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Money-saving tips for the Great Recession
According to our local paper, the everage family is spending $122 a month more on gasoline and food than a year ago.There are ways to cut costs. I think none of us is as smart as all of us. So if anyone has a way to save money, however small, let's share it here.
I will go first. We had a 1995 Ford Explorer with 250K miles on it, and the guy who totalled it did us a favor as we now have a 1999 Subaru Forester. So we went from a vehicle that got 17 MPG to 30 MPG. That (and the fact that my husband has a company van for work) helps. What also helps is that I make a menu and a detailed grocery list for my food shopping. I make ONE trip a week. Sometimes I shop for food every other week and we just buy milk at a local shop (we get eggs from a co-worker.)
Shopping is also done with an eye to filling any weak spots in our pantry. A pantry has pulled us through many small fiscal emergencies: unexpected car or bicycle repairs we cannot handle on our own, dental bills, traffic fines, or a broken appliance (like this computer) were all outside our budget. While we have small savings, what really helps is to have a pantry, so the money can partially come out of what would be our food budget. When the expense is passed, we build the pantry back up again.
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Take advantage of things on sale or coupons. If the before-date is way ahead in the future (or there is no before-date), stockpile those groceries. Toilet paper, canned stuff, all those things you want during TSHTF-era.
In supermarkets look at the upper and lower shelve(s), since they put all things they earn the most money on at eye level and within easy reach.
Robert Elsinga =8-)
I just found out that fish hooks are much cheaper if bought plain and not threaded with fishline on a loop. Especially if bought in packages of 40 or 50, and that way they take up less space in my tackle box, too.
I've always been lazy and bought my hooks pre-threaded. That was $1.99 for six; this costs $3.99 for fifty. And you--yes, you--the person who is looking at me like I'm an idiot for not realizing this sooner? Stop it now. I feel dumb enough as it is.
I shop at Tag Sales almost every weekend. There are some tremendous deals out there on very useful things. There's also freecycle and craigslist.
Drive with cruise control when possible. I've been able to get almost 35mpg highway on my car, even though the sticker has 29mpg highway.
Make sure you don't have any phantom loads consuming electricity for no reason. Buy or borrow a Kill-A-Watt to measure your appliances if your not sure if they are still on when they are off. My electric usage last month was a "whopping" 75kwh!
Don't Steal. The Government hates Competition.
Location: Middlebury, CT
"One man gathers, what another man spills"
Never underestimate the local community wide yard sales. There is tremendous potential for two-fold benefit.
You get paid for someone to haul away your junk and you can find some really good deals.
We now have two new potting tables that used to be tool benches. A whole box of garden tools for $3. Who cares if I threw away half of them? The stirrup hoe alone was worth it.
And I still have dreams of stumbling across some old, white bearded hippie with a box of 7" reel to reel and cassette tapes containing previously unknown Grateful Dead soundboards from the late 60s and early 70s.
Peace - DIAP "Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away."
set fishing bank lines . Put the bait on in the evening and check them in the morning = 30 to 70 pounds of fish each day until you get your freezer full . It is nice way for the grand-kids to spend time with Grandpa . Everyone here eats fish in the morning instead of bacon . Fish and bacon in the store is over $3 a pound .
Do the couponing thing until they put a whoa on it . Stock up on TP, soaps and such .
When you get the local grocery adds buy the sale items by the case . Example Pudding not on sale $1.03 on sale 2 @ $1.00 . The store gets a bonus and you do not have to pay the 20% markup that they charge for having to shelf it . Save a lot of gas from making the trips to town .. When you get your storage built up and your place more self reliant you will be amazed at how few trips to town you have to make .
Figure out how much time it takes to do things . Example 5 gallon of cherries = 7 hours of work = $13 an hour . .40 pints in the store is under $100 on sale I will only do what I want for pies for the year and the rest will be made into juice that I do not have to pit . For many people it will be better to stock up on the canned from the store .
However if it keeps you from running all over the state wasting gas to watch a ball game or thinking the amount of fuel wasted to haul the cherries it may well be worth the peace that you get to do them yourself . I guess it depends on your own conscience .
Learn to say no.
FM
set fishing bank lines . Put the bait on in the evening and check them in the morning = 30 to 70 pounds of fish each day until you get your freezer full . It is nice way for the grand-kids to spend time with Grandpa . Everyone here eats fish in the morning instead of bacon . Fish and bacon in the store is over $3 a pound .
Do the couponing thing until they put a whoa on it . Stock up on TP, soaps and such .
When you get the local grocery adds buy the sale items by the case . Example Pudding not on sale $1.03 on sale 2 @ $1.00 . The store gets a bonus and you do not have to pay the 20% markup that they charge for having to shelf it . Save a lot of gas from making the trips to town .. When you get your storage built up and your place more self reliant you will be amazed at how few trips to town you have to make .
Figure out how much time it takes to do things . Example 5 gallon of cherries = 7 hours of work = $13 an hour . .40 pints in the store is under $100 on sale I will only do what I want for pies for the year and the rest will be made into juice that I do not have to pit . For many people it will be better to stock up on the canned from the store .
However if it keeps you from running all over the state wasting gas to watch a ball game or thinking the amount of fuel wasted to haul the cherries it may well be worth the peace that you get to do them yourself . I guess it depends on your own conscience .
Learn to say no.
FM
DOGS , Great find , I love my stirrup hoe !! Paid $15 for it : ( My very favorite however is a hoe I inherited from my grandad . He has it angled just right and sharpened down to look like a thin boomerang Man can I get between the plants with that thing !! We may find more and more tools on sale when people figure out that it takes physical labor to use them .
FM
DOGS , Great find , I love my stirrup hoe !! Paid $15 for it : ( My very favorite however is a hoe I inherited from my grandad . He has it angled just right and sharpened down to look like a thin boomerang Man can I get between the plants with that thing !! We may find more and more tools on sale when people figure out that it takes physical labor to use them .
FM
Develop more compassion for all living beings.
The more clearly one sees that almost anything (everything?) we consume causes harm to other living beings (thru cultivation, extraction, processing, manufacturing, transportation, etc) the less one tends to consume, the more one saves.
When I leave the room for a while, am I more likely to to flip the light switch off to save half a penny or because I appreciate the harm that has been caused getting this magic at my fingertips?
Tracy, MN
What also helps is that I make a menu and a detailed grocery list for my food shopping. I make ONE trip a week.
Eat before you grocery shop. As a young man I learned that going to the grocery store when I was hungry was deadly to my budget.
Travlin
You can always trust your government -- to do anything necessary to preserve itself. Travlin