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.