Ways to save money
By Porcospino
@Porcospino (31366)
Denmark
August 30, 2011 9:21am CST
My husband and I want to save up money for travelling and we have decided to cut back on the things that we don't really need like dinners or coffee in town, donuts, soft drinks and a couple of other things. We are also going to exercise on our own instead of paying for a gym membership, study by ourselves instead of taking classes and borrow books, music and films at the library instead of buying them, make our own toys for our dog and visit the second hand shops more often.
Which things do you do to save money? Are you saving up for something special?
1 person likes this
10 responses
@umabharti (3972)
• India
31 Aug 11
in what ever i do i try to save,save is nothign but earning.Saving of resources or anything is just saving for ourselves as well as its good for all.I dont plan anything and try to save.As u said that u want to be on a holiday,i hav no such wishes.just i save for being careful with the lving,it can be cooking it can be electricity it can be anything we should be careful not to waste.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
3 Sep 11
That is true, we should we careful and avoid wasting things. My husband and I try to save electricity in different ways. We always switch off the light when we don't use it, we dry our laundry in the garden instead of using the dryer etc. We also try to save water and other things. My husband is very good at recycling things, and I think it is great that we are able to recycle things instead of wasting them. I recycle old magazines (I use the pictures in my art)
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
3 Sep 11
I once read an article about rain water and the some of the ways that we can use the rain water instead of wasting it. In the article it said that we can use it when we want to water the flowers, wash our car or wash the floors in the house. We can't drink it or anything like that, but there are other ways to use it, and I think that we can find even more ways if we are creative 
@umabharti (3972)
• India
3 Sep 11
i have a wish that rain water is not to be wasted ,and it should be stored.However i dont knw how and what to do for that.Rain water storage is a good idea ,again i fear that water stored for long time without flow it can generate different bacteria and insects in it.
1 person likes this
@peavey (16936)
• United States
30 Aug 11
It sounds like you've got a good start on saving quite a bit. For a more painless way, check your insurance plans and make sure you're not paying for something you don't need. Automobile insurance premiums can usually be cut by asking for discounts and making sure you're not overpaying. Also, be sure your tax withholding is correct.
There are so many ways to save money that entire books have been written about it, but broadly, find ways to cut back on electric and water use and gas or whatever other utilities you might need. If you have a cellphone, look through their plans and ask for a better one. If you have cable internet, call them up and ask them to work with you to lower your bill. Keep thinking and you'll come up with lots of ways to save.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
1 Sep 11
It sounds like a good idea to have a look at our insurance plans, because there might be a cheaper option. I also hope that we will be able to save money in other ways like electricity and water. We have a car and it would be unrealistic to live without it, because we live on an island and and we often have to drive to the neighbour island, but I still think that we would be able to to save some money on gas for instanse if we walk into town instead of driving like we usually do. There are many other "small" things that we can do if we are aware of them.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
19 Nov 11
Well, depending on what our Income Tax refund will look like, etc. I would Love to be able to go to my 30th Class reunion which means I have to save up to go to Illinios, and since I live in WA state that is a little bit of planning, etc. It would be nice to be able to do this without a struggle, but it is expensive, and something I really might just have to forego.
But cutting out a lot of these extra things really can help. I know that there are many times when we have had to cut back in order to do things ourselves. Going out to eat is expensive but sometimes is a nice extra treat. Good Luck on being able to save, and I hope it has been worth doing.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
19 Nov 11
I hope that you will get the chance to go to the reunion, it sounds fun. I missed my reunion because I had to work, but I hope that I will be able to meet the others next time.
My husband and I started saving money some months ago and we have managed to stick to our plans and save up most of our salaries each month. We eat cheap food, and we don't go out for dinner very often and we don't drink coffee in town. I love to eat out, but we had cut back on those things, because we want to spend the money on travelling instead. If we manage to save up the money will go on vacation in 2012.
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
30 Aug 11
I am using less of my money than normal and trying to let my bank accounts grow. I have stopped buying new books, newspapers and magazines. Instead I visit my local library. I am going to have a spending limit when I go to a supermarket. I think it will be great to spend at the cheapest supermarket things like cheaper dog food and cheaper soya drink. I am going to stop buying new clothes for myself and limit how many new clothes I will buy for my children. I am going to drive my car less in order to spend just a much lower amount on petrol. I am saving up to go off traveling in 2012. Good luck with your saving.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
30 Aug 11
It sounds like you have found some good ways to save money for travelling. I visit the library a lot, in the future I am going to get all my books from the library instead of buying new books. I pick up the free newspapers near the train station and buy second hand magazines instead of new magazines. My husband and I have also talked about saving petrol. We live in a town and it would be possible to walk to the shops instead of driving there. If we do that we will be able to save some money and we even get exercise at the same time. Do you know what place you want to visit in 2012 or are you still thinking about it?
@stanley777 (9402)
• Philippines
31 Aug 11
I'm happy to hear that you have something in mind that worth saving for.Travelling, I hope me and my wife can do that too.I think you and your husband can easily save that money if you stick to the plans you have listed here.Not to buy anything that is not a necessity.I hope your plans for travel push through my friend.
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
3 Sep 11
I really hope that we will be able to save up the money for our trip. We want to travel around in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. I have been to the UK before, but my husband has never been there, and he is really excited about visiting the UK and Ireland. I also look forward to our trip. It will take us a while to save up the money, but if we cut back on the unnecessary things I think that we will be able to achieve our goal eventually. I hope that you and your wife will manage to save up the money for travelling, too.
@HeartROB (434)
• Philippines
31 Aug 11
The way i save up money is that i usually put 10 peso on my piggy bank. A piggy that will break because i know myself well I would not try to break it because I will surely feel bad when I break my piggy bank(hehe). And voila! I am saving already. For now, I dont know what to spend on my savings but i will just keep saving until I find something good and worth to spend.
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
1 Sep 11
That sounds like a good way to save your money. I have a piggy bank as well, but it is possible to open it and remove the money without breaking the piggy bank, so it is not a very good way to save money 
Maybe I should get myself a piggy bank where you can't get the money unless you break it, because then I wouldn't feel tempted to remove the money when I want to buy something.
Maybe I should get myself a piggy bank where you can't get the money unless you break it, because then I wouldn't feel tempted to remove the money when I want to buy something.
@myfb2009 (8296)
• Malaysia
30 Aug 11
Hi Porco, it depends on how much you need to save per month, in order for both of you to realize your dream to travel. From what you had explained here, it seems that both of you able to save quite a lot per month. As for me, i don't really save much recently since there will be a party going on tomorrow. In a few weeks time, there will be a wedding anniversary, which i will need to attend. All these functions involved the use of a lot of money. Maybe after all these functions had gone, i will try to save by spending less on unnecessary things. hope you will be able to travel to your favorite destination soon...
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
30 Aug 11
I think it will take us a long time to save up for that trip. When we have paid our bills, we don't have that much money left, but if we make the changes that I wrote about we will be able to save up more money than before and that is our goal. When we have enough money we are going to visit the UK and Ireland. My husband has never been there before and he is really excited about going there. I have been there, but it was a long time ago, and I look forward to going back. Have a nice party tomorrow 
@randylovesdar (4932)
• United States
30 Aug 11
I am trying to save up in case my husband loses his job. Right now everything is up in the air with his job and to be truthful it is scary. I have cut back on spending, but there is nowhere else to cut the budget. We go out to eat once a week and that is only because we live an hour away from any grocery stores and when we go into town we do a lot of things just to save on gas. I have also been trying to build my online savings.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
30 Aug 11
I hope that your husband will be able to keep his job. It is scary when you don't know how the future is going to turn out, and in your situation I would do the same thing as you have done and cut back on spending in order to be prepared for the worst. My husband and I both work, but I still save some money in case we lose the income from our jobs and I don't want to spend everything on travelling.
The place where you live sounds like the place where we lived before, it was a village in the countryside and when we went to the city we always did a lot of things to save money on gas. Today we live in a town where there are some shops, you can't buy everything here, but is has become easier to do grocery shopping.
@fitriadi21 (386)
• Indonesia
30 Aug 11
I usually save my money by buying gold. Because it seems safer if we can guard it well. Moreover, the value of gold is grown up and continues, so the added of our invesment is also increasing its value..
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
30 Aug 11
I have read about people who have made quite a lot of money by buying and selling gold, but I have never tried it myself. I am afraid of investing in anything at the moment, because my husband invested a lot of money before we met. It went wrong and we still have debt because of his investments.
@MomofLucas (50)
• United States
30 Aug 11
I am always saving money for travel. We take one big trip a year, and the rest of the year I spend saving for the next trip. I have found the important thing to savings is to actually save it. If you are cutting money here and there make sure you put that money somewhere safe, it doesn't have to be a savings account in a bank, just somewhere you believe is safe. I would also suggest planning out a budget so that you see where your money is going.
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
30 Aug 11
I can see that we have the same goal - money for travelling. I don't mind saving money in my everyday life if that gives me the chance to travel. Making a budget sounds like a good idea. I would like to see how much we spend on the different things. I know that there are many bills that we can't change, but in some situations we spend too much on unneccesary things and that it something that we would be able to change.
