[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Cheapskates, got any tips? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 6/26/2008 6:50:55 PM EDT
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When I make Zatarain's, I add 2 additional cups of rice. I is plenty salty and spicy enough to handle the addition of more rice and it also extends the number times I can take it for lunch. By eggs in 18-24 packs, cheaper per egg. I buy store brand stuff as much as possible. Anyone else got any more tips? |
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Ketchup, mustard, salt and pepper packs are free at most fast food places. I go to chik-fil-a for mayonaise and hot sauce packs. I like the plastic utensils from Wendy's. Whenever I am at a hotel I find a housekeeping staff with a cart and tell them my wife really likes their brand soap or shampoo and ask if I can have some to take home. Usually they will give me enough for about a month. Aslo works for coffee. We haven't bought coffee in at least three years. When traveling for work I usually try to find someplace liek a comfort suite that has free breakfast and a fridge. I load up the fridge with fruit and yogurt and take granola bars or what not for lunch. Got all the food covered that way. Only crap at work. It seems like a waste to buy toilet paper and flush it down the drain. |
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- Use the shopping bags that stores give you for trash can liners. Save on buying trash bags. - Turn off lights when not in use. Unplug "energy vampire" appliances when not in use (some appliances - such as TV sets - consume electricity just by being plugged in). - Do not waste money on bottled water. It is the biggest scam in creation. Unless you live in a very polluted area, the odds are about 99% that your tap water is fine. - Drive conservatively (at the speed limit) and plan your trips to combine errands and maximize efficiency. - Store brands ARE generally just as good as name brands (once in awhile you may encounter a quality issue, but not often). - Look at unit pricing on grocery shelves, or if they don't have it in your state then bring a calculator with you when you grocery shop. This allows you to see what the best value "per ounce" is when different sized packages are available. - Follow the Yankee motto on thrift: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." In other words, get your money's worth out of the things you buy. - Unless you have a dial up modem, you might consider doing away with your household land line telephone service if you also have a cel phone. Why pay for both when you can just use the cel phone? A few off the top of my head. |
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my cheapskate thread from a while back. LINK The best thing the wife and I ever did was writing down every penny we spend in a notebook. If I spend $0.50 on a candy bar, I have to write it down in the notebook when I get home. This exercise makes you realize how much little things add up. It also makes you think - "do I really want to spend $0.50 on a candy bar?" We've done this for about 7 years now and it really ingrains frugality into your character. Make a list of every expense you have. Then ruthlessly slash those expenses. Cable tv? Don't really need it, do you? If you must have it, get the cheapest package. Phone service - analyze the various plans and get the least expensive one for your calling pattern. Do this with every expense, whether it's food, clothing, etc... Before spending any money, think - "do I really need this? are there cheaper alternatives? If I lose my job in 6 months, will I regret this purchase?" If you determine you need something, try to buy it used. Let some other sucker pay the depreciation. Don't spend money on crap that isn't worth anything after you pay for it. The biggest wastes of money that fall into this category tend to be food and beverage expenses. That coffee you bought at Starbucks for $4 is gonna be piss in 30 minutes. An expensive meal is gonna turn to crap in a few hours. Why would you spend a lot of money just to have expensive piss and crap? The wife and I started living frugally a few years ago when we noticed the Michigan economy going to crap. It's second nature now. |
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Buy meat in as pre-processed a state as possible, and do the cutting and trimming yourself. Grow herbs and spices, save some seeds and propagate again. Don't flush the toilet every time for urine. Turn up the thermostat when you leave your residence. Use more blankets and less heating in the winter. Slow down on the road just a bit if you're able. Buy used or surplus guns! |
Dumpster at work FTW. I canceled my home phone and bumped my cell plan up a few hundred minutes (saved $80 a month). I canceled my cable modem and surf on my neighbors unsecured wifi. (J/K on the last one) Some of you guys slash costs to the point of living like third world citizens. I like saving money, but not at the cost of depriving myself the things that make life pleasant. |
  
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If you shop at Costco here in Florida you can get CFLs for about half the price of other retailers. The state is subsidizing the cost of the bulbs sold at Costco by about half because they want people to switch. I bought packs of 9+ bulbs for 4-5 bucks each because of the subsidy. I think the light is significantly better and I never want to go back to regular incandescent bulbs again. 
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| Do your own auto repair for minor things. I know I saved $100 by switching out a starter myself. Only took an hour. And switching to synthetic oil for high mileage drivers will help - one year or 25,000 mile oil AND filter changes, whichever comes first. I change my oil and filter once a year. |
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I have been paying child support for the last decade so I have had to learn how to pinch a penny. I tend to stay at home and not run the roads. I found an apartment 1 mile from work and eat lunch at home. By doing this I save $15-$20 a week. Thats $60-$80 a month or $720-$960 savings per year just by eating lunch at home. I average only about 40 miles on my truck per week by being so close to work. I used to have a 52 mile round trip. I use my motorcycle to do errands around town. It's 20 years old and paid for as is my truck. The truck might not be pretty but there isn't a payment and the insurance is only $27 a month. I do have cable and cable internet. All of my bills get paid online. I plan on quitting smoking tomorrow and that will put another $200 a month in the bank. When you really start to track where your money goes you begin to second guess whether you need to spend that money or not. By trimming your spending you can have more money for the important things like ammo. |
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* Make a monthly budget. Write down your profit & expenses for the month, and balance by the week. You can keep an eye on what you are spending, and you won't have to worry about slipping up on overspending. * Price Per Ounce: Learn It & Live It. The 5lb jar of Peanut Butter is a better buy than the 1lb jar of Jif thats on sale. * Run your A/C at night. If your house is well insulated, it should stay cool most the of the day. Just turn it on an hour before bed, turn it off after you wake up, and you can save the extra 450 hours of the A/C running a month. (Assuming 1 hour before bed & 8 hours of sleep). * Drive only when you have to. When you have to go out, get everything you need for that week. Don't make a habit of going to the store on Monday for milk, the Post Office on Tuesday for stamps, back to the store on Wednesday for toilet paper etc. Just make a single "Shopping Day" of the week, and get everything you need. * Buy quality the first time. You may save $20 on the cheap Chinese coffee maker, but when you have to buy a new one every 2 years its not worth it. Spend a little extra money for a higher quality item the first time so you don't have to re buy everything. * Don't go to the theater. Why are you going to pay $10 to see a shitty movie 5 bucks for a small popcorn, and $3 for a small Coke? If you have to see it in the theater; check user reviews online first, catch a matinee, and sneak in a snack/drink. BIT by biT yOu Really Really ENergize your Time & money. |
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Dump that gym membership. If you want to exercise, take a lesson from our country's prison population and use your own body weight. Quit drinking alcohol in bars and resturants and quit buying overpriced booze. If you must alter your conciousness, buy something cheap and drink it at home. Don't be a slave to fashion. I've got a stepbrother who can barely support himself but he always looks good. Oakley sunglasses, Dr Martens, brand new clothes from AE, A&F, Aeropostale, and every other store that sells worn out looking shit at double the price of clothes that look new. I'll admit that I feel silly at times wearing skateboard t-shirts from 5 or 10 years ago but at least I can support my gun habit. Learn to cook and cook your own meals. It really is cheaper and healthier. Anybody looking to save some money should read the book "How to live well on practically nothing". It is full of interesting ideas and it also shows you the other side of being cheap. The guy that wrote that book seems to have based his entire life on cutting costs and I'm not sure that he is better off. |
Or that I'm perpetually broke.
) RELOAD your own ammo.
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Lots of sites and books out there for you to read on. I have boiled it down to some really simple stuff. Track income to the penny as well as time invested. Add in commute time, overtime, and all other time. Even finding a penny on a sidewalk takes a second to bend over and pick it up. Track outgo to the penny. Start noticing the water meter and power meter numbers. Pull old bills to see how things have changed seasonaly in the past. Once you see where your money is going run searches and read books on those subjects so you can figure out how to save money. Talk to the insurance people and other places and see if you can save some money on bills. I don't recomend skimping on coverage but having double coverage on stuff seems silly if you can't use it. There is a phrase about how it is not how much money you make, but how much of your money you spend. Overall you need to understand what it takes to earn a penny and you need to start learning what it takes for you to spend a penny. I see people drop coins at the checkout and they won't even look around to see where they went. They don't care about the coin unless someone else takes the effort to pick it up for them. One thing I recomend spending some time doing is talking to othes and watching for sale ads on stuff you know you will need soon. Tires for the car, start looking a couple months ahead of time and find out who has the best price and maybe they will have a coupon or a sale that makes it a good time to replace the tires on your vehicle. But mostly it all comes down to understand what it takes to earn a penny and figuring out how to keep more of your pennies. |
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Start tracking your finances with Quicken, Microsoft Money, or whatever you want, but when you see where you are spending money wastefully, you will stop spending it there. Since we started keeping track of finances carefully, we have: Turned the A/C up to 82F Pulled out all but one or two bulbs from light fixture that have more than one bulb setup Eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Drive less, only if necessary |
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Buy items that dont spoil or have long shelf lives when they a on sale. Use coupons when when shopping for food, I save around 23% when doing so. Check the dollar stores, most of the stuff is crap but on occasion you find deals, for instance, I have enough bosch wiper blades for my truck to last a lifetime at $4 a set. |
I only recommend this to those disiplined enough to do both steps. 1) Use a cash back (or other rewards) credit card to buy everything. 2) Pay it off EVERY month. I get 2% cash back and Discover card normally runs 4, 3 month "Bonus months" where you can earn 5% on select items. The current bonus was cloths shopping. Starting July and ending September is 5% back on GAS! |
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Cancel cable. I haven't had cable in 4 years. I don't miss it at all. Have just a cell, cancel the lan line. don't need 2 phones. Shop at thrift stores, Salvation Army, etc. Shop at Dollar stores for cleaning stuff, snacks (if you have to have them), etc. In the winter, we keep the place at about 58 degrees. No A/C in the summer if you can stand it. |
Hell, you can buy a pound of pinto beans for ~$.60 and then you can make your own refried beans. Much cheaper. Use VoIP for your phone service. Bring your lunch and coffee to work. I just pack the leftovers from last night's dinner for my lunch. The people I work with buy coffee, breakfast and lunch at the cafeteria everyday. No wonder they complain about not having money. Plus, I get a lot of baby clothes from co workers. You'd be amazed at how happy people are to get rid of baby stuff(toys, clothes, books) that their kids no longer use. With little kids, they wear something for like 2 months and then they're too big for it. Why buy cool new outfits for a 2 month old? It's not like the kid even cares or something.  Use a space heater for your room at night instead of heating the whole house. If you are putting money into your savings account, use that money to pay off your debts instead. If you're not paying off your credit cards every month, then your living beyond your means. For some of you, it looks like being frugal equals being a thief or a leech. Personally, I'd rather be frugal. |
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Canceled cable Canceled local phone service and use MagicJack VOIP for $20 a year. Work discount for cheap cell phone www.slickdeals.net for deals on stuff I need HotCouponWorld - turned in the man card, swallowed my pride and started using coupons for groceries, paper products, and toiletries. Saving 40-70% on my food bill now. (with 4 kids this is huge) Shop for clothes at places like Rugged Warehouse. Payed $1 each for my last couple pairs of brand new Levi's Started riding a bike to work as much as I can to save gas $$$ and get back in shape |
www.slickdeals.net Find a grocery store that runs "loss leader" sales. Shop there an buy only the loss leaders. Then find recipes that use the food you bought. I have a recipe for steak tacos. The recipe calls for an expensive cut of meat. I use top round london broil. The LB goes on super sale once every six weeks for $1.88/lb or buy one get one free. I can make a great dinner and feed 8 for less than $15. |
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Freecycle Last year and this year we found free firewood. Other scores - clothes for my daughter, me, and the hubby (not great stuff, but nowhere near worn out either), toys and books for my daughter, coupons, and food. |