Tell us a few little things you do to save money

[Marita40]

I sign up for bank and credit card bonuses when I can. I made 200. opening a Visa in June and 250. opening a new checking account in July. $450. dollars scot free isn't bad! And I reached enough points to earn 50. in gas at the local gas station.

I also put some recent major renovation work on an interest free for 21 months Chase card, giving me lots of time to pay it off. I get credit card offers all the time and I take full advantage of those I can

 

[easysurfer]

Look at youtube or other video sites to see tips on how to fix things instead of replacing.

For example, was about ready to get rid of an old printer/scanner/copier as the printer kept on jamming. But came across a youtube video of a guy using some rubber spray to clean the printer rollers. Tried his fix myself and the printer hasn't jammed since.

 

[Amethyst]

This is a good one. We take advantage of CC offers when they make sense for us (they don't always). Some are offers I only heard about on ER forum! Has earned us quite a bit of scratch, due to unusually high spending since my retirement.

Only issue is that at some point, you have to start spread-sheeting the CC terms, or else it's easy to get them mixed up and use the wrong card, forget to cancel before the yearly fee comes due, etc.

I sign up for bank and credit card bonuses when I can. I made 200. opening a Visa in June and 250. opening a new checking account in July. $450. dollars scot free isn't bad! And I reached enough points to earn 50. in gas at the local gas station.

I also put some recent major renovation work on an interest free for 21 months Chase card, giving me lots of time to pay it off. I get credit card offers all the time and I take full advantage of those I can

 

[MarieIG]

We haven't pulled the plug quite yet but, I deduct my savings directly from my check before I can get my hands on it so savings on autopilot, avoid paying interest on anything, i.e. pay all credit cards off in full before they come due (yes, I still get the money back), shop around for best price, mostly take care of my hair needs at home, try to clean my own clothes and keep dry cleaning to a minimum. (As a disclaimer, we could do much better in the savings money department.)

 

[Sittingduck]

I use the gas buddy app on my iphone when filling up. It makes a difference when I am filling up the truck (30 gals) and the portable cans (30 gals) for the mowers and tractors.

 

[Marita40]

Only issue is that at some point, you have to start spread-sheeting the CC terms, or else it's easy to get them mixed up and use the wrong card, forget to cancel before the yearly fee comes due, etc.

I definitely don't do this enough to require a spreadsheet, but I do carefully note the terms of the card, so that I make sure never to pay interest! There are some folks at Boglehead that regularly "churn" accounts, including transferring large sums ($10,000) from bank to bank to get sign-up bonuses. Not me--that seems like dangerous territory for some reason. The new checking account I mentioned above, at TCF Bank, was a bonus of $250 for opening a free, no deposit limit, no fees account that came with a debit card, and charging $250 to the credit card over 60 days. Easy peasy, no brainer!!

 

[scrabbler1]

One thing I have done a few times in the last few years, and am always on the lookout for, is to see if I can "bunch" my itemized deductions in a 2-year period of filing my federal income tax returns so I can save some money in the year I take the standard deduction by getting a free "bump-up" from a reduced itemized deduction in the off-year.


So far in 2017, I am on pace to take the standard deduction as long as I make my 4th quarter 2017 estimated state income tax payment in January of 2018. I don't make any estimated state income tax payments for the other quarters, so I can choose either of 2 years to pay what is nearly all of my state income taxes.


Being able to bunch those deductions will save me about $400 over a 2-year period, and it is a pretty effortless way to save that money. Only the time and effort I spend reviewing my spreadsheets along with simply making a payment in late December versus early January is all it takes.

 

[Sanstar]

I groom my dogs at home. Springer takes a couple of non-consecutive hours every month in the summer and 3 times or so in the winter. She loves her 'spa day' and all the attention. Grooming table cost $90, trimmers around $75. With one professional grooming session at $75 the ROI is pretty quick. Daschund just needs a nail trim and bath so takes less than 30 minutes every couple weeks. Nail trims for him at the local Pet Smart are $15. I hope it makes up for the dog food. We don't scrimp on grain free pet food and all natural treats.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

Credit card sign up bonuses. For example:

- Citi Prestige 75,000 points ($350 cash back after the yearly $450 fee) sign up bonus, Chase AARP, Amex Preferred or Every day cash back (all cash back after spending $x,xxx in the first 3-4 months).
- Discover Miles (3% cash back the first year)
- Discover It (2-10% back the first year, and then a year later you can apply for the same card again with the same deal)

Only issue is that at some point, you have to start spread-sheeting the CC terms, or else it's easy to get them mixed up and use the wrong card, forget to cancel before the yearly fee comes due, etc.

I actually got address label paper and paste those on the front of my cards with any relevant info I need to remember, including dates to cancel a few by and when intro 0% APR periods end.

This takes 2 minutes every few months to look at reddit.com/churning for current best offers, another 5 minutes of filling out applications if there is anything I find worthwhile. Sometimes a few more minutes to update automatic payments to a new card. Then spend as I normally do.

The next thing I do is not buy a lot, but buy the best I can't afford at the moment thanks to being able to pay it off in a year at 0% thanks to those cards. Buy once, cry once. For example, I've been able to get away with borrowing knife sets from hand me downs, but now that it's time to buy my own kitchenware, I've splurged on Wusthof knives, a huge Board Smith maple butcher's block, and quality made in the USA commercial grade kitchen tools. I also only have two things to cook with, a cast iron skillet and a cast iron dutch oven. I can cook everything in the world with just those two things.

Growing my own herbs, fruit, and veggies. After the initial setup, this takes surprisingly little effort. Even when the bugs are being a PITA, it really isn't bad. It'll be even better when I set up the greenhouse.

I enjoy the cheapest form of entertainment that I've found. Playing computer or console games a couple years after they've been released. $8 got me 42 hours of fun on the last game I played. $40 got me 300+ hours of fun. $900 for building a high end custom gaming PC from Black Friday sales will end up at pennies per hour of use.

Buying $1,000 worth of workout gear and equipment instead of a monthly gym membership paid for itself after 2 years.

Driving the speed limit and coasting to a stop whenever possible. Getting a couple more MPG on average adds up driving 12,000 miles per year.

Cooking in bulk with large base fillers of rice and beans. I could eat chili and burritos and egg bowls all day every day for years on end. Add some home grown veggies, or frozen veggies bought in 5-10 pound bags from the warehouse club, and food is stupid cheap. Paying attention to proper portion sizes and calorie requirements is just as big a help in keeping costs down.

 

[mystang52]

I wish I could take advantage of those free money credit card offers. But despite the ease of getting that money, DW is against it. She just doesn't want us to get too many credit cards and risk account hacking. Nothing I say will change her mind; more accurately, nothing I SAID would change her mind - I gave up trying, years ago.

 

[Music Lover]

Buying $1,000 worth of workout gear and equipment instead of a monthly gym membership paid for itself after 2 years.

I've owned my own gym equipment for decades...$300 for a power cage, $200 for an Olympic bar set, and $200 for a few sets of used dumbbells so I'm not changing weight all the time, plus another $200 or so for a rack, good mats, and various attachments. All in for about $900 which is about $45 a year or less than $4 a month.

 

[6miths]

I am so incredibly lucky that seemingly limitless amounts of my favorite drink just come out of every faucet in my house! It's as though it was designed just for me.

Didn't know which of the 'bottled' water replies to quote... this one looks good. Municipal water out of the tap no special filter system - what a unique idea. We used to fill big water cooler bottles from house and take to the cottage because the well water had quite a bit of iron in it and would get ruddy if left standing. Finally broke down and did add an iron filter to the line - now looks and tastes amazing. A couple of towns in the province took Coke and Pepsi to court because the companies were just filling bottles with town water and shipping all over the place. It wasn't that they were upset that the companies were doing it, just the amounts they were taking (and the towns were being forced to treat) and the huge profit margins.

Bottled water is so incredibly environmentally unfriendly - the bottles not the water - and unnecessary for almost everyone in high resource settings. And fits nicely with my pet peeve of the day - litter.

 

[6miths]

Reading the Sunday paper is a family event in our house. We read a lot of on-line news, but it is just not the same as sitting down with the front page spread out before you while you eat a leisurely breakfast.

But more importantly, having a hard copy paper is how we got our DS interested in current events at an early age. Now in high school he is quite conversant in most national & international news topics.

Agree that the physical paper is still better for me. I like to browse which is harder online. We have a digital NY Times subscription but for our 'national' paper - the Toronto Globe & Mail (I am sure some will disagree) I like to have the real paper. I don't have to have it on the same day though. In some places the will cut the headers off and then put the papers out for recycling the next day or even the same evening sometimes. So they are 'free'! Cha-ching!

 

[W2R]

Bottled water is so incredibly environmentally unfriendly - the bottles not the water - and unnecessary for almost everyone in high resource settings. And fits nicely with my pet peeve of the day - litter.

I hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it, I completely agree! Also I don't like lugging huge amounts of bottled water around when I can get really delicious water right from the tap. I have bought bottled water when living in locations with bad tasting tap water, but that is not the case here.

When I was a kid, my favorite drink was grape soda. My dream was to have a house with grape soda coming from every faucet. Well, that didn't happen, but my tastes did change with age and now water is my favorite drink and grape soda seems way too sweet.

 

[NW-Bound]

Darn, I posted this photo I took in another thread, instead of here.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Grow a few of my favorite vegetables. Tried kale this year. Don't like it raw, but sauteed it is amazing.
Cut the land line.
Many years ago got lifetime subscription to Sirius for $250, then they merged with XM. We have 4-one for each car and the house. Transferrable to the next car, and the next.
Eat at home--a lot. I liked home cooked food better anyway.
Drive a Prius (45+ mpg).
Never subscribed to a newspaper. Now with online news, I don't need to.

 

[Sunnymar]

I am so incredibly lucky that seemingly limitless amounts of my favorite drink just come out of every faucet in my house! It's as though it was designed just for me.

Another out of the faucet water drinker. Some people are amazed, other very concerned about my health when I tell them I drink plain old water from the tap. Same thing my parents did, been doing it all my life haven't died yet.

 

[Scrapr]

. Same thing my parents did, been doing it all my life haven't died yet.

Ahhh, but are your parents still with us The jury is still out!

I'm a faucet water drinker too. Carry a water bottle with me pretty much at all times. mmmm...cold, cold ice cubed water

 

[Walt34]

No suggestions here. I've reached the point in life where I'm not all that concerned about how hard I can squeeze a nickel. I figure I've already won that game.

Pretty much the same here too, but some things just because that's the way we are. I don't do car maintenance anymore, I spent more than enough time crawling around under vehicles - I paid my dues on that. I hired a lawn mower guy, health issues forced that.

At the very strong suggestion of my doctor, I stopped drinking wine. Don't like that, but the alternative is worse. But it does save some money. Maybe I can spend the savings on ice cream?

We don't go out to eat much, but went twice this week only because today is 29 years of wedded bliss. But I used a cash-back credit card (paid off monthly in full of course) and when the waitress asked "Are you a member of AARP or a veteran?" I said "No, but I'm retired law enforcement." She said "Close enough." and that was 10% off. I padded the tip a bit over 20%.

We don't travel much, and when we do it's a driving trip. I haven't been on an airliner in over a decade and don't miss it a bit.

Like W2R, my favorite drink is tap water.

 

[aja8888]

Pretty much the same here too, but some things just because that's the way we are. I don't do car maintenance anymore, I spent more than enough time crawling around under vehicles - I paid my dues on that. I hired a lawn mower guy, health issues forced that.

At the very strong suggestion of my doctor, I stopped drinking wine. Don't like that, but the alternative is worse. But it does save some money. Maybe I can spend the savings on ice cream?

We don't go out to eat much, but went twice this week only because today is 29 years of wedded bliss. But I used a cash-back credit card (paid off monthly in full of course) and when the waitress asked "Are you a member of AARP or a veteran?" I said "No, but I'm retired law enforcement." She said "Close enough." and that was 10% off. I padded the tip a bit over 20%.

We don't travel much, and when we do it's a driving trip. I haven't been on an airliner in over a decade and don't miss it a bit.

Like W2R, my favorite drink is tap water.

Walt, congrats on the anniversary today!

 

[flpanhandle]

Found out that now I am in style drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer "PBR" since it has become a craft/designer/yuppie brand in our area. 18 pack for $10.95 and I must admit taste the same as some pricier IPA's.☺

 

[W2R]

Happy Anniversary, Walt!!!

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

Without a doubt the biggest thing I did to save money was relocate. I have also found over the years that car repairs are very expensive. So what I do is, I only get done what has to be done . I save up cash for future car repairs and I go online to get an idea of the cost so I don't get ripped off too badly. I try to pay cash for everything I can and only use my credit card when I have to. Any excess cash goes into investments. I have come to believe it is not the little expenses that kill me financially, but the basics like food , shelter, and transportation. Once those got readjusted it was a game changer.

 

[IrishMoss]

I have some great insulated stainless steel bottles which I fill with filtered water and filtered water ice cubes at home. Plain tap water doesn't taste good in my area, so I run it through a filter. No plastic bottles or filling up the landfill.

 

[John Galt III]

Another out of the faucet water drinker. Some people are amazed, other very concerned about my health when I tell them I drink plain old water from the tap. Same thing my parents did, been doing it all my life haven't died yet.

I have a charcoal filter on the faucet, but sometimes I drink the H2O unfiltered (the filter has a switch) to get whatever minerals the local H2O has in it. I actually do think the tap water is *possibly* bad for you over long term exposure, with all those chlorine compounds, benzenes, etc, that are in it. My city mails us the test results each year, and there is a huge list of toxins that are present in the water, but at "acceptable" levels. I never did get the whole bottled water craze. I saw it as a huge profit margin gouge attempt that nobody would go for. But I was wrong, obviously.