At the store today they had paper towel's on sale a 12 pack for $3.98,this will last me a fairly long time,I mostly use them when I fry foods to help the drippings to soak up insted of uesing a cloth towel.

We buy our paper towels by the case. It seems to last forever. We are leaning towards going to cloth towels like others have mentioned. Atwoods sells flour sack towels that are great for every day use.

I buy paper goods by the case too, when they're on sale. I'm a total cheapskate. I use cloth towels, too, but sometimes you just need a paper towel.

Splitting meals
 

I don't like admitting that this is part of getting older but the truth be it is. We very seldom go out to eat where we do not share an entrée. We are lucky to have a lot of great places to eat that do not charge a set up fee for sharing a meal. If we do order 2 entrees we usually bring half of each home and have it for dinner or lunch the next day. While eating out is expensive there are times when cooking is just not good or better yet be lazy for a night is more fun.

Ditching Cable or Satellite?
 

I am really tired of the $90.00 monthly bill to watch only 8 channels. I am seriously thinking about ditching our service and trying a digital antenna.

I found this sight and it is a great resource.

http://www.antennaweb.org/default.aspx

Does anyone here have any insight they would like to share?

Zimmeh needs paper towels too. My mom used to cut them in half. I do the same or just don't use them unless I'm eating something really messy. LOL I also stock up when I'm at a fast food place. I'll bring em home and use them. haha.

Toilet paper, Zimmeh has to have 2 ply so I am asinine when it comes to it and I'll buy based on the sq feet vs cost. Usually we go with Scott.

Speaking of toilet paper,I started buying it by the case,over all it cost less this way.How with only two people in his house do we manage to go through a 12 pack a week?If I didn't get it by the case I would be forever going to the store for T.P.

Funny you mention the sq feet vs cost. I use to have to battle this when I sold office supplies for a living. I had a customer that would have their price broken down to the number of sheets and try to make their purchases based on the number of sheets per employee. I learned more about TP than I ever wanted to know.

Savings Tips
 

I browsed through this web site and found some pretty cool tools. Let me know if anyone here uses them and give us some feed back.

http://americasaves.org/

I have posted before about using Mint software for keeping track of things. This morning I tripped over a link from a couple of years ago that is still relevant giving some examples of how to use it and why. *Article*

It focuses on how to set up budgeting easily and some other tools. It is not complete, you can do a lot more with it or not, it's very flexible. Since this is the time of year for having a look at money in general and starting a new year, I thought it might be useful.

Exactly. Our society works on consumerism I try to be a critical consumer. Buy wisely. Best bang for the buck. And save. Pay my account first like a bill/ expense (whatever I can ) and then all else.

Strategizing, investing, saving , spending carefully - 80% of the time has helped me in many ways in the past.

Now I'm working on rebuilding, and restructuring.

I am always cooking something Italian so sauce is a must hear,so instead of buying the caned stuff I made 15 qts. of sauce from scratch.Being I got a complete set of stock pots for Christmas now I can cook up large pots of whatever I wan't to freeze also I made near as much 15 bean soup for the freezer.Having the main part of most meals already made saves time especialy on my pool nights cause things can get in a rush that I can do with out.

I keep things pretty simple.
Food wise, I mostly eat what is in season, as it's a healthier way to eat and more affordable too. Non-perishables are stocked up on when on sale.

I used to use more cloth re-usable cleaning materials, but then my guy came along. He cleans all the time and uses a lot of paper towels. He buys them in bulk. Since he is cleaning my house, I don't complain about the disposable issue.

We don't have a television or cable or anything like that. Mini-netflix membership is all I spend on entertainment.

We go to the library at least once a week. Books, music, movies. Free so long as we turn them in on time!

My grocery store gives gas discounts for every $100 you spend, plus bonus items buy you more. I spend a fair amount on food since I buy for my house, plus cooking classes I teach. And I don't drive much at all. Really only one day a week when I have a 50 mile round trip. Everything else is really in a 10 mile radius. So I wait to fill up the tank after I have racked up a fair amount of discount on gas. If I have to put gas in without having reached a good discount, I just put in maybe $10 and that will last me a week usually. Then I go for more gas when I have more discounted.

My daughter has finally slowed down on growing, so I could buy her more new clothes without it being a big waste of money, but she still often prefers used clothing. We both have a pretty small wardrobe, neither of us spend too much time thinking about fashion. Still, when we need new things, we shop on sale.

I mostly pay cash for everything. It helps me stick to a budget better when I'm in a store- can't go beyond the cash I brought with me.

I do have to keep a landline and cell phone. Cell phone reception is very bad in my home area. I need the cell phone because I am self employed and like to not be stuck at home, and because I have a teenager roaming the world who I like to keep open communication with. I also have a business line in my home, but I was able to roll all of that into a small business package, so phones plus internet all rolled up weren't bad once i shopped around.

I clip coupons, especially those that are doubled at my market. I often save between $20-40 on shopping trips between sales and coupons. Earlier this month I saved $95 on a big shopping trip because I had some bonus 20% off my full order coupon plus a bunch of other supplemental coupons. So I made it a massive stock up trip.

We have found a new way to save both time and money. We have a supermarket here called Sprouts. They have a wonderful assortment of daily made fresh meals that you simply pop in the microwave for 3mins and you are ready to enjoy. They range in cost from $2.99 to $4.99. What I like the most is I can have what I want and Red can have what she wants. Last night she had pot roast and mashed potatoes and I had pasta. No leftovers to clog up the fridge and forget to eat. I like it!

We still cook on the weekends but with her teaching schedule and my work schedule it is really hard to plan a weekday meal and have fun cooking when we get home. As we get older time seems to be more important than anything, so I am always looking for ways that save time and still fit into our budget. We average about 2-3 of the ready meals a week so the approximately $30.00 doesn't eat into what we normally spend on food.

Now I have a question for all of you parents out there who have teenage boys. We are taking our 2 15yr old nephews on a weeklong trip to Biloxi, MS for spring break. We are staying in a condo on the beach that is like an apartment so we can shop and cook meals there. My questions is how much money does one need to budget for 2 15yr old boys. I haven't a clue other than when they are at our home there seems to never be enough of anything.

I raised two son's no matter what they ate like there was no tomorrow,I mean they are bottomless pit's when it comes to food.Whatever you grocers list is double it,plus find what they like then try to make it healthy.I find snacks are the thing that are costly so if you can buy them somewhere in bulk would be eaysier on the pocket.Don't forget drinks,my kids drank enough Dr.Pepper to float a ship in so I started making ice tea a lot...but when my oldest would put near four tablespoons of sugar in one glass of tea I thought he was nuts so I got a good sugar alternative Then chips and dip or pizza bits or what have you ....omg! I should have bought stock in those companies I would be rich by now. Good luck in your quest to feed the never ending eating machines.

Sometimes I will fly business class instead of taking my private jet. Only sometimes.