Favorite Everyday Savings Trick

[Lorilou]

if you buy something, put the change away. it adds up quickly. once we had over $200 in change.

[rodent]

It would be quicker for me to list the things I don't do

 

I pack a lunch

We don't eat out much & when we do it's a cheap place

We workout at home with DVDs & weights

my friends & I have clothing swaps where we trade clothes

I scan slickdeals.net daily

I DIY for most things (wedding stuff, presents)

I don't buy expensive gifts. I just make/ buy very thoughtful/ personal gifts.

I get my hair cut at an Aveda Institute (students)

My friends & I get together for dinner parties/ game nights- much cheaper than going out

I call to negotiate my bills (internet/ cable) every 6 months or so to keep them low

[alex]

I love this idea! I'm currently unemployed (between contracts at work) and I need all the help I can get! lol

Me & my girlfriends share magazines. 2 of them have received susbscriptions as gifts so when they're finished they pass them on & then we pass them on & so on... those badboys add up if you buy 1 or 2 a month!

Also I recently spent some money in order to save some money. We usually go to this nice coffee house to relax & talk & unwind... so I went out & bought 4 beautiful new mugs & some yummy tea & coffee so now the girls can come to my house while my bf is at work (he's a shift worker, so he's gone alot!) & we can use my fancy mugs & coffee & not have to put out $5+ each time we grab a cup at the coffee shop!

Hm, I also save my dimes. Sounds silly, but it adds up! I am hoping to take a trip to Peru in the fall with my father so I started saving my dimes around December just to see what would happen. I probably have over $100 now, which isn't that much but it's money I never would have had before!

[alex]

OOH and for any Canadian gals out there I have 3 words for you... Canadian Tire Money!!!

If you have a car you're going to have to gas up anyway. So why not pop into the CT store & grab the weekly coupon before gassing up. I usually get $1-2 when I fill up my car & almost $3-4 when we fill up the truck! Then we use the money for something for the house or even a gift card to use at the CT Gas Bar!

[MelissaH]

~ I carpool, so I only have to drive to work every other day...huge $$ saver because I drive over 60km each way.

~ I don't work out so I save on a gym membership....I'm also really huge LOL

~ I plan my meals every week so when I do groceries I don't buy more than what we're going to eat or need - it also keeps us from eating out as much!

~ We save pretty much all of our change - we always have a good few hundred dollars every couple of months

[Bride010101]

We suck at saving money. After getting engaged we had this whole plan on ways we were going to save. Mainly we were going to stop eating out - because sadly we eat out 2-3 meals a day. ((We live with 2 other gross guys in an old house... so no matter how hard I try to keep the kitchen clean its just disgusting. I gave up about 6 months ago and now refused to go in there)) We've done okay I guess - do breakfast at some sort at home (mini-fridge in our room)... then go to my parents house for dinner (I switch off cooking w/ my mom).

 

Our biggest saving is to ride share together and cut down on gas money. Also, we have temporarily stopped our movie addiction... only going to 1 every other month (previously ~2/month) and havne't bought a dvd since we got engaged (previously like 1/week)

[rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xandrafaye I love this idea! I'm currently unemployed (between contracts at work) and I need all the help I can get! lol Me & my girlfriends share magazines. 2 of them have received susbscriptions as gifts so when they're finished they pass them on & then we pass them on & so on... those badboys add up if you buy 1 or 2 a month!Also I recently spent some money in order to save some money. We usually go to this nice coffee house to relax & talk & unwind... so I went out & bought 4 beautiful new mugs & some yummy tea & coffee so now the girls can come to my house while my bf is at work (he's a shift worker, so he's gone alot!) & we can use my fancy mugs & coffee & not have to put out $5+ each time we grab a cup at the coffee shop! Hm, I also save my dimes. Sounds silly, but it adds up! I am hoping to take a trip to Peru in the fall with my father so I started saving my dimes around December just to see what would happen. I probably have over $100 now, which isn't that much but it's money I never would have had before!

I get my subscriptions from slickdeals.net or ebay (although I don't think they can sell them on ebay anymore). I usually pay $2 per year. I pile them up when I'm done & send them home with friends when they come over. I'll be putting some in my OOT bags too.

[MikkiStreak]

I learned to live very frugally after high school. I was living in my car for quite awhile and had to get pretty damn creative to survive. Even tho my lifestyle is (thankfully!) not like that anymore, I'm still a pretty simple person and make sure I don't develop attachments to "things", which really keeps my lifestyle simple. So, here are my normal "cutbacks" that are just part of my life, regardless of financial situation.

 

 

* We make sure to turn the central air off every chance we get an open doors/windows. When we do run the air, it's always set to about 80' (which in 100+ weather, definitely feels cold to us). In the winter, we keep the furnace set to 65 and wear sweats/slippers/sweatshirts around home (and we always have throws everywhere to cozy up with). Also, in the winter when it's cold and we're baking something in the oven for dinner--- we leave the oven door open after dinner is done cooking and the oven is turned off, so we can use that dinner heat for warming of our kitching/breakfast nook.

 

* We always make sure to turn off entertainment equipment, lights, etc... when we leave the room.

 

* I almost always wash our clothes in cold water so we aren't using the water heater (gas) to wash clothes. We also don't do laundry until we have a nice full load.

 

* We spend more time on the weekends at the dog park or at the lake, just relaxing on the docks fishing and/or reading books in the sun. We also have a killer picnic basket we picked up on clearance from Target a couple years ago and use that to pack up lunches for our days at the lake.

 

* When we go out of town, we actually prefer to camp instead of doing the hotel thing during nice weather. We'll even inflate the air mattress in the back of the SUV and sleep there when traveling too.

 

When I've gone through periods of unemployment, I cut back even further: using public transportation for distance travel around the city, cutting out the home phone and using a cell phone, using dial-up instead of DSL, getting rid of cable and just using library resources for entertainment, buying generic brands for almost everything, etc...

[lscilley]

We save all of our change!

Canadian Tire money I so use that too hehe!

We wash all our clothes in cold water.

We have the max amount of roomates living in our house right now to save on rent.

Take a lunch to work everyday.

I pretty much work 2 full time jobs to have the extra money to save but in return don't have much of a life till after the wedding =(

[manda0812]

I also suck at saving, luckily FI is good so I am slowly getting better. Although we ate out three times already this week!

 

- I try and take my lunch to work every day

- I haven't bought any new shoes for a long time (and I am almost dying from lack of shoe buying but I am making do)

- wash in cold water

- buy laundry powder in 20kg box, big saving and lasts for ages

- walk to work, not only good on the wallet, but also the environment and is hopefully helping with toning up!