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Your Favorite Money Saving Tip
I apologize for the vent in advance..... 
I'm bored and I've been watching "Til Debt Do Us Part" on (it was on after the Olympics), which is a show about couples trying to get out of debt. It bothers me every time I watch these shows or read articles online about "tips to save money" because the tips are ridiculous. Even the tips in the Money section here are ridiculous. I always think... really, you didn't think of that before?!?! You thought spending $900/month on clothes was normal?!?!
Anyway, watching the show has made me start searching online for tips that I could actually use. I'm sure there's got to be SOMETHING we're not doing, but I can't find anything!
For example... just a few of the Nest's tips are to stop going to the dry cleaner, link internet/cable/phone together to get a discount, and ask credit cards for a lower rate. We never dry clean anything (if a new outfit says "dry clean only," we won't even buy it), we pay off credit cards in full each month so there's no interest anyway, and we have internet/cable together already and we don't even have a land line! For every "tip" I've ever found, we either already do or it doesn't apply. We really don't do anything frivolous, DH brews his own coffee, we rarely eat lunches out (maybe once or twice a month!), we clip coupons every month, we carpool to work, we have a water filter and we never buy bottled.
If we can't save more money, I don't think I'll ever feel stable enough for a house or children (someday). I feel like our combined salary should be plenty for 2 people and 1 dog.
So... since I can't find it out there, what are YOUR favorite saving tips? I'm desperate and I've been looking for tips for years. I can't be doing everything already, can I?!
Re: Your Favorite Money Saving Tip
I'm with you. I've never found a tip from an article online that helped me either. Here are a couple things we do...
1. No TV. DH pays for some online subscription to basketball online so he plugs his computer into the TV for that. Otherwise we mostly just watch movies or shows we can get online.
2. Cold water only for laundry unless I feel like something is REALLY gross and needs some heat to get the cooties out.
3. DH buys his energy drinks by the case from Amazon instead of singles from 7-11, the gas station, etc.
4. I buy all our beans, rice, nuts, flours, herbs, etc... from bulk bins.
5. I've been bad about it lately, but I have a spreadsheet and I chart everything I spend money on. I know that's excessive for some people, but it has really helped me notice when I'm going to Starbucks too much, etc.
I think those are the biggies. Good luck!
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seems like u are doing really well with your money. My dh and I are in debt about 10k from student loans and his credit card. We are on a VERY strict budget right now trying to pound those cards away and should be done by November. We give ourselves an amount for food for the week and have it in cash. It lets us see the money rather than it being on our debit card, and we know if we are about to run out. We go to the farmers market for all of our veggies and eggs since it is a lot cheaper than the grocery store.
After we get our debt paid off, we are going a little crazy and trying to live off of one of our incomes. The other income will be strictly put into savings. Without any credit card payments or unnecessary fees during the month, I think we could prob live off of one income. We are going to try to use my dh's income for saving for a house. If we can do it, in a few years we should be able to buy a house either in full, or with a VERY small 15 yr loan.
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Like Foto said, we are paying off a few things, and then going to live off of one income, while putting the other into savings... while also being credit card free! We don't buy any processed foods, anymore, and also buy all of our fruits, veggies at the Farmers Market, and then we get our meat from Sam's club.
Ways to save money are different for everyone. What I would suggest doing is printing out your credit card statements, or make a list of the expenses you've had in the last few months and look and see what can be cut out. Only you guys will know that. For your monthly expenses, see if you can reduce those bills (water, electricity, cable/internet, cell phone, car insurance, etc). Let me know what you guys end up doing... I'd love to know!
oooo I am going to try this! I am obsessed with cleaning out the lint trap between (and sometimes during!) dryings.
It's a BOY and a GIRL!!
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Sounds like us, we have no debt at all but we don't have much spending money either. The only things we do that aren't on your list:
No TV - We have an antenna and Netflix.
Grocery shop at super walmart. We save a ton of money we used to spend at Food Lion for the same stuff.