Tightwad

[Lilith]

Cheapskate?

Penny pincher?


Tell me your tricks. I am curious about some of the ways to cut costs. I'll admit to using a coupon or two. I am trying to scale back some and am trying to find a few things I can do to save some $$.

[osuche]

Here are some of the things that I do...

Use lots of generics
Walk instead of driving (good for health too)
Take my lunch
Wait an extra 3 days to go to the grocery store - and make some creative meals in the interim
Make home made bread
Go out to cheap restaurants (Chipotle, etc) vs. sit down ones (also good for diet)
Order one meal for 2 people, often portions are so big it's OK
Give up on competing with the Jonses...we don't need a new car, books, movies, etc. all the time
Don't go to the movies. Rent them. Or skip them altogether and take a walk.

[Lilith]

Eating out is one area I plan to make major changes. We eat out too much because I'm too tired/worn out to cook. I want us to eat out as a choice not a last resort. We eat far too much fast food and make weird choices due to having one kid who wants to live off cheeseburgers and one who is a vegetarian.

[jseal]

... Take my lunch ...
Lilith,

And, when possible, plan your dinners with leftovers in mind.

[Lilith]

leftovers are usually Mr. Lil's next day lunch. I eat cafeteria lunch every day with my Lost Boys. We eat as a family.

[IowaMan]

Not sure if it really saves money but a trick my sister has always done is round everything up in her checkbook. If she writes a check for $25.01, she puts $26 in the ledger. She claims it keeps her from spending as much. Frankly I'm too anal about having it come out to the exact penny to be able to do that but it must work a little for her. She manages the money in their household and they just puchased a house for just under $850,000. :shrug:

[maddy]

Bank of America has a round-up program. It automatically rounds up to your savings for each purchase by debit card.

Eating out makes a huge difference. I can understand the tired, not wanting to cook issue. For me, I cook several things on the weekend to last me through the week. I imagine this is harder for a family. Can you make cooking a family event to help with your tiredness?

I grocery shop once a week, and stock up on staples when they are on sale.

I outlet shop for my indulgences - handbags and shoes.

[Irish]

I never carry change,just bills.When I pay for anything(for instance,$25.36),I give them $26.00.When I get home,I put the change,in a small piggy bank.by
change denominations.I periodically roll & deposit the money.It sounds like a little thing,but you'ld be suprised at how fast it mounts up.Plus you have an
excuse to wear elastic waist band pants.You just tell people that the change
weighs too much! Irish

[Neige]

I find that eating less meat saves a lot of money. A dozen eggs or a bunch of cans of legumes are just so much cheaper than a steak.

[jay-t]

Carpool if and when you can. When gas first went up the wife and I talked to our bosses and juggled our hours a little so we could carpool together it saves us $250 a month.
Plant a garden if you have room if not use the flower beds for fresh veggies.
Use the screw in fluorescent light bulbs they take some getting used to but they dont draw as much electric.
Water for your garden or lawn use rain barrels to catch run off from the gutters on the house, and things seem to thrive better with rain water.

[sodaklostsoul]

Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach, I used to use some coupons when the items went on sale if I did'nt need the items right away, I've been known to use a dryer sheet twice and I always shop the sale racks.

[Loulabelle]

Buy your groceries online if you can - which I'm sure you can. It costs for delivery here, but the minimal charge is hugely offset by the fact that you do not impulse buy, and you can make better judgements about what you want/need because you're in the quiet comfort of your own home, rather than the craziness of the supermarket, with other people's kids/ your own creating havoc. Also, you don't get the kids pestering you for stuff they don't need/ isn't good for them. It also saves so much time and effort, not to mention fuel costs, which will leave you more free for homecooking etc which will also save you money!

[cavegirl]

Batch cook meals - make up huge quantities of things like soup, stews, shepherd's pies, cottage pies, chillies, curries etc - then divide them into portions and freeze them so you have instantly nukeable ready meals for if and when you are too tired to cook in the evening - and get everyone in on the cooking so it's not just you doing it!

Like Lou says, do your shopping online if you can - stops you buying junk you don't need

Go through your closets/cupboards etc and get rid of anything you don't need/want - and try to sell it either through e-bay or another auction site, or a garage sale. I'm currently in the process of selling a whole lot of my books and stuff to raise money.

[WildIrish]

We have a grocery store that offers online shopping and home delivery, and you can take all week to add to/edit your order. I've found that it eliminates impulse purchases, but you really have to be careful with your purchases. It's very easy to spend more for an item than you want to just because they're coming anyway.

How are you at sticking to a budget? Mrs. WI simply cannot. She claims to know all of the expenses off the top of her head, but I'm sure she would be shocked to see what some of the "minor" things add up to.

One thing we've tossed about is cutting cable back down to basic. We spent $75 a month to watch 20 out of 200 channels! That's a lot to pay for a glimpse or two of boobs. :p

There's obvious benefits in adjusting the thermostats to cheaper settings. Especially with the cost of utilities skyrocketting. Though it's impossible not to drive, we do try not to take extra trips out. And we'll try to have our route's make sense. Nothing like passing the same landmark three or four times in one trip...makes you think of European Vacation. (hey look kids...it's Big Ben...and there's Parliment) :D

One thing we must do is eat home-prepared food more often. It's more healthy, we will have better portion control, and it's a damn sight cheaper. It's funny how I manage to make lunches for the kids every day but end up buying lunch for me.

While we're cooking, I've given more thought to "multi-meal" ideas as well. If I'm running the oven to cook two chicken breasts...why not cook all of them? Then I can use the extra to create another meal that will only need to be warmed up! Anything that helps cut down on how long I run that stove!

[Scarecrow]

Buy in bulk. We use a seal-a-meal vacume bags to split up and freeze the items into smaller portions.

[wyndhy]

when i was working, making some oven-ready meals on the occasional weekend helped us to eat less take-out crap during the week. there's lots of different dishes that you can make but casseroles are good oven-ready meals of course, and cheap, too. you could even invest in a small baking dish-for-one and leave out any meat, voila! ... everyone's happy...maybe

i didn't spend all weekend, every weekend cooking mind you (i'm not that selfless :p) but even just one meal helps, though. it takes an hour tops, but i remember how that hour during the week can feel hyuoooge. when the mood struck, i'd make lots of stuff and freeze it.

[cherrypie7788]

I also round my checkbook up. If I spend $25.15 or whatever I will just put down $26.

I buy in bulk back when I'm back home in TN. I only grocery shop every month or every two months most of the time and I never eat out. I buy raw ingredients and cook/bake most of the time. I freeze meals as well.

My local grocer also runs a promotion every week where you can get certain items "10 for $10" and if it's something I'm interested in I will go and buy 10 or 20 of the item(s), etc.

It's not that I'm so concerned with saving as it is that's the habits I practice and have for some time now. I guess I'm getting old and set in my ways ;) lol

[LixyChick]

Buy a programable thermostat. It does the work that you might forget to do.

Wash your laundry in cold water. With the miraculous "New and Improved" laundry detergent out now you don't have to use hot water for that "ground in dirt". The only thing I might wash in warm/hot water now is Mr. Lixy's work stuff if he has grease or diesal fuel all over them.

When you purchase the big ticket items (ie: fridge, washer, dryer) make sure it's an Energy Star product.

Those compact bulbs can save lotsa dough in a long run but are initially pricey. Do one room, or just one lamp, at a time.

[smithy020]

Or you could just go the whole hog, sell up the house and car and just go live in the wilds, living off the land, might be a tad extreme but just think of the savings!

Or you could try turning off all your electrical stuff at night instead of leaving on stand by, which still uses a fair amount of power. Have you thought about changing car to one that gets more MPG, Or if thats a step too far, just making sure that the car is fully serviced, the tyres are the right pressure, your not carrying any weight you dont have to and try not to use the A/C since they all cause you to do less Miles per gallon,

Oh in supermarkets dont just buy 2 of something cause you can save 50cents or something, only to throw it out, just buy wot you need from a shopping list!