I saw the YouTube lady's videos some time ago and began to think about focusing on saving money every way that I can. I was not willing to beat my clothes on a rock, walk to the grocery store, or literally make everything from scratch. There are a LOT of things that you can't make as cheaply as you buy them. I found quite a few and am now saving thousands of dollars in annual expenditures. I am willing to share in detail exactly what I did and the money it saved me. Is anybody interested?

Good topic ! Please share

I'm all for saving some money,


Please share,



This will be a very helpful topic,

open to all info for saving and corner cutters please do share..........

Yes! Please share.


YHVH bless,
MarysLove

I'm hemorrhaging cash right now, I'll try anything once...

Thank's,
John

Awww...thanks for the encouragement. Ok, here goes.

I was suddenly retired with no time to prepare. But God provided everything I needed to buy the perfect little condo for me. Then recurring monthly bills devoured each SS check. I had to control the "uncontrollable" hemorrhage of money. I chose one to work on and, buoyed by success, went through the others confidently.

I was naive and thought these vendors would try to reduce the pain in some way. HA. So I went into full ninja mode. I chose to work on car insurance first. I went online and requested quotes from all the reputable firms I could find. If the quotes are really all over the place, call them and ask if they really understand your situation. Car insurers make the most outrageous assumptions like they assume all people work and drive 10-15 miles one way to work during the worst possible traffic. Here I was a retired person with an absolutely clean driving record,who drove an average of 10-15 miles a week, between 10-4, inside a 5 mile radius of my home, where the speed limit is 35-40 miles an hour. I was being quoted $1400 a year.

It's so easy to do even when you are still covered with your current insurer. Just secure new service, announce to your current vendor your effective date for your new coverage. Tell them you want a prorated refund. Don't take no for an answer.

Make sure you ask your new insurer for paperless communications and payment options. They often give credit for that. GEICO gives credit for all sorts of things like membership in certain organizations.

Now that works for most service contracts except where a guaranteed rate was given to you for a specified time. Here's how it all turned out for me.

Annual Car Insurance: Was $1400.00 (Progressive) – Now $300.00 (GEICO)
Annual Condo Insurance: Was $300.00 (Progressive) – Now $298.00 (GEICO)
Annual Savings: $1102.00

Annual Basic Cable and Internet: Was $1680.00 (Comcast) – Now $1320.00 (Verizon FIOS)
Annual Savings: $360.00 + a rebate check of $75

Annual Phone: Was $408.00 (Vonage) – Now $0.00 (MagicJack)
(1 payment of $60.00 for 5 years service)
Annual Savings: $403.00

Since the MagicJack won't function w/o the internet, I got a cell phone to use if I lost my internet service or if I wanted to carry it in the car just in case.
Virgin Mobile: $20 for 100 min or 3 mths which ever comes first. Then reload for $20.
Annual Cost w/Cell Phone: $500 – Now $80
Annual Savings: $420.00

Annual Gas & Electric: Was $1600.00 – Now $1320.00 (based on first bill of $110.00 + rebates)
Got on the Peak Rewards Program where they give you:
Welcome Kit with programming info for new programmable thermostat (Can save you up to 15%* on heating and cooling costs)
Choice of Cycling: 50% - 75% - 100% (I chose 50%)
Choice of Savings: $50, $75 or $100 in Baltimore Gas & Electric bill credits every summer
Bonus: $50, $75 or $100 matching bonus in the first year
Override: two non-emergency events a year
Online Access: manage your PeakRewards thermostat settings online
Estimated Annual Savings: $280.00 + new thermostat installed, rebates and bill credits
AND, since summer temps wreck the most havoc on my bill, with these savings I'll glide right on through winter w/o much worry. (Plus it helps to have a downstairs neighbor who sets his heat so high I can feel my floor warming up lol. Except for Feb + March I don't have my heat on at all.

Grand Total on just doing these things: $2205.00 annually. That's $183.75 a month!

I've got so many more things that I do that are more lifestyle changes re the laundry, tax helpers, and grocery shopping in next email.

I went to the grocery store today with a set $ amount in mind. Well I went over that amount and was frugal as possible. My amount was $100 and it's only 2 of us in the house. It is true that some of the pre-packaged stuff is cheaper than to make by scratch. What I notice too is it is the basic needs, staples, that have inflated the most. It's like going backwards.

I make spaghetti once a week, making my own sauce. I make a pot of soup homemade once a week to and we get many servings from it. Those are both cheap.

I use vinegar/water and baking soda as cleaners now. I have one of those dusting cloths that you just throw in the washer.

About all I can think of at the moment.

Part Deux

Ok, the really hard part is over once you get that off your back. Remember, ask them if there is anything you can do to get a better rate? Write it down and, after a few months, and call back. You never know. When you decide on a vendor, write down all the pertinent info (name, email and phone) particularly anything you needed to do to achieve a better rate. Even one success is really an accomplishment when you think about it.

Now make yourself a budget on a spreadsheet and keep notes of upcoming bills, prescription renewal, when you need to see doctor, etc. One separate page of my budget is the grocery list where I list dishes I like to eat and don't cost much like vegetable soup, meatloaf, etc. I keep a magnetized list on the fridge where I list the things I need. Then I look up online the current circulars of the 3 stores nearest to me and make my list by store and then print out any coupons. When I get there I don't waste any time because I know what I want. Get in and get out. The budget keeps me right on schedule and tells me if I can afford to buy something extra. And,oh yeah, it gives you the bad news real quick too.

So now I made lifestyle changes. I have never lived lavishly but I do have some very nice things. I intend to enjoy them. Living alone made any bullet biting a lot easier. Hey, if I open the fridge and there's only Black Raspberry ice cream, I am living large.

The Bank - (1) don't buy their checks, order mail order. Better yet only pay online. Currently, I no longer need stamps and bills pay themselves with the exception of one. I had so many 1 and 2 cent stamps left over from the Post Office changing their prices that I just use those for that one bill. You ought to see my envelope at 44 cents. (2) Use your debit card for all your purchases instead of cash which I swear jumps out of my wallet and sneaks away. You'll have a complete hard copy of where you spent what. This is great for your monthly budget, account reconciliation, and taxes. Just make sure that you understand when your account will and will not be charged a fee. My bank doesn't charge me anything if I use it like a credit card. If I use it as a debit card, they charge me $.75 for each transaction.

Speaking of taxes, consider using "Turbo Tax" and "It's Deductible". These 2 software programs are now owned by Intuit and are meant to work together. It's Deductible uses the official government assessments for any donation. You simply select the condition of the item based on their guidelines. If you try to assign a $ amount to your donation, I know you'll underestimate. Better to take the IRS's $ figures. PS.."It's Deductilble" is available all over the internet and I think you can pay for it when you use Turbo Tax. Anyway it's about $15 at Sam's Club. If you file online and ask for a direct deposit, you'll get your federal refund within 10 days and your state refund within 5.

Now back to the budget. I set up each month separately (on contiguous pages) so I can note when I have paid the annual cost and when it is due again. I use the tax refund to clear out the most painful bills like property taxes (which eliminates the escrow amount from my mortgage payment), car insurance, condo insurance, and Home Owners Association fees. When you are able to do that, you can see that you have breathing room and can plan for the non-essentials. Also, buying groceries without a list or a budget is just like a baby driving your car. It never ends well. Once you see how much control you are having over your money through this budget spreadsheet, you'll feel so responsible and like a really good steward.

Ok, let's build some character shall we? I can't hear youuuu. LOL.

I know I'm not reinventing the wheel with any of this and reminding me of that will take the starch right out of me.

Personal Grooming. Buy stick deodorant. Be careful that only 1 person uses it and only after a shower. Just ask the queen of funny lumpy things - me. Using a cloth washcloth is a fine exfoliater for your face. Always use moisturizer - buy a large container of something decent at Sam's. It will last forever. (No I don't own stock in Sam's, I just talk about it endlessly.)

Bath. I buy my shampoos, conditioners, body washes in humongous bottles from ... all together now...Sam's Club. I usually water them down about 1/3 water and 2/3 product to start. Then add more from there if you want. I do this to all my soaps and conditioners. Dawn and hand soap like Soft Soap will last forever and remain so sudsy and fragrant. Try it and you'll start to get a grip on the amount of products you've been wasting. If you, like me, have always maintained your hair at home then you know how much $$ that's worth. Cut, color, blow dry yikes! That's about $125 at my salon. Puleeze. FYI, if you're buying those large bottles from Sams you will need to transfer them to smaller bottles for the shower. The small Heinz ketchup plastic bottle works great for me. The little insert inside the lid let's you control how much you squeeze out AND, because I am not fearful of breaking up my uninsured body in a wet tub, I put large flat rubber bands around the center of the bottle to be able to grip it without dropping. Geez, this is like a documentary ...

Medications. Get a list together and check prices online and at the local drug stores and dept stores like Target and Walmart. While you're at Target or Walmart, price just getting an exam and reusing your own frames. With those savings, you can consider polarized lens which are a big help and look great.

Alrighty then. I see everyone is asleep or out looking in the fridge so that's it for now. Next episode find Judy doing laundry. Don't miss it!

LOL Judy

Very good tips ! Thank you

OK I'll bit ouchhhhh. Here it goes

Ten years ago what has gone to save money.

Fancy house in a beautiful area, gone it.
5 bedrooms we now have 3

In ground swimming pool, slide, deck, diving board, someone to open and close it. Now we use a hose LOL

Central Air. Now we sweat or go into the one bedroom that has a window air conditioner.

Two car attached garage with automatic door opener. Now a detached garage and you open it as it grinds and squeaks LOL

Central Vac. Now a drag along vac, but I do have one on each floor.

Wood burning fireplace. Now a outdoor fire pit.

Every Other year we bought a new vehicle, we now have a 1998 and a 2000. We just look after them well and now don't have any car payments.

Built in dishwasher, now I how to roll a portable around.

Yearly vacation, only been away twice in 10 years.

Walk in closet now, I shop at a thrift store and don't need the space that I haven't got anyway.

All our furniture is used from auction sales.

We are very thrifty.

Now for the good part of all this !!!!! TA DA We own several houses, one is a triplex and we have rent money rolling in every month. I'm 54 and hubby is 60 we could retire but with the economy so bad and all we're afraid to. So we stick withe our jobs and wait. The best move we ever made was to down size our personal life and buy cheaper real estate and get the rent. At times not having the luxuries in life seems crummy but darn we don't owe a cent and it's so comfortable. Our friends thought we'd lost our marbles but now their the ones that wish they would have followed suit. Jilleo

At 10mpg, I save by riding my bicycle anywhere I can if I'm traveling alone. While it isn't much now, back when fuel was $4/gallon we were saving over $400 a month.

We could probably start cooking at home more. A garden would be nice also.

Hemorrhaging cash, eh, John? I have that problem around tool stores and gun shops. Good thing there's a shortage right now!

In Christ,

Jonathan

I quit using subs that are democRATS Plenty of folks out of work and it does not take long talking to someone to tell their slant. I pick and "choose" whom every I will on jobs I do. That goes from the landscape folks, mill work and many other jobs. It is my choice I would never point that out to them just discern as I talk to them. Some are easier to spot than others.

I enjoyed reading that Jilleo!

We had no choice but to downsize. The money made
the decision. It's quite amazing what you can DO, without
what you use to have.

When our clothes dryer stopped working, it was an inconvenient
adjustment. But 2 years later, I'm asked ~~why don't
you GET a dryer now?
I don't want one. lol! It saves us a lot of money on power,
we have a lot less that gets thrown into the 'dirty laundry' i.e.
like the wet towels? My girls now have thier OWN color of towels that
they reuse all week (sometimes longer) And in the good weather
I love the smell of sun-freshly dried laundry.


YHVH bless,
MarysLove

Isaac, that reminds me of the email that went around when the collapse continued and Obama said small businesses had to make tough choices.

One small business owner said "I had to lay off eight people. So I went out in the parking lot and found ten 'Obama/Biden' stickers on cars, and laid off eight of their owners."

In Christ,

Jonathan

I drink alot of DT PEPSI(2-LITER)-I use to drink 12 a week 48-50 a month on my own. i know drink mostly water(better for me too).i now only buy 4 a week(24 a month) that's half what i use too.

at $1.25 ea x 32=$40.00 a month savings(not counting the sales tax)
that pays my water bill for the month.
i also cut down the temperature on my hot water heater to 130 degrees and have saved $50.00 a month on the power bill and still have plenty of hot water.

i also use those new energy star fluorescent lamp light bulb-they are 75 watts but only use the power of a 20 watt bulb and last for 7 years-so you don't have to replace them as often either.

LOL Although, that doesn't sound like a 'tough' decision.

God bless you.
Love, ysiY,
Gina

Frugal living and hard work will make for good luck Father hears prayers but I would venture to guess that He answers them more often for those that don't sit around praying for material things and not working. He will give you the bricks but we must build the building one brick at a time. No poor me babies. Let me quote PM "it is not a sin to be poor but is one to stay poor" God Speed ABMurray

We have Peruvans that we know. You can learn alot from them. The other day my husband opened a 50lb bag of dog food. Normally you would throw away the top part of the bag after you open it. The man took the thread from the bag to use to sew patches on his clothes.

This other guy had short boots. The soles are good but dirt and stuff got into his boots. He got a hold of some old boots that were high and removed the leather off his boots and replaced it with the leather sides of the old boots.

What's that saying? Waste not, want not.

Mary, you are my kind of woman! I made this change year round even if it means that I have to dry my sheets on top of my sofa and chairs. I live alone in a condo so I don't have a yard. I use dryer racks on the deck in good weather.

I had some high thread count sheets and was always growling when they came out of the laundry more wrinkled than any other sheets I had ever had. Then I read that if you damp dry them, take them down while they are a bit damp around the edges, and put them on your bed, you won't believe the difference it makes! I'm not kidding. I put the fitted sheets on first. Now my sheets actually fit my bed, stay on better than ever and I can smooth them with my hand. When the fitted is dry, I put on the flat sheet and smooth them out especially along the top hem which I fold back. I don't use a drop of softener and holy cow. It's looks like I ironed them. What a beautiful thing to see and smell when you pull back your covers to get into bed.

For towels, I just line dry and then throw them into the dryer with those crazy dryer balls. Set for 5 min. Presto, I've got the best of everything, great smell, softness, and NO dryer cost. Doesn't seem funny when others think it's a BIG head and heartache to leave some of the "necessities" of life just sit there. I remember how I couldn't "live" without the dryer so I understand. But it's also like the day I bailed myself out of "hair jail". LOL..another pathetic tale of female angst.

One thing I've started doing since I buy groceries for our household is that once (maybe twice) a month we "eat" out of our pantry or freezer. For that one week (sometimes two), I'll only take enough cash ($20 - $ 40) to buy produce and perishable things (taking cash keeps you from overspending). Then for that week I use up all that little bit of stuff that accumulates in the back of your pantry and freezer, and this will cut your grocery bill down per month. You've probably got a can of beans that have been in your pantry for a year (put them in tortillas); or how about those two frozen hamburger buns in the back of your freezer (cut them into thirds, sprinkle with some olive oil and herbs instead of buying fancy rolls). I had bought a huge bag of elbow macaroni eight months ago from Sam's and forgot about it -- look who learned how to make homemade mac and cheese -- so easy and so much better than buying it all premade and so full of fat!! Have nothing left but some milk, eggs and flour? Have breakfast, eggs and pancakes, for dinner -- the kids will love it! Its taken my kids some getting used to not having so much "choice" for snacks every single week, but it's been very good for them to not be so picky.
Another idea for moms/dads with kids and not much money to go out to eat on, is to do an international night once a week or month. Have the kids put the names of ten countries of their choice on little pieces of paper and put them in a paper bag, and each week a different child chooses a country. Then mom/dad does a little internet recipe search and finds fun food from that country to make at home (doesn't have to be fancy). The kids try to find things around the house (or garden) in the country's flag colors or "theme" to decorate the table with. For Greece, we had nothing but the colors: a white tablecloth and blue placemats, but one child drew a picture of the flag for the "centerpiece" and it looked Greek to us! We did this every Sat. night when our kids were in ele. and middle school, and it was a lot of fun if you enjoy different cultures, which we do. I learned that I liked sauerkraut after all, and that the first French fries weren't from France at all -- they originated in Belgium! It's also a good chance to teach a few table manners if you don't make too big a deal of it...it's hard to be too rowdy at a British high tea served on china!

Well, I'm just giddy with anticipation......

YSIC
Shannon

Hi Zadok,
I know what you mean...things have really increased in price. I'm going to learn canning this spring, so I can put up veggies and fruit. I think it is a lost art, and it will be nice to do.

YSIC
Shannon

I am going to have a garden this year, first time in a long long time. I think I am going to try freezing as much as possible. At least we will be eating healthier this summer, then possible a fall garden if all goes well. Used to you could buy good home grown veggies around here at farmers markets and fruit stands fairly cheap, but even that has gotten sky high. Time to grow your own LOL

You are so cute! We love hearing these tips.....sweet girl.

YSIC
Shannon

I don't know about most of you, but I remember as a child helping my mother when she would hang the laundry out on the clothes line......and us running out to get them down before it rained.......Ahhhh......those were the good ole days. Lots of fond memories. Also, remember when Moma would do her canning in the summer, and we also had a respectable garden...especially tomatoes....and fig tree, and peach tree and now I'm telling you....THAT'S LIVING!

Back then we were more resourceful, there wasn't a McDonald's on every corner, and we ate better and were healthier. Nowadays, children are brought up on McDonalds and other trash because mother's are working and are so tired they don't have time to prepare a decent meal. But, we'd all be a lot better off if we could get back to those ways.

YSIC
Shannon

you just described my childhood LOL and I totally agree!

I think I will put up a clothes line in my backyard. I have been wanting one for a while now as i love the smell of sheets dried outside.

God Bless,

Debra

I hang mine out and use racks inside when it's nasty out. When I cook, I tend to make a double batch so I can either freeze it, or have it again next day or later in the week. This way i'm doing 2 days worth of cooking in one. Or if a dish requires noodles or rice, I double or triple it to go with another recipe using the noodles or rice as well. When I was growing up, my parents had a garden every summer and we had fruit trees as well. I miss that. We used to burn our garbage, and even in the winter hang out the wash. We had radiators to further dry things which would still be damp. Hand washed many items as well. And we had a clothesline in the basement near the furnace for rainy or snowy days. There were six of us kids so things were rough, yet I wouldn't trade those years for any others.

Except for the time coming with Father!