Cheapwad Finds--Opposite of Blow That Dough!

[ERD50]

I love it! Kinda going back to the ER old days before the "blow that dough" crowd took over. Anyone else remember dryer sheets?

There's room for both. You find easy, painless ways to save in one area, and then you have enough dough to "blow" on something fun! Post to both threads.

-ERD50

 

[Jerry1]

There's room for both. You find easy, painless ways to save in one area, and then you have enough dough to "blow" on something fun! Post to both threads.

-ERD50

True, but I find help with saving to be much more useful. I have no problem figuring out how to BTD, but finding good deals is another matter. Especially when they are time limited.

 

[Winemaker]

Wall Paint. I worked in two hardware stores while in HS and college; learned the value of buying name brand paint with the highest Titanium dioxide.

I have 7 apartments that I rent and while my tenants usually stay with me for long periods, I always paint in between tenants. I usually purchase Sherwin Williams mistints when I'm am in neighborhood. I buy the lightest pastels they have; sometimes $1/gallon sometimes $5/gallon, for $50+/gallon paint sometimes. When I get 5 gallons, I'll mix them together in a 6 gallon grape juice bucket, and the color is always...BEIGE! That's a great neutral color for my apartments, and in the rare case I may have the need to paint one wall in a rental, it always matches. Not absolutely perfect, but beige is beige is beige.

 

[COcheesehead]

I feel like my head might explode because I also post in the blow the dough thread, but I buy most of my clothes on eBay. There are a few brands that I like: Carbon 2 Cobalt, Patagonia, Uniqlo and I understand their sizing. I tag searches for these items in my size and then I sit back and see what the universe gives me. I likely buy my clothes at 60% - 75% off retail. eBay has a buyer satisfaction guarantee though I think I have only ever returned one item. I then turn around and sell something I currently own back on eBay. Our clothing budget is almost a break even and know one would know that I buy gently used clothes. Underwear is a different story.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

This was a quote I really liked from my checkbook.org magazine - "There is a big difference between splurging on luxuries and throwing money away. "


We get most of our clothes from Costco or Amazon basics. If I need a new winter coat, I'll just go to Costco and get one of the 3 - 4 styles they have in stock and call it good enough.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Been making my own bread for several years now, and with sourdough I don’t even have to buy yeast. Much better than store bought as well.

 

[Trailwalker]

Been making my own bread for several years now, and with sourdough I don’t even have to buy yeast. Much better than store bought as well.

Me too. Even using King Arthur bread flour, my loaves work out to about $1 each. Comparable to $5/loaves in the store for similar sourdough.

 

[audreyh1]

I make my own bacon, but unfortunately it ends up being more expensive than the bacon I can buy. It tastes way better though, so I keep doing it.

 

[MichealKnight]

Dunkin - WHEN they give 100 bonus points for app-ordered coffee on Mondays. It's a nice change - I go have a coffee and donut for $3.40. Play with my laptop, watch the fine people rushing in and out. If I do that 4 times in a month - it means 2 free coffees a month - -turns 4 outings into 6.
*****
McDonald's - $3 Steak Egg Bagel (app) plus a soda ...comes out to about $4.50. Of course, you can add a has brown - I forget price. There's better deals if you order AND pay with app - I've never done that yet because I like to put in a special request here and there.

Domino's - app - I get it, it's not like your favorite pizza place where Tony knows you. Got it. However - $7.99 carry out large - 3 toppings. Yeppers - before I go to pick up DD at school this is a good stop. I bring my own soda or water. A thin crust pizza, extra cheese, extra sauce - sometimes pepperoni for $7.99 is good stuff.

Burger King - App - $6.00 - 2 whopper Jr's - 2 small fries. Yes, I included the cheese in this price. Now - the big question is - the sacred fountain soda. And they charge full price for that. So you can do that - and feel good about a $9 meal - OR bring your own cold soda can in the car. It's not as good as fountain soda....but you save a good $2 bucks.

HoneyBakedHam - sign up for the 'club' and on whatever date you use as your birthday - you get BOGO Croissant Sandwiches - those sandwiches are a well kept secret. I don't remember if you need to show ID for birthday -- read the disclaimer. All I know is I've had 2 birthdays this year. Guilty pleasure.

If there's a contest for Mr Portly on this board, or if there's a male wet t-shirt contest...y'all know who to bet on.

 

[MC Rider]

Gas card from Shell. I normally get the cash price posted when I use it. One station near home already has some of the best prices, and I get 10 cents off the cash price.


Kohls is / was having a clearance sale. I found a pair of denim Levis short for under $22 OTD, and paid mid $30's for the same thing there a few weeks ago. Watch those sale ads.

 

[Koolau]

I love it! Kinda going back to the ER old days before the "blow that dough" crowd took over. Anyone else remember dryer sheets?

There's room for both. You find easy, painless ways to save in one area, and then you have enough dough to "blow" on something fun! Post to both threads.

-ERD50

I agree that they are both important. It comes down to priorities. I can live without the best of everything as long as I can have the best of what I really want. I've heard (and my dad used to say) you can have almost anything you want. You just can't have everything you want. Save on dryer sheets and then BTD! Hail FIRE!

 

[MC Rider]

You can have anything you want, but you better not take it from me.
Welcome to the Jungle!

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

HoneyBakedHam - sign up for the 'club' and on whatever date you use as your birthday - you get BOGO Croissant Sandwiches - those sandwiches are a well kept secret. I don't remember if you need to show ID for birthday -- read the disclaimer. All I know is I've had 2 birthdays this year. Guilty pleasure.

If there's a contest for Mr Portly on this board, or if there's a male wet t-shirt contest...y'all know who to bet on.

When I was still working our local Honeybaked ham had a Tuesday special of BOGO for a sandwich and their sandwiches are great and very reasonably priced as well.

 

[RobbieB]

Same as it always was.

Unless you are Warren or Bill, you can't have the best of everything. Perhaps not the best of anything. It's all about allocation.

Yeah, we've got a big boat. But it's forty three years old. We all have "budgets"

But isn't that what makes life fun? What to scrimp on so you can splurge on something else that you care about more than the stuff you cheaped? Ah, there's the intrigue eh?

The sport -

 

[MarieIG]

I just buy "free" e-books on Amazon.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Even the Tightwad Gazette author was big on priorities. She had 6 kids and lived in in a 5 bedroom Victorian house on 7 acres. She saved in other ways to have her dream life.

 

[travelover]

...........We get most of our clothes from Costco or Amazon basics. If I need a new winter coat, I'll just go to Costco and get one of the 3 - 4 styles they have in stock and call it good enough.

Wow. You buy new?

 

[Kabowest]

We saw Top Gun Maverick this past Tues afternoon for $6.50 each.

Of course when I told my mother, she remembers when movies were 12 cents.

 

[Koolau]

We saw Top Gun Maverick this past Tues afternoon for $6.50 each.

Of course when I told my mother, she remembers when movies were 12 cents.

I still recall the agony of turning 12 and having to pay 20 cents instead of 10 cents to get into a movie. Oh, the humanity.

 

[Dtail]

We saw Top Gun Maverick this past Tues afternoon for $6.50 each.

Of course when I told my mother, she remembers when movies were 12 cents.

AMC by us is $5 on Tuesdays.

 

[pjm-7]

I volunteer at the local agricultural extension farm. We get the seconds of the apples, peaches, chilis, tomatoes, cucumbers or whatever else we are picking that day. I have stocked the freezer with applesauce, pesto, roasted chilis, and peaches (make great peach daquiris). We also can pick other veggies like collard greens, onions and herbs. For some reason they will not let us get free samples of the wine they make with the grapes.

 

[street]

I'm the poster child for recycling used material. I have removed tin from some building through the years and of late before they get tore down. I know a contractor and he has let me remove the tin before he tore them down. Wood is another product I have saved thousands of dollars or the years from used lumber.

 

[bobandsherry]

Triple dipping on gas rewards for me works. TMobile had 25 cents off gas at Shell/CircleK. Then use Upside, had a nearby Shell offering 23 cents per gallon. Then I used my Chase Freedom card for 5% cash back. Gas was $3.79, less the 25 cents for Tmo offer, got me 18 cents back. If I have to buy gas I might as well save some easy money. $3.79 at pump netted down to $3.13, 66 cents per gal, 17% savings. Weeeeee!

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Wow. You buy new?

I know you are joking, but in reality Costco and Amazon are almost the same price for brand new clothes as our local Goodwill is for used clothes. So factoring in remaining garment life, Goodwill is actually more expensive.

 

[mystang52]

another option for the same purpose is FreeCycle https://www.freecycle.org/find-towns. i used to do a LOT of freecycling...mostly getting rid of stuff but i tired of people...the no shows, re-posting or keeeping track of others who asked for the same item, etc. it got to be work. now all of that sort of stuff goes to Goodwill.

My local FreeCycle has been great, both ways. We get some item we need for naught, and get an amazingly great feeling to see something we no longer use get a second life.

Dunkin - WHEN they give 100 bonus points for app-ordered coffee on Mondays. It's a nice change - I go have a coffee and donut for $3.40. Play with my laptop, watch the fine people rushing in and out. If I do that 4 times in a month - it means 2 free coffees a month - -turns 4 outings into 6.
*****

I buy DD coffee anyway, so this current incentive of ordering ahead means a free coffee after just 2 orders. This order-ahead is only for 2 months.....but in the past they have re-upped this offer after only brief hiatus.

I have T Mobile for my cell, and every Tuesday they have changing offers. I've gotten a couple of useful free items on their giveaways, extra 20 cents/gallon on Shell gas (which I use anyway), and every few weeks a $2 DD card. Besides Shell, a couple of other gas apps offer a small discount/gallon.

As an aside, DW always reminds me how I'll get excited about saving $1.75, but simultaneously don't flinch when I get a LOT more expensive BTD toy of some sort (e.g., my telescope that I recently posted about here).