Money Saving Ideas

[kisat]

Wow. That's reminds me of the Albertsons/Safeway 10/$10 deals too. When they have those deals you can get things that would've cost you a lot more for cheap. Good for stocking up on cans of food. For us, those stores are closer, then the cheaper ones. Minus Rite Aid, but those are great deals!

 

[lexustami]

Quote:
LOL. Let me tell you about the Great Mustard Deal of 2008, as I like to call it.

Kroger had a promo going that lasted 2 weeks. If you bought 10 items in the promo list you got $5.00 off your total. Well, French's mustard was on the list at $1.00. There were 50 cents off coupons out for French's mustard. After they were doubled their value was $1.00. That equals free mustard right? Right but it also equals 50 cents OVERAGE on each mustard you bought with a coupon. (because of the $5.00 off for buying the 10 items.)

So for example

10 mustards= $10.00
10 50cent q's doubled= $10.00
$5.00 instant coupon for buying 10 items= $5.00 overage.

Now, they aren't just going to open the drawer and hand you your $5.00 in overage. You have to buy something else that the overage would pay for.

In one transaction, I had 20 bottles of mustard and 10 packages of Kraft cheese. (shredded or blocks) and I only paid 70 cents for the tax.

I ended up with over 180 bottles of mustard. (I ordered extra coupons.) 180 bottles of mustard means that gave me $90.00 to spend on something else.

There were tons of items during this promotion that were free after doubled coupons.

Then just a week later Kroger did their Super Doubles which is when they double dollar coupons. I got tons more free stuff then. I have about 20 bottles of Windex, Windex Anti-bacterial spray and Windex w/ Vinegar. I got 6 free pair of socks, free Gatorade, free laundry detergent, free room deodorizer, free tuna fish, free chili and way too much stuff to even remember.

Coupon shopping is so much fun!

Take care,

Tami

 

[me&thegals]

1. Make your own baby food. Frozen veggies and fruits are CHEAP. Just puree and freeze in ice cube trays. Each cube is a perfect baby portion size.

2. Make your own wet wipes. Cut a roll of thick paper toweling in half, making 2 short rolls. In a round tupperware container, put in 1-2 cups water (depends on size and thickness of the toweling--start with 1 cup), 2 table. baby oil and 2 table. baby shampoo. Swish together. Let paper toweling soak in mixture, then switch to other end of roll and store, using from the inside of the roll.

3. Walk and bike whenever possible.

4. Hang dry clothing indoors in the winter, outdoors other times of year.

5. Reuse toilet paper--hah! JUST KIDDING!!!

6. Cut down on meat or eliminate.

7. Cut out the luxuries, or reduce until they are truly a luxury. Plus, who really needs juice, soda, ice cream, chips, fast food, candy, packaged food, etc., as much as we tend to eat them?

8. Buy clothing secondhand. Shop rummage sales. Talk about sales prices!

9. Give gifts of time instead of toys/useless adult gifts. How about some wonderful homemade food, eggs fresh from the farm, help with a project or a special outing?

10. Forage. It's amazing (if you have access to land) how many berries, mushrooms and wild asparagus a person can find when knowing where to look! It is also seriously fun

11. Make friends with a hunter. Venison, elk and fish are so much better than any meat I can find at the store!

Great ideas so far from everyone else!

 

[kisat]

Quote:
Wow. [laughing] Now that's just A LOT of mustard!

 

[FutureChickenMan]

1. Buy whole milk (usually same price as 2% or 1%) and dilute it with water (to taste) get two gallons of milk for the price of one.
2. Don't buy brand name anything. All generics.
3. Turn your thermostat down to 60 and wear a jacket.
4. Use electronic programmable thermostats.
5. Don't use Air Conditioners; use Fans or build your own Evaporator cooler (swamper) google it.
6. On the buy-one-get-one days, load up on the staples (canned goods, pastas etc).
7. Get rid of soda, beer, wine etc.
8. Beyond changing your bulbs to the compact flourecent, change to a lower wattage; go from 75w down to 60w.
9. Drop your cable package to a cheaper one, or get rid of it entirely.
10. Shop around for internet access. There are a few dial-up companies that are free sponsored by ads.
11. Don't eat out.
12. Take a sack lunch to work.
13. Skip the frew frew coffee and brew your own.
14. Use your bath towel 3 times before washing. Hang it up to dry out.
15. Switch dog/cat foods to less expensive brands.
16. Use cloth diapers instead of disposable.
17. Turn your water heater temperature down.
18. Line dry your clothes only use the dryer to get rid of wrinkles.
19. Cut back on meats.
20. Buy ground beef in the 70/30 or 80/20 fat contents. After cooking the meat, rinse the meat with water. You now have 80/20 or 90/10 meat respectively.
21. Buy yougurt in the big quart containers, divide in to smaller containers. Or make your own.
22. Don't use Premium gasoline. Unless your car is supercharged or turbocharged you just don't need it.
23. Sign up for birthday stuff; Marie Calendars restaraunts will give the birthday boy or girl a free dinner. Buy one get one free kind of thing.
24. If you haven't used it in the last 6 months, sell it.
25. Park the gas hog, get yourself a puddle jumper. Scooters, mopeds etc can be had cheap.
26. Don't buy DVD's, tapes, CD's. Check out your local library and get them for free.
27. Curtail the kids' allowance.
28. Buy clothing at 2nd hand stores (whenever possible)
29. Put any savings in to a high yield savings account.
30. Only water your lawn before the sun comes up. Watering after the sun is up wastes water. evaporation
31. Make your own spagehtti sauce; tomato paste and spices are cheaper than that jarred stuff.
32. Don't buy those salads in a bag; there's a lot of mark-up on those.
33. Bump your car insurance deductible up. (if it's $500 make it $1000 and your rates will be lower)
34. Shop around your car, home, life insurance.
35. Recycle those cans and bottles
36. Don't buy bee traps, you can make them yourself out of 2 litre soda bottles.
37. Plant trees on the sunny side of the house to reduce summer cooling costs.
38. Only plant drought resistant plants.
39. Grow your own meal worms/red wigglers for fishing, treats.
40. Raise rabbits for meat and resale.
41. Check with your local forestry dept; you may be able to get native trees/plants for free.
42. Rechargable batteries only.
43. Use digital cameras, no crummy printed pictures from film.
44. Sweep the driveway, don't hose it off.
45. If you wash your car park it on the lawn first. Wash and water at the same time.
46. When it's raining, run out and wash your car, let mother nature handle the rinse.
47. Run your clothes washer on cold only.
48. Wrap your water heater with a thermal blanket.
49. Build yourself a "ice box" for winter refridgeration (cold climate needed) and unplug the fridge.
50. Master saying "do I need this or do I want this?"
51. If you have a cell phone and a home phone, get rid of one of the two.
52. Check out family plans for phones. Share the family plan with other family members, split the bill.
53. If you live in town, see if your neighbors will split internet access bill with you. Install wireless internet.
54. Skip the big dollar vacations (disney land, cruises etc) for camping.
55. If you do go on big dollar vacations, try to make it a group thing and get group discounts.
56. Always choose hotels that have free continental breakfasts.
57. Go to matinee movies only.
58. When going to movies, sneak your snaks in. (yeah I know, you're not supposed to)
59. When having your car worked on, find out what parts you need and go buy them yourself. Shops typically mark up the parts they sell you. So a $50 part becomes a $100 part.
60. Build your own solar water heater for the pool.

 

[lexustami]

Quote:
Wow. [laughing] Now that's just A LOT of mustard!

Yes, it was a lot of mustard but the concession stand for my kids sports absolutely loved the donation!

Take care,

Tami

 

[sunnychooks]

Has anyone mentioned yard sales or garage sales? One person's trash is another's treasure!!!

How about hatching eggs under broody hens instead of in electric incubators!!!

 

[Rosalind]

Some I haven't seen mentioned yet:

If you're making car payments or are in the market for a new car, consider buying a used car for only as much as you can pay cash. Also consider buying a motorcycle or scooter if you only need to do local driving. There are plenty of used cars that will run another 100,000 miles before needing a major repair.

Change your own oil and do as many car repairs at home as possible, using synthetic oil so you can go more miles between changes. You can do brakes, fluid changes, spark plugs/wires and nearly all routine maintenance at home. Chilton's manuals are cheap. Heck, lots of libraries have them free.

 

[kisat]

Quote:
You took what I just come on and was gonna say

hehehe

lexustami
I bet they did! That's just fantastic. Great way to give back to the community too.

FutureChickenMan
Wow. Those are all fantastic! The ones I haven't done, I'm gonna have to try. Especially that milk one. I can't believe I never thought about that before!

Rosalind
Now that is something I completely forgot to mention. I'm glad you did. And it's true. Getting a Chilton is a wonderful way to figure out how to fix your own car. And if you can't find it in there, then google it. People have wonderful instructions on fixing cars and will have pictures on what to do. My brother and I work on his vehicles and even replacing the starter sounds complicated, but as long as you read up and study it is quite easy to figure out. Change the oil costs only the cost of oil, instead of labor. Spark plugs, air filter, all of it. CHEAP

me&thegals
Oh my goodness I am going to have to make my own Wet Wipes. Love them, but too expensive to buy. Love that one!

I'm getting some great ideas that I haven't even thought of before and they are all fantastic! I know these are definitely going to also be helping a lot of other people that haven't thought of some as well, so great job everyone and as always - keep them coming

 

[Stumpy]

“53. If you live in town, see if your neighbors will split internet access bill with you. Install wireless internet.” That’s quite illegal here, and I would imagine in most states.

Futurechickenman, great tip about milk!

PaChickenchick, a relative of ours in a water-restricted area (drought last summer) did this, but used the water to water her plants outside. My DH does the Navy showers sometimes. We have a water bill, but use the well for watering the garden.

We live too far out in the country to walk or ride a bike to any shopping, but I’ve started a garden this year and am planning a larger one for next year. Also too far to take advantage of Craigslist or freecycle. We have a large freezer which we keep stocked with sale items and deer meat given to us by relatives. I keep a dry erase board on the front and try to keep it updated so I’ll know what’s inside.

Also, a tip – if you get a good buy on flour and buy a large amount, put it in the freezer, even if only for 24 hours. This will kill any bug eggs that may be in or on it. It often pays to do your own baking. We make a lot of our bread, all of our biscuits and pizzas. I have a recipe for freezer biscuits, so DH takes out a couple every morning, instead of buying the ultra-expensive frozen biscuits at the store. We buy cereal at a discount out-of-date sort of grocery store. I have actually gotten $3.89 per box cereal for 25 cents.

We live on a lake, so we have access to all the free fish we want. We’ll be doing serious huckleberry and blackberry picking this year. We like mushrooms, but I wouldn’t trust myself not to pick a poison one. DH carries his lunch to work.

One thing I can add is repair things that you might not normally repair. I repair clothes, tools, all sorts of things. Next on my list is a wheelbarrow and dog house. Things like bondo, E-6000 glue and Gorilla glue can be very helpful with these things. I make rags out of old towels by serging around them. We reupholster and make covers, etc. DH does a lot of maintenance and repair work on vehicles, power tools, etc.

We have dogs which require regular clipping and grooming. I also clip DH’s hair. We’ve lowered the satellite package to rock bottom.

For those who use dryer sheets, cut them in half. Of course, clotheslines are cheaper altogether.

Plant watering tip: Products like Agrosoke (water granules) cost $13.00 per pound. Instead, cut up a disposable diaper and place in pots with soil in areas where very frequent watering is required. Remove all of the plastic, of course.

A few good websites: www.frugalvillage.com, www.dollarstretcher.com.

Read all three Tightwad Gazette books!