List your most effective expense saving moves

1) Dropped cable and now watch digital broadcast TV and internet stuff. No Netflix or HBO.

2) I don't drive much. I do my shopping on my bike. Cycling is how I get around most and is also my hobby.

3) Applied to my state for health insurance Premium Assistance, as a result they pay 90% of my health premium because I qualify for Medicaid.

4) I shop at the local low cost supermarket (Market Basket) rather than Whole Foods.

5) My car is 8 years old with 130k miles on it so I dropped insurance for any damage to it.
 
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We are late bloomers to "expense optimized living" so we have been able to cut almost $60K a year from our run rate to date (needing $2.4M (60K X 40 years) less in total retirement funding, not including taxes and saving for retirement) and actually improved the quality of our lives. We kind of woke up a few years back and realized for us cutting expenses made more sense and had a much bigger impact on our retirement planning than working another year or two since we weren't making $1M a year in salaries.

Some of our biggest savings have been from:
- Managing our income to qualify for ACA tax credits and financial aid for college
- Utilizing community college and transfer programs to in state public schools
- Doing our own taxes
- Keeping a price book and shopping at discount, ethnic and outlet stores for food - especially Grocery Outlet. We've done a lot to lower our food bill these last few years but this was #1. On my last trip to GO I spent $120 and saved $140 off Safeway retail type prices. We also cook more from scratch and stockpile loss leaders and non-perishable / freezer items from GO at ~75% off retail prices.
- Cutting our expenses made us FI and being FI we could drop our life insurance and disability policies
- We actually saved money by buying one new car and one slightly used car with better MPG and repair records than the older cars we had before.
- We did a lot of little things to cut our energy bill by about 2/3s.
- I discovered the wonders of thrift stores near expensive retail stores (people must tend to drop off donations where they shop).
- And of course, last but not least - thermal cookers. :)
 
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Keep a vehicle a long time
Do your own maintenance, both cars and home
Refinance to lower interest rates
Pick up some side hustle money
Make some of your own things, rather than purchase. Salad dressings are easy.
Buy in bulk where possible
Use gas and restaurant coupons
Use cash back credit cards

The list is numerous...
 
Lots of things.
1. changed cell phone plan
2. Refinanced the house
3. Dropping cable and going OTA + Roku + Netflix
4. Library for books and DVD's
5. Keep cars a very long time
6. Change car and homeowners insurance policies
7. Less eating out - Use groupon a lot when we do
8. Found hotspots in the ceiling and improved insulation in those areas
9. Have a pool and discovered we were running the pump way too long - ~500kw-hr per month savings.
10. Used the Gasbuddy app a lot when gas prices were high
11. Dropped the gym, cycle instead
12. changed the thermostat settings
13. Cash back credit cards


probably more I'm not remembering...
 
Our travel expenses dropped significantly when we started rolling our own trips rather than going with an organized tour company. It's a lot more work though.
 
I've used many of the techniques mentioned, but did not specifically see this one:

Buy 10 year old cars (virtually depreciated already) with low miles and well maintained. Not easy to do but a good use of time to check them out. THEN all of the things pointed out about keeping cars a long time are in force: Drop collision coverage, keep a long time (10 years, I hope), lower cost tags, lower cost of maintaining finish (fewer details, don't fix parking dings, etc.) and sell to the scrap yard when no longer serviceable. YMMV
 
Stuff I did in the past few years
* Got rid of the car - rent one when I need it
* Canceled cable, stopped buying DVDs
* Canceled gym subscription
* Applied for discount on public transport off-peak
* Switched cell phone plan, only buy new phone when its broken (vs. old)
* Bought suits from a discount chain vs. expensive local retailer
* Shifted to a bit more low cost self-cooked eating (rice & beans!)

Stuff I plan on doing in the future:
* Do my own accounting
* Move to a cheaper rent location

Since those two items are >70% of my expenses now (excl. discretionary travel) there ain't much else to tackle. Except my coffee habit maybe.
 
audreyh1 said:
Our travel expenses dropped significantly when we started rolling our own trips rather than going with an organized tour company. It's a lot more work though.
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Isn't that the truth? We go back and forth between both types of trips for just those reasons.

We have many, many entertainment venues in our area, so we generally let what's being discounted on Goldstar.com be the determining factor. We can also see all sporting events for free at our local university in conjunction with our OLLI membership (a Lifelong Learning organization offered at campuses across the country. See The Bernard Osher Foundation | List of Institutes for a list of participating campuses) Our university is also an amazing source for low priced tickets to see performances of every type - from symphonies to Shakespeare to Sondheim.

We've also cut the cord on cable and landline, and switched our cell service to a no contract, low price carrier.
 
M'gosh I feel so inferior :facepalm:. I gotta confess I have not overtly done anything to cut expenses. We don't spend extravagantly, and never did. But I like my lifestyle just as it is so don't anticipate any cost-cutting.
 
Beldar said:
We save approx $1200 per year by dropping our contract cell phone(s) and landline and switching to no-contract cell phone (in our case Tracfone) and internet based "home phone" (Basic Talk).

No loss in quality or coverage for either service.....
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+1 Dropped landline and went with Ooma... landline was ~$28/month vs $4 for Ooma and $120/year for Premier services so ~$14/month

Also dropped $120/month traditional cellphone plan in favor of a MVNO plan that costs us $10/month/phone... saving $100/month

Total savings of $1,350/year.
 
Dropped Landline tied to interweb; now have seperate interweb and OOMA
Dropped contract cell and went o no contract w/Consumer Cellular
Never had cable or dish, OTA with online and HDHomerun for viewing on PC
Had an older truck without collision coverage - that one didn't work out so well (maybe another thread there)
Oh, yeah one less vehicle to insure, don't have a truck anymore :-(
DW loves to coupon, told her today while waiting for cashier at WallyMart to scan all of them she could have her own TV show with that :)
Always mowed my own lawn, maintained my own vehicles, did my own carpentry work
Lived in a Low COL area by choice
Eating out is a rare occasion (but as others mentioned, make it worthwhile when doing it)
Maintaining an appropriate AA has save ma a lot as of late!
 
ElizabethT said:
Don't you have that backward, given that Oregon is a No Sales Tax state? :)
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Oregon has a blue nosed attitude to the devil's brew - you can only buy hard liquor in state authorized stores and the prices, even accounting for California's sales taxes, are about 1/3 higher than the same stuff in California. 'Sides - it makes me feel like a bootlegger buying enough to keep me lubricated for 1/2 a year and running it up the highway.
 
Moved out of Silicon Valley to a much lower cost part of the country.

Having an only child.

Buy gently used cars and when I could, paid cash for them.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
 
As I am already frugal, I cannot see how I could squeeze any significant savings without some undue hardship. :angel:

samclem said:
Uh. A 78 F home is a bridge too far for me. It costs us about $1 to $2 a day extra to be at 72 year 'round, and that's some of the best money our household spends, IMO. But, we're all different.
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78F is what I set my thermostat at. And I already pay $350/month in the summer despite fancy energy-efficient windows. Lowering it down to 72F will bring the bill to perhaps $600-700/month.

And then, if I got so used to 72F I would not dare leave the home to venture out in the heat and would stay locked indoors the whole summer.
 
Del Q said:
2. staying out of bars / not smoking (I have a well stocked bar at home)
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I've always gone to bars to hear live music. Back in my younger (and poorer, and probably stupider) days I was known to drink 3 or 4 beers in the parking lot, then nurse one more in the bar for a couple of hours during the show. Saved a lot of money that way, saw some great music, and never got arrested. Win/win.
 
Vanguard index and ETF funds, sefl managed........Delta frequent flyer miles to purchase favorite magazines. ........scan flyers from 3 grocery stores, take to Wallmart....they match prices and we save gas......lease cars with maintenance included....no wasted time, no repair costs....had accident.... if it would have been an old car.....6 years or older, it would not have had 8 air bags, passengers probably would have been injured or killed......saving lives is more important than saving money! We're lucky, we have enough to put food on the table, a roof over our heads, cash for emergencies BUT don't like to waste money.....great blog......good ideas....thanks.
 
Watching only free DVDs borrowed from the library.

Using electric heating pads in my favorite chair and on the dog bed to keep us warm to delay turning on heat and/or keeping heat set to lower temp.

Soon I'll be giving away my 16 year old Acura and moving to a city with great public transportation. Monthly passes are cheap for us old people.

I'm too tall for thrift store clothes so I get undies and wear at home clothes from Dharma Trading Co. Homepage and dye them in the washing machine with iDye. Sweats, T shirts, etc.

Buy sheets, slowcookers, and other things at the thrift store and at yard sales.

Buy one book, one book must get donated to library. Makes for far less book purchases.

Turn off hot water heater until 3 hours before needed. I only need hot water in the morning so that saves lots of electricity.

Shop for food (esp produce) every few days so almost no waste.

In winter I would preheat the car interior this way:
take 2 washcloths and sew around all edges but leave a few inches on one side. Fill with kidney beans. Sew opening shut. Microwave for up to 2 minutes. Put in car on dash 20 minutes before driving. Car interior warm and ice on windshield soft for scraping. Car smells like soup but that's OK. I had to make a new one each year because dog would usually wreck one hoping to find and eat the "soup." If it were colder here, I would make smaller ones for my jacket pockets.

Buy leather gloves in January when on sale. Buy cotton gloves at the hardware store for a buck or two.

Have no-skid soles put on leather shoes for longer wear as well as not slipping.

Subscribing to local Community Supported Agriculture each summer. I split the cost with a single friend.

Buy soap from the soap-makers store rather than the grocery or drug store. $3.50 a pound for lovely goat's milk soap.
 
samclem said:
Uh. A 78 F home is a bridge too far for me. It costs us about $1 to $2 a day extra to be at 72 year 'round, and that's some of the best money our household spends, IMO. But, we're all different.
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I enjoy my access to cheaper coal fired electricity. My house temp wont creep above that either. I would probably save no more than a buck a day either. I will pay for comfort, though others definition I am sure is different. My best savings decision was signing up for an HSA HDHP. In five short retirement years it has already provided me about a $1k a year in yearly tax savings and already is additionally generating me now over an additional $1k yearly income. And hopefully this will snowball significantly more the coming years.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
More or less in order of importance:

1) Married sensible wife later in life. She practiced LBYM and brought significant savings into the marriage, which eventually launched both our FIRE's

2) No financial advisor!!!!! :)

3) No vacation house/cabin

4) No boat or RV

5) Burned out on travel after 2 decades w/ Megacorp commuting to the Pacific Rim, and not the nice places either

6) Drive reliable, boring, sensible cars until the wheels fall off...

We do have our fun dining out locally (high COLA for Midwest) and enjoy our luxuries like name-brand cable TV and indulge a photography habit. Got to live a little... :)
 
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Found my list on this old post....

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/sharing-23-years-of-frugal-retirement-62251-2.html#post1372574
STUFF WE DON'T SPEND MONEY ON

Life Insurance
New Clothing
Haircuts
Hair styling
Pedicures/manicures
Beauty products
Movies
Concerts
Sporting events
Restaurants (more than $8 meal)
Books
Music
"New" Computers (since 2002)... all refurb or reclaim
Software... (Twice in lifetime.. total $30) all other "free"
Car maintenance labor... all DIY except 3 times for major repairs
Brand vs. Generic foods
Premium meat or fish
Financial Advisor
Lawyer
Chiro/Massage/Tan etc.
Tatoos...
New Home Decor.. (all resale)
Cars.. since 1998...
Car Wash and wax... since 1989
Premium TV channels
New Bikes or Exercise equipment
Sporting goods
Cruises (so far)
Group trips
Flying (Airlines)
Lodging (more than 3 star)
Premium Gasoline
Tools (already have more than I'll ever use, including welders etc.)
Housekeeper
Carpet Cleaning
Window/Gutter/Furnace etc. Cleaning... all DIY
Premium booze/wine...
Jewelry
Organic foods
Brand sodas
Painting, remodeling
Weapons
Subscriptions (AARP only)
Gambling
Banking or Credit Card Fees
Appliance or Electonics insurance
Eye Glasses... except for $1readers (since 2000... maybe eye test this year.)
Pets... (except bird feed)
Healthcare maintenance... exercise equipment, pool, advisor etc... (all included in our senior community membership. (no fees)
Pest control... DIY
Only "fee for" is Activities Association (FL).. $6/year

.... for starters...
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:)
 
Thanks for all the suggestions above. I always thought I was frugal downsizing homes to an area with the cheapest houses and property taxes in the U.S. And I long ago gave up eating out more than once per week--and Krystal is my wife's favorite meal. But you people still have me beat by a long shot.


But:
We did downsize from 4200 square ft. to 3500 square ft.
We also inherited a lake house, and have a late model 24' boat and a Waverunner in the boathouse.
I do have 5 cars, and auto insurance and homeowners insurance is our biggest expense. I'm not ready to give up my Jaguar convertible.
We got rid of our phone land line, and I'm turning off my cell phone.
We're about 20 miles too far from tv towers to turn off the cable. I do bitch to Comcast about our bills every 60 days and they cut my bills $20 each time.


But if the stock market continues to tank, serious lifestyle changes will be warranted. I've been blessed to have no debt of any kind and Megacorp allows us to purchase healthcare coverage at affordable rates.
 
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