Posted on 12/31/2017 12:51:08 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Okay, it is the last day of the year. So what did you do in 2017 that saved you money? I am all ears and will be taking notes. In addition, I will lead off with my own moves to save money.
My biggest single money savings move of 2017 was getting Amazon Fire Stick for our 2 TVs. At the same time I cut out our cable TV. Net savings for the year over $600. This comes from saving $80 per month by cutting Comcast Cable TV. Actually I am really saving $55 per month because along with my Amazon Prime, I opted for $25 per month for Sling TV so net yearly savings of $600. One interesting thing is that I thought Comcast would go for a long sales pitch to keep me with their cable TV when they switched me to their account executive but I was pleasantly surprised when he gave me online TV streaming for no additional cost so I ONLY pay for Internet.
Okay, what else? Well, a lot of you know I am a heavy duty couponer so I figure I saved at least $2000 this past year via coupons. I come to that figure because I save at least $40 per week. Oh, and for those of you who don't think the time and effort are worth it, GOOD NEWS! You only need to use a couple of coupon sites to find all the deals you need. For me it is PublixSavings101.com because I shop a lot at Publix and the Mother Ship of all coupon web sites... KRAZY COUPON LADY. As to clipping coupons, things have changed. Most of the coupons I use now you can print right off the web or get electronically.
Another trick that I use when buying stuff online is to go thru the entire checkout process except for the payment. I just leave the item sitting in my shopping cart. Guess what? Almost always the company sends you an email within days offering a discount from what you would have paid.
In 2018 I will be looking for saving money on travel deals. I have heard the best time for booking cruises is within a couple of weeks when the cruise actually begins so they can fill unbooked cabins.
(I raided a couple of sales at Cub Foods in Minneapolis where I got 12 lbs of 80% lean hamburger at $1.99/lb, and at another store where I got 34 lbs in 1-lb chubs of hamburger on clearance, for between $2.34/lb and $2.99/lb (the last was grass-fed). My receipt said I'd saved $90 on that shopping trip alone.
Pounce on sales of freezable stuff.
If there were Publix stores up here, I'd use them.
“We lower the temp to 60 at night.”,
.... temp setting?
I do that at Target and sometimes at Walmart.
Can buy eggs at Aldi sometimes for 59 cents a dozen.
And their tuna fish cans are only about 64 cents each.
If you have a "get money off your gasoline by shopping with us", then when you go to the gas station, and you have more than one car, fill up both cars: the savings usually lets you get the discount for 20 gallons of gas.
There was a period of time when for about 6 weeks in the summer of 2012 I was getting unlimited FREE gasoline from Murphy's (associated with Walmart). It was a little bit complicated getting it but it WORKED. However, the first time I did it, I nervously looked up in the sky to see if the cops would swoop down on me from a helicopter for scoring FREE gas.
Wow......what a mistake that was.
With a capital “C” and were in our 60’s
Changed our internet/cable provider - twice, getting a better rate both times. That’s about all I can think of.
eliminate coffee all together for big savings and better for you
T-Mobile senior plan. Two lines unlimited data for $60 a month including taxes and fees.
Bought a house in Florida. Changed our “official” domicile from NJ to FL. We will live in FL for 6 months+one day and live in NJ for the summers.
No more NJ State Income Tax.....saving tens of thousands of dollars per year......and ain’t freezing our azz off.
Pssst! Their inexpensive Mamma Cozzi pizza is exactly the same as DiGiorno.
Up here in Minnesota, there's a big box home improvement store called Menards, which has some groceries.
Last May, I found the last remnants of leftover Christmas K-cup compatible coffee -- $8.00 for a 54-pack, so I bought 4 of them.
My dentist told me to re-use each K-cup once to reduce coffee stains on my teeth, so the net cost to me of a K-cup coffee is about 7 cents.
WIN!
Replaced even the barebones cable tv sub with an OTA antenna. Replaced $35/mo Virgin Mobile with pay-as-you-go Tello.
Sorry but I can't live without coffee. Plus it isn't all that expensive.
Moving my 401k to the riskiest growth fund available to me.
Another trick that I use when buying stuff online is to go thru the entire checkout process except for the payment. I just leave the item sitting in my shopping cart. Guess what? Almost always the company sends you an email within days offering a discount from what you would have paid.
Trying to think of ways I saved $, maybe i will be reminded of more as the thread grows.
One trick with fast or semi fast food establishments: have a regular one and even better if you go with a cute kid. When I go with my son who has special needs and doesn’t really speak, he wants the exact same thing every day to take to school for his lunch. He wants a certain number of chicken strips. Well, these ladies there have started sticking extras into his bag every day. I’m just saying that if you develop a good relationship with a neighborhood place, you will sometimes get them to throw a little extra your way. They have to toss stuff out all the time at these places.
We have not saved crap on tv because mom has Alzheimer’s and she gets whatever she wants in these twilight years. She deserves it. But we did get chrome cast and it is awesome. Anything you can get on your phone or tablet you can send up to the big tv. Highly recommend. Live Trump speeches, cat videos, hockey games out of the area, etc. We thought we gave mom a heart attack one night by playing a few hours of Jay Leno Headlines for her. She laughed so hard for so long and we weren’t sure she could stand it. Lol. (Search YouTube for it, seriously funny stuff)
Lol!
A fishing rod?? Picturing this
Yeah, the companies can't stand that you have an item in your shopping cart just sitting there. They know you are interested but haven't gone the final step of paying for it so they almost always offer you a deal where they discount off the price that you were originally going to pay.
Oh yeah, I finally made use of Black Friday too. Ordered my iPad Pro and saved $200.
Cancelled Financial Times and Economist subscriptions.
I can read unlimited anti-Brexit and anti-Trump crap for free.
No need to pay !
I got a job!
Smart. They get worse after marriage. I grew up in JAP ville and you could forget going to the track or golfing. You become her possession. And then comes the divorce. It’s not a good thing. And no, I’m not one. But some of my friends kind of are.
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