This is great........... this morning I read this post and saw Wackys stuff about stashes of coins........ I have piles of coins all over the place...... I just gathered them all up and LUGGED them to the coin counter thing- guessing that I may have had about $50 to $100. I had $261.48!!!!! (after their 'commission)!!
But--- I still have all my quarters.......I'm not sure why I kept them.... !!
Priceline.com !!! This is an incredible way to save money on hotels and car rentals. I have not used them for airfare.. But We have paid $70 for a $250 room...
With one exception, every washer and drier I ever owned was bought second hand. Most refrigerators and every freezer - the same.
I bought several upholstered pieces also, but since I brought home more than I bargained for last time (fleas from their dog) I won't do that again.
If the items are in good working condition, and their appearance isn't important (like the item hangs out in the basement) you can save a ton of money.
OK, here's what I did in Sept. and it will take years and $ off our loan and didn't cost us anything. I called our mortgage company and asked if they had a no-cost refinance program and they said yes. I figured up how low the rate had to go to be comfortable with monthly house paymt. So, I called everyday until they said 5.385 and I said we'd take it.
They sent us all the paperwork next day air, we took it to hubs workplace and got it notarized, sent it in and total cost out of pocket was $0.00. Cool!
You might be able to find a book (actually, it's a trilogy) by Amy Dacyczyn? called "The Tightwad Gazette. It would all depend on how far you want to go to with your thrift. :D-->
Savings: put money away for yourself first. Highest priority. Even a little bit saved over time will have a tremendous effect over time. For example, $50 per month @ 5% interest will add up to over $20,000 in 20 years. That's not much but it adds up.
Debt: Get real about whatever debt you have. Know your debt. Figure out which credit card is costing the most money (the highest interest rate). Pay that credit card off first. If you pay more than minimums on all your cards, switch around to pay as much as you can on the highest interest rate card until it is paid off, while paying minimums on the other cards. Once the first card is paid off, close it and work on the next card and the next until they are all paid off.
Start a warehouse buying club up with neighbors. You can leverage the larger sizes that you get at a Sam's Club, Costco, etc., by going in together with neighbors. If you have three families that can go in on buying quantity, you can buy the 10 lb package of meat and split it up three ways -- and that is often cheaper. Get a Foodsaver to repackage and vacuum seal the food once split up. Also a foodsaver is helpful for freezing. Since it gets the air out of the packaging, you can freeze food while delaying the onset of freezer burn (also helps you leverage grocery store sales on perishables).
If your kid goes to parochial school, you can apply for scholarships. You can also get a part time job at the school -- and they will reduce the tuition cost significantly, if not eliminating the cost. I know about four families whose mothers work in myu kid's school as "para-professionals." The pay is pretty low, but their kids' tuition is 100% paid for.
If you are buying a car, use the Carfax service to check on past accidents involving the car. It won't save any money initially, but it may help avoid expensive repairs in the future.
Especially if you drive an older car, get Triple A. The savings on the towing and car insurance is great! Get the highest deductible on your car insurance and home insurance that you can afford. This saves money. Do your homework on big ticket purchases for prices and interest rates. When you get a raise, put the extra money in with your investments or the highest interest account you can get. Keep track of where your money goes. Keep your bills paid on time. If you don't the credit card companies can up your interest rates. Figure out a budget that includes treating your self and family occasionally. Pay the most you can on a mortagage to save money in the long run on interest. Make sure you are not underinsured. Get help if you have a spending problem.
Money saving tips --- The best one I picked up on so far --- is pre-planning. Especially for food. It may seem to be a hassle, but make out a menu for the week coming up (use your own day to start on). We at the group home use Friday as our starting day --- but plan a 7 day menu, and go from there.
We make out a menu, and buy only what we need, to to make sure we have the ingredients neccesary for that week,and stick to it. This method feeds 9 people (staff, and clients) 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, every week, for an approximate cost of $150.00 per week, (usually less). If we bought presumptuously (and sometimes we do, when we forget things, the cost goes up, even though we are prolific coupon cutters also.
Turning off lights is huge, ( we have over 20 light bulbs in 2 rooms alone), as well as not letting a coffepot run all day. A coffeepot running all day sucks up a lot of electricity, and though I forget the actual figures, it is comparable to several 100 watt bulbs burning continuously.
Shopping for items "out-of-season" works really well at department stores. I bought a new 6-person tent this year (in August) for $39.00, that normally cost over $200.00 (I didn't want one that big for myself, but the price was right!) :)-->
Searching your local paper for ads, and garage sales, can be more rewarding than you would think. Decide what you want/need, before you go out to buy it. That alone will save you a lot, along with all the other great tips here!
Alot of great insight here. Just add my two cents worth as a single dad on tha grocery shoppin'....I do lots of huntin fer wild game and coupons! The other day I took 80 dollars worth of coupons and cashed them in for double and brought home a big basket of groceries.
And I also recommend saving a minimum of 10 percent of yer weekly income for future fun an excitement. Put in an lucrative stock or 401 or whatever excites yer fancy , but save.
But day today living requires shopping at
discount stores, buying in quantity where feasesable to avoid spoilage, take adavantage of discount resturant meals occasssionally (sometimes its cheaper to eat out- and good fer morale also), take advantage of all discounts,,,,,,,sometimes it requires more than one trip to the same store in one week.
Most stores run adds for a week at a time......go everyday for a week and buy the limit each day,,,,,you'll be stocked up fer tha next two months,,,,ya know what I mean!
And I might also add,,,,CUT UP ALL CREDIT CARDS! Except fer one, keep one wif no interest rate attached, just in case ya are out of town visiting someone and wanting to rent a car. I know of neary a car rental place that will rent ya a car without one.
And another thing I reccomend to anyone getting car repairs or home repairs,,,,,get three estimates,, and don't rely on friends or relatives for advise on either,,, your judgement will most likely be best !!!!
Did anyone say eBay? Not just for purchases - but to SELL your stuff! It's amazing what some people will purchase. One man's trash...
I was looking for some knee socks for my daughter and came across a USED pair of gym socks with a hole in them. Someone was selling them for $4 PLUS shipping! Eek! (for real! check it out!)
Clean out your closets - and sell the stuff you don't want or need anymore. The buyer pays the shipping. All you have to spend is time.
For those who want to shop in bulk, but cannot use it fast enough....those counter vaccume sealers are fabulous, many things like shredded cheese we buy in 5 lb bags and freeze.
Food stays fresh an amazingly long time...less spoilage.
On the home mortagage thing...we got a 15 yr loan, and by adding a mear 50 dollars a month, plus an occasional extra bit....we paid it off in EIGHT!
It was worth the scrimping those eight years to pay down the principle quickly.
We also buy used cars to avoid the high insurance rates required when financing a newer car...not to mention saving on the interest and payments...
Oh, n wwjl, is absolutely correct, she brought out those little toys from fast food restuarants to the delight of my little ones....they plsyed for hours peacefully, thus buying us some apreciated *quiet* time...lol thanks, I`d forgotten about that :-)
They still have most of them, a special gift in their minds.
buy your phone NEW on ebay they come with full insurance.
do NOT buy into the cell phone idea tha you need to upgrade your plan to purchse the new phone. they must "upgrade" any phone you bring them to the plan, ask them what phones will be included and purchase it on Ebay, to coontinue the cheaper rate!
when I go into cingular or call them they always ask"where did you get this plan we do not have this plan on our computer". uh huh because everyone eles is paying thrity dollars more a month for the very same plan. YOU CAN grandfather in even if they tell you you need to purchase a new phone and they no longer sell that one.
buy it on E-Bay!!! keep going with the cheap rates you sign on with. I save over a thousand dollars a year.
But buy a new phone not a used one. it must not have any programing for the store to process it.
Tell me tell me....where are you getting 5% interest so I can put all my money there too!!!! I'm there!!!!
??????
Sorry...the best CD rate going today is 4.97%.
However...where do I have my savings? In equities...
my company's stock fund is up almost 40% this year...
s&p index fund is up 13%
vanguard windsor is up 11.5%
oakmark global is up 13.9%
pimco bond fund is up 6.85%
and my GNMA fund is up 31%
So, yes I get a little better than 5%, thanks...
(btw, what I did was took 15% out of my paycheck and put it into a liquid fund that paid an even 5%. When the market hit rock bottom in spring 2003, I transferred all of it over to the S&P fund -- and then had all my deductions go into a diversified portfolio since that time -- because of that, I've made over 40% on my investments in the past 3 years).
Most funds will allow you to begin with as little as $50 per month and zero down, as long as you have the money transferred through payroll deduction.
"Especially if you drive an older car, get Triple A. The savings on the towing and car insurance is great!"
Respectfully we would disagree with this one.
We only purchase 'older' cars. We take them in for 200 point checks annualy, We budget the expense of each vehicle needing $500 to be spent on it each year during these planned inspections.
We do not have AAA, not any towing club. We have found over the years that on the rare occasion that a vehicle does need towing, just paying for it, is still cheaper.
Spend your money on maintenance, not newness and not on 'clubs'.
"Do your homework on big ticket purchases for prices and interest rates"
Good.
"Keep track of where your money goes"
Good.
"Keep your bills paid on time"
Always. We always pay off every bill each month. No outstanding debt means nothing they can charge us interest on.
"Pay the most you can on a mortagage to save money in the long run on interest."
We disagree.
We advocate paying zero down on each mortgage. Don't pay anything down when you buy a property, [except closing costs]. And always get 30 year mortgages [they are the cheapest]. Once you have the mortgage [30 year mortgages have the lowest monthly payments]. This gives you more lee way in your monthly budgeting, so if a crisis comes along your not trapped by a huge mortgage payment. On months when you dont have any crisis, then pay all extra money onto the principle of your mortgage. Commonly $100 / month on the principle, as a seperate payment will shorten the mortgage by months [giving you far greater pay-back].
the last time we figured it out, by paying $200/month onto our primary mortgage takes so much off the back end of the mortgage that it appears as a 16% investment. It is hard to find a 16% investment these days. Keep in mind that each mortgage is different.
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Zshot
And a couple more things...
Keep an eye on loose change!
At the end of the day I take a look at coins that I might get through the course of the day.
Sometimes kids steal from parents coin collection. Sometimes an individual coin could be worth a lot of money
:D-->.
Usually, store owners know what to look for and take a look through the their coin drawers for such coins. Some clerks aren't as knowledgable
;)-->
(If you collect coins, and have children, lock up your coins! Many a collection has suffered great loss for a sugar fix
)
Also,
Use dimmer switches on your lights. This saves energy and money.
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2life
This is great........... this morning I read this post and saw Wackys stuff about stashes of coins........ I have piles of coins all over the place...... I just gathered them all up and LUGGED them to the coin counter thing- guessing that I may have had about $50 to $100. I had $261.48!!!!! (after their 'commission)!!
But--- I still have all my quarters.......I'm not sure why I kept them.... !!
Priceline.com !!! This is an incredible way to save money on hotels and car rentals. I have not used them for airfare.. But We have paid $70 for a $250 room...
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Zshot
Since this is a "saving money thread"
When I "cash in" change, I get the paper wrappers from my bank for free...
:D-->
While watching TV I stack the coins in stacks of ten high (eight high with quarters) and enough accross to fill the wrapper.
(I should also mention that the nic-name for my proffession is "bean counters")
after I put all the coins in a roll, I take the coins to the bank and deposit it.
After seeing what the commission rate is on those machines
I will continue to roll my own coins 
I am guessing that 2life spent about $15.70 (6%) for the machine to do the counting...
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krys
Don't always insist on brand new.
With one exception, every washer and drier I ever owned was bought second hand. Most refrigerators and every freezer - the same.
I bought several upholstered pieces also, but since I brought home more than I bargained for last time (fleas from their dog) I won't do that again.
If the items are in good working condition, and their appearance isn't important (like the item hangs out in the basement) you can save a ton of money.
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2life
Zshot --You are right BUT --- I paid more than that! almost 9 cents on the dollar!!!
I SHOULD have had some kid come over and do it for 10%!! But-- I was motivated-- and impulsive--- and shocked at what I DID get!
I think I would like to BUY one of those coin counter machines-- now thre seems to be some money in THAT business!!
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waterbuffalo
OK, here's what I did in Sept. and it will take years and $ off our loan and didn't cost us anything. I called our mortgage company and asked if they had a no-cost refinance program and they said yes. I figured up how low the rate had to go to be comfortable with monthly house paymt. So, I called everyday until they said 5.385 and I said we'd take it.
They sent us all the paperwork next day air, we took it to hubs workplace and got it notarized, sent it in and total cost out of pocket was $0.00. Cool!
P.S. Our house paymt. now is $17 more per month.
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TheManOfa Thousand ScreenNames
You might be able to find a book (actually, it's a trilogy) by Amy Dacyczyn? called "The Tightwad Gazette. It would all depend on how far you want to go to with your thrift.
:D-->
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markomalley
Savings: put money away for yourself first. Highest priority. Even a little bit saved over time will have a tremendous effect over time. For example, $50 per month @ 5% interest will add up to over $20,000 in 20 years. That's not much but it adds up.
Debt: Get real about whatever debt you have. Know your debt. Figure out which credit card is costing the most money (the highest interest rate). Pay that credit card off first. If you pay more than minimums on all your cards, switch around to pay as much as you can on the highest interest rate card until it is paid off, while paying minimums on the other cards. Once the first card is paid off, close it and work on the next card and the next until they are all paid off.
Start a warehouse buying club up with neighbors. You can leverage the larger sizes that you get at a Sam's Club, Costco, etc., by going in together with neighbors. If you have three families that can go in on buying quantity, you can buy the 10 lb package of meat and split it up three ways -- and that is often cheaper. Get a Foodsaver to repackage and vacuum seal the food once split up. Also a foodsaver is helpful for freezing. Since it gets the air out of the packaging, you can freeze food while delaying the onset of freezer burn (also helps you leverage grocery store sales on perishables).
If your kid goes to parochial school, you can apply for scholarships. You can also get a part time job at the school -- and they will reduce the tuition cost significantly, if not eliminating the cost. I know about four families whose mothers work in myu kid's school as "para-professionals." The pay is pretty low, but their kids' tuition is 100% paid for.
If you are buying a car, use the Carfax service to check on past accidents involving the car. It won't save any money initially, but it may help avoid expensive repairs in the future.
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Galen
Read "The millionaire Nextdoor"
Great tips on buying automobiles, businesses to own, spending habits, savings and investment strategys that work, . . . .
We can learn a lot from thousands of first-generation American Millionaires.
My copy of this book is dog-eared heavily high-lighted and well-worn.
.
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reikilady
Especially if you drive an older car, get Triple A. The savings on the towing and car insurance is great! Get the highest deductible on your car insurance and home insurance that you can afford. This saves money. Do your homework on big ticket purchases for prices and interest rates. When you get a raise, put the extra money in with your investments or the highest interest account you can get. Keep track of where your money goes. Keep your bills paid on time. If you don't the credit card companies can up your interest rates. Figure out a budget that includes treating your self and family occasionally. Pay the most you can on a mortagage to save money in the long run on interest. Make sure you are not underinsured. Get help if you have a spending problem.
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dmiller
Money saving tips --- The best one I picked up on so far --- is pre-planning. Especially for food. It may seem to be a hassle, but make out a menu for the week coming up (use your own day to start on). We at the group home use Friday as our starting day --- but plan a 7 day menu, and go from there.
We make out a menu, and buy only what we need, to to make sure we have the ingredients neccesary for that week,and stick to it. This method feeds 9 people (staff, and clients) 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, every week, for an approximate cost of $150.00 per week, (usually less). If we bought presumptuously (and sometimes we do, when we forget things, the cost goes up, even though we are prolific coupon cutters also.
Turning off lights is huge, ( we have over 20 light bulbs in 2 rooms alone), as well as not letting a coffepot run all day. A coffeepot running all day sucks up a lot of electricity, and though I forget the actual figures, it is comparable to several 100 watt bulbs burning continuously.
Shopping for items "out-of-season" works really well at department stores. I bought a new 6-person tent this year (in August) for $39.00, that normally cost over $200.00 (I didn't want one that big for myself, but the price was right!)
:)-->
Searching your local paper for ads, and garage sales, can be more rewarding than you would think. Decide what you want/need, before you go out to buy it. That alone will save you a lot, along with all the other great tips here!
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Littlehawk
Alot of great insight here. Just add my two cents worth as a single dad on tha grocery shoppin'....I do lots of huntin fer wild game and coupons! The other day I took 80 dollars worth of coupons and cashed them in for double and brought home a big basket of groceries.
And I also recommend saving a minimum of 10 percent of yer weekly income for future fun an excitement. Put in an lucrative stock or 401 or whatever excites yer fancy , but save.
But day today living requires shopping at
discount stores, buying in quantity where feasesable to avoid spoilage, take adavantage of discount resturant meals occasssionally (sometimes its cheaper to eat out- and good fer morale also), take advantage of all discounts,,,,,,,sometimes it requires more than one trip to the same store in one week.
Most stores run adds for a week at a time......go everyday for a week and buy the limit each day,,,,,you'll be stocked up fer tha next two months,,,,ya know what I mean!
And I might also add,,,,CUT UP ALL CREDIT CARDS! Except fer one, keep one wif no interest rate attached, just in case ya are out of town visiting someone and wanting to rent a car. I know of neary a car rental place that will rent ya a car without one.
And another thing I reccomend to anyone getting car repairs or home repairs,,,,,get three estimates,, and don't rely on friends or relatives for advise on either,,, your judgement will most likely be best !!!!
HaPPY sAVING!!!!!!!!!
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Hope R.
Did anyone say eBay? Not just for purchases - but to SELL your stuff! It's amazing what some people will purchase. One man's trash...
I was looking for some knee socks for my daughter and came across a USED pair of gym socks with a hole in them. Someone was selling them for $4 PLUS shipping! Eek! (for real! check it out!)
Clean out your closets - and sell the stuff you don't want or need anymore. The buyer pays the shipping. All you have to spend is time.
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johniam
I find that if I eat an average sized meal immediately before grocery shopping I'm much less likely to impulse buy.
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Wacky Funster
Mark!!!!!!!
Tell me tell me....where are you getting 5% interest so I can put all my money there too!!!! I'm there!!!!
??????
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rascal
For those who want to shop in bulk, but cannot use it fast enough....those counter vaccume sealers are fabulous, many things like shredded cheese we buy in 5 lb bags and freeze.
Food stays fresh an amazingly long time...less spoilage.
On the home mortagage thing...we got a 15 yr loan, and by adding a mear 50 dollars a month, plus an occasional extra bit....we paid it off in EIGHT!
It was worth the scrimping those eight years to pay down the principle quickly.
We also buy used cars to avoid the high insurance rates required when financing a newer car...not to mention saving on the interest and payments...
Oh, n wwjl, is absolutely correct, she brought out those little toys from fast food restuarants to the delight of my little ones....they plsyed for hours peacefully, thus buying us some apreciated *quiet* time...lol thanks, I`d forgotten about that :-)
They still have most of them, a special gift in their minds.
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OnionEater
In the last few months I did this to save.
1.) Downgraded my cable TV from $58.00 expanded cable to $15.00 basic cable, save $43.00 per month.
2.) Got rid of DSL internet, $29.95 down to $9.95 dial up, save $20.00 per month.
3.) Gave up cell phone $18.00 month emergency plan.
SAVINGS - $91.00 per month. = $1092.00 per year
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mj412
buy your phone NEW on ebay they come with full insurance.
do NOT buy into the cell phone idea tha you need to upgrade your plan to purchse the new phone. they must "upgrade" any phone you bring them to the plan, ask them what phones will be included and purchase it on Ebay, to coontinue the cheaper rate!
when I go into cingular or call them they always ask"where did you get this plan we do not have this plan on our computer". uh huh because everyone eles is paying thrity dollars more a month for the very same plan. YOU CAN grandfather in even if they tell you you need to purchase a new phone and they no longer sell that one.
buy it on E-Bay!!! keep going with the cheap rates you sign on with. I save over a thousand dollars a year.
But buy a new phone not a used one. it must not have any programing for the store to process it.
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excathedra
i think i'm getting screwed on the cell phone
and the cable channels
and what else
oh yeah i can't remember to bring coupons with me to the food store
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markomalley
Sorry...the best CD rate going today is 4.97%.
However...where do I have my savings? In equities...
my company's stock fund is up almost 40% this year...
s&p index fund is up 13%
vanguard windsor is up 11.5%
oakmark global is up 13.9%
pimco bond fund is up 6.85%
and my GNMA fund is up 31%
So, yes I get a little better than 5%, thanks...
(btw, what I did was took 15% out of my paycheck and put it into a liquid fund that paid an even 5%. When the market hit rock bottom in spring 2003, I transferred all of it over to the S&P fund -- and then had all my deductions go into a diversified portfolio since that time -- because of that, I've made over 40% on my investments in the past 3 years).
Most funds will allow you to begin with as little as $50 per month and zero down, as long as you have the money transferred through payroll deduction.
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Wacky Funster
I get 1.97% in savings...
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Galen
reikilady:
"Especially if you drive an older car, get Triple A. The savings on the towing and car insurance is great!"
Respectfully we would disagree with this one.
We only purchase 'older' cars. We take them in for 200 point checks annualy, We budget the expense of each vehicle needing $500 to be spent on it each year during these planned inspections.
We do not have AAA, not any towing club. We have found over the years that on the rare occasion that a vehicle does need towing, just paying for it, is still cheaper.
Spend your money on maintenance, not newness and not on 'clubs'.
"Do your homework on big ticket purchases for prices and interest rates"
Good.
"Keep track of where your money goes"
Good.
"Keep your bills paid on time"
Always. We always pay off every bill each month. No outstanding debt means nothing they can charge us interest on.
"Pay the most you can on a mortagage to save money in the long run on interest."
We disagree.
We advocate paying zero down on each mortgage. Don't pay anything down when you buy a property, [except closing costs]. And always get 30 year mortgages [they are the cheapest]. Once you have the mortgage [30 year mortgages have the lowest monthly payments]. This gives you more lee way in your monthly budgeting, so if a crisis comes along your not trapped by a huge mortgage payment. On months when you dont have any crisis, then pay all extra money onto the principle of your mortgage. Commonly $100 / month on the principle, as a seperate payment will shorten the mortgage by months [giving you far greater pay-back].
the last time we figured it out, by paying $200/month onto our primary mortgage takes so much off the back end of the mortgage that it appears as a 16% investment. It is hard to find a 16% investment these days. Keep in mind that each mortgage is different.
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excathedra
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