What's your best money saving tip?
By gmakesmoney
@gmakesmoney (2923)
United States
July 17, 2007 11:32pm CST
Just looking for a few ways to save some cash. So how do you do it, what do you do to save money?
So far I've tried a few things when shopping which are money saving and eco-friendly too. Like: buying that square gallon thing of water instead of bottled water. It saves having to pay for all the bottles, saves plastic and the energy used to make all those bottles plus their packaging. I also started to buy frozen concentrate juice. It costs me under or a few cents under. So it saves me anywhere from $1-3 since i'm not paying for someone else to add the water and I'm not paying for the extra packaging. And like with the water jug, it saves the plastic packaging and the energy used to make them. Plus the wase it all creates when we through it out, I bought a cheap 97 cent pitcher at walmart and just reuse that to make juice in.
What are your tips?
3 people like this
9 responses
@wiccania (3360)
• United States
19 Jul 07
Coupons and combining coupons along with store sales. Here's an example.
I bought some Lysol Neutra Air recently. It was on sale at the grocery store, 50% off. I also had a coupon for buy one, get one free. My store, when you use a BOGO coupon, deducts the regular price from the total order -- not the sale price. I don't remember the exact price but let's say they each cost $3 regular price. They were half off, so I was paying $3 for 2. Then I used my coupon and the register deducted the regular price -- $3. So I got 2 bottles of Lysol Neutra Air for $0.
Not every sale/coupon combination will be that great, but just using coupons is a few dollars saved. Plus some grocery stores do double coupons. So it's worth it to pay attention to those details.
2 people like this
@gmakesmoney (2923)
• United States
19 Jul 07
That is a great tip! I would've never thought of that. I clip them and then they always get forgotten on the kitchen table when I go shopping.
2 people like this
@compumom (738)
• United States
18 Jul 07
I've started making my own laundry detergent. It's environmentally friendly and costs less than one cent per wash load. My family can't tell the difference between the store bought detergent and the homemade one. It cleans just as well and saves a ton of money.
If you're interested, here's the recipe I use: http://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/washing_clothes_for_pennies .
I also make my own dish washing detergent for about 3 and a half cents per wash.
2 people like this
@gmakesmoney (2923)
• United States
19 Jul 07
That is pretty cool, thanks for the tips I'll check those out. I'd love to make my own, what a great idea.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
18 Jul 07
Not being into the eco friendly stuff, mainly because I have always been a saver and am not into popular causes, here is my tip. We buy peanut butter in those plastic jars. Some are large and some are small.
After the peanut butter is gone, I use the big ones to store large quantities of dry ingredients. I use the smaller ones to store nuts and raisins. These protect the ingredients from bugs,and mice. It also saves me from buying glass containers or Tupperware and since the containers are clear, I can see inside without opening the jars.
2 people like this
@gmakesmoney (2923)
• United States
18 Jul 07
That's a great idea! And it actually is pretty eco-friendly since you're reusing. I've been into being eco-friendly since I was little, my grandmother was from the country and taught me that we all need to respect the earth and not be wasteful since it is after all our home and nobody wants to live in a dump.
2 people like this
@clocks123 (1225)
• United States
23 Jul 07
i add water to my shampoo and conditioner, dish soap, dishwasher liquid, detergent fabric softener it makes them last longer i put my pennies in a container and also all my change when it gets significant i cash it in great!
2 people like this
@clocks123 (1225)
• United States
23 Jul 07
i add water to my shampoo and conditioner, dish soap, dishwasher liquid, detergent fabric softener it makes them last longer i put my pennies in a container and also all my change when it gets significant i cash it in great!
2 people like this
@michelle2122 (10)
• United States
18 Jul 07
put it in the bak or put it in a safe and hide it in your home another way to save money is not to eat out much do home cook meals
2 people like this
@gmakesmoney (2923)
• United States
18 Jul 07
Thanks for the tips. I only eat out maybe once every other week in order to save though I noticed sometimes it really is cheaper to eat out then buy all the ingredients and make a full meal. For the most part though it works pretty good. Like those miguelina frozen foods that they sell at walmart for under $1. You can have lunch at work for $5 a week!
2 people like this
@thatcrazyqbanita (3312)
• United States
15 Oct 07
only buy something if you truly need it. ask yourself if it is something you want or need before making a decision to buy the item. this will help you avoid impulse buying, and being stuff with something that wasn't necesarry. most significantly, you will save money this way
@AnythngArt (3302)
• United States
19 Jul 07
One of my best, most recent favorites is using a book swap site. I spend a ton at the bookstore every month. Now I belong to PaperbackSwap.com (there are others like BookMooch and TitleTrader, too). You list your books and send them out via media mail ($2.13 for a paperback) when someone requests one and you get a credit to order one when someone receives your book. You start out listing 9 books and immediately get 3 credits. I've gotten a lot of great books so far, and cleaned out some of my old books too.
@gmakesmoney (2923)
• United States
19 Jul 07
That's pretty cool, I love to read and we've got a ton of books in the house. It's rare that I'll read one more than once so this would be a great idea, thanks.
2 people like this
@cjthedog64 (1552)
• United States
8 Oct 07
I made a menu for 6 weeks and each week I do my grocery shopping for the week. I cook pretty much everything from scratch, and don't have to run to the store for extras or things that I just "want". Saves me tons of money, and time also. Food tastes great homecooked from scratch. I feed a family of 5, plus dog food, diapers, TP, etc for around $60/week.
1 person likes this
