What is the most frugal (or cheap) thing you do to save money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make over 400k but:

1. One car
2. Bring lunch to work
3. Make coffee at home
4. Take the bus
5. Cook often at home
6. Groom our own dog
7. Clean our own house

Dontnthink this list is frugal or cheap. We make a bit more than yiu andnit has never even occurred to me to pay someone to wash our dog and clip her nails. Taking the bus seems frugal though, but all other things are pretty normal.

Sadly I think they aren't that common. Always every couple we know at our income level sends their dog to the groomer and has a cleaning lady. They also buy their lunch at work.

[Anonymous]

I invest exclusively in Vanguard index funds rather than pay a fund manager or financial advisor 2%. That saves about $30,000 per year.

We send our kids to public school, which saves about $80,000 per year.

DW sometimes uses a single tea bag for two cups of tea. That saves about $1.50 per year.

[Anonymous]

What travel rewards cc is everyone using?

07:01- what frugal blogs do you read?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I invest exclusively in Vanguard index funds rather than pay a fund manager or financial advisor 2%. That saves about $30,000 per year.

We send our kids to public school, which saves about $80,000 per year.

DW sometimes uses a single tea bag for two cups of tea. That saves about $1.50 per year.

This is frugal? LoL!

[Anonymous]

Per Early Retirement Extreme, the biggest outlays are housing, transportation, and food. That's where to focus on if you want more money left over.

By extension, our biggest frugal move was to buy a house that was the equivalent of 2x our projected salary when we moved to the area. Salary increased and we paid it off in 3 years. Everything else pales in comparison. However, we also make it a point to only buy used cars and in cash. On the food end, we spend more due to aiming for fresh this and that, but we also rarely eat out and don't buy soda / beer / etc. The healthy eating is also much cheaper in the long run due to reducing odds of all kinds of health issues when we're older, so we see it as long term health insurance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make over 400k but:

1. One car
2. Bring lunch to work
3. Make coffee at home
4. Take the bus
5. Cook often at home
6. Groom our own dog
7. Clean our own house

Dontnthink this list is frugal or cheap. We make a bit more than yiu andnit has never even occurred to me to pay someone to wash our dog and clip her nails. Taking the bus seems frugal though, but all other things are pretty normal.

Sadly I think they aren't that common. Always every couple we know at our income level sends their dog to the groomer and has a cleaning lady. They also buy their lunch at work.

How in the world do people know what their friends income level is? I've never divulged my income level to my friends, nor have I asked or been told what income level my friends are at. It is just not a topic that we sit around and talk about.

Just got our w2s and i brought in 293K and DH 164k. We live in the same house for 10 years, we drive japanese cars, mine is 9yrs old, and I've never had someonw groom our dog. I bring my lunch to work to keep my weight down and save time. I cannot imagine how someone could guess or know what we make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Per Early Retirement Extreme, the biggest outlays are housing, transportation, and food. That's where to focus on if you want more money left over.

By extension, our biggest frugal move was to buy a house that was the equivalent of 2x our projected salary when we moved to the area. Salary increased and we paid it off in 3 years. Everything else pales in comparison. However, we also make it a point to only buy used cars and in cash. On the food end, we spend more due to aiming for fresh this and that, but we also rarely eat out and don't buy soda / beer / etc. The healthy eating is also much cheaper in the long run due to reducing odds of all kinds of health issues when we're older, so we see it as long term health insurance.

'Early Retirement Extreme' must not have kids. For a lot of parents, the biggest expenses are childcare for kids under 5 or private school for kids over 5. Food is just a rounding error compared to the cost of daycare. Sending my kids to public school is one of my frugal actions, having only one car and using public transportation to commute to work is another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per Early Retirement Extreme, the biggest outlays are housing, transportation, and food. That's where to focus on if you want more money left over.

By extension, our biggest frugal move was to buy a house that was the equivalent of 2x our projected salary when we moved to the area. Salary increased and we paid it off in 3 years. Everything else pales in comparison. However, we also make it a point to only buy used cars and in cash. On the food end, we spend more due to aiming for fresh this and that, but we also rarely eat out and don't buy soda / beer / etc. The healthy eating is also much cheaper in the long run due to reducing odds of all kinds of health issues when we're older, so we see it as long term health insurance.

'Early Retirement Extreme' must not have kids. For a lot of parents, the biggest expenses are childcare for kids under 5 or private school for kids over 5. Food is just a rounding error compared to the cost of daycare. Sending my kids to public school is one of my frugal actions, having only one car and using public transportation to commute to work is another.

It is frugal to send yiur kids to private school? Thats like saying it's frugal to drive a Toyota over a range rover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make over 400k but:

1. One car
2. Bring lunch to work
3. Make coffee at home
4. Take the bus
5. Cook often at home
6. Groom our own dog
7. Clean our own house

Dontnthink this list is frugal or cheap. We make a bit more than yiu andnit has never even occurred to me to pay someone to wash our dog and clip her nails. Taking the bus seems frugal though, but all other things are pretty normal.

Sadly I think they aren't that common. Always every couple we know at our income level sends their dog to the groomer and has a cleaning lady. They also buy their lunch at work.

How in the world do people know what their friends income level is? I've never divulged my income level to my friends, nor have I asked or been told what income level my friends are at. It is just not a topic that we sit around and talk about.

Just got our w2s and i brought in 293K and DH 164k. We live in the same house for 10 years, we drive japanese cars, mine is 9yrs old, and I've never had someonw groom our dog. I bring my lunch to work to keep my weight down and save time. I cannot imagine how someone could guess or know what we make.

It's pretty easy to guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I invest exclusively in Vanguard index funds rather than pay a fund manager or financial advisor 2%. That saves about $30,000 per year.

We send our kids to public school, which saves about $80,000 per year.

DW sometimes uses a single tea bag for two cups of tea. That saves about $1.50 per year.

[Anonymous]

How? Especially if they are not in government. I bet you would have no idea my DHs income ranges from 120k/yr to 650k/yr. Mine ranges from 150k to 240k. We live on both of our base salaries. 90k &120k. Every single comission check is banked and invested, excwpt once a year we pull out for a big vacation. We won't be wage slaves forever and this is the only way out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How? Especially if they are not in government. I bet you would have no idea my DHs income ranges from 120k/yr to 650k/yr. Mine ranges from 150k to 240k. We live on both of our base salaries. 90k &120k. Every single comission check is banked and invested, excwpt once a year we pull out for a big vacation. We won't be wage slaves forever and this is the only way out.

In many professions commissions don't exist and salaries are much more in accord. I wouldn't have the first idea what sales people make but I can pretty accurately guess salaries in the legal profession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I invest exclusively in Vanguard index funds rather than pay a fund manager or financial advisor 2%. That saves about $30,000 per year.

We send our kids to public school, which saves about $80,000 per year.

DW sometimes uses a single tea bag for two cups of tea. That saves about $1.50 per year.

Ha. This is us right down to me re-using tea bags (because I prefer weak tea). BTW, DH earns >$1M.

[Anonymous]

We make $230k. I clip coupons and use cvs rewards to save a few bucks. We do all the big stuff too but people would probably be surprised by this. We use the library and parks a lot for entertainment.

[Anonymous]

We live in a tiny house with a small mortgage and we have rundown furniture.
Our cars are 10+ years old.
I have always scrubbed my own toilets and dh has always mowed the lawn.
I don't drink and dh rarely drinks.
Make coffee at home, don't eat out much.
Never get manicures, just clip them.
Any extra money we have goes to education and travel.