Tips for Saving Money in Everday Life

[econophile]

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Well, if the 2 hours you spend preparing and cleaning up, would otherwise be spent on other money-making endeavors, then I agree. But if you are sitting on the couch watching TV during the 2 hours prep/cleanup time you have saved by ordering in - then how would you not save money by cooking at home?

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Watching TV is fun, and might be a better way to spend my time than collecting soda cans.

[TTChamp]

1. You can save/earn a lot of money by finding a credit card with a good rewards program (preferably cash back) and using that one credit card for everything. Make sure that you switch all available services and utilities to auto pay on that credit card too. Obviously this only works if you pay off the entire balance every month.

2. Before making any planned purchase, do a quick internet search for coupons. Certain stores ALWAYS have coupons available online. Also make sure you search for competitors even if there isn't one nearby. The store will almost always honor them (eg search for lowe's even if you are going to home depot).

3. There is a grocery store here in Pittsburgh that offers discounts on gas purchases for shopping there. When my wife goes grocery shopping she buys gift cards for all the other stores we normally shop at from the grocery store. We then get discounted gas for spending money we were going to spend anyway. Not sure if this arrangement is unique to the burgh.

Combining rewards points, discounted gas, and coupons and I can get around 13% off a lot of big purchases.

4. The idea previously mentioned about offering cash for auto repairs applies to most service work (home repairs, etc).

5. Reittering "soda is a rip off, ask for water".

6. Pack your lunch.

[PITTM]

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collecting cans, and complaining about fast food seem like terrible ideas. The time it takes to do these, and the hassle involved is not compensated by the few bucks you will save.

This goes for a lot of money saving tips. If you are going to spend 2 hours preparing and cleaning up for a homemade meal, then its really more expensive then the $20 chicken you picked up on your way home.

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If you are so desperate for money that you will waste an hour of time to save $4, why not just get a second part-time, minimum-wage job instead? I suppose you could also spend your evenings begging for change. Really, these tips are not very useful if you can't save more money/hour than you could make by just working for the money.

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i totally agree with this wrt many of the OP's ideas. my next door neighbor lives in a 600k house and crushes his cans and brings them down to the recycling place weekly. His family probably generates about 30-40 cans a week. CRV is 4 cents iirc. so he is spending like 2 hours a week to make less than 2 dollars? it just blows my mind. i asked him why he did it once because it annoys the [censored] out of me when he sits outside of my window crushing cans and we have a bunch of recycling bins around our condo complex. he said he does it because of the money. i just couldnt believe it. like, seriously? $1.60 cents is worth wasting over an hour of your time? wow.

also, fwiw i agree with many of the ideas gildwulf presented. When i go out for a meal i either order some nice wine/mixed drink or just water. spending 2 dollars on a glass of juice or someone else's soda just blows my mind. i know one could argue that drinking alcohol carries the same markup, and while it does, there is an atmosphere that it creates that makes it worth it.

just a lot of the ideas in this thread are an example of narrow minded economics. I remember i had a guy come in at one of my old jobs who was a cost benefit analyst and he told us all these expenses to cut and over the year it was gonna save us like 10-15k. cutting these expenses would piss people off more than what was quantified by what we were saving.

i eat out for dinner almost every night. i get a chicken burrito with black beans, spanish rice and guac. this costs $5.35. Sure, if i were to make this at home i could make it for a savings of like 50 cents. but after i drove an hour to work, worked 8 hours, drove an hour back, and went to the gym, im not in the mood to do a ton of work to save 50 cents. the benefit of happiness is the biggest benefit one can have imo.

rj

[Shakes]

Giant Eagle: They have a program where you save 20 cents per gallon off of one fill-up for every $50 you spend in the store. They also sell gift cards for lots of restaurants and stores that count towards that gas discount. If you know that you are going to make a big purchase at Best Buy, make a point of buying the gift card at Giant Eagle ahead of time.

Best Buy: There was already a thread on this, but on big items, the price can be talked down. Tactics are discussed in that thread.

Utilities: Assuming you pay for your gas and electric, use them as sparingly as possible. Just make a habit out of turning off lights when they're not needed. Don't leave your computer on all day when it doesn't need to be on. If you want to leave your computer on, at least turn your monitors off. This one should be obvious, but so many people I know waste energy.

Furniture and clothing: If you're not picky about what you wear or what you sit on (and even sometimes if you are), you can find this stuff hugely discounted at thrift stores like Goodwill. I have a friend who manages a Goodwill store, and he says they even sell decent, working televisions, even big screens, for $30 or so.

Sporting events and concerts: Buy from scalpers. Yes, I know this might sound strange to those who are not experienced with this, but unless the event is absolutely hugely popular, you can almost always find a very significant discount off the face value of good seats outside the venue, the day of the event. Just show up a little earlier than you normally would, and you'll probably pay about half the face value if you know how to bargain. Carry exact cash.

Parking: This ties in to the sporting events. Don't pay $5-$25 (possibly more... I'm only experienced with Cleveland) when you can find a spot on the street and walk a reasonable distance for free.

Books: Buy them at used book stores. At the very least, buy them right after they come out at 30% or 40% off. Ebay and Goodwill are both good for books.

Music: For those without morals, steal it online at torrent sites. For those with morals, buy them at used CD stores or at least heavily discounted right after they come out.

DVD's: Join either Blockbuster Total Access or Netflix with 3 out at a time, and you'll never have to buy DVD's. If you must buy, buy them used, or go to Ebay for some pretty great discounts. Best Buy also regularly has some pretty good DVD sales.

Restaurants: Buy the smaller meal and fill up on free stuff.

Cable/Satellite/Phone/Internet: Just look for ways to keep these cheap. Often, they can be bought as one package. Time Warner has all three for $99 a month. Do without cable if you find that you're not watching it. Use your cell phone for long distance calls if it will allow you to avoid a long distance plan.

Sam's Club (or other discount clubs): Even if you never buy food there, it's a great source for bottled water, vitamins, office supplies, bathroom supplies, cleaning supplies, etc. The membership price is easily worth it.

There are a lot of people on here who say that it's not worth their time to do these things. That's fine, and I respect that. However, I happen to get a lot of enjoyment out of "being cheap". As long as it's not going to have an effect on my social life, I am as cheap as possible, and I enjoy things more when they come cheaply. I actually feel bad when I overspend.

[HeavilyArmed]

Store brands - In all but a couple cases the quality is identical and the savings is at least 25%. Yellow mustard is all equal.

Your dick needs to divorce your car. New cars are awful drains if your need is transportation. If it's pussy, well, you'll pay for it. Old Jap iron is unbeatable on a cents/mile basis. Get something with 100k miles and don't be surprised if you can drive it to 250K. My advantage is I can do most repairs but these old Toyotas don't need much.

[David H]

Buy tokens for the batting cages on eBay instead of paying full price like a sucker.


$$$

[RunDownHouse]

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Sam's Club (or other discount clubs): Even if you never buy food there, it's a great source for bottled water

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Or you could, you know, drink tap or buy a filter instead of spending money on something that comes out of your faucet practically free.

[JohnMo]

Best way to save....steal.

Step 1. Order Cable+Cable Internet
Step 2. Wait a few months
Step 3. Cancel only Cable TV, leave the Internet
Step 4. Enjoy both services for the price of Internet

The Cable company can't stop the TV signal unless they put a filter on your line which hasn't been done at my house in at least 12 months. My boss used to work for Charter and he says Filtering is a low priority.

I hope they don't come before the superbowl.

[Daniel Magix]

I'm sorry that people view returning cans as a waste of time. For me, it is not a big deal. After my weekly tourney at my house, I usually end up with about 15-20 bottles/cans. I drop them in a garbage bag and keep them in my garage until I get a few bags worth. My buddy owns a liquor store, so every few weeks I stop by, say hello to my friend, and give him the bottles/cans to return. I'm not out walking the streets hunting down discarded cans.

Well, obviously not every idea is right for everyone, but I think there have been some good ideas shared in this thread so far.

[dinopoker]

I don't have much to add, but I will tell you that you get killer prices on prescriptions if you get them at Sam's Club. They are much, much cheaper than pharmacies like CVS and the like and you DON'T NEED TO BE A MEMBER. Just walk in and tell them you're going to the pharmacy - it's open to the public.

I think the last time I needed drugs the price there was $25 for a 'scrip that would have cost $70 at Eckerds.