Money saving tips

[stevej37]

Buy beer in the 24 pack instead of the 4 pack.

[aschen]

Cut your own grass, paint your own walls, change your own oil, etc to your ability or your ability to comprehend youtube tutorials

Buy good stuff where it matters

Shop at aldis! Not all their stuff is great but alot of it is, i think its a full 30% cheaper than the local grocery for stuff i buy there

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

Drive an affordable car. Low maintenance, low operating costs, low insurance. Corolla, Honda, Jetta, etc.

Don't buy new furniture.

Don't buy meals. Eat at home, take your lunch to work.

Either don't get married, or stay married.

Put money into a retirement plan every paycheck.

Don't finance things. Ever. Can't pay cash for? You can't afford it.

Do your own repairs, house and car.

Yeah, this is pretty much me. I've worked at the Kia plant for nearly 12 years now and although there is a large cafeteria there, I have always taken my lunch to work, I don't even buy things out of the vending machines at work either, super pricey.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[john70t]

Originally Posted by aschen

Shop at aldis! Not all their stuff is great but alot of it is,

Much less expensive. Make your own stir fry and other freezable items.
Do not buy the olive oil or SuperTurkyJerky dog treats.

[Bill Douglas]

There is a particular pinot noir I drink and the supermarket has a very friendly price on the stuff every six months or so. And the Scottish in me doesn't like to pay anything more than I have to. So I buy three or four dozen at a time.

Similarly, the cat. He will only eat one flavour of Fancy Feast cat food. So when there is a sale on I buy about four slabs (trays) of it.

[Crowbob]

Go with scale of production.

Buy a brewery.

[stevej37]

^^^
Best answer yet.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by wildthing

This assumes you have means:
And no, you don't NEED an LV or Chanel or whatever else is in fashion these days.

You'd be surprised. These usually appreciate if you buy the right models for the right price. We buy them on every trip to Europe, where they're already cheaper and some models that are rare in the US are easier to find there. Mrs. Lee bought a Chanel purse in Munich for €4000 10 yrs ago, got the VAT refund at the airport and is about to list it for $8000.

[LWJ]

I was raised by parents who are really weird about money. They believed they were poor. They acted poor. They were firmly upper middle class.

I learned much from this. Be frugal most of the time. My wife / kids often shop at Goodwill or similar. You can shop like a billionaire there.

Mow the lawn. Get a side gig. Live well under your means. Earn more. Pay less taxes (legally). Buy stuff second hand. All my tools came from garage sales and pawnshops. Never buy a new car. Remodel to live in a better neighborhood than you can afford.

Invest significantly. Have lots of cash and use it to your benefit. On the SUV thread I
Mentioned a suburban I bought for 850. It was a solid buy. I bought some apartments that were “on sale” 4 years ago. My equity is up 5x in 48 months.

Don’t divorce. Marry a thrifty wife. Have reasonable aspirations in regards to spending.

I have a buddy who is a billionaire. He drove a crappy Camry for years. No idea what he drives now but I promise it is modest.

It is the process of a million decisions that will gain you millions of dollars.

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by LWJ

I was raised by parents who are really weird about money. They believed they were poor. They acted poor. They were firmly upper middle class.

I learned much from this. Be frugal most of the time. My wife / kids often shop at Goodwill or similar. You can shop like a billionaire there.

Mow the lawn. Get a side gig. Live well under your means. Earn more. Pay less taxes (legally). Buy stuff second hand. All my tools came from garage sales and pawnshops. Never buy a new car. Remodel to live in a better neighborhood than you can afford.

Invest significantly. Have lots of cash and use it to your benefit. On the SUV thread I
Mentioned a suburban I bought for 850. It was a solid buy. I bought some apartments that were “on sale” 4 years ago. My equity is up 5x in 48 months.

Don’t divorce. Marry a thrifty wife. Have reasonable aspirations in regards to spending.

I have a buddy who is a billionaire. He drove a crappy Camry for years. No idea what he drives now but I promise it is modest.

It is the process of a million decisions that will gain you millions of dollars.

Unless your buddy gives million$ or hundreds of million$ away, his priorities don’t seem right. IMO, the whole point of getting super-duper rich is to give it away or NOT to live modestly. Both would be best.

[herr_oberst]

Hot tubs, pool tables and pianos can be had for free on Craigslist.

[wildthing]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

You'd be surprised. These usually appreciate if you buy the right models for the right price. We buy them on every trip to Europe, where they're already cheaper and some models that are rare in the US are easier to find there. Mrs. Lee bought a Chanel purse in Munich for €4000 10 yrs ago, got the VAT refund at the airport and is about to list it for $8000.

That's great. Because that's "making money". Which is different from buying and filling your house with bags that only get used once a year, and never selling.

[LWJ]

Crowbob,
Not disagreeing with you re: my buddy. He wasn’t always wealthy. Born dirt poor. He has some issues with money as well.

[rwest]

Spend money to save money?

I was thinking that it would be smart for me to go through my house and add insulation, weatherstrip, etc. to save on utilities.

I’m also thinking of solar, but I would need to reinforce the roof, which given the fairly long payback on the solar, might not pan out.

[wildthing]

Also an indirect money saving tip: Have a goal, and keep that goal in mind every time you spend.

Like have $xM by age y.

Afford college for x kids.

Retire at age n with $xM net worth that you can draw from for z years.

[944 S2]

Get rid of or limit streaming services. There so much free tv out there anyways!

[john70t]

Originally Posted by rwest

I was thinking that it would be smart for me to go through my house and add insulation, weatherstrip, etc. to save on utilities.

Cold winter is the perfect time to find heat losses.

1) Make a basic blueprint. Write down results. Should all be about the same.
Use an infrared thermometer and work around the entire perimeter. Don't forget windows ceilings and rim joist in the basement.

2) Look for even snow pack on the roof. Icicles dripping in freezing weather is a danger zone.

3) Cold/Hot within walls creates an enclosed "dew point" where water collects, rots, molds.

I've got another summer project myself (also need to fix the dripping below somehow):

[wdfifteen]

Things we've done recently to save money:

Changed the broken glass on an iPad. $75 estimate. DIY for less than $30.

Checked credit card accounts for recurring charges. We got rid of $29 a month in 2 accounts that my wife was tricked into signing up for and $12 a month for Audiobooks subscription we don't use anymore.

Got an estimate for Owen's grooming - $45 and 2 month wait. We used to pay to have it done because he's such a mean little sucker. Watched a video on grooming a mean dog, bought a grooming stand, cone of shame, muzzle for about $35. Annual savings of $145.00 (we already had the clippers for our other dogs)

Installed solar panels. This will be the first full month they've been installed. We are on track for a credit by the end of the month. They were operating for 10 days in February - our 2022 Feb. bill was $177.42 our 2023 bill is $94.49.

Spring maintenance on lawn mowers, saved about $150 by DYI

Burn wood in our stove for when the weather is right.

[GH85Carrera]

Buy low, sell high!

Don't even bother trying to "keep up with the Joneses" we never have. We eat out every Friday night, and a breakfast every Sunday morning. Only because we like to and money is not at all tight.

I do mow and maintain my grass. Not just to save the money, but I can always use the exercise. It sure beats paying for a gym membership. My wife spends hours in the multiple gardens we have. I work on my own cars, as a hobby. With two cars from the mid 1980s, there is always some project I can tinker on, always something to do in the garage.

I fix things around the house and the only time I called a plumber was when a sewer line shifted at the connection to the main sewer line in the neighborhood. He had to dig a hole 6 feet deep to get to the connection and his head was below the ground level as he made the connection. I know my limits.

[Bill Douglas]

The only time I've really saved money was in my 20's when I was working three jobs. Multiple mortgages to pay.

I thought it was pretty weird "All this money piling up in my bank account." I was so tired that I didn't go out at night to bars and restaurants three times a week so wasn't spending everything.