Tightwad
 

Cheapskate?

Penny pincher?


Tell me your tricks. I am curious about some of the ways to cut costs. I'll admit to using a coupon or two. I am trying to scale back some and am trying to find a few things I can do to save some $$.

Here are some of the things that I do...

Use lots of generics
Walk instead of driving (good for health too)
Take my lunch
Wait an extra 3 days to go to the grocery store - and make some creative meals in the interim
Make home made bread
Go out to cheap restaurants (Chipotle, etc) vs. sit down ones (also good for diet)
Order one meal for 2 people, often portions are so big it's OK
Give up on competing with the Jonses...we don't need a new car, books, movies, etc. all the time
Don't go to the movies. Rent them. Or skip them altogether and take a walk.

Eating out is one area I plan to make major changes. We eat out too much because I'm too tired/worn out to cook. I want us to eat out as a choice not a last resort. We eat far too much fast food and make weird choices due to having one kid who wants to live off cheeseburgers and one who is a vegetarian.

Lilith,

And, when possible, plan your dinners with leftovers in mind.

leftovers are usually Mr. Lil's next day lunch. I eat cafeteria lunch every day with my Lost Boys. We eat as a family.

Not sure if it really saves money but a trick my sister has always done is round everything up in her checkbook. If she writes a check for $25.01, she puts $26 in the ledger. She claims it keeps her from spending as much. Frankly I'm too anal about having it come out to the exact penny to be able to do that but it must work a little for her. She manages the money in their household and they just puchased a house for just under $850,000. :shrug:

Bank of America has a round-up program. It automatically rounds up to your savings for each purchase by debit card.

Eating out makes a huge difference. I can understand the tired, not wanting to cook issue. For me, I cook several things on the weekend to last me through the week. I imagine this is harder for a family. Can you make cooking a family event to help with your tiredness?

I grocery shop once a week, and stock up on staples when they are on sale.

I outlet shop for my indulgences - handbags and shoes.

I never carry change,just bills.When I pay for anything(for instance,$25.36),I give them $26.00.When I get home,I put the change,in a small piggy bank.by
change denominations.I periodically roll & deposit the money.It sounds like a little thing,but you'ld be suprised at how fast it mounts up.Plus you have an
excuse to wear elastic waist band pants.You just tell people that the change
weighs too much! Irish

I find that eating less meat saves a lot of money. A dozen eggs or a bunch of cans of legumes are just so much cheaper than a steak.

Carpool if and when you can. When gas first went up the wife and I talked to our bosses and juggled our hours a little so we could carpool together it saves us $250 a month.
Plant a garden if you have room if not use the flower beds for fresh veggies.
Use the screw in fluorescent light bulbs they take some getting used to but they dont draw as much electric.
Water for your garden or lawn use rain barrels to catch run off from the gutters on the house, and things seem to thrive better with rain water.

Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach, I used to use some coupons when the items went on sale if I did'nt need the items right away, I've been known to use a dryer sheet twice and I always shop the sale racks.

Buy your groceries online if you can - which I'm sure you can. It costs for delivery here, but the minimal charge is hugely offset by the fact that you do not impulse buy, and you can make better judgements about what you want/need because you're in the quiet comfort of your own home, rather than the craziness of the supermarket, with other people's kids/ your own creating havoc. Also, you don't get the kids pestering you for stuff they don't need/ isn't good for them. It also saves so much time and effort, not to mention fuel costs, which will leave you more free for homecooking etc which will also save you money!

Batch cook meals - make up huge quantities of things like soup, stews, shepherd's pies, cottage pies, chillies, curries etc - then divide them into portions and freeze them so you have instantly nukeable ready meals for if and when you are too tired to cook in the evening - and get everyone in on the cooking so it's not just you doing it!

Like Lou says, do your shopping online if you can - stops you buying junk you don't need

Go through your closets/cupboards etc and get rid of anything you don't need/want - and try to sell it either through e-bay or another auction site, or a garage sale. I'm currently in the process of selling a whole lot of my books and stuff to raise money.

We have a grocery store that offers online shopping and home delivery, and you can take all week to add to/edit your order. I've found that it eliminates impulse purchases, but you really have to be careful with your purchases. It's very easy to spend more for an item than you want to just because they're coming anyway.

How are you at sticking to a budget? Mrs. WI simply cannot. She claims to know all of the expenses off the top of her head, but I'm sure she would be shocked to see what some of the "minor" things add up to.

One thing we've tossed about is cutting cable back down to basic. We spent $75 a month to watch 20 out of 200 channels! That's a lot to pay for a glimpse or two of boobs. :p

There's obvious benefits in adjusting the thermostats to cheaper settings. Especially with the cost of utilities skyrocketting. Though it's impossible not to drive, we do try not to take extra trips out. And we'll try to have our route's make sense. Nothing like passing the same landmark three or four times in one trip...makes you think of European Vacation. (hey look kids...it's Big Ben...and there's Parliment) :D

One thing we must do is eat home-prepared food more often. It's more healthy, we will have better portion control, and it's a damn sight cheaper. It's funny how I manage to make lunches for the kids every day but end up buying lunch for me.

While we're cooking, I've given more thought to "multi-meal" ideas as well. If I'm running the oven to cook two chicken breasts...why not cook all of them? Then I can use the extra to create another meal that will only need to be warmed up! Anything that helps cut down on how long I run that stove!

Buy in bulk. We use a seal-a-meal vacume bags to split up and freeze the items into smaller portions.