Savings?

[April20]

I do Grocery Game as well. You get a 4 week trial for $1. During the tiral period, you can subscribe to all the lists that are available in your area. After your four weeks, you will want to cut your subscription down to the lists that work best for you. For instance, I''ve found that Publix is one I can really do on my own as what''s in their flyer is what''s on sale. I am familiar enough with what I buy there to know if it''s the best price or not. Kroger, however, has a lot of what I call "hidden" sales- things that are on sale once you get there, but just ARE NOT in their flyer. The list also captures their "close out" items, which are not advertised either. I dont know how the list maker does it, but they capture it.

There are a lot of "free" couponing sites out there and I''ve tried them, but I really think what you get from Grocery Game is worth the spend. As Peony pointed out, they track the sales. The list is color coded so you know if it''s the best deal or just on sale and an okay price. They list the date and the insert each coupon came from. I do not clip coupons. I tried at first and it was too overwhelming and time consuming. I file the entire insert in a expandable file and clip what I need when the sale hits. It works for me.

I also do CVS. You can *almost* use the money you get back (extra care bucks) to continually pay for your order if you''re really good. I''m not that good, but I do get some crazy good deals on a regular basis. I have gotten so much free or nearly free stuff from them, my husband has asked me NOT to bring home any more of certain items that we have ridiculous amounts of (soap, shaving cream, toothpaste, razors, etc)

Trying to figure out how all the couponing works can be confusing at first, but they have a message board as well and the people are very helpful. The website is www.grocerygame.com

 

[dragonfly411]

hahahaahahah I am forbidden from bringing home (can''t say buying as I didn''t pay for it really) toothpaste!!!!

Publix has been my nightmare, it''s so hard for me to work my grocery bill down

 

[hibiscus]

I have always keep track of what I buy. My grocery bills is $200 a month. I cook minimum 2 meals a day. Its much cheaper to cook than eat out- a plate of salmon is above $15 plus tips, tax.. I plan what I want to cook for a week, that way I can go out and get only the stuff needed. $250-$300 is set aside for eating out (entertainment book has extensive restaurant coupons) for the month. Like everyone else, I make sure I keep the light only when necessary. I do my laundry on cold water, at the shorter speed.

These days its a luxury to even take 10 minute shower with a baby around. I guess that also helps keep the bill down.

 

[peonygirl]

Haha, April! I KNEW you were a grocery gamer!!

 

[SarahLovesJS]

FI''s better at it than I am, but I am learning!

I''ve been looking for sales if I wanted to get something..and trying to avoid things I don''t "need." Also we try to eat at home or if we''re eating out not spend that much money (like under $20). I''m trying to make my shampoo last as long as possible (weird I know, but my shampoo is $30 so um that''s expensive!). I am thinking we''re going to start coupon shopping more! That sounds like the way to go. Oh and I am trying to cut down the wedding budget and unnecessary wedding things since we''ve already spent too much I think.

 

[UCLABelle]

Well, I used to be a GREAT saver. But now that I make more, I spend more...and I have been a bit depressed so that has caused me to spend even more...even though I know I shouldn't (like my new LV bag, ring, ect).

To save, I buy books for entertainment, eat at home (or eat out, which we do a lot, but at less expensive places, and use coupons)...we also buy clothes at cheaper places to mix in with higher end items (Old Navy with Bloomingdales). I also (if trying to save) will color my own hair, do my own toes, etc. However, many items I use are just expensive, and I guess I should someday try and cut (shampoo also is expensive, at $45-lotions at $50---)

My Mom rocks at saving. Keeps the heat low, or the conditioner down to save...coupon shops, buys her clothes ONLY on sale, etc. She LOVES it. It is odd! Of course, she spends in certain areas like me (cars, handbags, etc.).

 

[icekid]

Date: 10/19/2008 1:15:33 AM
Author: UCLABelle
Well, I used to be a GREAT saver. But now that I make more, I spend more...and I have been a bit depressed so that has caused me to spend even more...even though I know I shouldn''t (like my new LV bag, ring, ect).

To save, I buy books for entertainment, eat at home (or eat out, which we do a lot, but at less expensive places, and use coupons)...we also buy clothes at cheaper places to mix in with higher end items (Old Navy with Bloomingdales). I also (if trying to save) will color my own hair, do my own toes, etc. However, many items I use are just expensive, and I guess I should someday try and cut (shampoo also is expensive, at $45-lotions at $50---)

My Mom rocks at saving. Keeps the heat low, or the conditioner down to save...coupon shops, buys her clothes ONLY on sale, etc. She LOVES it. It is odd! Of course, she spends in certain areas like me (cars, handbags, etc.).

haha, I don''t think she is odd

More often than not, I prefer to see that money in my bank account rather than hanging from my arm. I''m such a saver now... and plan to stay that way, so I can retire early and comfortably.

 

[UCLABelle]

IceKid: True---fortunately for her she has never worked but perhaps she does it so my Dad can retire? But I honestly think she enjoys it (it is like a game).

I too more often than note would rather have money in the bank than on my arm----but I have been spending a bit the last year or so...hopefully I will return to my saving ways.

 

[icekid]

Date: 10/19/2008 11:04:36 AM
Author: UCLABelle
IceKid: True---fortunately for her she has never worked but perhaps she does it so my Dad can retire? But I honestly think she enjoys it (it is like a game).

I too more often than note would rather have money in the bank than on my arm----but I have been spending a bit the last year or so...hopefully I will return to my saving ways.

I understand the spending... especially when you finally finish school and someone starts paying you! I am fighting that too, but keep convincing myself that I should save MORE now

 

[Blenheim]

Peony - you just convinced me to try out the Grocery Game. The vast majority of our diet consists of fresh fruit, veggies, meat, dairy, and eggs, and we buy dry goods in bulk at Costco and make our own bread. When I read about it in the past, I figured that it just wouldn't work for us.

What's probably made the most difference in our spending is avoiding the mall and places like Target, and cancelling cable. The cost of cable itself really isn't that much, but it makes you want so much more. Wanting less helps more than just about any other measure we're taking. Decluttering the house helps with this too - it made me realize how much stuff we bought at one point that now just seems useless.

We don't use air conditioner in the summer, and we keep the heat on 60 in the winter. We just bundle up, have fires in the fire place, and bake a lot. We do most of our living in the living room and kitchen anyway, and we have a heavy duty down comforter in our bedroom. We leave hot bath/shower water in the bathtub until it's lost most of its heat to its surroundings, but that's going to change when we have mobile kids (drowning hazard).

I bought the majority of my maternity clothes off Craigslist. We've also bought baby things on there, and the one thing that we've bought new was on sale. We sell stuff on Craigslist when we don't need it, as well.

No landline.

Most of food at Costco, although maybe the Grocery Game will change that? We plan meals so that we have leftovers for lunch. We usually don't eat out more than twice a month, but we've gotten worse about that since I've gotten pregnant. We do use coupons when we eat out, though.

Paying ourselves (i.e., our savings account) first.

Doing work around the house ourselves. We've had to hire a plumber for a morning, but otherwise we've been able to completely redo a kitchen and a bathroom, paint the entire interior, and do numerous little things ourselves. (We bought a bit of a fixer-upper, which I suppose is another way to save.)

Library for books, movies, CDs, magazines. And we tend to walk the dogs there, which saves on gas. (And more importantly, gets everyone exercise and time together.) One of us goes inside, the other stays outside with the dogs.

The local bakery has all bread half price after 5, which is great if we didn't plan ahead enough to make our own. Sandwiches and pastries are also half price after 5, which can be good if we're too lazy to make dinner. Since it's right next to the library, we'll just walk ourselves and the dogs up to the drive-up window.

I've asked for a sewing machine for my birthday and want to sew our own heavy winter curtains, which will hopefully help further with the heating bill. I recaulked all of the windows last weekend in preparation for winter.

I repair ripped clothing instead of tossing it, unless it's really bad.

ETA - haircuts by students at the Aveda Institute.

 

[peonygirl]

Have fun with GG! There''s a lot of junk food that you can get really cheap, but it''s not too hard to ignore it. Also, some weeks are better than others. My first few weeks were light on foods I wanted to stockpile, but I got a TON of non-food items for really cheap.

 

[peonygirl]

Oh weird. I just changed my avatar it''s it''s all disorted. I did set it to 96x96 pixels though!

 

[dragonfly411]

What kind of savings accounts do you guys recommend? Right now (I"m young mind you) I just have a basic account with my checking account.


CVS was fun this weekend

 

[ChargerGrrl]

we have a couple of electonic-based savings accounts, as we''re always looking for the best rates!
try ing.com and etrade.com

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Date: 10/19/2008 6:24:11 PM
Author: peonygirl
Have fun with GG! There''s a lot of junk food that you can get really cheap, but it''s not too hard to ignore it. Also, some weeks are better than others. My first few weeks were light on foods I wanted to stockpile, but I got a TON of non-food items for really cheap.

Hey Peony- i checked out GG and am going to give it a shot! I love a good deal!

 

[Skippy123]

Well, I do a lot of what you others do. I have to know what I want already before I go to the mall. I don''t just go to go.

Also, do you all have a Farmers Market?? We do and I save lots of money buying produce from the FARMERS MARKET. I also do lots of shopping at Costco and use that Rotisserie chicken ($5 or $6) and make lentil soup, bean soup with the chicken and freeze containers for later use. I also make spinach Lasagna and make a big pan and eat that for a couple of days.

 

[Beacon]

I love to save money. When I was in college I had no funds so I got good at cutting costs. These days I don''t do it as much but now that the economy is bad I will do more.

Return your bottles and cans for the refund amount. I did this regularly until gas prices were so high that it cost too much to drive to make it worthwhile, but now it may be worthwhile again.

Check your bills for tricky things that are costing you money. I had a "wire line" insurance cost of something like $3.00 per month on my phone bill. No idea how it got there. I got rid of it.

Remember to turn down the water heater temperature if you are going away for more than a day or two.

Eat at home. My poverty dish is rice with garbanzo beans and stewed tomatos. I can live on it pretty well if need be. It''s tasty and dead cheap. I don''t eat meat anyway.

I just came back from a trip for a wedding and did not buy anew dress to take with me. I decided to do this because of the bad economy and I was fine with the dress I already had.

Buy bread and basics at Costco. So much cheaper.

I don''t get manicures/pedicures and my haircut costs almost nothing.

Manage your cash. This is extra tricky right now due to the credit crisis, but often I might leave cash in non interest bearing (or very low interest bearing) accounts. Big mistake. Make sure all your cash is earning a return - but don''t give up safety in this weird world we are now in.

Negotiate. I got my price reduced twice at the hotel I just stayed in while out of town. It''s a fabulous hotel and expensive (yes I know

) but I got the price adjusted down due to the bad economy. You can do a lot of price negotiation right now.

 

[iheartscience]

Lots of good ideas in here! I am terrible at cutting back and saving (that''s my fiance''s specialty!) but I''m trying to start cutting back. Once I''m done with school I''ll be working more and making more $, and the more money I make, the more I spend!

Lately I''ve been trying get stuff at the grocery store for lunch instead of eating out for lunch every day. Same goes for dinner. I used to eat out for lunch and dinner literally every day, but I''ve cut back, mostly because I''m sick of all the places I go to, I think!

What else...I live about 2 blocks from my work and maybe 12 or 14 blocks from school, so if I drive, I don''t use much gas. I probably fill my car up about once a month. Also, one bonus about not finding a house to buy is that my apartment includes heat and water, so I know I save a ton of money that way! (My rent''s pretty cheap, especially since that''s included!)

I definitely need to chill out on clothes shopping, but in my defense, I get a good discount on clothes through work, and I rarely buy any clothes that aren''t on sale because I just can''t pay retail anymore!

 

[fieryred33143]

I clip coupons, do my own dry cleaning (or none at all), and I drive w/out the AC. I''m usually freezing so I like the car to be warm.

I think what has helped me a lot is asking myself "do I really need this?" every time I go shopping. When shopping for this trip, I spent 5 hours in the mall and ended up buying one thing that I needed: boots. Everything else I put away because when I asked myself if I really needed it, I didn''t.

 

[dragonfly411]

skippy - I do farmer''s market a lot. I''m going to try again this weekend to see if we''ve picked up any as we were slow between seasons


my penny dish (as I call it) is cous cous with mashed black beans. the mashed black beans requires black beans, some chicken or veggie broth, onion, garlic, and tobasco sauce, you mash the blackbeans as it all cooks. Pour the black bean mixture over the cous cous and voila,dinner! takes 5 mins seriously

 

[Haven]

I forgot to share that I stopped going to the salon for waxing appointments. I miss them so much, and my eyebrows have been a bit out of control at times, but I''m saving TONS of money.

I''m also doing my own nails instead of getting manis.

Anyone else cutting out little luxuries?

 

[~*Snow*~]

I''ve cut out the luxuries. Last time I got my hair cut i asked for a style that would grow out nicely. That was in June. I still haven''t gotten it cut since then.. the ends are starting to look a little rough, but a deep conditioning or wearing my hair pinned up hides it. That being said, it does need to be cut/trimed but i''m holding out to get it done closer to the holidays. If i can get by on just 2 hair cuts a year that''ll save me tons!
I also dyed my own hair this fall, once the highlights from June had grown out. Again tons of $$$ saved.

 

[Cass]

Yes, Haven! I had my acrylic nails taken off- and not put back on! I''ve had fake nails since I was 16 and I''m 23. Man has it been hard to get used to not having those things on. But I''m saving like $50 a month.

 

[UCLABelle]

Today my husband and I decided I should cut down on some of my "luxuries" (he almost never spends money); it is winter, so I can do my own pedis (which I did every three weeks over the summer--at $48 a pop)---and I want to know what my real hair color is now so I am going to grow it out (hopefully it isn't too noticeable, it has been over 3 months and I cannot tell); I also HATE my short hair (which I got 5 weeks ago), so I will only be needing trims now. This should save me a ton. I will continue my eyebrow waxing though---it is worth every penny to me (my eyebrows would be AWFUL anyway).

I did a "closet" clean this weekend, and realized I seriously have TOO many clothes. So, after shopping a bit more this weekend

I decided it REALLY is time to stop. I realized that more than 6 pairs of designer jeans is just too many for me (I almost never wear all of them). And I have 12 black hoodies!!!!!!!! That is just so sad.

We also (for the first time in a while) used a few dinner coupons (2-1 Fatburger, 2-1 Subway, etc).


I do not mind spending on little luxuries like yummy good candles, or books, or good shampoos. And GOOD food! So, I will continue that.

 

[Haven]

Cass--That''s a TON of savings, nice job! I had acrylics on and off when I was in my early twenties, but they always interfered with the creative things I like to do (calligraphy, drawing, etc.) so I always ended up taking them off shortly after getting them on. They''re gorgeous, though.

UCLA--I just caved and had a pedi with my best friend this weekend because she found coupons for $20 pedis for a great spa near my house. I couldn''t resist, but after this I''m going to cut it out.
I hear ya on the eyebrows; mine are so unruly if I don''t keep a close eye on them. But it''s so expensive to wax, I had to stop.

DH and I had another talk on saving and decided that there are a ton of things we can cut down on, but first we have to take some honest inventory of what we actually spend.

I''m also going to make all handmade gifts for the holidays this year. DH''s family gives gifts to all the adults, which we don''t do in my family so I find this to be silly because they''re always generic gifts, anyway. SO, I bought a magazine with a ton of great ideas, and this is what I''ve decided on so far:
- Handmade red and white striped (and peppermint scented) candy cane soap. They are so cute, I can''t wait to make them. I bought all the supplies half off at Hobby Lobby, so I''m going to make them, wrap them in pretty cellophane, and make cute tags with the recipients'' names in calligraphy.
- Little stuffed animals made from old wool sweaters. These will be great for the kids. I bought four sweaters for $3 each from Salvation Army, and all you do is felt the sweaters and then use them to make the stuffed animals. They''re adorable. I''m also thinking about making cute felt pouches for the ladies, but I haven''t decided what to put in them yet. I''m thinking hot cocoa or apple cider mix or something.
I''m still deciding what else to do. But I think the gifts will actually be nicer than the typical store-bought sweaters and such.

Anyone else thinking about getting creative for holiday gift-giving? I would love some more ideas.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 10/26/2008 11:22:18 PM
Author: UCLABelle
I did a ''closet'' clean this weekend, and realized I seriously have TOO many clothes. So, after shopping a bit more this weekend

I decided it REALLY is time to stop. I realized that more than 6 pairs of designer jeans is just too many for me (I almost never wear all of them). And I have 12 black hoodies!!!!!!!! That is just so sad.

I also have a ton of designer jeans. . .too many.

One of my big changes is now selling my kids'' clothes to consignment shops. I use to take everything to the thrift store. . .even *new* clothes my kids never ended up wearing. What a waste of money. I would give those to charities. Now, I feel I AM the one needing charity

lol! So, I will sell anything and everything that still has some life in it after being worn by the kids.

Oh, and also, I have a small amount of clothes I''m taking to an adult consignment shop. I called them and I won''t make much selling random items, but it''s better than nothing and the shop I''m going to is right next to Target, so the money can be used on household goods, like TP.

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Had to jump in here and offer this tidbit...

For about 6 years now, one of my close girlfriends has hosted "Chick Nite Swaps". About 3-4 times a year, she gets a group of 10-12 gals together for an evening of food, drink and SWAPPING! The last one was this past Saturday eve.

Everyone cleans out their closets, cupboards, garages, etc... and brings anything and everything that they no longer use/wear. Each gal then gets their time to present their loot to the group (an item at a time). If someone wants something, they just holler. Smaller things, like jewelry or makeup is passed around. It's hysterical to see some of the stuff that people bring (think wardrobe time warp!), or the stories that are told about certain items ("yeah, i bought this 2 years ago thinking that i'd lose weight, and um... nope!")... One gal is remodeling her kitchen/dining room and brought a slew of table linens and housewares (coffeemaker, toaster over, wine glasses)

Yeah, some of it can be junk, but it's mostly treasures. I've scored everything from hairspray, socks and books, to a cashmere sweater, jeans and workout wear.

Plus, it's fun to get together with the girls!

 

[dragonfly411]

charger - thanks for the great idea!!

 

[Haven]

Charger--That is an AWESOME idea! I''m going to organize one for my girlfriends!