Saving Money, What Have U Done Away With?

[ibpboo]

Right now we have no heat. Yes, the heater broke. So, I figure, look at all the money we will save not paying for a propane delivery!
brrrrrr

 

[ibpboo]

Quote:
They are still doing that? I had them a few years ago, they were so awful when I canceled, kept me on the phone, were obnoxious, wouldn't take no for an answer just like you said. I finally got to 'no' but it was to the point where I had to be almost nasty towards them. I'm not usually like that, but they were practically holding me hostage. Talk about lousy business practice

.

Make them take no for an answer! Don't let them get away with being that obnoxious!

i had to close my checking account to get rid of them, they were taking money out every week,

We had no problem getting rid of AOL. Just wrote them a letter expressing we no longer wanted the service, we were disconnected and the credit card was no longer billed. Followed their instructions on what needed to be included in letter, and boom, it was done!

 

[sundance]

dropped the movie channels on Direct, but where we live if you don't have satellite , no tv at all, Dropped all my book clubs and joined paperback book swap, book mooch, and swap tree, takes a little longer to get the books but they are cheaper(postage only) and also get to trade cd and dvd. do all banking on line so, no postage, usually buy groceries once a month to save on gas. marrie

 

[JennsPeeps]

I've been paring down our bills for a few years now, so it's hard to say what we've gotten rid of... plus it's tricky to get rid of more. DBF is working on starting a business - it's finally picking up - but we've done without for a long time now.

Dropped the land line
Canned $300 of food last summer for a total of about 150-200 jars
Renegotiated our cable bill
Got as much free fruit - berries, apples, pears - as possible
Meal plan & no more meals out of the house
Make most things from scratch: bread, pizza crusts, soups, biscotti, pasta sauce, pizza, stock (then can the stock!)
Only buy things on sale
Skulk about thrift stores for good deals
Dropped Netflix
Use the library - it's not free b/c I paid taxes for it so might as well use it
Ask myself, "do I really need this item?"
Use up what I've got. It's amazing how much I've squirrelled away in my freezer, pantry, junk drawer, and the nooks/crannies of my house.
Make my own laundry detergent: it's environmentally friendly, too.
Planted a veggie garden last year, will expand it this year
Got chickens (OK, so that didn't save me any money at all)
No more movies in the theatre
Turned down out heat (now it's out due to a broken boiler... ARG)
Stocked up on turkeys & hams over the holidays
Gave up my expensive wine habit, drinking less expensive wine now
Don't buy processed foods - these really add up in price

I'm thinking about a breadmaker b/c I'm tired of kneading bread. Found one that was pretty new at Goodwill last weekend but didn't feel like spending $8. I'll try to find one that's 50% off in the weekly special.

Our splurges:
We have season tickets to the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. We love the ballet, and are thrilled to have the season tickets.
We still host friends for dinner, just make things that are less expensive.
Internet & cable
Good food: I refuse to eat pre-packaged or poor quality food.