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