Money-saving tips and strategies
 

So, I was thinking about ways to save money, and I got to wondering -- how do you folks streeeeetch that dollar? (Or franc. Or rupiah, or gil, whichever you prefer).

Here're some things that I've seen or learnt:-

* Some universities sell off their unwanted supplies and furniture to the general public for cheap. The university I went to had this place where if I wanted to, I could buy office furniture, old computer equipment, electronics, or even lab supplies for sometimes down to a tenth of their original price. Of course, these items are used, and in the case of electronics, often obsolete, but it's a way to grab stuff like chairs cheap.

* I scour newspapers for grocery discounts. Of course, the whole point of them offering you the discounts in the first place is to get you to buy other, non-discounted stuff, so basic rules apply -- don't go shopping while you're hungry, and make a shopping list and stick to it.

* Back to the university thing -- if your school has a livestock research facility, you can often get meat and eggs cheap from them. The one I worked at, for example, sold a pallet of 48 eggs for 2 USD. The caveat is that it's often meat from animals slaughtered for experiments that gets solds, so bear that in mind.

Your turn!

I do really poorly at stretching my dollar. I always run out of money long before my next amount of income is due to arrive. Some things I've tried are buying less food, leaving my debit card at home. Just never spending my money. But I guess it all just comes down to the fact that I simply don't make enough money. As much as I try to stretch my dollar, as long as I am making less money that I need to spend on things like rent and other bills. I'm always gonna be running short. I know it helps alot to not be afraid to rely on charity from others. If someone offers me dinner, I take it because that means its one less meal I have to cook out of my own supply. My suggestion to anyone is if your gonna go to university, make sure you get a job at the same time. It helps.

Keep a record of your expenses. You may be surprised how much you could cut out.

Learn to cook for yourself. You will save a LOT of money this way. For the price of one Bacon Egg N' Cheese biscuit + coffee, I bought a pack of organic pancake mix, a small carton of milk, and some eggs. Just one batch of pancakes lasted for nearly a week! And I'm not even a quarter of the way done with the mix!

I cook my own lunch and dinner too, and eat the leftovers on the following days.

Damn, I wish I had thought of this when the college here tore down one of the dorms. They had some nice furniture in the rooms, and they probably sold what couldn't be used for replacements.

One thing I do to save money is to make a list before I shop--and stick to that list. Also, buying store-brand items can save you a LOT of money.

Like PiccoloNamek said, cooking for yourself is a great way of doing it, too. Rice a Roni makes these rice side dishes that are actually pretty good by themselves. And store brands can cost only 50 cents. How's that for inexpensive fare?

It helps to know where all your money is going. Like Zerg said, keep good records of your income and your expenses.

I balance all of my accounts several times a week using accounting software that lets me see a quick summary of all of my month-to-date expenses broken down by category. I can also set budgets for the month, see how I'm meeting those budgets, and forecast my balances based on a moving average and scheduled transactions.

In short, I know a whole lot about my cash flow and it keeps me from running out.

I'm just curious, which software do you use? I want to learn effective budgeting too, so I was thinking of using Excel to keep track of my expenses, but it sounds like the software you're using is more efficient.

I had just signed on to ask that very same question. I've tried various kinds of accounting software, but all of them sucked.

Dont buy snacks often. Just buy it once, and remember the taste, it will save your money a lot. I do it these days, and It disourages me to spend on stuff that not really necessary.

As an extension of that- only buy food when you're really hungry and can't make food. Make it otherwise- you'll save money and be healthier.

Whenever I'm compelled to buy a bottled soda from the machine for $1.25, I go and buy a 12-pack for 3 dollars instead.

Also when I eat fast food I usually bring a can of soda with me so I don't have to buy a drink.

Keep in mind that these are coming from a full-time student with no outside financial support. (As in, I've paid for everything since my plane ticket to the city where I go to university.)

I buy used clothes, and keep a lookout for clubs and whatnot at the university that are giving away t-shirts, and free dinners being had for various events, and never Ever buy my books at the bookstore. I've always gotten them from Amazon, half.com, or borrowed them from friends. Whenever I start to think I'd like to buy something, I figure out how many of hours at work it costs, and decide whether or not I'd be willing to work those hours again to have it. I don't buy snacks out of principle, unless it's really cheap and really tasty. Ramen costs 15 cents a packet, and can be supplemented with fresh veggies so you don't get that whole scurvy thing. ;)

Oh, saving money is my forte.

I view shopping as a war against companies who want to rob you of your money. I never buy anything without thinking long and hard about it and researching the best deal. I usually buy everything online. half.com, amazon.com, etc. Best deals ever, and I'd rather send my money to small businesses/people, not because of moral reasons but because it's cheap and we all know it.

When you go grocery shopping, stick to the sales. Usually sales are engineered for the non-healthy types [I'm a health nut also,] but learn to find the good stuff.

Scan everything and be alert. Never pass up a good deal. When I want something, I realize I want it and I don't buy it for months because I have already come to the conclusion that I don't really need anything. But when I come across a good deal for that thing I want, I jump on it.

School books I buy online. If I can sparknotes it or books.google/scholar.google search it, I don't bother purchasing.

I always wanted to keep a good record of my purchases with a program, but couldn't find one easy enough to use well... I'd appreciate advice on that, though.

I always end up spending a lot of my money on favors for friends and stuff, by lending them money, but I also make sure that it works positively towards my ends as well.;)

the price of cheapness is eternal vigilance, people.

Well, most of the tips I'm aware of were already covered, but here's another thing about college books:

Sell them back ONLINE. Don't even BOTHER with your school's textbook buy-back deals; though it depends on the demand of the book, you usually only get a few dollars.

I usually sell mine at half.com. There is a commission fee (usually 15% or so?), and sometimes the shipping reimbursment is less than the actual cost, but you save money. You most likely won't make profit or even break even, but you technically only spend a few dollars per semester if you do sell them.

This is kinda bad, but if you have a friend with a meal plan, who's willing to let you bum a meal, try and sneak some back. I did this a lot last year, and it was very convinent and saves money too. Just be careful not to get caught!

I can't begin to tell you how much students get raped at the bookstore for their books. A 4 book set that was to be used across 2 semesters was nearly $300 at the college's bookstore, but Amazon sold it for half-price. I'm sure I could have even checked further (like Half.com as Acacia said) and streched my buck.

I would also agree with Piccolo about cooking for yourself. As someone who cooks for themselves and has worked in various restaurants over the years, I know the cost of food. Not to mention, working in a restaurant will put your food cost nearly to zero :D

Anyone hear that story about the family who bought everything in bulk and became millionaires? Crazy...

I go to craigslist. Alot of people give away old furniture they no longer need or dont want to carry around when they're moving for free.

Sometimes you can also get some nice electronics or computer equipment if you're fast. But that kind of stuff goes real quick in the free section.

You can also find some good discounts for all sorts of things in the selling/buying areas of craigslist. I like it alot more than ebay because it's all in my general area so it's simple to pick up and pay.

Spend less time saving money and more time making money.

Oh, and fatwallet.com

This is so true. Also, it's healthier to cook for yourself than it is to eat out.

I've talked about this before, but the thing that has helped my husband and me more than anything else we've done is paying for everything with cash. And I mean EVERYTHING (with the exception of power bills, phone bills, mortgage, etc., which we pay with checks). At first it was a little scary always carrying cash around, but after doing it for two years now I feel much more confident.

When you pay with cash, as opposed to a credit card or debit card, and you can actually see your little stash of money getting smaller with each purchase, trust me, you WILL spend less money than you do with plastic.

We have this whole sophisticated envelope system where, each payday, we stuff envelopes labeled "groceries," "gas," "haircuts," "clothing," etc. When we use all the money in the envelope, we don't spend any more in that category until the next pay period. Honestly, the first six months were the hardest, both psychologically and logistically, what with trying to figure out how much we really needed in each category.

Doing this, we have paid off ALL of our credit cards and a huge chunk of our other debts (way more than we would have paid off before going to this system). It's been really tough, but it's the best thing we ever did. Now, when I need to go to the dentist or whatever, I just go to the safe and pull out my little envelope labeled "dentist," which I have been putting money into every pay period for however many months, and off I go.

You can do it with a spreadsheet, but you need to take some time to carefully plan your layout and equations for it to work well for you. One column per expense category and income category, and every row is a date. Separate columns and cells for tracking category totals, and set up charts to show weekly figures of what you are spending month-to-date and year-to-date.

A relational database-based solution would be mcuh more flexible, since you could cut and slice the data any way you wanted to.

The software I use is Mac-Specific (iBank from IGG Software). It has functionality similar to Quicken.

Of course, it isn't going to matter what software you use if you are not diligant about keeping records. The more information you feed the software, the better it will serve you. Depending on how many transactions you make, you may need to go over your finances once or twice a week. Some banks allow you to download a transaction history in .QIF format which you could then automatically import, but the amount of information included tends to be minimal, and the formatting sucks.

[quote=Alice]When you pay with cash, as opposed to a credit card or debit card, and you can actually see your little stash of money getting smaller with each purchase, trust me, you WILL spend less money than you do with plastic.[quote]

I stick with my debit card as the deduction is immediate, and there is no fee through my bank. Before I even walk out the door, I make sure I know how much of my balance is available for me to spend. This includes deducting any pending debits (Checks, Charges) which have yet to impact my account. I don't factor pending deposits at all, since they are of no use until they actually clear.

Using my debit card also makes tracking expenses by category easier. My Bank (PNC) records the location of the purchase, so I don't have to worry if I lose a receipt; I can deduce what the category was based on where the purchase was made.

Estimating a budget/category can be difficult for things you aren't explicitly billed for. I'm still gathering data before I can cut an accurate estimate of my monthly expenses per category. For example, I was budgeting about $100 ($25 per week) on gas. Looking back the past three months, I'm spending closer to $54 ($27 every two week) on gas.

I know one girl who is estimating that once she gets a car she'll spend $400 a month on Gas. I told her that was way overblowing that number, but she won't listen. At most, she'll likely spend $120 a month on gas.

If your young like me then nag your parents to buy you stuff, say you'll pay them back... And Don't! Thats what i do :p

I don;t know if they have them in other countries, but generic store brands are fantastic money-savers. For instance, the local generic brand sells macaroni and cheese for 10¢ less than the name brands.

There's hardly a single brand-name piece of food in my entire apartment; I only buy it when they're out of the generic stuff. As a result, my average meal costs a whopping 50¢, meaning far more money for frivolous purchases.

They do in the UK, 8p for loads of stuff at a shop called 'Home Bargains'

This is a huge money saver that a lot of people miss when it comes to over-the-counter medications.

By Law, generic over-the-counter medications must have the same dosage of the same medication, and must have the same efficacy in the same time interval as their name-brand counterparts. The only difference is in the inactive ingredients used, otherwise the medications must be the same or it cannot be sold.

I've seen people insist on buying the expensive name-brand (Tylenol) instead of getting the generic Acetaminophen because even though they are both the exact same medication in the same dosage. Those extra dollars on the name-brands aren't going to better medicine, they are going to pay for the advertising campaigns that are all over TV and print. Hell, last year Astra-Zenica spent more money on marketing than they did on drug R&D and administrative overhead combined. That's why your name-brand Nexium costs $4 a pill.

That's all very true. I'm just saying that for some people, being able to literally watch your money pile getting smaller with every purchase helps them to spend less money.

It's THE most difficult thing about setting a budget, in my opinion, which is why it took us almost half a year to get our envelopes right so that we weren't running out mid-pay period with some of them and having money left over in others. Once we got it figured out, though, it was smooth sailing.

That depends on what kind of car she gets and how much she drives. We spend $550 a month on gas, and that's just my car. My husband has a company car and the gas is on them, so we don't even have to pay for that.

Thats ok then, Paying for one. But there is your car as well, and with the price of Gas going up often...Thats worse IMO.

The better means of strategy is first creating & maintaining monthly spreadsheets to pinpoint exactly what is coming in & what is going out; this will give a clear picture of what needs to be done to save & what spending luxuries need to be lessened or stopped all together...I make a decent living at the heart of the city, but it can be an expensive venture if I wasn't strategic with how I use my income. Making money is the easy part, turning it into more money is a play on discipline, but it's where the advantage lies.

For those unsure, Micro$oft Excel for Windows is the best & easiest program to keep track of monthly expenses - many of the others out there are pretty graphically, but fall short on practicality.

if you are going to eat out. try to eat out for lunch. most often places will have lunch specials where you can get a good meal for a decent price. also, take home leftovers, great for next day.

I agree with Alice's cash system to some extent. You do tend to get more disciplined when you see that bundle of bills dwindle down to nothing.

However, don't slam the plastic just yet. Don't cut up all your credit cards either. Having that option available is helpful in some situations, and it is a good idea to establish a good credit history. Having a very low utilization gives you a fair credit rating, which is useful when you're ready for the big stuff like financing cars, houses, and college.

Still, with credit cards, you must pay the whole amount off when it is due. Otherwise, if you only pay the minimum, the interest will become astronomical. Case in point: a credit card with an Annual Percentage Rate of 30%, will cost you 34.48% in interest (compounded monthly). It's even worse in the Philippines - a "low" 3.5% monthly-bearing credit card which translates to 51.11% annual interest.

Yeah, I use my American Express card for everything I buy (unless it's something under, like, $5) so at the end of the month I get a complete statement and I know exactly where all of my money went and how much it cost me. Add in all of the perks you get with their card (free extended warranty, customer satisfaction guarantee, cash back/rewards, etc.) and I've found it to be a pretty good system. I don't even have to mail in a check at the end of the month since I can just go online into my account and pay the thing off in about 30 seconds. I always get annoyed when a place won't accept AMEX and I have to use my debit card. :(

I've also found that Costco has the absolute best deals on generic medicines ever. A normal 12 pack of Benadryl is a few dollars, yet I was able go get a jug of 400 pills which work just as well for $5.00. I use them as a sleep-aid nowadays when I know I have to wake up early the next morning because they're so cheap.

Jesus woman, what kind of car do you drive? I drove from Pennsylvania to California cheaper than that.

It's a Toyota 4Runner, but I drive about 50 miles a day. So sad. So many books on tape.

It's gotta be more than that since even at 15MPG you'd only be paying $300 a month for gas at $3 a gallon (and still about half the distance I drove when going from Philly to LA).

Well, that's just to work and back. I'm always running around everywhere with kids.

My mother uses this exact system. She's been doing it for years. I was always confused by WHY she did it when I was little. She's on such a limited income, she HAS to see her cash in front of her before she goes and splurges on those used hiking boots for $30.

I tried this system when I was living on my own, and I can tell you I had one HELL of a time doing it. I could never properly anticipate each bill, I would need to take from one envelope to pay for another bill (heat was so outrageously expensive), and my deadbeat roomate never had HER share of the money, so I had to often pay HER way just to make rent in time.

How did you decide to divide everything up? I mean, it took you only 6 months to know how much you needed?

Do you own credit card accounts? Do you use plastic at all? I am just curious if I should try it all again. I know I could save a LOT more money - I don't have a very expensive lifestyle. I just buy a bunch of BULLSHIT like yarn, cat toys, and uncessary clothing. (Also shoes and bags god i am so dumb)

My aunt used the envelope system when we were growing up too, so it definitely has some history - perhaps some magazine in the early 20th century popularized the method. After she died, my uncle was still finding the occasional odd envelope of cash for a couple of years.

Well, what we did was we estimated what we thought we were spending in each category and started with that figure, but for five or six months we kept running out of money in certain envelopes way too early and having money left over in others. We finally got it figured out, but there are still months when we run out of, say, grocery money before pay day. Now, we actually have a separate envelope for holiday meals that we use for Christmas and Thanksgiving, etc. when we know we're going to be spending more money on groceries. And also, we don't fund every envelope every month. Like that one, for instance. We put like $50 or $75 in it one time and just lock it away until we need to use it.

Yes, we both have debit cards (I haven't used mine in almost a year, though) and we each have an American Express card, which I only use when I have to pay for something on Ebay or something like that.

Honestly, it's a complete pain in the ass to get the system set up and running properly. Once you've figured out how much you really need in each category it's easy, though. I would only recommend doing this if you're very undisciplined with money.

Oh, and we both have an envelope called "Don't Ask" which is basically spending money for stuff we don't budget in (cat toys, yarn, flower bulbs, etc.).

If you want to know the simple solution to everything either start logging all your transactions, OR what I prefer, just card everything (ie. digital logging). I even card at fast food these days.

At the end of the month GRAPH all your data. Over a period of 3-6 months you should be able to get a general feel of your ins and outs without changing your lifestyle, then you can play on your weaknesses accordingly.

It's all about the graphs. Statistics don't lie, and unless you're prone to a sudden personality overhaul, you should be kosher.

edit: Alice you are insane I'd shoot myself in the face if I ran that system. A "haircuts" env? Damn.

Something I came up with a while back, and has so far served me well:

Doesn't apply to everything obviously, but its a great maxim to follow when you're trying to save money, as per the intent of this topic.

Money saving?

All I do is reserve $100 per paycheck - don't waste it on anything. Yes, per paycheck. Put it on your savings account or your Money Market thing and never touch it. Best if in the Money Market though - the percentage allows your money to grow.

Years from now you'll reap your rewards.

Other than that, don't buy shit you won't need and cut down on luxury items. Hell, it's hard for me to do even, but it can be done.