What have been your most successful cost-cutting/money-saving techniques so far?

[MrsBugi]

If this is a repost, apologies and a request for a link to the previous thread(s).

Several friends and I are doing our best to make it through tough times in the continually craptastic economy. Two girlfriends of mine are in a difficult situation where they may have to move home with their parents and leave California because they can no longer afford to live here (one is a real estate agent who has not sold anything in over a year, another is in marketing who has not been able to find a job for the past 8 months, both have been living off their now-dwindling savings).

My husband and I are both lucky to have steady work but both of us are at the beginning of our careers which means beginning salaries. Expenses keep coming up... my car ran its course and we needed to find a reliable, affordable car. His car just went in for its 90k maintenence and he was told he'd need $5k+ in repairs (new clutch, throttle sensor, front brakes, a/f sensor, struts etc.)... the expenses just keep piling up just when we think we're back on track. At this point we cannot afford plane tickets to go home and see our families for Thanksgiving/Christmas.

Long story short and sob stories aside, times are tough and we've done all we can so far to cut down on unnecessary costs and expenditures. This means:

- Cooking at home every night, packing lunches every day and only treating ourselves to going out to eat once or twice a month, if that, with a restaurant.com coupon in hand every time

- Not going out to bars/clubs/restaurants with friends or engaging in expensive activities with them (when we spend time together, it's cooking/eating dinner in, playing board games, walking around the beach, etc.)

- Not buying any new clothes/shoes/etc... we both have enough basics to last a long time and I'm not one who cares about fashion/trends, I stick with classics

- Not going out to see movies except for an occasional $1 rental from Redbox at the grocery store

Does anyone have any other cost-cutting/money-saving techniques to share that we can add to our arsenal and incorporate into our lifestyle?

 

[coldmeat]

Eating nothing but peanut butter sandwiches for weeks.

 

[nerp]

Eating in. Quitting smoking. Smoking significantly less weed. Reading instead of going out. Cancelling TV service. Reducing cell phone plan.

 

[mshan]

I saw video clip that just by shopping at grocery stores when they have sales, you can cut grocery bill by something like 50%.

Clipping coupons can increase savings to something like 66%.

If your girlfriends are really good friends, renting a room out to them could probably help a lot for everyone.

If someone you know has high speed internet and cable with say extra analog outputs available at bundle price, getting a Slingbox for those analog channels can at least get you basic cable package for "free", so to speak.

Buying in bulk from Sams or Costco and splitting between you and your friends?

 

[OCGuy]

Me and the SO decided that we would just make enough money that we would be able to afford our expensive lifestyle and still not be over-extended.

 

[MrsBugi]

Originally posted by: coldmeat
Eating nothing but peanut butter sandwiches for weeks.

We went through a red beans and rice period and are at the point now where I make a simple but healthy dish every night and we can pack the leftovers for lunch at work the next day.

I buy 1/2-off meats and fish in the grocery store, some decent deals can be found there. I shop with coupons and avoid ever paying full price for anything. I usually don't even consider buying an item unless it's on sale. We eat cheaply but healthily, if there's one thing I won't do is risk our health with cheap fast/bad food since we'd be paying sorely for that later on down the line with increased medical costs. Prevention = :thumbsup:

 

[FeuerFrei]

Thermostat at 80° in the summer and 60° in the winter. Haven't tried that myself though.

Forgo cable tv and just use internet/antenna for shows.

Carpool to work with coworkers.

 

[MrsBugi]

Originally posted by: OCguy
Me and the SO decided that we would just make enough money that we would be able to afford our expensive lifestyle and still not be over-extended.

Making more money at our salaried jobs will come in time, at this point it's looking like 2-3 years, so he can get more experience under his belt and so I can go from an intern to being licensed. It'll be a struggle until then. We are both considering part-time jobs, I'm looking into what can be sold around the house on eBay for extra income and we are looking into getting hired as Kaplan test instructors or something to that effect.

 

[boomerang]

Document every expenditure for a month. Every expenditure means just that - everything. Keep receipts if it helps.

If you know where every dollar is going, it's easier to figure out where to cut back.

Edit: Some states have good solid economies where hiring is going on. If you don't have ties you can't break and have skills that are easily marketed, it may be an ideal time to make the move.

 

[MrsBugi]

Originally posted by: nerp
Eating in. Quitting smoking. Smoking significantly less weed. Reading instead of going out. Cancelling TV service. Reducing cell phone plan.

All good suggestions. Neither of us smoke and I don't drink but occasionally buy him a 6-pack to indulge in, maybe once a month so he isn't completely deprived of a cold beer after work. We have both gotten into reading and I'd love to cancel our cable service and could live without it but he likes his shows so I've compromised that. Our cell phone plan is currently bare-bones, my friends have learned that I rarely accept/return calls before 8pm and stick with texting (unlimited).

 

[mshan]

My parents have one of those Triple Play Time Warner cable / phone / internet packages.

It includes one digital tuner, but also two analog cable tv outputs in package price.

I got a Slingbox Tuner and can watch basic cable channels for "free", so to speak. The Slingbox Tuner has coaxial pass through, and interestingly, I can watch one channel while someone is watching different channel on tv that signal is passed through to at same time.

If you just downsize to high speed internet and don't want to go the Slingbox route, there is always Hulu and a Netflix subscription. You could get Magic Jack for a home phone line, too.

 

[MrsBugi]

Originally posted by: mshan
I saw video clip that just by shopping at grocery stores when they have sales, you can cut grocery bill by something like 50%.

Clipping coupons can increase savings to something like 66%.

If your girlfriends are really good friends, renting a room out to them could probably help a lot for everyone.

If someone you know has high speed internet and cable with say extra analog outputs available at bundle price, getting a Slingbox for those analog channels can at least get you basic cable package for "free", so to speak.

Buying in bulk from Sams or Costco and splitting between you and your friends?

Coupons are the best! I've saved $40+ during several shopping trips where I went coupon-crazy, the doubling really adds up. I'd rent a room out to my girlfriends in a heartbeat but my husband and I live in a 1bd/1ba apartment and it might be a little tight. Great suggestion about Slingbox and Sams/Costco, I have a couple friends with memberships and I'll see if I can shop and split the goods with them on their next trip. Thank you!

 

[MrsBugi]

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
Thermostat at 80° in the summer and 60° in the winter. Haven't tried that myself though.

Forgo cable tv and just use internet/antenna for shows.

Carpool to work with coworkers.

More good suggestions!

I wish we could use them but we don't even have a thermostat so we use a small fan when it's hot outside and a little heater when it's cold. I'll have another talk with him about cancelling the cable, we really don't need it but he's not going to like having to give up ESPN. I'd carpool in a heartbeat but none of our coworkers live closeby.

 

[lxskllr]

I quit leaving the house. My lifestyle was pretty lean before being laid off. Now I quit paying my credit cards, and I don't leave the house. There was nothing left to cut :^/

 

[MrsBugi]

Originally posted by: boomerang
Document every expenditure for a month. Every expenditure means just that - everything. Keep receipts if it helps.

If you know where every dollar is going, it's easier to figure out where to cut back.

Edit: Some states have good solid economies where hiring is going on. If you don't have ties you can't break and have skills that are easily marketed, it may be an ideal time to make the move.

We really need to start doing that. I need to find a good spreadsheet that can help us keep track of literally every penny we spend, maybe we have $ going out that I'm somehow missing. Thanks for the suggestion boomerang!

We have seriously considered moving out of California... possibly to Oregon, Colorado or back east where he is from. We have some very good friends here but we can always make new friends. We were hoping to stick it out here for as long as we can since it's such a nice place to live but if worse comes to worst, we will seriously consider moving elsewhere and will definitely move once we decide to start a family.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

delete Pokerstars

 

[dainthomas]

I stopped getting the extra shot in my latte every morning. Plus we don't go to the casino as much. I also got the $4 Blockbuster plan instead of buying blu rays all the time (I had to get Braveheart though).

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: OCguy
Me and the SO decided that we would just make enough money that we would be able to afford our expensive lifestyle and still not be over-extended.

+++ :thumbsup:

 

[mshan]

I have bare cable modem high speed internet and there are no surcharges or taxes.

Don't know what the situation in California is, but might be worthing checking out what bare high speed internet (cable or dsl) is?

I think they tax the heck out of home phone and cell phones.

http://www.cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm (I like Page Plus Cellular, which uses Verizon pre-paid network)

 

[AbsoluteParadigm]

Originally posted by: MrsBugi

Originally posted by: boomerang
Document every expenditure for a month. Every expenditure means just that - everything. Keep receipts if it helps.

If you know where every dollar is going, it's easier to figure out where to cut back.

Edit: Some states have good solid economies where hiring is going on. If you don't have ties you can't break and have skills that are easily marketed, it may be an ideal time to make the move.

We really need to start doing that. I need to find a good spreadsheet that can help us keep track of literally every penny we spend, maybe we have $ going out that I'm somehow missing. Thanks for the suggestion boomerang!

We have seriously considered moving out of California... possibly to Oregon, Colorado or back east where he is from. We have some very good friends here but we can always make new friends. We were hoping to stick it out here for as long as we can since it's such a nice place to live but if worse comes to worst, we will seriously consider moving elsewhere and will definitely move once we decide to start a family.

As far as keeping track of expenses, you could try using something like Mint.com if you feel it's safe enough. Mint.com automatically keeps track of bank account acivity, credit card activty, etc. The potential downside is security risk as the site does ask you for certain information. The site itself has been recently bought by Intuit so it's reputable. I use my debit and credit cards for everythinig, so it's very easy to see where my money went.

 

[xanis]

Eating in instead of out, and packing lunch. I could go buy lunch every day and spend $8+ or I could buy stuff and pack my lunch and eat for about $4 or less.

 

[God Mode]

Stopped leisure driving and browsing internet shopping sites. It's surprising how much of my internet use comprised of window shopping. Its all a huge advertisement to buy stuff.

 

[Glitchny]

Originally posted by: AbsoluteParadigm

Originally posted by: MrsBugi

Originally posted by: boomerang
Document every expenditure for a month. Every expenditure means just that - everything. Keep receipts if it helps.

If you know where every dollar is going, it's easier to figure out where to cut back.

Edit: Some states have good solid economies where hiring is going on. If you don't have ties you can't break and have skills that are easily marketed, it may be an ideal time to make the move.

We really need to start doing that. I need to find a good spreadsheet that can help us keep track of literally every penny we spend, maybe we have $ going out that I'm somehow missing. Thanks for the suggestion boomerang!

We have seriously considered moving out of California... possibly to Oregon, Colorado or back east where he is from. We have some very good friends here but we can always make new friends. We were hoping to stick it out here for as long as we can since it's such a nice place to live but if worse comes to worst, we will seriously consider moving elsewhere and will definitely move once we decide to start a family.

As far as keeping track of expenses, you could try using something like Mint.com if you feel it's safe enough. Mint.com automatically keeps track of bank account acivity, credit card activty, etc. The potential downside is security risk as the site does ask you for certain information. The site itself has been recently bought by Intuit so it's reputable. I use my debit and credit cards for everythinig, so it's very easy to see where my money went.

yea a monitoring service helps track expenditures. I use online banking and my bank tracks and gives me an itemized list of what I'm spending money on every month so I can see exactly where everything is going.

 

[mshan]

Only other thing I can think of us looking around apt. and seeing what things you don't need that you could sell on eBay or Amazon.

Don't spend the proceeds, but try and pay down any outstanding credit card debt you have.

 

[Farang]

More than anything else you mentioned, best thing you can do right now is not get bogged down with a car payment. It amazes me how much money people waste on cars. I mean cars that aren't even for hobbyists, like spending a few hundred per month on a new accord or something for their 5 mile commute. If you're not trying to impress anyone and just going A-to-B, buy something for $3k and be done with it. There are plenty of respectable cars for $3k.