Saving Money

[Tab]

You all know the story: We were ahead and then the gas valve on our furnace broke and the reg bills took care of the rest. I know God will get us through, He always does

In the meanwhile, do any of you have suggestions on creative ways to save money or make it stretch? Thank you in advance for any creative comments or suggestions!

 

[SampleMM]

Hi Tab, I think we can all relate to this. At one point or another, everyone has had money issues. One thing I do is hang up all of our clothes. I started it because my daughter's shirts were shrinking but I soon realized it helped cut down on the electric bill. Consequently, I hardly dry a thing. I also like to buy my cleaning products at the dollar stores as they are cheaper. I can pack a lunch cheaper than my kids can buy one. Also, less trips to town helps save on gas. One other thing I have considered and may do is to get rid of my home phone and just have our cell phones. If you have long distance on your phone, you can get a prepaid cell phone to cut down on the phone bill. If you have call waiting, caller id, call forwarding, you may want to consider getting rid of that.

If anything else comes to me, I'll update this!

 

[Miniv]

Totally understand where you're coming from......

We've been watching things too.....Larry has covered most of our windows with plastic sheeting to help keep the heat in. We use a wood stove, but with electric base board heating as back up. Our place is an old farm house, so there's good and bad to it. )

I try to combine my reasons for driving into town, like SampleMM posted.

Food shopping means doing more from scratch (which I have always tended to do.) . Prepared foods cost more. I buy meat according to what's on sale that week and plan more than one meal from it. If I'm lucky I can get THREE meals. When there's a major sale on either canned goods or frozen items that I use regularly, I stock up.

We went through our garage and closets and pulled out a bunch of stuff.....Had a yard sale last month which helped. We also discovered some neat stuff to sell either on E-Bay or Craig's list.....(old books).

 

[Pepipony]

Coupons. Get at least one sunday paper a week, I get 2 , different types so different coupons. Then go through all the sales ads, walmart wil competition price any local ad, but not for free or % off. If a store has an instore coupon, you can then usually use a manufacturers coupon for the same item. Also watch when a place has a 'with card' price , like CVS, sometimes its more but if they offer a % back it can be worth it. With those cards check the reader when you come in, sometimes you will get $ coupon , like $5 off entire purchase or a store coupon.

Dont run to the store for every little thing, that gallon of milk will cost you much more with all the stuff you get, that you didnt need. Start a pantry, household cleaning closet and freezer. If you have an item or 2 in reserve, you can then wait for a great sale instead of paying the shelf price when you really need something. Also check online for coupons. Its nothing for me to save 30-50% every month.

Dont be bashfull about coupons, load em up and save. Watch when the cashier scans your coupons because it isnt odd for the coupon to be one $ and ring another. Also watch for the items price, stores arent watching out anymore about price discrepancies, I dont think they care and I dont think they see it as stealing, but it is.

Look online for store coupons and sign up at stores for email. Just make a yahoo or msn type email and use it solely for these things, so you dont inundate yourself with spam.

Call utilities and ask for a price break. Make sure your property tax is correct. Hope these help *-)

 

[disneyhorse]

I agree with the coupons... but make sure you cut out only the ones for "essentials." If you don't normally buy it, don't cut the coupon and be tempted to buy the new-fangled frozen entrees, cookies, or whatnot.

Cooking your own food from scratch versus buying fast food or going out to eat is not only cheaper, but healthier. Make things that you can eat for leftovers, too.

Also, go through your monthly expenses and see what you are spending on. Is there anything you can cut back on? Sometimes those "extras" such as newspapers, Netflix accounts, or whatever can be cut back on or eliminated if they are truly a luxury you could probably do without.

Good luck,

Andrea

 

[Bess Kelly]

Check your supplies on hand -- and use those before buying more. Personally, I tend to have a couple weeks of needs as I buy specials that I use when can, keep my freezer pretty well stock with sales, etc. So see if you have foods "sitting" that you can use up and not need so much at store. This has gotten me through often. Meats are the most costly, so use smaller portions, extend them in a soup, etc. whether leftovers or just planned. Use meatless meals -- chilis, soups, etc. Healthy AND less expensive. Carry lunches. Carry a thermos of coffee, tea, etc. vice purchase at outside store.

Cut off lights if not in room. Lower thermostats, wear more sweaters.

Conserve and plan........trips to store, bank, etc. Recycle "stuff". If you smoke, STOP! WOW, I'm a lifelong non-smoker but, the cost of those things would give me a heart attack if I was a smoker!

Shut down any areas not in use to lower heat needs...check all air leaks and repair them. Full loads in washer/dryer...use air dry if you can, not dryer. I have a small wooden rack for inside use. It's great! Shorter showers saves hot water. And you can cut the hot water heater off for several hours a day quite often (depends on system, etc. mine is electric--easy to do)

Like all say, it's things we should do and often don't think about (but should!) until we really are forced to do so. This really can help EVERYONE to consider their needs.

 

[billiethekid40]

This site has some really good suggestions. hillbillyhousewifeI've managed to really pare down our grocery bill when needed by creating a complete menu for a full paycheck (over 15 days) in conjunction with what was on sale the week I did the shopping. I didn't even look at the flyers the week in between- I knew we didn't need anything because I knew I had enough of everything I needed for all the meals I planned. We did rearrange some meals, had a few planned leftover nights and made sure I had a meal or two planned that would feed unexpected company that I could swap out for whatever was on the menu that day. The biggest bonus? Not having to decide what to cook every night, I only had to do it once or twice a month and then look at the board every day to see what to make. Second big bonus was that with the savings we can afford to go out for wings with a group of our friends almost every week (only on 2 for one night though LOL)

I don't plan like this all the time, but after a while you get a better feel for buying enough of the staples to make X number of meals without a lot of extras or needing to run to the store mid week because you decided you wanted something you didn't have all the ingredients for. My big menu tip- have a list of your favorite dishes and their ingredients, broken down into categories for fish, chicken, beef etc and keep the list handy when you are looking at the weekly flyers and planning your grocery list.

Where we live, cell phone plans are expensive so we ditched ours and just have the one home phone and a pay as you go cell phone we keep on hand for texting the house (we spend less than $10 a month). We got rid of our cable bill and rely on games, the internet and the library to entertain ourselves.

 

[wcr]

Before you buy anything, ask yourself if it is a want or a need. Times have definately been hard for us and by asking that little question, it is amazing what you don't buy.

Craigslist can be your best friend as we all have things we don't use, that take up space, and by selling things it has gotten us through some really lean times.

I do the bulk of our grocery shopping at Grocery Outlet(discount store) and fill in what we need at the grocery store.

Buy fresh veggies. They are healthier, go farther and you can make soups rather than throw them out if they are getting on the old side.

We have a butcher shop that sells bulk meat (10 pound packs) and I stock up about once a month and repackage them into usable sizes.

 

[Sonya]

If you have both cell and home phones, get rid of the home phone...I did this a few months ago along with my satellite internet (I now go online wirelessly through my phone, 3g), saved $200/month. I also plan my meals through a menu and stick to my list. Eat Venison.

also wanted to add...buy store/off brands at the grocery store instead of name brands..95% of the time they are just as good as the name brand and are half the price.

 

[CharlesFamily]

The biggest change we made was to start using the laundry detergent specially formulated for cold water (we use Tide). We buy it on sale and use coupons, but the savings on our gas bill from just cutting out that amount of hot water has been extensive! We are on the budget plan for our gas, and this summer, we actually had a credit on our account and didn't pay anything on a gas bill for 3 months!

Good luck!

Barbara

 

[NoddalottaFarm]

We are on a plan to become debt free. It's a slow process, and (as always) there are a mess of setbacks, but we've learned some money saving methods along the way, including using coupons. Since most coupons are online now, I don't even buy a paper anymore. It takes some time to sit and search the internet, but its worth it. I now shop at Shop N Save (grocery store) when they have their "no coupon day". They have one/two day(s) a month where you save $10 automatically, once you spend $50. That, coupled with coupons and a budgeted list, saves me $10 to $29 each time. Not much, but every dollar helps when you are close to the edge! I used to sell on eBay, but closed my account when they bought Paypal and demanded you use them for each transaction. I have had good luck selling locally on Craig's List and Kijji. (disclaimer: you need to be VERY careful when using these sites and meeting people!) I also make my own laundry soap now. I was buying one bottle of ALL for $4-$5 every other week, and now my supplies to make my soap cost me about $10 and that lasts over a year. We don't smell like flowers, but we are clean. (though we COULD add essential oils, so we would smell like flowers) I also use homemade cleaners. I do buy a few cleaners like Lysol and bleach, but for most of my everyday cleaning, I use a vinegar/water mixture. Works just as well as the expensive cleaners where you pay for the name. One of the best things we did to save money was to shut off the hot water heater. Yep, you read that right. We flip the circuit off and only flip it on when we are ready to use hot water. It's on once a day for 15 minutes, and that gives us plenty of water for the 2 of us. Well, it's on all day when I'm doing laundry.

It's easy for us, since the breaker panel is in the bedroom, its easy to get to. It's an electric water heater, so it heats up in minutes. Shutting it off means it's not turning on all day long, keeping the water over 100 degrees 24 hours a day. We just don't need that much hot water!! It has cut our electric bill in HALF, and our home is 100% electric (except the wood burning stove we use in the Winter).

I would love to be able to drop our home phone and only use the cell, but cells don't work where we live so we need to keep our home phone. I purchased a TracFone/Net10 phone as a cell, so I have something on me when I go to work and travel. I pay $20 every 90 days or so, to keep it active, and the minutes roll over, so I'm set there.

Look for free samples. Get a free email account (hotmail, gmail, etc.) and set it up ONLY for freebies because you will get TONS of junk mail. Subscribe to as many free sites, yahoo groups, and forums as you can. Take whatever free sample you can use. I have so many sample packets of lotion, I haven't bought any in months. I have also received 3 full sized bottles of shampoo, and with all the sample packets and the 3 bottles, I haven't bought shampoo in almost 2 years.

All of this may seem like just change here and there, but believe me, it adds up. I have Dave Ramsey to thank for that.

Good luck with your savings!!

 

[Tab]

I completely lost track of this post but I wanted to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! I will be reading the replies and hanging on all of your words. My love to you all who took time to reply. I'm sure your replies have helped others as well. Merry Christmas, may it be blessed!

 

[Marty]

I think our biggest problem is wasting food and electricity. I no more cook for an army every night, just enough for the three of us and I do not buy a ton of junk food anymore. I've been baking more for treats and that saves a lot of money.

Got to keep the lights and tv and radio turned off when not in use. There is lots of waste there.

I also have been making a lot of my own dog food using pounds of hamgurger meat on sale from Save A Lot and then adding stuff into it but we still always buy a baga of dry dog food as the basis. It really saves on buying canned food.

I do keep my trips to town just once a week.

And never go grocery shopping without a list.

 

[Sonya]

I agree with Marty, I never go shopping without a list...and I stick to my list, maybe only purchase one or two xtra things that are on sale and a fantastic deal. I do not like to shop (grocery, clothes, any kind). I hate it so bad that my list is in order of the aisles so I can get in/out as quick as possible, I think this keeps me from buying things that are not on my list as well. I also add the cost of my groceries up before I go...I run down my list and use a calculator to get an idea of what my cost will be, if I don't like that number, I go back and see what I can do without. I am always within $10 of what my estimate is.

Someone had mentioned turning off their water heater and only turning it on for showers/etc. I started doing this after I read her response. My tank is propane, so I turn all the way down but leave the pilot light on (which is still burning fuel but not near as much) I always have hot water if I need it simply from the pilot light burning, but of course not hot enough for showers. Hubby and I shower the same time every day, so I turn it on a half hour prior to the showers and turn it off as soon as we get out. So it's on only about 40-45 mins a day. I do turn it on when I run the dishwasher, only once a week, but other than that I've found the pilot light keeps the water warm enough if you did happen to need some warm water for anything like hand washing a few dishes etc. I have already noticed that my propane consumption is down, especially as cold as it's been, we are not using as much just by turning the hot water tank on pilot. I wash clothes in cold water so don't even turn the tank on for clothes washing. I will continue to do this now, it has become like habit, when I get up in the am for work I turn it on go have my two cups of coffee and by the time I'm done, the showers are ready, it's like second nature now.

 

[Tab]

Where do you all go to find your coupons/codes on line? These are some that I visit: coupons.com, smartsource.com, retailmenot.com, and redplum.com. There are probably many more that I'm missing. This will really add to the discussion!

 

[Horse Feathers]

Eat before you go grocery shopping, you buy less when you are full.

 

[Shari]

Sadly... am becoming a pro at this.

If you have Cable or DirecTV... get rid of it.

No movie Rentals. No eating out.

Land lines are normally cheaper, just get the basic service. You can buy a cheap long distance calling card. Having a basic phone service is important in case of an emergency. If your friends and family want to chat, they can call you.

If you have to have a Cell, get a pay as you go phone but only use it in Emergency's.

Only buy basic food, make everything from scratch. You can buy in bulk from places like Azure Standard. Eat simply.

Only go shopping when you have many things to do out in town. So you end up only going to town about once a month. Or if you work, just make sure to shop after work.

Put a hold on buying any clothes, normally people have more than enough to hold them over for years.

Use fluorescent lights in the house, every where. Won't believe how much money you can save.

Keep your house no more that 63* during the day, if you can you can schedule the heat to go down when you are sleeping.

It can be tough but do able.

 

[Filipowicz Farm]

We have a insert in our fireplace and burn wood. We also have woods on our property with plenty of dead trees. I also get shredded paper from our vet and husbands work and use that in the stalls when we need to bring horses in. They stay out 24/7 unless bad storms and have shelters. This saves allot on our bedding. Our vet lets us buy our horse vaccine from Jeffers and needles and just charges us $5.00 per shot. I buy specials at the supper market and also shop at Krogers were they give you so much off at the end of the month on your gasoline when you buy from them. Their gas is cheaper than the regular gas stations. The amount off is based on how much you spend on grocerys.

 

[Tab]

Update since it has almost been a month since the furnace incident!

I am so happy to say though that God has provided above and beyond our needs this past month. We needed to get the dentist out for one of the horses (teeth were a mess) and he willingly waited on getting paid until my husband received his paycheck. My Aunt and Uncle donated a turkey to us. It fed us four for a week! Great friends of ours gave us 6 lbs of home-raised ground beef. My parents gifted us an infrared furnace so that we could save on propane. Very, very blessed. I was able to buy our kiddos Christmas presents on amazon. We only bought what we could afford for them, no credit card. They won't be getting a lot from us, but the quality of the presents is great and the prices couldn't be beat. Plus, I didn't have to deal with lines, crowds, or the gas to get to the stores.

Everyone has made so many great points and has shared lots of great ideas and wisdom! I'm sure these ideas are a gift to many!

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

What are everyone's opinion on the best place to shop for groceries? Walmart, Aldi's, Kroger, or something like Sam's or Costco? I think for around here it's Walmart, but I'm curious to know what others think.

Lots of great ideas in this post already!