I thought it might be interesting to see what we all do to save money,either daily,weekly or yearly ?

I've been using more coupons are the supermarket ........

Getting the best price of gas that I can....

Trying to buy more in bulk (dog food,meats ).

Gave up haircuts... my girlfriend gives me a trim once in awhile.

Don't go to restaurants much. We're both very good cooks, enjoy cooking, and it's healthier.

Like Glenn I gave up hair cuts but that was 29 years ago just before I went for my last job interview. Since then I have cut my own using a nifty little thing with a blade in it.. Must have saved a fortune in all these years, enough to buy my Tyros.

My current money saving crusade is to drive at 10 mph below the speed limit on out-of-town roads and motorways instead of 10 mph over the limit. Amazing how much it saves in petrol and as a by-product I have found it so much more relaxing. No more road rage
and I arrive at my destination, having allowed a little extra time for the journey,
with a self-righteous smile on my face.
Even the notorious "white-van-man" doesn't
bother me any more.

Trevor

wow.... interesting to me, that haircut's came up .....lol
I give my barber (stylist) deals on guitar stuff and haven't paid for a haircut for over a year. Dan

Don't have much hair...just tell my barber to break out the tweezers, I'm ready for my semi-annual trim (it's like micro surgery)!

Don't use coupons, discount cards limited time specials...don't even have a Kroger card or ask for senior citizens discounts. Just like to bitch about paying too much. Hey, I'm 59 years old! The one good thing about getting old is you can be obnoxious as hell and no one can do a damn thing about it!

Only ate three meals at home last year...support the establishments I play at, and you can drink Ensure ANYWHERE!
SO THERE!


Russ

Hide my wife's car keybs
Bebop

BEGGIN STRIPS, YUMMMMMMMMMY...Pose

What is it with the senior discounts? I waited for my 55th birthday to use my senior discounts, and they raised it to 60 at Friendly's resturant....I go to Ihop , even now at "61", and the age is 62...They just keep an eye out for me and raise the age...Like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit!!

Save lots of money shopping for new keyboards at Dan01's, do my grocery shopping at BJ's Wholesale Club, which saves about 25 ot 40 percent on the groceries. Every time the state department of assessments and taxation sends a new assessment I fight it by taking it to the highest level of appeal, which so far has saved me thousads of dollars in taxes. Damned I'm a maverick sonofagun!

Cheers,

Gary

Coupons!!! I have to say my mom saves an average of 30-40% off just from coupons to the local cub foods grocery store. It may take 10-20 minutes but if you go grocery shopping twice a month spending, lets say 100 bucks thats 60 to 80 dollars. Thats close to 1000 a year, pretty nice from a few scraps of paper.

Dont underestimate the power of the coupons

Phil

Good question! Lets see...., I save on hair cuts (haven't been to a barbor shop in years). I've been cutting my own hair for the past 10 years now. People think I'm nuts, but it's really easy. The trickiest part is lining up the back. (You have to use a wall mirror, and a hand mirror at the same time. The wife and I used coupons every so often. It really depends on their value to our household. We do ALL and I mean ALL of our grocery shopping at our local Super Walmart. I don't know about other places, but the one we have here is incredible! Last time my parents came to visit I took my mother there and she nearly hit the floor when she saw how low our prices were (lots of competition here).

You'd think I'd be spending more on gas because I drive a Lincoln Town Car (most call them gas guzzlers). However, my Lincoln is a 1993 model (said to be the best and most fuel efficient 4.6L V-8 made). That beast gives me about 25-28 mpg on the highway. I can drive it from Charleston West Virginia up to Erie PA on ONE tank of gas. My other vehicle is a Ford Taurus, and it too is decent on gas.

Although I love to cook we eat out often. When we moved to our new Condo, we moved to an area where just about every major food establishment is within a two minute drive. We typically eat out about 3 times a week (pretty much on weekends, I cook throughout the week) We could save some money in this area

Squeak

OK some of you guys may disagree- I used to try to go buy lots of groceries and cook my own food at home, probably spent about 200 bux/mth, but I end up making too much food, eating the same thing for 2-3 days and the rest goes to waste (I HATE wasting food). This probably applies to single people though, for family of 2-3 it'll make sense to do more grocery shopping of course.

Now I figure out, the more expensive meals would be dinner. So, I eat at the cafetaria pretty much everyday ($4.95) and have something fresh daily OR, in light of my new 'healthier' diet...I go in the morning and eat a cup of cream of wheat mixed with chopped almonds and a tsp of brownsugar, and a cup of cottage cheese with fruit. $1.30/day. Then for lunch I have an odwalla (from home) plus a cup of soup for $1.60

Buy string cheese and other snacks for like $5-10 bux for a 24 pack and snack one/day.

Dinner- I just grill something with my george foreman and eat it with a side of pasta

Probably I'm spending about the same, BUT I'm wasting way less food, and spending less time cleaning and cooking.

Other than that I think I'm pretty good with money (no credit card debt or anything like that).



[This message has been edited by KN_Fan (edited 02-09-2005).]

Hmmm, am I the only one that has NO IDEA what that is?

UD-
It's one of those mixed fruit smoothie drinks

Thanx. What's the origin? I never heard the name before.

The more money you owe when you die, the farther you are ahead, right?
DonM

You may consider minor or major changes in your lifestyle in order to save money. Some choices like transportation, the house you live in, or your eating habits, can have a major impact in your lifestyle and lead to important money savings. Others, like giving up hair cuts don't really change anything in your financial life. I personally hate things like the coupons race (although I recognise that it can result in important savings), because it distracts me from more important things in life. In other words, I prefer to leave my car at home and ride my bicycle (or walk when possible) than worrying all the time which is the gas station with the cheapest gas or which is the store that gives the most explosive discounts. And by doing this I can probably save as much or more than the coupon fans.

You can check sites like http://www.thefrugallife.com/, for example to collect ideas and get inspiration for you own choices, according to your goals.

-- José.

UD- Not sure where you live, but if you go to any major grocery stores like Kroger they carry this stuff. I think the company was actually built by three musicians who apparently like fruit drinks

José.
You are absolutely right about Housing, transportation and food (in that order). If a person could elimate any one of these, they would have tons of money. THe rest amounts to nothing. If you didn't have to live in a shelter, you could have 50% of your income for discretionary use. (Gear )
I ride my bike 11.5km to work and 11.5 from work, if it's nice out. This saves $4.00cdn/day and reduces my blood glucose. I almost never eat out and only buy inexpensive foods. I could live on $20.00/week if I could eat more carbs. RIce and beans is really cheap.
Starkeeper

Odwalla is a small company in a small suburb area of san jose.
One thing I am suprised that I don't see in these posts is that most resturants serve the same thing for lunch and supper. They usually serve lunch until about 4 PM and it is normally less then half the price of supper. this can be a big savings for the singles and even the families if they don't have time constraints
Bebop

My wife and I made a cost-saving decision years ago to give up pets. We have had no pets at all now for about seven years, not even fish. It's amazing how much money that saves. I have nothing against pets per se but the pet industry is a racket. Also my wife has allergies and the no-pet thing helps there too (wish her oldest daughter with the two cats that she's allergic to would get a clue).

We moved to our island townhouse about 5 1/2 years ago thinking we'd be spending more on living expenses and regime fees in return for a better lifestyle. In fact, it balanced out: we save tremendous amounts on gas now - a tank lasts me about two weeks. Everything we need and most of my gigs are close by so that's a lot better than going through a tank every 4-5 days as I used to.

One grocery store tip: sign up their VIP card or whatever preferred-customer card they have. Of course these save you money anyway but I found that if I stop going to a particular store that I have a VIP card for they will usually send me a $50 gift certificate to win my business back. So I go to one grocery store for a few months exclusively, then I switch to another. I've gotten at least two $50 grocery certificates this way.

Saving money?

I thought of an old saying, I had to look up in a dictionary for the right word in English:

"Shrouds have no pockets"

It's amazing how many pet owners are clueless or in denial on this. They always have allergy symptoms and won't admit it's from their animals.