cable turned off last year because I just didn't use it enough to justify the expense. I also use coupons, and shop at discount stores. At Christmas, I no longer struggle to buy hundreds of dollars worth of gifts for my family. Instead we have a White elephant gift exchange, also known as a Chinese auction. It's so much fun, and we all save money!

 

I also dumped my cable and now enjoy streaming video for free. I have to have an internet connection anyway, both for work and my own use. My work pays their share.

Also, I finally changed my grocery shopping day to coincide with my store's senior discount day.

I learned to pick up some household things at our Goodwill store for a song when needed.

Now I feel completely justified in dining out as often as I can, as I feel it is so much fun- not something I want to save ON, but rather, save FOR. (and so tasty, too)

 

Ruby, I do the senior discounts too. I like your attitude about eating out. I go out to lunch with a few friends about once or twice a month. I feel justified in it, because it's one of the few things I splurge on in my life. Anyway I always say, no matter how bad your circumstances are, sometimes you have to do something that makes you smile!

 

Exactly!

 

We keep our home cool in winter and warm in summer. Ever since our children were small, my wife believes everyone is healthier when homes are kept cooler in the winter. "Cold doesn't breed germs!" Our utility bills are kept quite low due to her watching the thermostat.
Over the past few years we have acquired hi-efficiency dishwasher, hi-efficiency washing machine, water saver toilets, and water saver shower heads. Our water consumption has dropped significantly.
We purchase a lot of our groceries at ALDI. You can save a lot shopping there for certain items. The remainder of our grocery shopping is done at Krogers so we get the fuel points.
Haven't financed a vehicle since about 2003. We save up and pay cash. We don't buy new vehicles. Shop for one with low miles and a couple years old so someone else has taken the depreciation hit. The taxes and insurance are more affordable on less than new vehicles.
We probably don't average once/month eating out. Too expensive. I'm on the road a lot and do NOT eat out. I eat breakfast in the hotel that comes with the room. I eat sardines and crackers for lunch. I take small portions of meats that I can mix with beans or soup to heat in the hotel room microwave for supper. We make money off my per diem, tax free money, and is one of the reasons I am still working out on the road.
Our prescriptions are filled at Krogers so we get fuel points. Any time there is a generic, that's what we get.
My wife is an excellent cook. The freezer is always full. She will cook large meals, then freeze leftovers for future use. Says it's cheaper to cook one larger dish than heat the oven 3 or 4 times. Then the microwave reheats which uses little electricity.
Each December I argue with the cable company for reduced rates. So far, have been successful. We've been a customer of theirs since the early 90's and they seem to want to work with us due to so many other competitors out there.
I spend well over 100 night/year in hotels. Most of my stays are fairly long as one hotel. So, I am able to talk the management down from rack rate. Then, I collect the "points" for staying and get free rooms every few weeks. We will go see our son in mid-December. Will stop midway and stay "free" at a hotel of our choice.

As we near full retirement, we have attempted to protect ourselves from "surprises". For instance, our home and auto insurance has been with one company since the late 70's. That company also has some banking privileges. We don't use their "bank", but have a savings account there with just over the amount of our home/auto deductibles. By having an account with the deductible available, we can carry policies with higher deductibles and pay lower premiums. In today's low interest times, we don't make anything off the savings account. But, the annual savings on higher deductible premiums pays way more than the interest one would make.

Wife made double house payments for a number of years so our home was paid off early. Saved significant interest costs and haven't had a house payment for about 10 years.

If you own a home, watch the annual property tax bill. If it goes up too much, protest with the taxing authority. Filing a protest costs nothing. Often, they will research and reduce your tax bill.

We've change out all our ceiling light fixtures to either T5 or T8 fluorescents or LED fixtures. Better light at less electrical cost.