How do you save money!

[Rockinonahigh]

Originally Posted by Soft*Silver

I am wondering if anyone else but I have gone grocery store dumpster diving. I did it before it was fashionable and it was a source of shame for me for many years.
When I was pregnant w my daughter I was forbidden by my husband to apply for welfare or food stamps. He worked at Taco Bell part time and I could not work because the pregnancy was a very stressful one. I would go to grocery stores and dig thru their dumpsters. I got veggies and some meats, some expired boxed goods, canned goods, etc. I would clean them and cut off all the wilted or bad parts and make soups and stews out of them to feed my pregnant body.

Now everyone seems to want to do it or think its great. I kinda laughed when i saw the first documentary about it. No more shame! LOL

This has become fashionably with the college kids hear,a spot on the local news showed the things they got that looked as fresh as in the store.I hope they are careful with the choices they have some things may look good but are on the edge of spoiling.

[Rockinonahigh]

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.

[Okiebug61]

Originally Posted by Rockinonahigh

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.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

Originally Posted by Okiebug61

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.

[Okiebug61]

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.

[ruffryder]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaMa'am

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.

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.

[~baby~doll~]

W/we are retired so we are not so much into saving as we were. What W/we have saved is now the household income.

What we used to do was deposit more than half of my income in a savings account. This was a must no matter what i earned. Extra's were expendable. W/we always eat the leftovers as well. No food goes to waste in O/our home.
Once the savings reached the level of a small short term CD we moved the funds and continued doing this. The CD's would get larger and the interest higher over the years.

[Rockinonahigh]

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.

[Okiebug61]

Originally Posted by ruffryder

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.

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.

[Okiebug61]

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?

[Mopsie]

Originally Posted by Okiebug61

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?

I'm really curious about how these work. One of my friends mentioned it the other day and I am thinking of getting one. Did you get one? How is it?

[Okiebug61]

Originally Posted by Mopsie

I'm really curious about how these work. One of my friends mentioned it the other day and I am thinking of getting one. Did you get one? How is it?

I will be having one installed early spring and will keep you updated!

[deathbypoem]

I had to BUMP this thread. Anything I can do to save a buck, you bet your ass I will do it!

Here are just a few ways that I enjoy saving money

Extreme Couponing
Repurposing leftovers
Making my own laundry detergent
Reviewing FREE products for Amazon
And NEVER paying full price for ANYTHING!

Need a tutorial? Feel free to hit me up!

[Okiebug61]

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/

[Kelt]

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.

[puddin']

i'm jus' very conscientious about what i spend. i put a certain amount each fortnightly pay into me savin's account.

i buy most ever'thang on sale. i watch sale ads and buy accordingly.

when food staples are on sale, i stock up. (canned tomatoes, beans, pasta, etc.)

i buy/fill up on petrol when it's price lowers. (it fluctuates like mad here!)

i use vouchers ever'where!!

i re-use, recycle and re-purpose wherever i can.

[Paradox]

Originally Posted by puddin'

i'm jus' very conscientious about what i spend. i put a certain amount each fortnightly pay into me savin's account.

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.

[Rockinonahigh]

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.

[Candelion]

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

[Jar]

I have a supermarket here that has great sales every week and they're good about varying the products. I stock up on things on sale. If there's roast on sale I cook it and split it up into sandwich size meals for lunch and freeze them. Also do the same for dinner portions. I like to cook and it saves money doing it that way.