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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pack lunch, brew coffee at home.

+1

But this to me is just common sense if you're looking to save money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't have a dog. Saves $$$.

+1
I got a puppy for 1 month, shots and food cost me over $500. I got rid of the dog. Priorities first, I'm still paying school loans and saving for retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't have a dog. Saves $$$.

+1
I got a puppy for 1 month, shots and food cost me over $500. I got rid of the dog. Priorities first, I'm still paying school loans and saving for retirement.

Uh.....You know you can adopt a dog from the shelter for not much money, and the dog will have its shots, and be spayed or neutered.

How did you "get rid of the dog" - and how the hell did you not factor in the cost of keeping a dog, before you brought him or her home? This isn't reusing a tea bag - this is a living creature who counts on you.

[Anonymous]

we barely spent or spend anything on our dog.

-we get yearly shots at the Humane Society in DC for $10 each.
-we had him spayed there as well. Under $100 including anesthesia and post-op meds
-he's small so he doesn't eat much
-we buy grocery store level dry food (no grain but it's not high end).

If he got hit by a car or something I'd spend a fortune to help him but I don't see the point of spending a lot day-to-day.

[Anonymous]

Some of the things posted here aren't actually saving, it's just not spending. Unless you put those savings away where you can see it.

[Anonymous]

I use Ebates (cash back for online shopping) for all online purchases. In a few years of using it I've gotten over $1000 cash back. Free money!

[Anonymous]

My DH comes from a very frugal family, so we've done the following to save money.

1) A few years back we got a 6% cash back card. That's 6% on everything. We paid our mortgage and taxes through it (you can for an additional fee, but since we were clearing 4% or so back) we earned enough to buy a second hand SUV (all cash from this card).
2) DH drives our very old (now 20 years old) Japanese sedan to work. It's a very short commute (garage to garage parking).
3) DH does all our lawn work (very small yard).
4) He also fixes our appliances. One of our air conditioners (we have dual zone) was on the fritz and he was able to replace a $20 compressor part. The air conditioning repairman offered us a new one for $4k (included deep discounts) given that the unit is 15 years old. This helped us greatly b/c of our high child care costs so need to keep this cash. He's fixed the washing machine, replaced the motherboard on our oven, and fixed something in our fridge. Also, replaced the compressor part for our other newer air conditioner (for less than $20).
5) We book our beach rental (if we go) toward the end of the season or stay where there's a walk up to avoid paying more than the $1000-$5000 my co-workers pay for the one week.
6) We used to set our thermostat very low in the winters and used space heaters, but I nixed that after we had kids, plus our nanny is in the house w/ the youngest during the week.
7) We used to use pay as you go data plans, but the service sucked. I sucked it up and got verizon. DH gets to use his iPhone through work and has unlimited data (although he never uses his phone except to look up directions occasionally).
8) We switch cable providers when the rates were set to go up by more than $80 to $120 dollars by not switching.
9) We go to the library weekly (DC1 is an avid reader) to check out books and kid DVDs.

How we are not frugal.
1) We have a nanny who works for us 40 hours a week (we staggered our schedules to avoid having to pay excessive OT), and kids go to PT preschool.
2) We go out or order take out quite a bit (this is me. Working FT and juggling everything, I am often too exhausted to deal).
3) I still eat out for lunch. DH chooses to bring left overs (much pickier than I am about food).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH comes from a very frugal family, so we've done the following to save money.

1) A few years back we got a 6% cash back card. That's 6% on everything. We paid our mortgage and taxes through it (you can for an additional fee, but since we were clearing 4% or so back) we earned enough to buy a second hand SUV (all cash from this card).
2) DH drives our very old (now 20 years old) Japanese sedan to work. It's a very short commute (garage to garage parking).
3) DH does all our lawn work (very small yard).
4) He also fixes our appliances. One of our air conditioners (we have dual zone) was on the fritz and he was able to replace a $20 compressor part. The air conditioning repairman offered us a new one for $4k (included deep discounts) given that the unit is 15 years old. This helped us greatly b/c of our high child care costs so need to keep this cash. He's fixed the washing machine, replaced the motherboard on our oven, and fixed something in our fridge. Also, replaced the compressor part for our other newer air conditioner (for less than $20).
5) We book our beach rental (if we go) toward the end of the season or stay where there's a walk up to avoid paying more than the $1000-$5000 my co-workers pay for the one week.
6) We used to set our thermostat very low in the winters and used space heaters, but I nixed that after we had kids, plus our nanny is in the house w/ the youngest during the week.
7) We used to use pay as you go data plans, but the service sucked. I sucked it up and got verizon. DH gets to use his iPhone through work and has unlimited data (although he never uses his phone except to look up directions occasionally).
8) We switch cable providers when the rates were set to go up by more than $80 to $120 dollars by not switching.
9) We go to the library weekly (DC1 is an avid reader) to check out books and kid DVDs.

How we are not frugal.
1) We have a nanny who works for us 40 hours a week (we staggered our schedules to avoid having to pay excessive OT), and kids go to PT preschool.
2) We go out or order take out quite a bit (this is me. Working FT and juggling everything, I am often too exhausted to deal).
3) I still eat out for lunch. DH chooses to bring left overs (much pickier than I am about food).

Which card is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DH comes from a very frugal family, so we've done the following to save money.

1) A few years back we got a 6% cash back card. That's 6% on everything. We paid our mortgage and taxes through it (you can for an additional fee, but since we were clearing 4% or so back) we earned enough to buy a second hand SUV (all cash from this card).
2) DH drives our very old (now 20 years old) Japanese sedan to work. It's a very short commute (garage to garage parking).
3) DH does all our lawn work (very small yard).
4) He also fixes our appliances. One of our air conditioners (we have dual zone) was on the fritz and he was able to replace a $20 compressor part. The air conditioning repairman offered us a new one for $4k (included deep discounts) given that the unit is 15 years old. This helped us greatly b/c of our high child care costs so need to keep this cash. He's fixed the washing machine, replaced the motherboard on our oven, and fixed something in our fridge. Also, replaced the compressor part for our other newer air conditioner (for less than $20).
5) We book our beach rental (if we go) toward the end of the season or stay where there's a walk up to avoid paying more than the $1000-$5000 my co-workers pay for the one week.
6) We used to set our thermostat very low in the winters and used space heaters, but I nixed that after we had kids, plus our nanny is in the house w/ the youngest during the week.
7) We used to use pay as you go data plans, but the service sucked. I sucked it up and got verizon. DH gets to use his iPhone through work and has unlimited data (although he never uses his phone except to look up directions occasionally).
8) We switch cable providers when the rates were set to go up by more than $80 to $120 dollars by not switching.
9) We go to the library weekly (DC1 is an avid reader) to check out books and kid DVDs.

How we are not frugal.
1) We have a nanny who works for us 40 hours a week (we staggered our schedules to avoid having to pay excessive OT), and kids go to PT preschool.
2) We go out or order take out quite a bit (this is me. Working FT and juggling everything, I am often too exhausted to deal).
3) I still eat out for lunch. DH chooses to bring left overs (much pickier than I am about food).

Which card is this?

Don't remember the name of it. trust me after my DH got it, he told his relatives and they all tried to find it but they didn't offer it. This was back in 2011 or so. The bank was in Iowa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clean our own house.
Do our cosmetic upgrades - ikea cabinets, backsplash.
DH does most of the repairs and maintenance in the house.
DH cuts his own hair.
Take our lunch to work.
Iron our own shirts.
Use dryel for dryclean-only sweaters and blouses.
Save actual dry-cleaning for suits and slacks.
Wear things multiple times before dry-cleaning and spot-clean when that's enough.
Travel mostly on airline and hotel points.
Brew coffee at home.
Use one teabag throughout the day.
Download movies for free.
No dogs.
No kids.

Well, yeah, that would do it. I was wondering what all of the focus on the dry cleaning was about and then I got to the kids part. No dry cleaning at all in this house - too many kids.

[Anonymous]

Drive 14 yr old car (Toyota) that I inherited. It has a dent, but it would cost more to fix it than the car is worth.

I bring my lunch most days.

I quit drinking, and gave up caffeine. A couple times a week I make a decaf cappucino at home. Saves me tons!

I shop at Aldi's if I don't need specialty ingredients. I got 3 lbs of pears for $1.29 yesterday!

I work out at Planet Fitness=$10/month.

I use my cell phone until it dies instead of upgrading it.

[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.

Take it up with the Department of Labor, because they say exactly the same thing. Here it is in infographic form:

[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.

You are so fantastically out of touch it would be funny if it weren't so sad. The overwhelming majority of parents in the United States do not send their children to private schools. Similarly, your private helicopter expenses are also irrelevant to what people are actually spending money on. Housing, transportation, and food are the primary expenses for 99% of households; this isn't new information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we barely spent or spend anything on our dog.

-we get yearly shots at the Humane Society in DC for $10 each.
-we had him spayed there as well. Under $100 including anesthesia and post-op meds
-he's small so he doesn't eat much
-we buy grocery store level dry food (no grain but it's not high end).

If he got hit by a car or something I'd spend a fortune to help him but I don't see the point of spending a lot day-to-day.

Yeah I didn't used to spend much on my dog either - but they get old and sometimes require daily medication and/or special food for allergies. Getting old sucks for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You are so fantastically out of touch it would be funny if it weren't so sad. The overwhelming majority of parents in the United States do not send their children to private schools. Similarly, your private helicopter expenses are also irrelevant to what people are actually spending money on. Housing, transportation, and food are the primary expenses for 99% of households; this isn't new information.

NP but most people I know (middle class and working class) spend more on daycare than rent or mortgage.