The Frugal Living Thread

[Gurn]

A thread for posting your money saving, spend less ideas.

 

Food ideas:

 

Freshco  chicken noodle soup @ $.67 is $.60 a can cheaper- and still just as good as Campbell's.

Freshco  Root beer @ $.97 per 2 litre bottle compared to Mug or A/W at $2.00 a 2 litre bottle. Still tastes fine.

-Costco tip- watch out for their bundle packs, sometimes one of the two/or more items being sold together is almost out of date.

 

 

Car ideas:

When parking try to find a spot that will allow you to drive straight out, without backing up. 

If you have backing up to, do it with an already warmed up engine.     saves a bit of fuel, each time.

If there is nobody behind you, there is no need to rush up to that red light just to jab the brakes on; slow down  early, and coast till it turns green. Getting a car moving is harder on gas than keeping it moving.

Tire inflation is actually important, check to see you are inside manufactures guidelines.

Fuel up when it is cold.

do the math on how much a full tank of gas weighs, and consider hauling around less of it on a daily basis.

Also how much extra stuff do you just haul  around in that car but never use?

Costco gas is cheap, doesn't take too long to pay off that membership fee, just in gas savings, never mind the stuff in their store.

 

Seasonal sales:

Valentines day coming up, and chocolate sure gets cheaper the day after Valentines day, same as after Halloween.

Remember how damn hot it got last summer? Probably a decent time, now,  to buy an air conditioner.

Likewise as winter ends, snow shovels, and rock salt get cheap.

 

Credit cards:

 I never used one, until I discovered I could get money back from using my card.

Now almost everything goes on the card, and gets paid off every month. No fees, no interest; and every year I get back about $100 bucks.

Also, kind of nice to have the money stay with me for the entire month, before it gets sent of to Master Card.

 

 

Around the house;

Turn the thermostat/heat down at night or when you are not going to be home. Simple to do, but simple to forget.

Cooking and using the clothes dryer at night might mean the furnace doesn't come on for awhile.

Toaster ovens take less electricity than the big one in the stove, if you are only cooking for one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by gurn

[JM_]

Food ideas:

 

- learn the fine art of fried rice

- buy a freezer bag system and cook in bulk. It saves tons of $ and you also save a lot of time. 

 

Activities:

- learn to hike

- take up snow shoeing 

 

[hammertime]

Step 1: Get a job you can do online.

Step 2: Move somewhere tropical and cheep with internet. 

Step 3: Save money buy a house in BC, charge and insane amount for rent. 

Step 4: Kick your feet up at at your villa in said tropical country paid for by the 12 college students living on the floor eating ichiban in your 4 bdr house in Van.  

[CaptKirk888]

Thanks Gurn. Needed this humour Sunday morn.

[-AJ-]

Maybe it's obvious and harder than it sounds, but I always ask myself before a purchase: "Do I really need this? How much am I going to use this? Can I go without this?" Amazing how much you can save by being discriminate with your purchases, especially your "luxury" ones.

[bishopshodan]

Never use credit cards. Cash as often as possible. Give yourself an allowance.

Careful of monthly subscriptions. Have as few as possible.

No expensive vacations. We live in BC, best place anyway.

Dont upgrade tech until you need. I had a blackberry until last year ( 11 years)

Become vegetarian. Way cheaper.

I cut my own hair...and my wifes.

Don't eat at restaurants too often. 

Make your own coffee to go. 

Drive as little as possible and own an efficient vehicle. 

 

 

[Gurn]

6 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

Dont upgrade tech until you need. I had a blackberry until last year ( 11 years)

This is huge.

A lot of people run out to get the newest wiz bang techy things; yet will often admit the old one still does everything they need.

I'm using an I phone 4, given to me by a friend. I just needed a cell phone, not a personal data mini computer.

[Bounce000]

Live at home and take advantage of mom and dad for as long as possible.

[Gurn]

6 minutes ago, Bounce000 said:

Live at home and take advantage of mom and dad for as long as possible.

further to this, even if you don't pay them rent, put the money you saved away-do not spend it on other things.

Also ask your folks for tips on how to save money, they have years of experience to call on.

[-DLC-]

Freshco, while dumpy and with some things that are a no (much of their meat), has some of the best prices going.  

 

You'll save at least 10-20% on your bill if you price check and take advantage of their flyer sales (and, as I do, get a raincheck for items in the flyer that are sold out...because when you use it you get an extra 10% off the price).

 

I used to do a bit more couponing....occasionally now, but there are some good ones to be had (sometimes even getting items free if you do it right).

 

I always turn lights out when it becomes daylight or when leaving a room.  Also do the heat thing too - keep it lower vs up (that's what sweaters and blankets are for).

 

Wash clothes in cold water (Stone Cold says so, that's why).

[Gurn]

Grocery store membership cards- the free ones-:

Handy to have, for years my Save on Foods card wasn't even my real name, so I didn't worry about being 'tracked' but still got their savings.

[-DLC-]

Cooking at home versus eating out.  HUGE savings and much healthier.

 

Prepare larger meals and freeze or have leftovers.

[Gurn]

5 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

Freshco, while dumpy and with some things that are a no (much of their meat), has some of the best prices going. 

5 bucks for 4 litre bucket of  of ice cream at Freshco- I  have seen no better price for that.

[JM_]

38 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

Never use credit cards. Cash as often as possible. Give yourself an allowance.

Careful of monthly subscriptions. Have as few as possible.

No expensive vacations. We live in BC, best place anyway.

Dont upgrade tech until you need. I had a blackberry until last year ( 11 years)

Become vegetarian. Way cheaper.

I cut my own hair...and my wifes.

Don't eat at restaurants too often. 

Make your own coffee to go. 

Drive as little as possible and own an efficient vehicle. 

 

 

funny thing is, you can often do way better DIY'ing it than what you get in restaurants. 

 

Coffee e.g., we picked up an awesome little machine (Breville Bambino) and can make excellent shots with it. Haven't been to Starbucks in years. 

 

Food is the same way, learn some basic techniques and you never have to waste $ at the Keg again. 

 

We did this kind of stuff to pay off our mortgage way faster, plus it just kind of suits us, being the cheap old farts that we are. 

 

--

 

Disagree on credit cards tho - as long as your disciplined and pay off the balance, you can earn a lot of points even on no fee cards now.

 

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by JM_

[Gurn]

5 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

Cooking at home versus eating out.  HUGE savings and much healthier.

 

Prepare larger meals and freeze or have leftovers.

As I prepped for retirement I began tracking my expenses. My eating out habit was costing over $150 per month, now down to the occasional $4.20 egg McMuffin.

[thrago]

I order all my groceries online mostly at Walmart.  If you do this you wont buy stuff you don't need as often as those things you see on as your shopping you don't need but buy add up quick.  If you order next day delivery it's less then $5 and on top of saving me close to 2 hrs of my time I can't drive to walmart and back for $5.

[RUPERTKBD]

Lots of good advice here. I'll add this one point: Never go grocery shopping when you're hungry.

 

It's actually kind of amazing how easy it is to walk past the chips aisle, when you've got a full stomach.....and how hard it is not to, when you're peckish....

[JM_]

One thing I recall from uni as well is getting a group of 6 other people together to make dinners. Each person makes a dinner big enough to feed 7, and you budget the meal for $25. Get together once per week and spit it all up. You can make a lot of really good large meals for $25 and thats your weekly dinner budget. 

[Nuxfanabroad]

Haven't been driving for about 23 yrs. Sure DON'T miss it. Of course things aren't spread out in sub/ & urban Japan, as they are back home. Also really love cycling. Have learned to carry a crap-tonne, grocery order from Costco(1 hr ride). Sometimes resemble the Grinch ascending Mt Crumpet.

 

As above^, also buzz my hair at home(almost 3 decades now).

No smart phone - hate that shyte

1 credit card

Japan's a $ society. Hope it never changes..but I guess it'll eventually be imposed(?)

A library card(but this helped me more yrs back..seems hard to concentrate on books these dAZE)

Chess is good if one is broke(mental exercise too)

Speaking of exercise, outdoors is ideal(if poss). Hiking & cycling are a great combo

Shelve the Casanova-crap :^) find a lass/dude who thinks like you. KISS theory baby

Find an honest, creative hobby(eg: writing, guitar, language whatever) & try to apply the 10,000 hr theory

If you enjoy a drink, discipline yourself to go dry 50% of the time. No, 2 hrs on/off doesn't count!

 

Time & money are one & the same - try not to squander too much

[Gnarcore]

7 months a year I ride a motorbike as opposed to mu SUV. Way less gas, insurance and way more fun. 

 

Make your own carbonara. Can feed 4 people on 10 bucks and it is delicious!!!