What is your best money saving tip?

[audreyh1]

I think for most folks, especially those starting out, the following advice is key:

Don't carry a balance on any credit card or department store account. This saves money by

A ) Forcing you to live within your paycheck, and
B ) You might have to save up the money to buy something, by the time you have saved the money, you can decide whether you really do want it after all, and
C ) You avoid all the interest payments and fees associating with using credit

all those savings can really add up over a lifetime. Or the converse, as unfortunately seems to happen to a huge number of people.

Audrey

 

[ziggy29]

B ) You might have to save up the money to buy something, by the time you have saved the money, you can decided whether you really do want it after all

This is actually a very big one. It's easy to get suckered into buying a $1000 item by seeing "$35 a month for 36 months" since $35 a month seems like no big deal. But if you delay gratification, eventually you will have saved $1000 for it -- and you may find it harder to part with $1000 cash from your savings account than $35 a month from future cash flows for three years. And you may decide you'd rather have the grand in the bank. And if you do buy it, you've saved hundreds in interest charges and you don't have years of future obligations that can really screw you if something happens to your income.

 

[audreyh1]

Yes. When you recognize you have limited resources (money), you are forced to prioritize and make tradeoffs. Easy credit (i.e. the illusion of unlimited resources) removes this key exercise in judgement and one tends to make much poorer choices.

Audrey

 

[wallygator69]

If your cars have air conditioning filters you can take them out vacuum them then spray with simple green and using a paint brush scrub them under running water every 6 months or so. Make sure they are dry. You can do this atleast 3 times. Saves $120 a year for my two old lexi (plural for lexus) I do the same with airfilters as well once a year and this also saves $120...

You can do similar with decent quality home AC filters. I actually use the washable ones at HD and cut them to fit...

I finally stopped oil changes every 3000 miles and am up to 6000 and probably going to 7500 soon. At 6000 oil looks the same as at 3000. In the "old" days it looked really black at 3000 but not any more..

Use both sides of a Swiffer and vacuum them til the fall apart. (You can use both sides of your TP but this is for the extreme money savers only)..

W

 

[FANOFJESUS]

There are many others but these two will save you the most dough.

#1 Buy a cheap house
#2 Buy only used cars

 

[Khan]

I have three tips.

(1) Along the lines of what Ziggy was saying, above: when I have several things in mind that I would like to do in the near future, and do not significantly prefer one to the other, I do the free things first.

Amazing how that lowers costs. You wouldn't think it would, but it does.

(2) An unrelated money-saving tip: In the summer, I keep the thermostat as warm as is comfortable, and wear nearly nothing and drink lots of ice water. In the winter I keep it as cool as is comfortable, and wear warm clothing and sit with a blanket on my lap.

What starts out being only a couple of degrees warmer or colder at first, ends up being a good ten degrees difference by the end of the season because the body acclimates as the season progresses.

To assist me in this, I have my programmable thermostat set with a default of 85 in the summer and 60 in the winter. If I do the manual override to, say, 70 in the winter, it will stay there for a couple of hours and then starts to drift colder. When I notice it is too cold, I manually raise it by just a degree or two.

(3) Another money-saving tip: choose your friends wisely. If your friends are not extravagant, you are less likely to spend money foolishly.

Good advice.
Winter: 60F, 50F at night
Summer: 80F or more (depending on humidity)
Get most entertainment from the internet
Replace stuff only when no longer functional

 

[FUEGO]

(You can use both sides of your TP but this is for the extreme money savers only)..

You guys waste money on TP? Don't you have the 3 shells yet?

Seriously - and this won't apply to many here - get some money in the bank. 3 months or 6 months emergency fund, whatever. This gives you sooo much freedom and peace of mind.

Once you have this little sum saved up, you can take on a slight bit more risk in your life. You can afford to do things like jack up the deductibles on your home and auto insurance to save probably hundreds per year right off the bat. And skip all those expensive extended warranties. Just pay to fix/replace the item if it fails. Unexpected real emergency expense - charge it if you need to, but pay off the bill in full so you don't pay 28.99% interest to the credit card company.

Having money in the bank will also allow you to do "preventative maintenance" type stuff on your schedule. Get that tooth checked out or health issue looked into before the problem gets even more serious and ends up costing waaay more money. Change the oil regularly (per mfr's recommendation) so your engine won't fail prematurely.

 

[dex]

Recast your lead bullets.
Usually, after I shoot someone I dig out the bullet and recast it.
A good hobby that saves money and the environment.

 

[JohnDoe]

When you open a credit card account, don't get 2 cards, and don't give the 2nd card to your wife.

 

[Moemg]

Never buy uncomfortable shoes especially if they are expensive .

 

[Khan]

When you open a credit card account, don't get 2 cards, and don't give the 2nd card to your wife.

or girlfriend or husband or boyfriend...

 

[Lsbcal]

...
Internet - I have DSL and thought you needed a land phone line with it. I then read this about AT&T having to provide "naked" dsl. Naked AT&T DSL Expands - Though AT&T still doesn't tell anyone about it... - dslreports.com

Here in California we keep the landline in case of an earthquake. I'm guessing that "naked dsl" would go out in a severe earthquake but let me know if I'm wrong.

 

[Lsbcal]

1) We use the Schwab VISA card for many purchases. It pays 2% back with no strings attached. I think you need to open a Schwab One account.

2) On sunny winter days we turn off the thermostat around noon and let the house warm up. Then I start a fire in the fireplace around 4pm or so. I use those little starter logs which I split in 4 pieces and so it starts 4 fires worth. A little butane soaking and the thing works like a charm if you first build a little wood "house" in your fireplace, then put the starter in the "house" and burn the "house" down .

P.S. You can also get a little nuts in retirement.

 

[Hershey102]

Requote

Called my home/auto insurance company recently and indicated that I was thinking about getting a competitive quote and would they perhaps give me a requote. The savings? $629. No coverage limitation or deductible changes. The insurance industry seems to automatically raise rates every year, apparently counting on most of us just mailing in the check and not taking the time to ask for a requote.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Recast your lead bullets.
Usually, after I shoot someone I dig out the bullet and recast it.
A good hobby that saves money and the environment.

Oh, so it was you.

 

[Khan]

Am about ready to drop cable.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Am about ready to drop cable.

Yeah Im getting to that point myself. So many things on the internet.

 

[summer2007]

I had thought about cable and if you are paying $60 a month it works out to be well over $7000 in 10 years (without any increases in price....and you KNOW it will increase!).

So when you think of it like that it seems like a lot to spend for watching tv.

I have to Thank T-AL and Martha for the cut the paper towel roll in half trick.....that is a good one to save money with.

How about more efficient washing machines and toilets?

Also what about growing an organic garden?

If you love being outdoors especially in summer (how did I come up with my screen name??!!!) like I do and are not afraid of getting dirty and doing a little work. You can have a good amount of free and really healthy food.

If you figure it out even if you grow a few hundred dollars worth of produce it adds up over a decade and you can't beat the taste of fresh from the garden.

Jim

 

[bbbamI]

These are things I do/have done:

Changed to another insurance co with better coverage and saved $1k this year.

Clip coupons and buy when the items are on sale. Saved approximately $500 last year.

Mow my yard. Saves $800 a year.

Paint and do most maintenance on my house. Saved $500 when I stained the new fence.

Turn my fountain pumps off at night. Saves electricity and doubles the life of the pumps.

Divide plants. When something interesting grows in the yard and looks nice, I leave it. Try to use only drought resistant plants, thereby using less water.

Do my own taxes.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

These are things I do/have done:

Changed to another insurance co with better coverage and saved $1k this year.

Clip coupons and buy when the items are on sale. Saved approximately $500 last year.

Mow my yard. Saves $800 a year.

Paint and do most maintenance on my house. Saved $500 when I stained the new fence.

Turn my fountain pumps off at night. Saves electricity and doubles the life of the pumps.

Divide plants. When something interesting grows in the yard and looks nice, I leave it. Try to use only drought resistant plants, thereby using less water.

Do my own taxes.

Mowin the grass is also good exercise. I guess providing you are using a push mower..

 

[Westernskies]

...raised my score to over 900.

900 out of 850 possible ?...

 

[mbooth]

These are things I do/have done:

Turn my fountain pumps off at night. Saves electricity and doubles the life of the pumps.

I've recently become 'interested' in our electricity consumption and bought a cheap plug-in meter to guage each appliance's use......man did I get some surprises!

Microwave, just sitting there doing nuffin in p'ticlar, chewing through 70 watts, we don't even look at the digital time it displays!

Washing-machine, plugged in but not operating, happily wastes 28 watts.

All the wall-warts and 'convenience' indicator lights in the house were 'conveniencing' us to the tune of around $150+ per year. Together with the two above examples I think that by turning all those appliances off at the plug when not actually required will save us $500+/year.

I thought we were reasonably frugal with our use of electricity, but that little $30 investment in the meter has shown us otherwise and definitely paid off.

Of course it all depends on your local electricity costs, but it sure could pay to find out exactly what you are using at the individual appliance level.

Cheers - Mick

 

[shotgunner]

An unrelated money-saving tip: In the summer, I keep the thermostat as warm as is comfortable, and wear nearly nothing

Ya Baby!!

 

[growing_older]

My best money savings tip: payroll deductions.

Money I see in my account is easy to spend. Money I don't see in my account doesn't seem to have that effect. I've adjusted (takes a few months) to higher and lower income levels. By deducting pay before it gets deposited, my natural tendency to spend most of the money I see will bring my spending in line with my plan. If I want to spend less, I just increase the deduction. Sounds kind of silly, but it works for me.

 

[Bimmerbill]

I do my own car maintenance. Oil changes, tire rotation, brake jobs, wiper changes, battery and light replacement, etc. Pretty sure I saved a lot of $, at the expense of my time (and knuckles sometimes).