How do you LBYM?

[The Cosmic Avenger]

The thread about using a Rolodex for passwords reminded me, for some reason I really like the sound of "I'm a multi-millionaire who cuts his own hair!"

I paid $28 for a pair of cordless, waterproof Remington clippers, and I've been buzzing my own hair with them every week or two for over two years now. That's at least 50 haircuts for maybe the price of two, if I didn't tip well....and I usually do!

So, how are you frugal? What little things do you routinely do to save a buck...or a penny?

 

[jfn111]

Brew my own beer.
Wash my car at home.
Wear clothes until they embarrass the wife.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Brew my own beer.
Wash my car at home.

Nice!

Wear clothes until they embarrass the wife.

Wait...are you saving on new clothes, or on detergent??
But seriously, I still have some work clothes from 20 years ago, but I have enough that I only wear them once every week or two. I did rotate in some new ones and rotate out some old ones when I lost ~70 lbs., though!

 

[pacergal]

LBYM always meant to me to put $$ in savings first, then arrange budget for what was left.

We still clip coupons, eat at home more than out, reduce/reuse/recycle, use FF miles for travel, hair cuts at discount places rather than "salon", use our library instead of buying books/movies. Lots of ways to spend less if you want too.
Luckily, our retirement budget allows for many splurges also!

 

[Rianne]

T
I paid $28 for a pair of cordless, waterproof Remington clippers, and I've been buzzing my own hair with them every week or two for over two years now. That's at least 50 haircuts for maybe the price of two, if I didn't tip well....and I usually do!

So, how are you frugal? What little things do you routinely do to save a buck...or a penny?

Yes! Just bought hair clippers and I cut DH hair now

-DH dyes my hair with L'Oreal $8.99 color. Used to spend at least $70 + tip (more with haircut) at hairdresser every 6 weeks.

-My sweaters get fabric fuzz that makes them look old. I take a razor and comb the sweaters. Look new!

-Take my old Merrell's (suede) to the dry cleaners. They look new after literally 8 years old.
Great thread, keep the ideas coming.

 

[gerntz]

Never put much of our assets & spending into a place to live.

 

[Car-Guy]

Oops, wrong thread. LBYM is not for me.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

I make my own avocado with toast instead of buying it at the trendy bistro downtown.

I play video games instead of watch movies, where a $5-60 investment gives me 20-200+ hours of entertainment instead of 90-180 minutes.

I have a motorcycle instead of a supercar, which cost 15x less and goes just as fast. It is a little annoying replacing the tires twice a year though. Not sure if supercars have the same problem.

I go to the $10/month gym over the expensive club that has all the amenities I'll never use. I thought about saving even more working out at home, but I like the energy and atmosphere at a gym better.

 

[ponyboy]

LBYM isnt something I quantify by one off things I do. Its a lifestyle choice, which includes everything. Wife and I are not impulse buyers, we dont have new vehicles, We dont eat out much, etc etc. Basically, we do not try to keep up with anyone. We save/invest as much as we can while still enjoying life, traveling, doing the things we want to do.

We're 36/35...have 1mil+ invested/saved, not including home. We like the fact that we can buy something if we want, without thinking about it. And we sleep better at night not having debt. But, we do not look as cool since our cars are dated and we do not always dress like we're headed to a red carpet event.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We drive our cars forever, use coupons or happy hour food deals, wear our clothes for years, shop car/house insurance every 2 years, only get dogs groomed and our own haircuts every 3 months, don’t buy expensive electronic gadgets such as Apple watches. My smart watch cost 50. We do own expensive phones but use them until they die.

 

[Big_Hitter]

So, how are you frugal? What little things do you routinely do to save a buck...or a penny?

I started playing wilson chaos golf balls - they are about $15 for 2 dozen

 

[Gumby]

Mow my own lawn.
Do my own car maintenance and repairs.
Wash my own cars.
Keep cars more than 200,000 miles.
Do as much of my own interior painting, light carpentry, electrical, plumbing and other home repairs as possible.
Favor repairing over replacing.
Take (took) my lunch to work every day.
Eat leftovers.
Wear the same basic wardrobe for years.
Use coupons.
Shop at Goodwill.
Avoid the latest electronic gadgets.
Shave with a straight razor
Don't go to professional sporting events.
Never paid interest on a credit card.
Never cash out refinanced my mortgage

I also do the following, but I'm not sure they actually save us any money:

Make my own beer
Make my own soap
Grown our own vegetables and preserve them (canning, drying, etc)

 

[FreeBear]

We do buy nice stuff but we keep it forever. Cars go beyond 10 years and 150k miles. Computers from 2010. Pro level camera gear, but over 10 years old, most purchased used. We’ve recently cut back on eating out. We cook in large batches at home and freeze for the coming weeks. A once or twice weekly we’ll fire up the Weber and grill some fish.

 

[FreeBear]

Oh, we rarely bother washing our cars. When we do, we do it ourselves. Haven’t paid for a car wash in years.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Oh, we rarely bother washing our cars. When we do, we do it ourselves. Haven’t paid for a car wash in years.

Same! I got a shop vac for my birthday one year, and I use that to vacuum out the interiors once or twice a year, and I usually clean the insides of the windows at that time, too. The exteriors get a "wash" when it rains!

 

[RetiredGypsy]

Oh, we rarely bother washing our cars. When we do, we do it ourselves. Haven’t paid for a car wash in years.

I once lived next to a man who daily would go out with just a wet rag and go over his car. No soap, no fancy Mguires special concoction. Just water and 5 minutes. I have never seen a car looking so clean except at car shows. It was awe inspiring how little effort it took.

I haven't washed my car in 3 years except to keep the windows clear, and that's a once-a-year duty.

 

[Midpack]

Instead if an itemized list, we almost always:

• Do for ourselves instead of hiring someone for everything, like being a DIY investor. These days between the internet and YouTube we can learn to do a lot for ourselves, and it also shows when we should pay a professional. I enjoy being more resourceful than most people I know, and learning new skills. As we get older, we may have to pay professionals more often, there are some significant home and yard expenses I've tackled lately that I might not be able to do in 10-20 years.
• Shop services like insurance, TV-entertainment, lawn care, etc. to make sure you're getting value (often not the cheapest or most expensive IME)
• We tend to buy quality, and keep the item until it's broken beyond repair. I replaced a TV after 19 years, my printer is almost that old, etc. I nursed 25 years out of our last washing machine, by doing a $9 and a $20 repair myself. Most people I know would have bought a new washing machine, not knowing the old one could be fixed with a $9 part and a free step by step DIY YouTube video that took less than 30 minutes. With few exceptions, we keep our cars 8-11 years. My stories like that are endless.
• We're big believers in reduce, reuse first and then foremost and recycle, re-purpose, compost, donate. Our weekly trash will fit in 1 or 2 standard grocery paper bags most weeks, we have neighbors who routinely fill a 95 gal or even two 95 gal trash cans.
• Our thermostat is set at 67 days/62 nights in winter and 76 in summer and it's off with windows open where possible, mostly spring and fall.
• We have a budget and track every expense, so we're conscious of our personal spending on non essentials. We pare back when we're going over, but we don't deny ourselves splurges here and there, life's too short.

 

[kimcdougc]

Wash our own cars, cut our own grass, get the Taco Bell 2 pm to 5 pm special freezes. Always looking for the deal. Life is good.

 

[Dtail]

Wash my own cars
Clean my house
Haircut at discount place
Cricket phone lines
Sling TV
DIY Investing
Budget and track every expense

Not too much else, but feel good about the above

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Simple, we do not spend more than we need to in order to maintain a great above average Standard of Living. Stash/30 + Interest and SS (When we decide to take it) = What we spend and not more. Honestly, it is not a fortune but we could not spend it all if we tried, unless we were completely Frivolous and wasted money for the sake of it, which we do not.

 

[gwraigty]

Never paid interest on a credit card.

And use a cash back credit card for purchases, when possible.

 

[SecondCor521]

You could do well by getting a copy of Amy D's Tightwad Gazette. I think the magazine was compiled into a book series which your local library can probably obtain for you. Read through that and do all of the things that you're willing to do. Other than technology-related things, which came along mostly after she was writing, she's probably come up with every trick in the book.

I also like @Midpack's list, as there are basically just a few principles underlying all of the specific examples. DIY. Pay attention. Don't waste stuff. Don't buy new.

Be forewarned, doing these things well enough and long enough will create a situation where you have more money than you need, and at that point it will be difficult for you to waste money just to use it up. If you were raised to be responsible, you will have a new job of managing a large pile of money. Maybe you will find useful ways to use it. This is sort of a problem for me, but a fortunate one to have. It's not really one that you can get much sympathy for, obviously.

 

[Souschef]

One of our main expenses is groceries. I shop sales at our local market, and use their app. We have a small freezer, so we can stock up. The best I have done recently was to spend $90 and have $100 in savings.
DW is very frugal and will look for deals on the internet for things we need.

 

[FREE866]

Home cooked meals is def my #1--not all of them , but a decent chunk! and a plant based diet where beans are the centerpiece make it easy through vitacost.com which offers $1 can of organic beans, lentils, chicpeas, etc
tastes great and healthy as well



Take buses/subways over taxis

 

[mountainsoft]

We DIY anything we can possibly do ourselves, and that's just about everything.

We have never spent more than $4000 on a car and keep them as long as possible. I had my last car over 30 years, 400K+ miles. We do all of our own repairs and maintenance (oil changes, etc.). I just replaced my timing belt and an engine mount earlier this week.

I enjoy woodworking, so I built all of our cabinets and the vast majority of the furniture in our house. For that matter, we built a garage in 2001 and built our own house in 2004.

I mow our own yard and maintain the equipment myself.

I fix appliances whenever possible. My mom gave us her old washer/dryer and we had them over 30 years. I repaired them several times over the years. We finally had to buy a new washer/dryer set when the washer tub rusted through.

I cook most meals myself, though we do eat out on occasion as a treat.

We go hiking or take overnight getaways within a couple hundred miles of our house, rather than taking big expensive vacations to far off destinations. A few hundred dollars vs several thousand.

My wife cuts my hair, and her own.

I'm not a big coupon clipper, but will use the $10 off $50 type, or scan the digital coupons in the store. I NEVER buy items just because I have a coupon or they are on sale. Unfortunately, I still waste too much money on impulse buys at the grocery store (those cookies sure look good).

Of course, I handle all of our finances and investing myself. We use a CITI 2% cash back card for all purchases, except gas (they charge 10 cent more per gallon for credit). We have not paid a dime of interest in over 20 years.

I cancel any services I am not using (magazines, streaming TV, etc), or change my plans to reduce costs. I just dropped the DVD portion of Netflix ($10/mo less), and switched to a cheaper plan on my VOIP phone service ($7/mo less). Every little bit helps.

We rarely buy clothing, but when we do they last us for many years.