Posted on 01/18/2014 6:27:19 AM PST by RKBA Democrat
Edited on 01/18/2014 5:37:14 PM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]
Saving money is a great first step to turning your finances around. This resource shows you 123 ways to accomplish that goal. For this resource, saving money is considered putting more money in the bank or investment accounts, spending less money on things you already pay for, increasing efficiency to spend less money later and other tricks to either spend less money and/or put more money in the bank over the long run.
(Excerpt) Read more at moneylifeandmore.com ...
If you have a money saving tip, please leave a tip. The money saving tips that FReepers leave on these threads are usually far better than anything I can find on the web.
Here’s an extra tip: if you have one of the large cell phone companies, look into a cell phone provider that is on the same network and pay them a lot less for essentially the same service. Here is a link to an article that gives a pretty good list of providers:
http://science.opposingviews.com/cell-phone-providers-use-verizons-network-17892.html
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How about doing a little math.
If you can reduce spending by 5 dollars a day every day, at the end of one year, you have about 1800 dollars, at the end of 10 years, you have 18,000 dollars extra.
It is almost like getting a free car every 10 years.
When you decide to do your estate planning get an expert, TIE EVERYTHING UP IN TRUST FUNDS! Gets around probate, stops one of your listed Beneficiary’s from having the money you left them being an asset, thus vulnerable to having the money taken if they ever get into a lawsuit situation. We just went through this, easy to do, little expensive, but I consider it money well spent, because of all the protections in it and NO PROBATES. Have 3 different ages of trustee’s listed.
This is especially important if your are a blended family remarried Seniors.
Please add me to this list, really appreciate it!
Use a checking account with actual paper checks. It will force you to see what you are spending your money on.
Great topic. Some good advice on that list.
I have teenage sons, but I was able to cut our family’s gas, grocery, clothing, and miscellaneous spending in HALF over the last year by doing some of the things on that list. (Of course, it helped that the biggest spender in the house moved out). This is probably going to sound pathetic, but here’s exactly what I did to get the spending under control:
* First I set a monthly budget that was ONE-FOURTH less than what our family had been spending in gas, groceries, clothing, and miscellaneous.
* I always shopped for the best deals. But now I keep a weekly list of everything on sale and where to buy things at the best prices, and I stock up.
* We stretch out the leftovers and don’t waste anything.
* I stopped buying snacks like granola bars. Now I bake everything from scratch. (It turns out, baking bread does not save money, though.)
* We stopped buying food out so much. Instead, since I needed more help around the house, I started paying my sons each a small allowance and told them to use their allowance money if they want to buy food out somewhere. They quickly became budget-conscious, too. I recorded their allowances as part of the spending.
* Shopping for the best deals on clothes, and only buying clothing if it’s absolutely needed or there’s an unbelievable sale, usually after-season - for example, I’ve bought brand-new shirts for as low as 50 cents each.
* After all that, our spending was cut by more than one-fourth. But I wanted to cut the spending even more. So, for a couple of months, I kept track of every penny by recording everything we spent in a book.
* I found out gas was eating most of our money. Now I don’t fill the tank. I just buy what we need to drive from point A to point B. (That’s probably BAD ADVICE, but in my case, when I fill the tank, I tend to drive more.)
* Next thing I knew, our spending was cut by ONE-HALF. :-0
Anyone else have more advice?
If anyone has any creative ideas on EARNING money from home, please share them!
“If you can reduce spending by 5 dollars a day every day, at the end of one year, you have about 1800 dollars, at the end of 10 years, you have 18,000 dollars extra.”
That’s a good point, and I’d argue that saving $5 is usually better than earning $5 because of taxes and the added unwanted attention that earning income tends to bring.
BOOKbump
“If anyone has any creative ideas on EARNING money from home, please share them!”
I’ve been keeping an eye for articles on that. Unfortunately, most are work-at-home scams. In the next few weeks I intend to send out a note and tha’ll be one of the things I bring up.
If you search under keyword “survivingsocialism” you can see some other threads with a lot more money saving ideas. This one hasn’t gotten much traction. :-(
Thanks for the tip. Maybe this thread will get more traction later on. I’ve been enjoying your ping list, by the way. It’s very helpful.
I've eliminated about half of that list by using cash. I take out a certain amount every month and get the once-a-month purchases done. I take the money out at the end of the previous month so I can take advantage of sale prices. The money is for everything but major expenses, and I've purchased the necessities for the month. So, when the money is gone, it's gone.
Two things stopped immediately with this system. Designer beverages are just too darn expensive. The other thing is food....I never buy food without knowing that it will be eaten and that it has a nutritional purpose.
Wow! Ping for later...
I’m surprised to see so few responses here.
I’ve been taking advantage of WalMart’s $4 prescriptions. I have no clue how they can afford to sell them so cheap. If I got a generic for the synthroid I take with my insurance, I’d pay $25.
I also make laundry detergent - it’s easy, cheap, is made from easy to get ingredients, and works in HE machines (is low sudsing). I’ll try dishwasher detergent next but I still have a large supply of tablets to use because of some great coupons some time ago.
Oh btw great job on your thriftiness. I didn’t mean to only nitpick one statement you made!
I love this! I knew someone could give me advice on the bread. :-)
Well, my first mistake was that I was using a bread machine. A friend who’s an electrician pointed out that the wattage alone would make it cheaper for me to just buy the bread on sale.
But, even without the machine, the cost of yeast alone came to 33 cents minimum per loaf; then with the flour and the other ingredients, I was spending as much baking the bread as I would have if I’d bought it.
Anyway, now we have a new favorite bread that goes on sale for $1.84 now and then (down from $3.99). Currently there are five loaves of it in our freezer. But if I could bake a loaf for 50 or 75 cents... I would love that.
Isn’t it nuts that a loaf of bread is $4 now? My favorite sourdough is about that much and I refuse to spend that kind of money!
I get the pound of yeast (or maybe it is 3 pounds, I’ll have to check but it’s at least a year or two’s supply!). If frozen, it’ll last at least that long. Those little packets are pricy - I imagine that was what you were calculating in.
And the flour I get for $1.50 a pound. 3 cups of flour makes one loaf so I get about 4 per pound of flour. Adding in only the yeast and a bit of oil and salt, I guestimate about 50 cents. Of course, adding in more ingredients just costs more too. I never added in the natural gas cost (to heat my oven).
$1.84 for something you like and without the time spent on it is a good deal, IMO. I enjoy baking bread for friends and they seem to enjoy getting a loaf now and then, so I do it more as a hobby than to save money. (In the winter, that is. In the summer around here, I can’t turn my oven on or the electric costs for more A/C will kill me!)
I look forward to seeing more of your tips on these threads!
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