Share your best cheap living tips / product reviews /etc.

[swbsam]

I'm a bit strange when it comes to purchases - I'd rather spend more experimenting on cheap options than spending the big bucks from the get go. There's some strange satisfaction from finding that good deal and, in time, I've become pretty good at living pretty cheaply.

Let's share all of our discoveries, tips, and advice - from the obvious to the uncanny. Also, I would list "bargains" that turned out to be crap as well.

Thanks!

Athena iPod Dock - about $40 for a refurb on Ebay
My wife and I were in the market for an iPhone dock but didn't want to spend a lot of money. There are cheap alternatives out there but most of them are glorified clock radios. This unit, made by a Klipsch sister company, sounds great and costs $40 shipped on ebay. Unlike most older iPod docks, this charges my iPhone fine

Tootie Fruities Cereal - $1.80 for a pound
I know that sugar coated cereal's the worst way to start the day, but I'm personally addicted to froot loops... Tootie fruities taste exactly the same to me and cost less than 1/2 the price

What are some of your favorite generics?

Vacuum - Hoover Whisper Cyclonic - $100
There are posts all over the internet about how this vacuum is a Dyson clone and all of that jazz, but I don't really care much about the technology. I bought it for $100 from walmart and know it's an outstanding vacuum that also looks pretty sharp. I can't say it's as good as a dyson (I never owned one) but I can't imagine the dyson being $200 better

Puritan pants from Walmart - $10
Dress pants are required where I work and I found myself spending way too much at department stores. Also, most cheapie pants tend to fall apart on me, since i'm pretty rough on my clothes.

Puritan pants are boring, unfashionable, but cheap and sturdy. I buy them when they're on clearance and have enough to last me a week without washing, and have 2 pairs of designer pants for special occasions/meetings

Charter club vintage (or is it retro?) polo shirts - about $25
I spent an hour obsessing over this - cheap polo shirts tend to fit me horribly, accentuating my gut and my man boobs. Ralph Lauren Polos fit me beautifully but cost $80 a pop. I spent that hour walking around Macys with a real Polo shirt in one hand, feeling every cheapie in the store.

Here's the difference : bad cheapie polos are basically glorified t-shirst. The less stretch, the better. Also, ralph lauren polos tend to be rough/sand paper to the touch on the outside while cheap polos tend to be soft to the touch.

Charter clubs vintage line share the rigidness of the original Polo shirt and wears in a very similar fashion - keeping its shape while standing up to the washing machine.

 

[Farang]

Big batches of fried rice w/lentils and assorted frozen vegetables thrown in. Eat twice daily.

 

[Hacp]

2 dollar headphones: Lasted 4 days.

 

[acheron]

tip: If you "wash" your clothes by soaking them in water and detergent, rinsing, and then letting them dry (there are special purpose machines that do this, too), you can save money by not having to buy new clothes every day.

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: Hacp
2 dollar headphones: Lasted 4 days.

For headphones I'd say my favorite cheap but goodies would be:
- JVC Marshmallows (in ear, sub-$20)
- Koss porta/sporta/ktx pro - (over the ear, $15 and up depending on model)

I love Grados and have to say that the quality is worth the money, but the above are great for casual listeners and should last you a while (koss has an outstanding warranty)

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: acheron
tip: If you "wash" your clothes by soaking them in water and detergent, rinsing, and then letting them dry (there are special purpose machines that do this, too), you can save money by not having to buy new clothes every day.

Hah, I don't buy clothes every day, but my seasonal office clothing purchases used to cost in excess of $500, now I'm down to about $200

 

[venkman]

Kroger's California Roll Sushi with Brown Rice - $5 Not as good as restaurant quality obviously, but still pretty good. Plus, it's made by authentic Japanese people 7/10

Snackaway Chocolate Cupcakes made with Splenda $3 for 6 - Pretty decent for a splenda based desert. Loaded with a lot of fiber as well. 7/10

Infamous-PS3 $60 - Still early in the game but it seems to be a little repetitive so far. Kind of reminds me of a cross between Crackdown and Spiderman 2 mixed with lots and lots of pretty lightning. 8/10

24 Season 7 Blu Ray - Jack Bauer in 1080p Hi Def plus one of the best seasons in a long time? EPIC WIN! 10/10

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: venkman
Kroger's California Roll Sushi with Brown Rice - $5 Not as good as restaurant quality obviously, but still pretty good. Plus, it's made by authentic Japanese people 7/10

Snackaway Chocolate Cupcakes made with Splenda $3 for 6 - Pretty decent for a splenda based desert. Loaded with a lot of fiber as well. 7/10

Infamous-PS3 $60 - Still early in the game but it seems to be a little repetitive so far. Kind of reminds me of a cross between Crackdown and Spiderman 2 mixed with lots and lots of pretty lightning. 8/10

24 Season 7 Blu Ray - Jack Bauer in 1080p Hi Def plus one of the best seasons in a long time? EPIC WIN! 10/10

Which brings up interesting points - video games with media streaming has saved us so much money. We have a PS3 in the living room and an xbox 360 in the bedroom, with playon for Hulu, along with netflix with instant view. We game casually but spending most fridays in for a movie and pizza has ended up saving us quite a bit, paying for the consoles already.

But I also haven't gotten drunk in months and kinda miss that silly life.. boo!

 

[swbsam]

bump for more tips from you guys

 

[GagHalfrunt]

You can cut your food shopping bill in half just by having a brain. Assume that the sale price of your favorite items is the actual price and never spend more. Staples like boneless chicken, ground beef, ribs, pork chops, etc are all on sale for less than half of their normal price. When they're on sale stock up and freeze the extra.

Learn some basic cooking skills. It doesn't take much talent or practice to be able to cook cheap pieces of meat so they're tender and it's not hard to turn inexpensive ingredients into meals that are 1/4 the price of a sub or trip to McDonalds and taste better. Make your own pizza, your own tacos, your own burgers, your own subs. Pasta goes a long way, a pound for .50 to .75 is a great basis for a cheap meal.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: swbsam

Vacuum - Hoover Whisper Cyclonic - $100
There are posts all over the internet about how this vacuum is a Dyson clone and all of that jazz, but I don't really care much about the technology. I bought it for $100 from walmart and know it's an outstanding vacuum that also looks pretty sharp. I can't say it's as good as a dyson (I never owned one) but I can't imagine the dyson being $200 better

I'm totally going to have to check this one out. Our current vacuum is a complete POS. According to the fat wallet thread, it's seems this is really decent clone of the dyson DC07 tech. (I believe the newer DC17 uses an upgraded tech called "level 3 root cyclone", or something)

 

[Exterous]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
You can cut your food shopping bill in half just by having a brain. Assume that the sale price of your favorite items is the actual price and never spend more. Staples like boneless chicken, ground beef, ribs, pork chops, etc are all on sale for less than half of their normal price. When they're on sale stock up and freeze the extra.

Learn some basic cooking skills. It doesn't take much talent or practice to be able to cook cheap pieces of meat so they're tender and it's not hard to turn inexpensive ingredients into meals that are 1/4 the price of a sub or trip to McDonalds and taste better. Make your own pizza, your own tacos, your own burgers, your own subs. Pasta goes a long way, a pound for .50 to .75 is a great basis for a cheap meal.

:thumbsup:

My wife and I have even taken to making our own salsa. We can easily make 3x the amount you get in the smaller jars for the same price and tweak it to our liking. And this year, depending on how successful it is, we will use the stuff from our vegitable garden to make it even cheaper

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
You can cut your food shopping bill in half just by having a brain. Assume that the sale price of your favorite items is the actual price and never spend more. Staples like boneless chicken, ground beef, ribs, pork chops, etc are all on sale for less than half of their normal price. When they're on sale stock up and freeze the extra.

Learn some basic cooking skills. It doesn't take much talent or practice to be able to cook cheap pieces of meat so they're tender and it's not hard to turn inexpensive ingredients into meals that are 1/4 the price of a sub or trip to McDonalds and taste better. Make your own pizza, your own tacos, your own burgers, your own subs. Pasta goes a long way, a pound for .50 to .75 is a great basis for a cheap meal.

This man speaks the truth. By not eating out all the time and by spending a little time in the grocery store to look for deals and shop smart, you can save yourself A LOT of money. I used to buy my lunch every day at work, which would cost about $7 depending on what I got. Now, I go to the local farmer's market on Thursdays and buy lunch meat and rolls. I stop at the grocery store and get chips to go with my lunch. When all is said and done, the cost of my lunch is about $3 as opposed to $7, and I get more, better, food. I wind up saving about $20 a week just by taking an extra 5 minutes out of my day to assemble a meal.

Also, pasta is your friend like Gag says. It's dirt cheap and you can do just about anything with it.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Play world of warcraft and get horribly addicted. 15 bucks a month can save hundreds in bar tabs and gifts for friends (as you will no longer have any friends).


But seriously. When I lived in Omaha and was just skimping by I was horribly addicted to WoW and was able to save money by doing so. Sounds stupid as hell but works.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

What are target $/lb prices that you go for for food?

I try to stay under $5/lb for anything I buy.

Chicken Thighs: $1.20/lb
Chuck Roast: $3/lb

???

 

[torpid]

Most salad dressings are a complete ripoff. Buy some good vinegar and oil and a few basic spices and make your own.

 

[jamesbond007]

Eating cereal and lots of it. For a couple bucks, I can make quite a few bowls of cereal. Milk has come down quite a bit in price, too; it's roughly $3 for a gallon here. It's not the most filling, but it gets me by. 🙂 Follow up with an apple or banana if you're more hungry.

 

[Chronoshock]

Originally posted by: torpid
Most salad dressings are a complete ripoff. Buy some good vinegar and oil and a few basic spices and make your own.

They are also incredibly salty, especially the low fat versions (to make up for the lack of fat flavor). You can control the flavor, nutrition, and freshness by making your own. It's not hard at all either, something simple like balsamic vinegar, olive oil, mustard, and garlic powder is very tasty.

 

[lxskllr]

Buy your clothes at the thrift shop. Great if you know what looks good, a potential disaster if you don't :^D

 

[ed21x]

target sports apparel section has all the moisture wicking goodness of the more expensive stuff for $10-20.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
What are target $/lb prices that you go for for food?

I try to stay under $5/lb for anything I buy.

Chicken Thighs: $1.20/lb
Chuck Roast: $3/lb

???

Bad mindset. Some things are a bargain at $7 a pound and other things are a rip-off at $3 a pound.

Boneless chicken breasts : $1.79 a pound or under
Ground beef 80/20: $1.69 a pound or under
Whole pork shoulder: .79 a pound or under
Chicken thighs/legs: .89 a pound or under
Ribs: $1.49 a pound or under

Examples:

Local store had country style boneless pork ribs for .99 a pound 3 weeks ago. I bought 40 pounds and parceled them out into 10 4lb packages. That's ribs for at least half a year.

Caught ground beef at $1.49 a pound. Bought 20 pounds. Used 4 pounds to make a big batch of meatballs, about 7 pounds to make a package of 20 1/3lb burgers and wrapped the rest into 1.5 pound chunks to use for tacos, mac and beef, etc

Found chicken leg/thigh/back combos for .49 a pound and bought 40 pounds Cut them up into pieces so that I can have fried chicken legs, I use the thighs for buffalo style and save the backs for soup/stock. There's the basis of at least 5 meals for 2, a bunch of snacks and several pots of soup or stew. All that and I still got change back from a $20

Saw pork shoulder for .59 a pound, bought 3 of them that averaged about 12 pounds a piece. Got the meat guy to cut them in half and I use them to make pulled pork and carnitas. That's 6 batches of 6 pounds each for a little over $3 a batch.

London Broil for $1.49 a pound. I don't like London Broil, but it makes a excellent chili meat. Bought 10 pounds and cubed it up into 5 packages of 2 pounds each. There's my chili fixins for a year.

And that's not sacrificing on meals. It's not like I'm eating things I hate just to save money. I love ribs, love chili, love meatball subs, love grilled burgers, etc etc. You can turn VERY inexpensive meats into delicious meals, you can turn the toughest cuts into fork tender masterpieces with the fine art of the braise, just be smart. Don't get the idea that something on sale is saving you $2 a pound, it's that anything not on sale is COSTING you $2 a pound. Don't piss money away by buying things at regular price. Everything in the store is half price as long as you're smart enough to buy it when it's on sale and to pass it by when it's not.

Originally posted by: ed21x
target sports apparel section has all the moisture wicking goodness of the more expensive stuff for $10-20.

Kohl's too. I buy most of my clothes at Kohl's, they always have some sort of crazy deals going where certain things are 50% off plus there a coupon for another 20%

 

[octopus41092]

Originally posted by: swbsam

Originally posted by: Hacp
2 dollar headphones: Lasted 4 days.

For headphones I'd say my favorite cheap but goodies would be:
- JVC Marshmallows (in ear, sub-$20)
- Koss porta/sporta/ktx pro - (over the ear, $15 and up depending on model)

I love Grados and have to say that the quality is worth the money, but the above are great for casual listeners and should last you a while (koss has an outstanding warranty)

KSC75, the most amazing sound you'll ever get for $15

Buy a huge pack of ramen from Costco. Eat one pack per meal. Skip breakfast.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: octopus41092

Originally posted by: swbsam

Originally posted by: Hacp
2 dollar headphones: Lasted 4 days.

For headphones I'd say my favorite cheap but goodies would be:
- JVC Marshmallows (in ear, sub-$20)
- Koss porta/sporta/ktx pro - (over the ear, $15 and up depending on model)

I love Grados and have to say that the quality is worth the money, but the above are great for casual listeners and should last you a while (koss has an outstanding warranty)

KSC75, the most amazing sound you'll ever get for $15

Buy a huge pack of ramen from Costco. Eat one pack per meal. Skip breakfast.

that ramen stuff has loads of sodium and i think its all meh anyway.
my brother likes to eat a good breakfast and skip lunch, i cant quite get away with that, but sometimes if the breakfast is good i can just have a small snack like some fruit or something for lunch

gaghalfrunt has it right, though. buy stuff on sale and in bulk that you can store and you can do loads of things for cheap.

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
Kohl's too. I buy most of my clothes at Kohl's, they always have some sort of crazy deals going where certain things are 50% off plus there a coupon for another 20%

Kohl's is where it's at. I was just there the other day and got a nice soft leather belt and a nice wallet for $8 total. How I did it:

Belts/Wallets had a buy one, get one half-off deal. I had a coupon for $10 off my order. I borrowed my mom's Kohl's charge to get the final discount and gave her the money later.

 

[S Freud]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
What are target $/lb prices that you go for for food?

I try to stay under $5/lb for anything I buy.

Chicken Thighs: $1.20/lb
Chuck Roast: $3/lb

???

Bad mindset. Some things are a bargain at $7 a pound and other things are a rip-off at $3 a pound.

Boneless chicken breasts : $1.79 a pound or under
Ground beef 80/20: $1.69 a pound or under
Whole pork shoulder: .79 a pound or under
Chicken thighs/legs: .89 a pound or under
Ribs: $1.49 a pound or under

Examples:

Local store had country style boneless pork ribs for .99 a pound 3 weeks ago. I bought 40 pounds and parceled them out into 10 4lb packages. That's ribs for at least half a year.

Caught ground beef at $1.49 a pound. Bought 20 pounds. Used 4 pounds to make a big batch of meatballs, about 7 pounds to make a package of 20 1/3lb burgers and wrapped the rest into 1.5 pound chunks to use for tacos, mac and beef, etc

Found chicken leg/thigh/back combos for .49 a pound and bought 40 pounds Cut them up into pieces so that I can have fried chicken legs, I use the thighs for buffalo style and save the backs for soup/stock. There's the basis of at least 5 meals for 2, a bunch of snacks and several pots of soup or stew. All that and I still got change back from a $20

Saw pork shoulder for .59 a pound, bought 3 of them that averaged about 12 pounds a piece. Got the meat guy to cut them in half and I use them to make pulled pork and carnitas. That's 6 batches of 6 pounds each for a little over $3 a batch.

London Broil for $1.49 a pound. I don't like London Broil, but it makes a excellent chili meat. Bought 10 pounds and cubed it up into 5 packages of 2 pounds each. There's my chili fixins for a year.

And that's not sacrificing on meals. It's not like I'm eating things I hate just to save money. I love ribs, love chili, love meatball subs, love grilled burgers, etc etc. You can turn VERY inexpensive meats into delicious meals, you can turn the toughest cuts into fork tender masterpieces with the fine art of the braise, just be smart. Don't get the idea that something on sale is saving you $2 a pound, it's that anything not on sale is COSTING you $2 a pound. Don't piss money away by buying things at regular price. Everything in the store is half price as long as you're smart enough to buy it when it's on sale and to pass it by when it's not.

Originally posted by: ed21x
target sports apparel section has all the moisture wicking goodness of the more expensive stuff for $10-20.

Kohl's too. I buy most of my clothes at Kohl's, they always have some sort of crazy deals going where certain things are 50% off plus there a coupon for another 20%

Great post GagHalfrunt:thumbsup: