I wrote a post on this a few years ago, and with financial times the way they are, I thought this might be a good time to update it and ask: How are you Saving Money?
- We live in a smaller house than we can afford, and do our own gardening, home repairs and painting. This year, we redid our front garden to expand it and use only plants that don't require watering, and that are perennial. This is going to save us a lot of money on annuals! Plus it's going to save a lot of time spent on mowing. The new tree will also give us more shade in the summer and save on energy. I have posted a video clip of the project in the Neat and Simple Living Cafe.
Find more videos like this on Neat and Simple Living Cafe
- Pay bills online with a free checking & online account from Wachovia which also pays interest on our balances.
- We still have our home equity loan balance on a 0% credit card. Haven't paid interest for the 3 years since we renovated the entire front and backyard of our home which has enabled us to pay it off much faster. I set up reminders in my GOOGLE CALENDAR to tell me when the 0% rate is up and then we move it to another 0% interest account. We have paid most of it, and used it to invest in a new roof. But it's still all 0%.
- We never use an ATM or any other banking service that charges fees.
- We changed all our lightbulbs to compact flourescent bulbs
including our front porch and outdoor lights. Of course we got them in bulk on sale! We still have not had to replace any of these bulbs. They really last!
- We use a single Amazon.com Rewards Credit Card and get $25 rewards every month or two. We put all daily living purchases on it and pay it in full every month. We use the reward certificates for birthday gifts that we can simply enclose in a birthday card. In 2008, we earned over 500$ for using our card.
- We use a Miles One Rewards credit card for all business purchases and get free miles for traveling. In 2008, we got Alan's ticket to go with me to the NSGCD Conference for free.
- Don't go to movie theaters anymore - we have cable & wait for movies to come out on cable. We use Tivo to record movies we really want to see.
- We only eat in restaurants or get takeout maybe once a month or even 2 months. We cook at home every day.
- We only run the dishwasher and washing machine when it's full.
- Buy water by the case - on sale. Only drink water, coffee or tea...no sodas, etc. We don't drink alcohol at all any more. NOTE: We are looking for a water filtration system and no longer using plastic bottles. We hope to soon be able to find water packaged in those biodegradable corn-based plastic bottles.
- We moved our car insurance to Geico last year and saved $1500 per year. Northern NJ has nearly the highest insurance rates in the country. We couldn't believe we saved this much. And our insurance rates have actually gone down every year! Probably because my car just keeps getting older. We also have a huge collision deductible which also keeps rates down.
- I cut my husband's hair myself.
- I keep my own hair long and trim the front of my hair myself so I only have to go to the hairdresser 2-3 times a year.
- I color my own hair.
- I mostly only wear lipstick and blush. Only use full makeup for special occasions. :)
- Only wear a watch and my wedding rings as jewelry. Jewelry on my neck, wrists or ears causes me a lot of discomfort and annoyance anyway.
- Do my own pedicures and go out for a pedicure maybe once a year as a treat for a special occasion.
- Do my own manicures...and I don't use nail polish on my fingernails - it saves a lot of time too!! : )
- We rarely throw any food anyway. We have a system for storing leftovers to make sure we use them them. We always put leftovers in a designated section of the top shelf in the fridge next to the milk so we can't forget about them. We use leftovers the next day for lunch or snacks or as a side dish with dinner.
- We have a small Cuisinart counter top combo toaster, broiler and convection oven and use that for heating & baking small portions instead of turning on the oven.
- We keep our cars. I've only bought one brand new car in my life! Cars only depreciate so I never saw the point in losing a few thousand dollars as soon as you drive it off the lot. But I did finally splurge on my 40th birthday and got myself a 2000 Sebring Convertible which I will keep as long it is still safe to drive! I love it! It is actually very practical as we can open the top and haul just about anything an SUV can. Even more! Plus it gets about 27 MPG. Not bad when you consider how much mileage an SUV gets. In 2008, it is still going strong, but does have a little water leak. : )
I had my 1988 Honda Accord for 10 years until I gave it to my brother in 2000. He had it another 4 years before it died. My husband has a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid he LOVES and it gets nearly 50 mpg. We also buy other things used...like our dining room set.
- We don't buy CDs or DVDs anymore - we download most of our music - we get 25 songs free every month with our Comcast cable internet service. The super high speed internet pays for itself between the free music and all the research we do on it to save money.
- We avoid processed foods like microwave popcorn, we use the bulk kind and have a West Bend Stir Crazy popcorn popper.
which is actually a lot of fun to use! We also make our own sugar free ice cream with just fruit and milk using the Vitamix blender we invested in. Cutting out sugar and gluten has saved a lot of money in addition to improving our health dramatically.
- We use a digital camera for photos and ONLY print out a very select few!
Whew...that was fun! So what are your top tips? Would love to hear any additions you might have! : )
See you next week!
