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

[Anonymous]

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Pack lunch, brew coffee at home.

[Anonymous]

I had a cousin who turned off the hot water in their house for 12 hours every day. If you weren't up, and showered, by 7 a.m. then you froze, because the hot water didn't come on until 7 p.m..

My mother used to purposely buy our gifts in the wrong size, so she could return them and buy replacements at sale prices.

[Anonymous]

Wasn't there a cheapskate thread not long ago?

It was like 8 pages long with everything from using only 1 square of TP to re using plastic bags to stacking coupons with sale prices at grocery stores.

[Anonymous]

I do my own waxing - lip and brows

[Anonymous]

I stopped doing all of the stupid small stuff like reusing ziploc bags years ago.

Here's what's actually saved me real money:
- All major expenses - including business expenses - go on a travel rewards credit card (paid off each month). I've barely paid for a plane ticket or hotel room since - all points.
- When I buy furniture, I sign up for the company's email list to get the 15% off coupon. I also put furniture in an online shopping cart without purchasing so they send me coupons to entice me to finish the transaction.
- I renegotiate cell phone, internet and cable plans regularly by threatening to leave until they lower them.
- When I purchase a car, I refuse to go into a dealership and instead insist on email quotes which I use to make the dealerships bid against each other. Saved thousands.
- I take advantage of stores that do price adjustments post-sale. (hold onto receipts)
- All of my clothing coordinates, so I have a pretty lean wardrobe of quality things - two pairs of jeans, three sweaters, etc. Don't end up spending a ton of money on shoes or accessories to go with random one-off outfits. Also, I rarely buy items that require dry cleaning.

[Anonymous]

I always check the clearance racks before looking on regular racks. This weekend I got DD a bathrobe at Macy's that was $10.04 with tax but was originally $85.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean in total dollar savings or in smaller things that other people don't do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a cousin who turned off the hot water in their house for 12 hours every day. If you weren't up, and showered, by 7 a.m. then you froze, because the hot water didn't come on until 7 p.m..

My mother used to purposely buy our gifts in the wrong size, so she could return them and buy replacements at sale prices.

When I was growing up (way back in the 1970's), we were part of a program from the electric company that did that. The water heater was turned off during the day automatically. If we ran out, we had to wait until 9:00pm that night.

[Anonymous]

drive a commuter car i got for 1200. It is a gas sipper and hasn't given me one problem in 2 years. 1997 honda accord. Its kind of comical. One door doesnt open and the paint is peeling. It has saved me a ton on wear and tear on my minivan and uses half the gas. I'm a VP.

[Anonymous]

I drive a 16 year old car and eat leftovers.

[Anonymous]

25 yr old female with no kids to contextualize:

- have my bf cut my hair (it's long so if he messes up I can go to the salon and have them fix it but he has done a pretty decent job!)
- use travel rewards cards for every expense small or large (paid off every month)
- don't have cable
- buy (most) food in bulk from Costco or Amazon
- take advantage of free food (fruit, bread, granola, pb&j, etc) provided at my office (e.g., if I forget to bring my lunch, I will eat oatmeal and a banana for lunch instead of going out)
- make a crockpot every Sunday to eat lunch everyday of the week
- don't have a car
- typically buy neutral / classic clothes that will coordinate with each other so Don't buy new clothes much
- if I do buy new clothes, shop at Second Time Around, TJ Maxx, etc
- gave up manicures and pedicures and just paint my nails myself

And I regularly read frugal blogs to stay inspired. I'm sure there are more things I do but those are at the top of my mind.

[Anonymous]

My mother is incredibly frugal which probably resulted from her upbringing on a farm, but is quite wealthy today making it unnessary.
She uses pliers to get the last drop of toothpaste and then cuts open the container to scrape the last bits out. She also cancelled her trash pickup and drops her trash at the trash bins outside stores using plastic grocery bags. The list goes on, but the craziest is the stuff she is able to see online. She somehow made 3k selling moss from around her home online. It is incredibly annoying at times. For example, she had to wait for weeks for the cheapest flight to see my newborn baby. It was quite hurtful that she didn't come weeks earlier so that she could save 20 bucks. I even offered to pay for her flight, but she refused.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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.