What is your best money saving tip?

[FUEGO]

I think our uhaul charges $20 a day+50 cents a mile, plus some other junk fees each day. Maybe my city is unique, but you can typically find a late model sedan/compact car rental for $30/day or so after all fees and including unlimited mileage or 100 miles/day. Besides, do you really want to be rolling around town in a huge uhaul truck instead of a slick compact car or sedan?

[Orchidflower]

In Houston--a town with no roaming cabs and little to no public transportion--I was always renting cars from Enterprise when my car needed repaired. I always asked for the cheapest cars they had, and more often than not got a free upgrade. In fact, often to one of their swankier cars. I'd say this happened about half the time at least.

[Meadbh]

If you travel overseas regularly, buy your perfume and consumer electronics at the duty free shop. I always buy perfume this way. I do not buy alcohol as it is too much trouble to carry. Buy your electronics on the outward journey to make sure they are compatible with your power grid at home.

I have two credit cards (one personal, one expenses) that both feed airline points into the same frequent flyer account. As a result I currently have almost 200,000 miles - enough for three trips to Europe or two trips to Australia. I don't book these trips online as the chosen trip always seems to involve spending too many miles, as well as multiple fees and taxes. A good travel agent has the know how to avoid the hidden fees and maximize the utility of the miles....which are best used on long trips, not short hops.

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower In Houston--a town with no roaming cabs and little to no public transportion--I was always renting cars from Enterprise when my car needed repaired. I always asked for the cheapest cars they had, and more often than not got a free upgrade. In fact, often to one of their swankier cars. I'd say this happened about half the time at least.

Same here. It's often a fight to actually get a compact car like I want instead of a gas guzzler "luxury" SUV or crossover vehicle. They look at me strangely when I turn down a huge SUV and ask for a no frills compact car.

[Lister]

Don't think that I saw it listed anywhere else but whenever possible buy online to avoid sales tax but make sure it is on an item that either has free shipping or very low shipping charges (lower than the tax would be like on a watch). Of course you already know to shop around for the lowest prices first.

[RonBoyd]

In the "no soap in the dishwasher" category, Target submits an interesting suggestion on how-to save on shampoo:

Instant Substitute.JPG

(found at Target Is Out Of Shampoo, So Just Dye Your Hair - The Consumerist)

[Kroeran]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO I think our uhaul charges $20 a day+50 cents a mile, plus some other junk fees each day. Maybe my city is unique, but you can typically find a late model sedan/compact car rental for $30/day or so after all fees and including unlimited mileage or 100 miles/day. Besides, do you really want to be rolling around town in a huge uhaul truck instead of a slick compact car or sedan?

half ton pick-up truck

yes, 59 cents per mile now, which will add up real fast, so this works if you aer primarily stationary and just need wheels to get to a grocery store every few days, if you are under 25 and want to avoid under age premium charges, or if you are trying to rent during a special event or holiday when the regular rental car rates go through the roof.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg My best money tip is never go on ebay while sipping wine or you will end up with lots of packages arriving at your house .

I learned that the hard way too. Only in my case it was after some surgery. Boredom, percocet, a Visa card, and tool catalogs are not a good mix.

The UPS guy was making deliveries every day for a week and a half.

[misty57]

Okay, don't laugh!! One of my biggest money-savers has been clipping/using coupons. Here's an example from yesterday of what I do:

Yesterday I bought (3) packages of Finish Dishwasher Gel Packs (20 count), (4) Reach Total Clean Toothbrushes, (10) 6 oz. boxes of Chips Ahoy cookies, and (14) 16 oz. bottles of Coffee Mate creamer. After manufacturer's coupons and store promotions, I paid $8.65 out of pocket for all the products. In addition I "earned" a $5 coupon that can be spent on almost anything the next time I go into the store, so my actual total cost for everything was $3.65. The retail value of the products was over $84.

I get multiple copies of the coupons out of the Sunday paper each week. When items that we use (or can donate to the local food pantry) go on sale at their rock bottom price, I buy several using coupons. I pay no more than pennies on the dollar and often times even make money buying products. When we need anything we simply go to the kitchen pantry or the storage under the bathroom sinks or to the cabinets in the laundry room. There is no such thing as running out and paying $6.59 for a 32-load bottle of HE All Small & Mighty. I just grab one off the shelf in the laundry room for which I paid $.50 - a savings of 92%.

I took the pregnancy route to retirement 23 years ago (actually took a layoff because I was pregnant) and it killed me that I was not contributing financially to the household. Then I remembered how my mom used to save money. Benjamin Franklin said, "A penny saved, is a penny earned." I thought, "I may not be able to earn money (from a paycheck), but I sure as heck can save it!!"

A lot of people laugh at the idea of using coupons, but over the years they have literally saved us tens of thousands of dollars.

[Moemg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dancinmama A lot of people laugh at the idea of using coupons, but over the years they have literally saved us tens of thousands of dollars.

I'm not laughing I'm clipping just like you. I've saved plenty using coupons and stocking up.

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dancinmama A lot of people laugh at the idea of using coupons, but over the years they have literally saved us tens of thousands of dollars.

I wish Sam's Clubs took coupons, I would shop there more than I do........

[CuppaJoe]

Buy during Black Friday week. I sold a newish yet out-of-date atlas recently at a profit and saw another one I thought I would like better for $27.20 as an Amazon Black Friday special, thinking if it isn't what I have in mind I could again re-sell. Today Amazon is offering it for $50.40 new and the lowest used price is $42.99 for used acceptable condition; of course mine is currently in used, like new condition.

I'm thinking about buying an expensive electronic gadget but will wait for November specials; that should give me plenty of time to research it and decide which brand/model to go with, or possibly I will no longer want it by then, saving the entire amount.

[Alan]

For the past 6 months I've been using Skype for making overseas telephone calls to those friends/relatives that don't have PC's for free skype to skype calls.

Great quality and extremely easy to use. e.g. Calls to UK phone numbers are 2.1c / minute.

[Kroeran]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dancinmama Okay, don't laugh!! One of my biggest money-savers has been clipping/using coupons. Here's an example from yesterday of what I do: Yesterday I bought (3) packages of Finish Dishwasher Gel Packs (20 count), (4) Reach Total Clean Toothbrushes, (10) 6 oz. boxes of Chips Ahoy cookies, and (14) 16 oz. bottles of Coffee Mate creamer. After manufacturer's coupons and store promotions, I paid $8.65 out of pocket for all the products. In addition I "earned" a $5 coupon that can be spent on almost anything the next time I go into the store, so my actual total cost for everything was $3.65. The retail value of the products was over $84. I get multiple copies of the coupons out of the Sunday paper each week. When items that we use (or can donate to the local food pantry) go on sale at their rock bottom price, I buy several using coupons. I pay no more than pennies on the dollar and often times even make money buying products. When we need anything we simply go to the kitchen pantry or the storage under the bathroom sinks or to the cabinets in the laundry room. There is no such thing as running out and paying $6.59 for a 32-load bottle of HE All Small & Mighty. I just grab one off the shelf in the laundry room for which I paid $.50 - a savings of 92%. I took the pregnancy route to retirement 23 years ago (actually took a layoff because I was pregnant) and it killed me that I was not contributing financially to the household. Then I remembered how my mom used to save money. Benjamin Franklin said, "A penny saved, is a penny earned." I thought, "I may not be able to earn money (from a paycheck), but I sure as heck can save it!!" A lot of people laugh at the idea of using coupons, but over the years they have literally saved us tens of thousands of dollars.

one of my favorite B Frankline quotes is along the lines of "the wood you will buy for a fireplace will cost you more than the actual fireplace" ....illustrating the evil of monthly expense commitments

we discovered coupons when outfitting our second home in Florida. We were walking out of BBB with cartloads day after day...and a friendly teller told us we should be using coupons...and that we could buy them on ebay.

We were able to go back and get the discounts retroactively, not only using expired coupons, but as well expired coupons of other stores!

[Kroeran]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CuppaJoe Buy during Black Friday week. I sold a newish yet out-of-date atlas recently at a profit and saw another one I thought I would like better for $27.20 as an Amazon Black Friday special, thinking if it isn't what I have in mind I could again re-sell. Today Amazon is offering it for $50.40 new and the lowest used price is $42.99 for used acceptable condition; of course mine is currently in used, like new condition. I'm thinking about buying an expensive electronic gadget but will wait for November specials; that should give me plenty of time to research it and decide which brand/model to go with, or possibly I will no longer want it by then, saving the entire amount.

gosh, it never occured to me that you could time arbitrage amazon products!

[simple girl]

We don't eat out a lot, but when we do, we try to go wherever we have a coupon from restaurant.com.

Details: You normally buy a $25 coupon (must spend $35, alcohol/taxes not included) at their website for $10. However, I wait until they offer an 80% off sale. So, I get a $25 coupon for $2. Essentially, if you spend $35, you get $23 off, or actually only spend $12 for that meal.

It's a sweet deal!

[Kroeran]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan For the past 6 months I've been using Skype for making overseas telephone calls to those friends/relatives that don't have PC's for free skype to skype calls. Great quality and extremely easy to use. e.g. Calls to UK phone numbers are 2.1c / minute.

I found a little box for $25 that allows you to plug your regular phone into the computer and skype, switchable between regular and skype line.

I just press **, and this switches me into skype mode for calls ...using our regular phone.

[militaryman]

I have used MajicJack for almost a year now (booted the landline) and I actually rarely hook it up to computer to make outgoing calls but I DO use it for when I need to give a phone number out but do not want to give my cell number. This works great because, since it is not hooked up, the calls go straight to voicemail and a file containing the message is sent to my email which I can then listen to on my cell or a computer.

So anyways I went online to renew for another year ($20) and they have a 5 year extension deal that costs $70 ($14 per year) _-- I jumped on that for a nice 30% per year discount. Nice to have a consistent phone number to use as a backup and if for any reason I need to drop cellphone (to save $$) I will still have unlimited local and long distance anywhere I have an internet connection and I can hook up my little usb MajicJack!

[bbbamI]

Yes..I'm a coupon clipper too. Last year I saved $422 using coupons.

I was subscribing to the Sunday paper at a cost of $30 every three months. Then the next bill I got, the subscription had gone up 40%. So, I checked out my city's newspaper. There is only one paper a week, but it had the same coupons and cost $25 a year.

Yep...I changed.

[tryan]

ooma has performed flawlessly for 2 months. One time committment of $200 then no more phone bill.