Ideas to save Money?

Updated on July 21, 2012
A.C. asks from Keller, TX
12 answers

We're planning on some serious (dramatic) changes----not bad things; good, happy things! But we're going to need to cut our spending dramatically, which has been creeping up and up. Just for awhile.
Today I cancelled membership to Blockbuster, Massage Envy, and a fitness center (we have a free small one that will do in our neighborhood, we can swim, I can ride my bike or take walks, etc). That's $135/month. On Monday I'm going to cancel the extra stuff with our cable (still have regular cable but stop the extra stuff like BBC, etc). I know I need to be more planned and disciplined when I do weekly shopping (I used to be really good at this: shopping the sales paper, doing my coupons, price matching, etc but got lazy). I'm stopping one personal expense I did weekly that is $50/week (that includes the sitter), so that would bring the changes so far to $185/week plus whatever I can do on grocery/shopping and my cable bill. What else can I do? Date night is still on though, I am not going to do without that. We tried it, and we've learned that date night is a MUST for us (at least once a month, preferably twice a month), but we could try to be creative and cut some cost on that a little. More library less movies, that kind of thing. I'm also thinking about looking for another job (full time instead of part time, if possible, just to save the money----we've done this before).
Do y'all have any other ideas to help out for a time? It's been awhile since we've had a big project like this, and this is actually the biggest project yet, so I welcome any ideas to inspire me and help us out. I'm serious about cutting expenses, finding ways to save or elminate expenses so we can get this project done asap.

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So What Happened?

I was very pleased to find that I was doing a lot more than I thought, just that they were such habit I didn't think of them (kudos to me!) and I was reminded of some good common sense things to do that I could definitely reapply to my life. I wrote down those ideas, as well as some new ones that I'm interested in trying out, so thank you, all of y'all. Love the input.
Yes, Jeremy and I are both on the same page. We've done really well with projects in the past: they bring us together, we work well as a team, it's fun and exciting to track progress, and just having a project to put some effort, creativity, brain power, and work helps us feel better about ourselves as well as help others. We're excited. I'll explain that once we get going good. :P

More Answers

C.O.

answers from Washington DC on

ETA:

If you have a yard - consider growing your own vegetables.

any items that you have not touched in six months - need to go. Sell them - craigslist, ebay or yard sale if you are looking for an influx of cash. If not - then donate them.

If you received a tax refund last year over $5K - adjust your earnings this year so that you are close to ZERO. This way you'll have more money in the paycheck and not owe any on A. 15th.

If you own your home - check to see if the escrow is accumulating correctly. Check to see if you can raise your deductible to save money as well.

Shop for clothes at Goodwill, Salvation Army or other charity store. You will be surprised at what you get there!!! The only thing I recommend to buy new are shoes.
_______________________________
A.:

What's your goal in saving the money? Are you planning to buy a home or a new car or what? Is your husband on board with this? You had posted about a huge financial fight you guys got in a few weeks ago. If he isn't on board - then it will be difficult to do.

Food:

* take your lunch to work - DO NOT purchase a lunch - savings $50 per week (on average)
* make menus for the week. Designate one night a week leftover night so no food goes to waste
* use your coupons and purchase sale items to save even more money
(for example - my husband's shaving cream was on sale for $1.99 a can. I had a coupon for 75cents off - i had 3 of them - my grocery store doubles up to 99 cents - so I had 50 cents EACH for them)

Date night:
Does NOT have to be outside the home. it can be done on the living room floor after the kids go to bed and play a game of Scrabble or some other game.

Try having friends over for cards - hire a babysitter - have a pot luck dinner and have fun that way too!!

ERRANDS:
* make a list of where you need to go and do them in order so that you aren't criss-crossing across town and back-tracking
* have your coupons with you all the time.
* gas for car - if you have a Giant where you live - you get cents off for gas on your purchases. We save about 30 cents a gallon, on average.

CELL PHONE:
* If you are with Verizon - call them. I just lowered our cell phone bill by $50 a month by doing their "all share" program. Now I have unlimited minutes and texting as well as 4 Gig download.
* if you are not with Verizon - call around to find out rates with other providers and if you are near the end of your contract - GREAT!!

LANDLINE/INTERNET:
* Can you bundle them together to save money?
* Check to see if there are other providers in your area and if they can save you money.

HOUSE PAYMENT/MORTGAGE/RENT:
* if you own your home and your interest rate is about 5% - consider refinancing. I've heard GREAT things about Quicken Loans - my friend just refinanced one of his homes and bought a new one with them. His first mortgage is now 10 years and the same payment although the interest rate is 2.25% less - and he's not starting over on it!!
* if you are renting - check around to see if you can move to a less expensive home. Factor in moving costs, etc.

UTILITIES:
* call your utility companies (gas, water, electric) and find out if they have a flat rate program - many companies are doing this now to help their clients out.
* turn off lights behind you.
* turn the AC to 78 and keep it there for the summer and turn it to 65 in the winter. Learn to layer up in the winter instead of turning the heater up.

If you are looking for a full time job or ANY job - factor in cost of daycare (I don't know how old your kids are) or a nanny.

I know I will think of more - but this is a starting place.

GOOD LUCK!!!

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L.F.

answers from Chicago on

Refinance your house with a lower interst rate?
Raise the deductible on your car insurance to lower your premiums?
Color your hair at home (if you color it)?
Get your haircut only once every five or six months?
C. to a barebones cell phone plan or use a prepaid phone?

Good luck to you! Now you have me curious as to what your project is :-)

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M.T.

answers from New York on

Getting a 2nd job or increasing your hours is what makes the most sense. That's how people get money - by working.
When you do grocery shopping, if you don't normally buy store brands, now is the time to do so. I've found many things that are good in the store brand, such as ziplock bags, peanut butter, pastas, frozen veggies, mustard, breads, hot dog/burger rolls. Some things not as good, such as kitchen garbage bags, plastic wrap, tampons.
If date night is a must for your sanity, don't think about pricey restaurants and events where you must buy tickets. Go for coffee/tea at Dunkin (not Starbucks), find out where the bargain theater is and see a $5 movie (don't buy their expensive snacks), pack a picnic of sandwiches (made from home, not the deli), drinks and goodies and find a local park or a free outdoor concert
Good luck

3 moms found this helpful

R.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

I know you know this, but use coupons to save money on groceries, household items, and for eating out on date nights, I won't go into a restaurant without a coupon! Check the coupons every Sunday in the newspaper, clip and use on what you normally buy, and use when items are on sale to maximize your savings.

And I sign up with every restaurant site I can find, from fast food to steakhouses, because they offer freebies for signing up (free ice cream cone @ Baskin Robbins), birthdays (cones, desserts, appetizers and free meals), and some for anniversaries (steak dinner @ Black Angus) and coupons from time-to-time" just because.

I just took a free Extreme Couponing class, offering by the major newspaper in the area, and got great ideas for saving money for our needs, no hoarding involved ; ) The presenters have been on the show "Extreme Couponing" and "Extreme Couponing All Stars" and gave us a site to help us with saving tips, discount codes, and how to's:
www.TipResource.com/GrocerySmarts

Join Restaurant.com, it allows you to purchase gift certificates worth $25 for $10, etc, for restaurants in your area. They sometimes have even bigger discounts, last December I was able to purchase $25 certificates for my son for Christmas and his birthday for $2 apiece, then realizing I hadn't a gift for my BIL was able the day before Christmas to get them for only $1 and print them out!

Last but not least, ALWAYS use a discount code or coupon when purchasing items online or in-store. RetailMeNot.com is a great site for locating codes, just type in the store/site you want to use and see if a recent code is available. As an example, I have a coupon for Crazy 8 (kids clothing brith to size 14) and am purchasing clearance items for my little guy, mainly for next spring and summer, and since they are marked down and I am getting an additional 20% off I am paying roughly 75% less than regular price, a quarter of the price! I have a very limited income and always shop like this at the end of the season, so when he needs the items I have them and don't spend a fortune...I bought his clothing for preschool which he starts in September last December/January, he will look great and have cute clothes at a fraction of the cost.

Oh, and list the items you no longer need on eBay and make some money there.

The savings will add up, have fun doing it : )

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D.S.

answers from Kansas City on

Anything you can sell? Not a save money kind of thing, but a jump start to more money. When we started Dave Ramsey we sold our second car and I drove my husband to/from work instead. We also had a garage sale and pretty much sold everything that wasn't nailed down!

More things we cut/changed to save:

Wireless phones - do you have an expensive monthly plan? If so, do you NEED all those features or that particular phone? I changed to the Virgin Mobile pre-pay/no contract plan and it is smartphone stuff (unlimited data/text, 300 talk minutes) for only $27/month. My husband went without a phone until his new job gave him one. We are also dumping our landline now that we have also cancelled ADT and don't need a phone line.

Do you pay cash for items or put them on a card? Even a debit card will tempt you to spend more. It's a big difference if I go to Target with only $20 vs. wanting to spend only $20 but being able to go over b/c I have my debit card with me. Paying cash has really helped us save a ton!

Our farmer's market has produce way cheaper than most grocery stores (although Aldi is usually close) and it gives us an outing at the same time while letting our 4 year old meet the farmers.

Shop consignment stores for kids things like winter coats and snow suits b/c they grow out of them so quickly (if your kids are young). Better yet, ask friends for their old stuff! We saved a lot by making it known we are hand-me-down friendly. :)

Check your car insurance and your usual mileage. We saved when we switched to low-mileage rates since we don't put as many miles on the car as we used to.

Swap babysitting with other friends to save on sitters for your date night.

I'm sure there are other things I am forgetting, but it is fun to look for places to save!

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M.L.

answers from Colorado Springs on

I'll tell you something that helps me. I don't read the ads. The down side is that if I'm really looking for something in particular, I have to ask my friends if they've seen it on sale. The up side is that when I'm not enticed by well-done advertisements for once-in-a-lifetime deals on things I didn't know I couldn't live without, I save money. Of course, I don't do coupons much (I don't find many I can really use), so, if you plan to do couponing, you'll have to look at some advertising. But if you try it for a month or so, you may find that you're saving money because you don't want as much. Just a thought.

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S.G.

answers from Grand Forks on

Use Groupon or Dealfind for date nights. If you have a cell phone, get rid of it. Shop second hand. Don't buy anything, unless you absolutey need to (try borrowing, or renting, or getting it from freecycle first). When you do errands try to group them together so you are making less trips in the car. Get a part time job at your local Y, or some other place where you could use the staff discount. Don't pay a sitter, but trade services with other moms. Do your own manicures and pedicures.

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T.F.

answers from Dallas on

Kudos to you for making date night a priority. It's crucial. It was a major part of our finances, especially with a weekly sitter at $60-$80 a week. We opted for things we like to do, maybe costly now and then but could be freebies as well. Keep you time with hubby a priority!!!! Good job!!

We love multiple income streams. We run our company from home. I'm CFO and manage all financials, taxes, payroll. Etc. I also substitute teach at only 1 elementary school and bring in extra $$ per month plus I "sub" at a temp agency for an ex employer for extra money. You do what you can.

Our company sales for 2012 are forecasted at $4 million and yes we can more than easily live on profits but I still bring in about $500 a month subbing at school and subbing via a temp.

Think outside the box!!

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K..

answers from Phoenix on

Dave Ramsey's program works if you are ready to do it. If you can't say "no" to yourself, then forget it. If you aren't willing to make DRASTIC changes, then you're not ready. It's worked well for us when we used it. Even if you don't do the plan to a "T", there are some great tips he gives.

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C.H.

answers from Buffalo on

instead of using a dryer when doing laundry try using a clothing line.
instead of buying name brand products buy the generic versions.
if you like tv and movies, cancel the cable and try a site like net flix or something, its cheaper usually.

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F.M.

answers from San Antonio on

Cancel the cable. Seriously. We only turn on our tv when we plan to sit down and watch. We watch Netflix ($7.99 a month) and stream from Hulu.com (free if you're not picky about watching older tv episodes or certain shows. We have plenty to watch and don't pay a penny). We hook up our tv to our computer. New/Good movies? We use our library (free) and Redbox ($1.28 a movie). Our monthly fees for tv, movies, and all watching = $9-$12 depending on how many Redboxes we rent.

Grocery: I don't really like coupons too much, honestly. Oftentimes I find that the store-brand is cheaper than buying the "good" brand with the coupon. So really do the math on it. Things like flour, pepper, bread, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and so forth - I find that the brand doesn't matter. Brownie mix - eh I may pay for the Betty Crocker instead of the store brand b/c I think it tastes better. Costco - do you have a membership? I have researched/compared prices there and my local store and made a spreadsheet of the price difference. Sure I could buy Rosarita brand refried beans cheaper (per can) at Costco than I can at my local store. But I I think the store-brand tastes just as good, so in that comparison, the local store is cheaper. Things I always get at Costco b/c they're considerably cheaper and good quality: cheese, eggs, rotisserie chicken

Cook at home! Even a frozen pizza ($6) is cheaper than Pizza Hut ($12). A rotisserie chicken ($5 costco) and a side (frozen peas $1) will feed a whole family for $6.

What other bills do you have monthly? AC and water? Here in Texas we are experts at water conservation. And AC we turn warmer when we leave the house. Heater in the winter- we let it get cool in the house and just put on a sweater. You could adjust your deductible on your car or homeowners insurance which can bring down your monthly costs.

Date night? I'm jealous. We never go out. But do you pay for a babysitter? Perhaps you can find a friend and her husband to "tag-team" with. ie: This week you take her kids while they go out. Next week they take your kids while you and your honey go out. Free babysitting! But movies are just crazy-expensive. So try packing a picnic and just enjoying time together.

Not sure what else you spend $ on. I don't dye my hair. I don't get my nails done, except by myself. I am not a big $-spender. I only really buy what I need (a new shirt, a pair of pants for the summertime, etc.)

added: Bday coupons - oh fun - I have signed up myself and my husband, child, mom, and dad for bday treats at Baskin Robbins (free scoop). For myself, I have Schlotskys (free sandwich or pizza), Jason's Deli (free $5), Sonic (free drink or free tots), Fuddruckers (free burger with purchase of equal or lesser). try www.freebies4mom.com . I think she still has a list on there with links for all these freebie fun birthday treats.

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❤.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

Keep your date night! :)
-cut your cable down to basic
-rent movies from Redbox ($1) or your library if they have them.
-instead of clipping coupons go to your cheapest grocery store & buy their
store brand generic items
-don't shop at big warehouse (like Costco) except for necessities like diapers, toilet paper etc. I found those items hard to beat)
-check out books from your library
-google free activities to do in your area for date night or family night
-cancel all other extraneous memberships (wine club, fitness club if you can walk or workout at home
-don't go to any Silpada type home parties (at least for now)
-buy generic make-up
-lump your errand-running around to save on gas
-google dollar movies in your area for kids or date night. most areas have
those
-go camping for a trip instead of any big vactions for now
-have game nights at home
-collect cans :)
-have a garage sale
-sell any big ticket items you no longer need/use on Craigslist. Just be
careful

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