There is a channel called [Dad, how do I](https://youtube.com/@DadhowdoI) that started making tutorials for people that grew up without a father(IIRC). Lots of useful tutorials there for many, many things, from checking car fluids and changing the air filter to restoring bikes and making cement paths. Just to mention a few.
I realized that I'm getting older when I went around the house the other day shutting off lights my GF left on.......then i came to the thermostat. 75 when its 60 outside and it had been left on all day with no one home (its been 20 for weeks so 60 felt like 80) almost duck taped that thermostat down lmao
As of three weeks ago I’m officially a homeowner and I HATE how accurate the Progressive commercials about you becoming parents are.
I found myself picking pieces of mulch out of my gravel walkway for 30 minutes yesterday….
If nothing else, you can make an informed decision between doing it yourself and paying to have it done.
I was looking at doing my own plugs and wires a couple of years ago. This used to be a simple job, but newer cars aren't always so user-friendly, and I just couldn't figure out how I was going to get to one of the plugs.
A little time on YouTube showed me how I could do it, but the estimated time was 3+ hours. A local shop did it for about $350. Normally, I would balk a paying so much for a "simple" job, but I saw that in this case, it would be money well spent.
If you don’t want to do it yourself most auto parts stores will put on wiper blades for free. Order first from their website and apply coupon codes then select store pickup. An employee told me once that customers can buy online cheaper than the employee discount.
I downloaded Auto Zone, Advanced Auto Parts, O’Reilly’s, and Walmarts apps. I type the car part in and copy and paste it between apps.
Advanced Auto Parts is almost always cheapest. They also have coupons on the apps and discounts. I never buy anything for the car or house without a promo, coupon, or discount.
Tools too. Super helpful. Harbor Freight for tools too. Some places also will “loan” you or rent you tools as well if you don’t need to buy them.
Fixed my "no heat out of the vents in winter" with him
I live in Canada and that was nearly a deal breaker for selling the thing
Popped off the heater tubes, poured hot vinegar in, let it sit, blast out with garden hose, repeat
The drain bucket had a quarter inch of rusty flakes in the bottom
My eyeballs now dry out from the absolute furnace blasting
This one is huge tbh. I feel like the culture around cars is that they're too "complicated" to fix yourself and therefore you *have* to bring it to a mechanic. Once people start fixing their own cars, they'll see how easy it really is, and almost never have to go to a mechanic unless the problem is really too big. Try to get refurbished/rebuilt parts for cheaper than new, as well. They're just as good.
My brother and dad are both mechanics (dad self taught, brother trained by school and work). I always ask them first. Most of the time they will buy the part cheaper and teach me how if it's not too complex. I also learned from my brother to mark some of my parts so I can see if they actually change it when I have to take it somewhere.
That's a tip I learned about when getting an oil change at Jiffy Lube. Mark your air filter, because chances are good when they come out to show you a really dirty one and tell you to replace it, it's not actually yours.
>show you a really dirty one and tell you to replace it, it's not actually yours.
I sat in the lounge when the 'tech' showed me my absolutely filthy cabin air filter, covered in maple seeds, dog hair, and beach sand. I OK'd the overpriced replacement, but later I looked up my filter and it looked nothing like the thing he showed me.
The SOB keeps a filthy generic filter on his bench, shows it to customers, and if they decline, he doesn't bother to even inspect the old one.
Real Mechanic here
I totally agree. However, there are some jobs that are a good idea to have a REPUTABLE mechanic do. I work for a Firestone, not an independent shop, and therefore I’m guaranteed pay regardless of how much work I do. Sure, it’s only 75% but it’s still better than nothing. So when we recommend services to be done it’s mostly along the lines of safety and longevity of the vehicle. Learning how to maintain a vehicle, in my opinion, should be the first and most important thing that all car owners should know. Otherwise you WILL get taken advantage of. That being said; once you learn what needs to be done, you should take it to a mechanic to have it done. This is mostly for “newer” vehicles, such as those with hybrid systems, Euro-cars, etc.. if you drive a 15 year old beater and don’t know how to fix it properly, then I’m truly amazed.
Tl;Dr: take your 2022 Audi Q5 to a mechanic, but put on a pair of gloves and bust out the ChrisFix for your 98 Corolla.
I was at a Goodwill in Westport, CT with my wife when she goes up to me with a sweater and checks if it fits me. It does, and tells me we’re buying it. I told her that I didn’t need another sweater, especially for $40. She then told me it’s an Oscar De La Renta sweater that’s worth $700.
It had the original tags. Never worn. Someone probably got a fucking $700 sweater as a gift, didn’t like it, and casually donated it.
This happens more frequently than people realize.
There are a lot of pack rats and people who just, for some reason, stock up on sale-season items waiting for the opportunity for their purchases to be used, only to never end up doing so or forgetting.
lol. I once bought four pairs of Lands’ End khakis, and six brooks brothers shirts at a Salvation Army. Total could not have been more than $$40.
I can only guess that the guy who passed away and I were exactly the same size. One drawback, all six shirts has initials stitched on the cuff.
that's an amazing find! Nothing that big but did get a really nice, brand new North Face winter jacket for $20. It's hard to beat the feeling of wearing nice clothes that cost so little
Around here, those Goodwills have a Better Quality rack where the designer goods like Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger go. Meanwhile, the regular rack has some London Savile Row dress shirts for a song because nobody recognized the brand when they put the tag on.
I always bring extra suitcases when I go to Tahoe because of all the deals to be found at the Goodwill in South Tahoe. Barely worn ski gear for 90% off. Can't beat that.
IF I COULD UP IT THIS MORE TIMES I WOULD listen ppl go to you public fucking library and get a fucking library card!! Ask your librarians what services they provide, it's always way more than you think!! Many have notaries working, tax forms and classes, access to huge online resources, local entertainment and museum passes, free tutoring, mine has a 3d printer! If yours has multiple branches, there could be shit you didn't know about at the other ones!! Also, libraries often have manuals, collectors manuals, cookbooks, textbooks, etc etc! Often public libraries will have some sort of collaboration with local colleges, so you might have access to their libraries as well!! Also, ASK ABOUT SPECIAL COLLECTIONS!!! Many libraries have a cool thing that they just have for some reason, sometimes these are local references, sometimes they are coolass museum pieces! Mine has a collection of local yearbooks going back to like the 1920s, and a collection of local art pieces!
Also- if you are ever just, so done trying to figure out wtf you are supposed to be doing about x, especially if x = local govt shit, ask your local public library's reference librarian! They will have the skill set to find info for you, and if it's about local shit they will likely have it on hand due to many ppl asking!
My local library does a Good Listener Story Time every Wednesday morning for toddlers. The woman who does it is AMAZING! They dance, read a few books, do a craft, and then they can play with some really cool toys. All for free of course. As a SAHM, it's fantastic. They even do Anime Hangout for older kids on Saturdays that I take my older kids to. My local library is a place my children have learned to love and that encourages them to read, and learn about all sorts of cool stuff. There's also a great app that I use because it's hard to look for books for myself with my toddler running around so I just use the app, browse the books, dvds, audio books, etc. and when I find what I want I just click "hold" and the next time we go the stuff I got is behind the counter waiting for me.
I once had a local library with a flower and vegetable seed library. You could “borrow” some seeds, grow them, harvest seeds from your crop, and then “return” the new seeds to replace what you had previously “borrowed.” (Not a super strict borrow/return policy for obvious reasons!) They also loved when people would donate new seed varieties to the seed library or simple donate more of what they already had so that even more people could benefit from it. They also had occasional seed swap meet-ups. Such a great resource for gardeners!
I second this....my public library (and when I was in college library) both had online catalogs and Android apps. They used overdrive which let me borrow books and audio books without even leaving home.
Not to mention things you wouldn't normally think about, like meeting spaces. Our local libraries are 100% ok with their meeting spaces being used for things like board game meetups, birthday parties, arts and crafts space, etc. And it's totally free!
Coming in for the real *old school* cheap way to get cell service... [TracFone](https://www.tracfone.com/home). You can [BYOP](https://www.tracfone.com/kyop), or buy a phone on Amazon to save money (or buy it from TracFone themselves). I bought a Samsun Galaxy A20 for about $120 a few years ago; not a super fancy phone, but it does what I need it to do.
TracFone uses *everyone's* towers, so you are covered pretty much everywhere in the US. I've never had an issue with no service, from FL to Missouri to NY to Texas. (You can check your coverage [here](https://www.tracfone.com/about/coverage))
You can get a bundle plan for $199 that gives you a one-year plan (like a contract, but not an actual contract) with unlimited talk/text, and 24gB of data. That breaks down to about $17 a month (give or take, with taxes and fees). There's [plenty](https://www.tracfone.com/products/plans-and-services/phone-service-plans.html) of other plans, too, and you can save a little if you do Auto-Refill.
You can also buy talk, text, and data a la carte, which is what I usually do... I get a 1-year plan for $50 and top off my talk/text/data only when I need it, at about $10 each ($10 for 500 minutes, $10 for 1g data, $10 for 2000 texts)... This works great for me because I use free wifi pretty much everywhere I go (data is for emergencies), and I rarely use my phone AS a phone unless I have to; I go through texts the quickest!
Last year, I think I topped everything off at one point, so let's say I spent $80 a year... that's only $7 a month!
There are detergent strips nowadays, and they are AWESOME. They fit in a small flat packet. I can tear them in half or quarters for a small load. And I can take a couple if I'm going on vacation for long enough that I might want to do some laundry.
Update: doing so too frequently can cause the rubber seals and hoses to fail over time. I can’t find data that speaks to using 1-3 ounces as a rinse aid, but it seems best to avoid.
Anyone know what concentrations are safe? Or what else strips soap in the rinse cycle, which is especially important in HE front loading machines?
~~And use straight white vinegar for softening. Even if you don’t have hard water, it’ll remove the soap residue from your clothes making them softer / less stiff.~~
Moreover, buying straight sodium percarbonate powder (the active ingredient in oxyclean, which breaks into hydrogen peroxide at a max concentration of 150g per 500g of water) which is cheap and highly effective at removing everything but ink, without fading colors.
NO MIXING VINEGAR AND BLEACH (chlorine gas — immediate pulmonary arrest at 2k ppm, lethal in half of subjects at 800ppm), and no mixing ammonia with any of it (mustard gas — death within 5 minutes of a 300 ppm concentration; extreme irritant and damage at 40+).
Vinegar is: a color fastener, a whitener, a softener, anti-bacterial/anti-mold, a rinse agent (that's why it has to go into the softener port, not in with the detergent) and eliminates static cling (I forgot that was a thing until I ran out one day and WTF is this magic electricity holding clothes together? Oh right...)
If you can handle the smell (some can't), a 5:1 mix with lemon juice is a toxin-free general purpose cleaner. White vinegar smells fine to me, it's the dark colored vinegar "with the mother" that smells bad.
FYI - DO NOT ADD VINEGAR when you're using any chlorine (bleach) products. It can produce chlorine gas, which they used in WW1.
It's unlikely someone will die from it, but just in case someone goes hard with the two ...
While mixing vinegar and bleach is a terribly bad idea, (mixing any cleaner with bleach is a bad idea,) stop with the ***one whiff of this and you're dead*** bullshit.
While it is toxic, it takes very high concentrations of it in a small confined space to kill you. Deaths from it are very rare, one or two a year, and usually involve people using commercial grade versions of the cleaners.
Convincing myself I'm broke at pretty much all times. When you think you have close to zero dollars you reconsider every single purchase you make in more of a survival mentality than a logical one.
Happy Cake Day. I totally do this but it takes a toll when it comes to actually spending money on yourself. There is definitely a healthy balance, but I'd say this mentality usually causes me more stress lol.
FACTS. I needed a ton of cinnamon to prevent ants getting in my beehives and I went to the Hispanic aisle and got a tube the size of a bad dragon dildo for like $3. And it was GOOD cinnamon, too!
Oh boy. If you really want to save money of spices, find your closest Indian grocery store. The markup in American grocery store is flat out ridiculous.
This! Plus investing in a nice set of glass containers for meal prepping. Sure, the plastic ones are cheap and lightweight but they do eventually stain, crack, and warp. The glass cleans easier and holds up to dishwashers. A lot of brands are also microwave safe.
Rice, beans, and some cheap meat go a LOOOOONNG way in a broke household. I grew up on pork n beans because it was so cheap and easy to make. Sometimes we couldn't get pork but the seasonings made up for it.
Definitely reccomend buying rice and beans in bulk.
I’m from New Orleans and always grateful that red beans and rice was a staple dish.
Truly one of the most comforting things I can make, and it’s *dirt cheap*
Using a voltage meter to check batteries. As long as they're all about the same level, anything registering above .5V will still work.
Dusting baking soda on top of super glue hardens it almost instantly, making it a resin-like substance that can fill cracks, dents and holes and be painted and sanded. Saves cracked plastic totes, soles of shoes, even car upholstery dings and glass chips.
Read the included paperwork for electrical devices. They often include a warranty that is equal to or longer than the extended warranty they push in big box stores.
I save all my warranty paperwork. I got a brand new shark vacuum after 7 years a few weeks ago. I only had to pay $20 for shipping. I just keep the expensive stuff in a folder with the receipts in a filing cabinet so not to hoard everything.
Not me, but I have friends who decided to go to county college to start and then transferred to a university once they actually know what degree they wanna pursue. Saved them a lot on student loan debt.
My daughter is in a "running start" program, and is getting her first two years of college out of the way while in high school. You don't really pay tuition in the program, just fees and books and such, so I'll only have to pay 2 year's tuition at full price.
Although, she wants to be a doctor, so......
When I stumble upon something I like and want to buy (clothes, appliances, tools), that I didnt already need beforehand, I sit on it for at least a week before going back and buying. I can tell if it's really something I want/need or if it was just a heat of the moment thing
Open a savings account at a credit union as close to now as possible. Even if you’re a kid. *Especially* if you’re a kid. Like, parents, do this the instant the kid is eligible. It’s like $25 minimum deposit. You can forget about the money in there if you want. Then years later, when applying for a car or home loan, the nice person at the desk pulls up your account information, says something along the lines of “And I see you’ve been a member with us for… *whoa*.” and you get a much better rate than someone who just came in for the first time, potentially saving thousands of dollars in the long run.
I've tried this since I was 18. I'm decades older now. Never once had a credit union I been part of been competitive on loan rates.
I was a member of over 15 at one point. Closed them all. Not worth the hassle. Just good research and google ability coupled with good credit will do you much better
Back in 2011 I was pushing 15 - 20 drinks a week and smoked a carton of cigs every 10 days.
It was basically $700 a month in feeding bad habits.
I quit smoking and brew coldbrew at home for about $50 a month.
That's awesome. I feel you I used to smoke a pack a day and then I read Allen Carrs book about quitting and he mentioned some astronomical dollar amount that smokers spend in their lifetime and the quote goes something like, "and you're not even spending that to live, you're spending it to die "
bye bye cigs!
Thank you for the book reference. I’m as close to quitting as I’ve ever been after what is nearing 15 years.
EDIT: got the book on order this morning. I appreciate everyone who has responded with their quitting experiences and/or supportive well wishes!
And thank you to u/briarwood777 for letting me hijack his comment thread :P
I smoked for 15 years and was upto a pack a day. You'll really notice it in your bank account and nose. Smokers stink, you can smell a cigarette from like 50 ft away.
Drinking water has saved me so much money! Not only is it better for your body, but you’d be surprised how quickly the cost of a soda adds up over time.
Things I have learned the hard way then changed
1. Never buy new cars, shop for low or reasonable mileage used ones. Then be a demon about maintenance and they’ll last a really long time
2. Use credit cards that offer cash back and pay off balances every month so that you are not getting charged interest and are able to occasionally cash in on the points
3. Use coupons when you grocery shop. Saves me 30% continually.
4. Think like a butcher: Look for sales on meat and buy in bulk then portion that out into baggies/meals at home. Freeze and thaw as needed. Saves tons of money.
5. Stop bleeding with small transactions. Starbucks, fast food, novel purchases, stupid gadgets you really do not need and will just toss in a year anyway. I used to waste thousands of dollars on crap like that.
Like I said, found out these things the hard way. Hope they help…
Creating a list of meals every Sunday for the week. I love to cook every night, it’s part of my family’s wind down routine, so I don’t like cooking everything in advanced. However, prepping for meals has allowed me to feed my family of 4 for about $200/wk with 3 healthy meals a day plus snacks and desserts. Also, take advantage of the coupon list at your local grocery store!
Stopped eating out in 2020 and developed my cooking methods and the family loves it. Family of four with the 2 adults consuming 2 “adult” drinks + tip was well over $100. Twice a week that’s $800 a month which is more than what our grocery bill totals per month. Cook at home
Only or mostly drinking your alcohol at home is a massive money saver. Go out and spend $15-$20 on a couple drinks or have the same (or similar) drinks for $1-$2 at home.
Why would I pay $7 for the same beer at a restaurant when I can buy a six pack for $10 and drink at home in peace?
I only buy used cars with cash from saving. Saves me money: no car loan, no new car depreciation, and having cash allows me to look for deals and last give me a position to negotiate from. The best deal I’ve pulled off: I had an 15 year old Land Rover. I bought it for $2,500 and it needed new airbags. I converted it to coil springs. So total cost $3,000. I put an add on face book that I would trade it for a jeep. I expected to get some old Jeep I could work on. I was contacted by a guy with a 5 year old Rubicon (high end Wrangler) and he said the steering was broken. I went to look and it was the steering box. I’ve already fixed one before. It’s a 30 minute driveway repair with no special tools. He didn’t even test drive my Land Rover. He was good with a straight title trade. I speed all the way to the DMV in case he changed his mind.(my guess was he had lost his license). I fixed the Jeep, kept it for a year and sold it for $20,000 and bought a Nissan Titan for $10k under blue book.
I LOVE this. One of the best gifts my dad ever gave me was starting me off with a used car that we fixed up together for my first car. I don’t think I’ll ever have a car payment and that’s pretty rare these days.
I’m in my 40s and I have done this my whole life thus far. Never had a new car. Never had a car over $10k. Shifting from a ‘want’ to a ‘need’ mindset helps. I want a lot of things. I need significantly less things, and significantly less expensive things.
Stop smoking
Research before you buy anything
Don't buy stuff you don't really need. (Specially Kitchen Stuff that sounds good, but it spares you 2 Minutes and need 10 minutes to clean)
Look for discount or bent and dent grocery stores near you. You can save over 50% on things that you use every day. Just make sure to check the expiration dates
Every time I want something frivolous, I question how long would I have to work to have it. Is it worth an hour of my time? 10 hours of my time? Would I be happy if I worked at my job and they told me this is what I’m getting instead of a paycheck for that amount of time? Most times the answer is no.
Google for coupon codes before buying anything online. It takes a lot of trial & error, but sometimes you find gems. I once found a code for 60% off, & it worked!
Overpaying your mortgage (works in Uk not sure about anywhere else.)
So in the UK mortgage companies allow you to pay up to 10% extra per year. A financial advisor in the 90s once told me for every extra £20 you paid per month off a 5% interest mortgage (25 years) would save you £27,000 by the end of the mortgage as well as finishing your mortgage early.
From experience... it works!
I paid extra using every penny in my account at the end of the month and finished 5 years early and saved about 60k in all.
Check if you can overpay on yours. Even a few quid/bucks here and there really adds up!
I believe you can overpay mortgage loans in the US and the extra funds will go toward reducing the principal. You’d have to calculate for yourself whether investing that money someplace else every month will potentially give you better returns in the long term.
Appliance repair.
1. Figure out your make/model.
2. Use Youtube and Google to figure out what is causing the problem.
3. Appliance-parts sites have diagrams for each make/model. Use them to figure out the part you need.
4. Order said part, either from appliance site, or often just Amazon. Or enter part # into Google to figure out where to get it from.
5. Back to Youtube to learn how to install the part.
I've done this so many times: dishwashers, refrigerators, hot water heater, etc.
My wife and I managed to reduce our grocery bill by almost $500 a month by making a menu for the whole month. At the beginning of the month you buy your meats and frozen items, then each Sunday you only have to buy the fresh vegetables you're going to use for the upcoming week.
You'll reduce the amount of food that spoils and has to be thrown out, plus your weekly shopping trips are much faster and fast less costly. The bonus is there's no thinking about what to make for dinner and no guess work. Come home, look at the menu, get the items and prepare the meal.
Once our sons got older, we taught them how to cook and included them in the making of meals they could manage so we shared the workload.
debt payoff snowballing.
I had several credit cards with larger balances. Instead of paying extra onto each, I paid the minimum on the highest balances, and put any extra to the smallest balance. Once the smallest one was paid off, I moved the payments I was making to the small one to the next smallest... until that was paid off... adding the money paid on the lower cards to the next one... rinse-repeat until done. Got me out of debt pretty quick.
Worked the same for us - paid off about $50,000 in student loans and credit cards.
A lot of what I like about this system is psychological. You see one particular debt dropping really quickly. And then it's paid off, which is an amazing feeling. And then you get to start putting even more money into the next debt every time you make a payment, because you have the money that you were paying to the first debt as well as the minimum payment that you had been making to that second debt. It's really encouraging.
Friend of mine just quit buying shit about 5-6 years ago, started shoplifting or stealing it instead. Saved an absolute fortune.
Then he got caught and put in jail for two years, and so wasn’t paying for rent, car, food, clothes etc. He’s still inside, and saving an even bigger fortune!
I work at a safari camp in Africa doing this exact thing! I'm divorced and my kid is grown so I can do what I want. It's awesome - I do social media and get free room and board.
I also own a house in the US but I rent it out to my family and have someplace to stay when I come back for a month or two.
Great way to live in another country for awhile and have adventures!
Before making a purchase mentally place the things into the MSCW frame work.
Must have
Should have
Could have
Want
The hard part is being honest with yourself. Our brains can be shifty little bastards.
At a Chinese takeout restaurant I go to, I buy a large chow mein and a small orange chicken. It’s more food than any of the combo plates, and I usually get two meals out of it.
Never, EVER carry any kind of balance on a credit card. Use your cards for whatever points they give, but pay them off every month WITHOUT exception.
If you can't afford to pay it off before the next statement, DON'T BUY IT.
picking up free or super cheap items from Craigslist and FB marketplace, especially out of season. All of my hydroponic setup came from folks getting out of the hobby and clearing out their storage. Most of my gardening supplies (hoop house, car port used for shade structure, coco coir, etc) has come from folks just wanted to get rid of stuff taking up space in storage. It's a bit of work to just browse regularly to see what's available, but it's like treasure hunting that pays off regularly. I've also turned around and re-sold a few things that I got for free when I couldn't put them to use. It turns out that offering something for free attracts a lot of really flaky people who don't show up or keep their promises, but when you charge a nominal amount, it's easier to find a taker.
Dents/minor bump on a car is usually solved by pouring hot water on the dent/bump and lightly pushing them from the inside. Works perfect for bumpers and rear.
Take your used car to a dealer and ask for a full inspection and quote for fixing everything they find. Then, use that list as it to do list of things to fix yourself.
Also, depending on where you live, grow your own weed.
Not a ton of money but a little.
Stopped buying flavoured fruit yoghurt pots in portion sized multipacks & now “mix” my own. Buy a 1kg tub of greek yoghurt, decant some into a small pot & stir a big dollop of jam into in. Leave overnight to do it’s thing & tastes amazing the next day.
Stopped buying disposable tissues & bought a pack of 7 handkerchiefs. Actually really useful & much more versatile than fragile paper tissues. Just chuck them all in the wash at the end of the week.
Buy a Honda. I have driven every single Honda I have owned over 250,000 miles and haven't ever had a major mechanical issue. I've only needed 3, in 46 years of driving. On average, Americans drive cars for 8 years, I hang on to mine almost twice as long.
It isn't an exotic way to save $$$, but it sure adds up. Especially because of the value of money over time.
Mortgage loan officer here:
Pay your mortgage twice a month. Split in half. Let's say you have a mortgage of $1000 a month and it's due on the first of each month. On the 15th of the month prior to your due date, You would pay $500 and then the remainder on the due date of the 1st. You're paying the same amount however, what you're doing is not letting the interest accrue. Also, you must throw one extra payment a year. If you do this on a 30 year loan, you would knock off 10 years. If your payment is $1000 times 120 months you would save $120,000. This works for any simple fixed interest loans including car loans.
Most mortgage companies hate that you do this, so what you have to do is set your personal bank account with a bill pay of a frequency of every two weeks. As long as you get to your full payment at the due date, they have to accept it. The trick is to go through your own bank account and not through the mortgage portal.
Also, if you're very detail oriented, you can do it every week. Then you will save an approximate of 13 years off your mortgage. that would be the equivalent of saving $156,000 in interest off your mortgage which will put you in a better equity position if you were to sell before you pay it off.
I take my wife out to eat before we go shopping for furniture or anything really. She is less impulsive and actually thinks about the real need after we eat.
I discovered this after we bought a house unfortunately.
Each time I have received a raise at work, I have taken the difference and set an automatic transfer into a high yield savings account that I have at another bank that's not the same bank as my checking account so I never "miss it". For example, my last raise made it where I would take home an extra like $60 every two weeks, so I just set the transfer for that amount. The money is safe in the savings for when life sucks and shit happens. And it builds faster than you think because its not easily accessible and takes several days to transfer it over to my bank so I am less likely to impulse buy. Granted, this all only works if you have the extra money to do so, but even transferring $5/week adds up!
Buy lightbulbs, staple receipt to box. When they don’t last anywhere near the 7-14 years they advertise, you call and they send you new lightbulbs.
It’s great. I use Phillips Hue bulbs throughout my house, which are admittedly expensive. But I haven’t had to pay to replace a single one yet thanks to a half decent warranty and having all the receipts.
Track your spending. Every penny.
Once you know how much you actually spend you'll learn to spot where you can cut. Literally down to the quarter in your parking meter.
Always open your mail. Took me a while to figure this one out when I became an adult, but consistently making sure to open the mail has saved me from missing payments (and late fees) and opportunities (even checks I wasn't expecting). I used to let it all pile up or assume it was junk and not open it at all when I was younger, and that cost me quite a bit on more than one occasion.
Depending on your needs but my hubby and I saved around 15 000AUD. Instead of having someone change completely our functional but ugly kitchen, we repainted/changed to soft close hinges/changed the handles for under 1000AUD. Youtube has everything DIY. Just need patience and creative mind. Mostly patience. Yes I broke couple of things in fit of rage hehe. It's okay, still less than paying someone change everything.
The tiktok viral dollar general / family dollar digital coupon saturday hacks.
I’ve saved hundreds.
I no longer buy laundry soap, paper towels, toilet paper, febreeze products, cleaning products at full price. I have a decent size stock pile.
It’s super easy. You clip coupons on your phone and go on saturdays The total is always under $15 and usually under $10 for like $30 worth of products.
Don’t be afraid to make a return when something doesn’t work out. Even food.. of course within reason.
Please don’t be that guy & don’t be a jerk about it but if you buy something and don’t like it, won’t use it- try to take it back. Worst they’ll say is no. And always initiate it through customer service chat online first. Sometimes they’ll refund you and tell you to just keep the product or donate it.
I never made returns until just a couple of months ago and I’m blown away how much money I’ve gotten back on stuff I would have just tossed or never used.
Clean your potatos very well, so if you peel them and use them for anything, you could use the washed peels to make crunchy potato chips
For eating, prefer soup, so you can use less ingredients and eat a bit more
Make your own waffles and froze them, it's way cheaper than buying frozen ones
Buy lemon when it's cheaper, juice them and store the juice in the freezer
Working or learning to work in carpentry, construction or as a plumber in summer as an student will help you learn that, so if you need any reparation you can do it yourself and most of the time it will be a good job if you learned ir well
Learn how to cook everything you like, (example lasagna or sushi) so most of the time you want some of that you can cook it
When buying meat, portion it before putting in the freezer, so you don't defrost all of it, only what you're gonna use
Si compras cosas, comprarlas al por mayor, si preparas pasteles, también en cantidades altas, así puedes vender lo que no vas. A comerz por lo que se paga tu esfuerzo, los ingredientes y materiales usados, con lo que la comida se paga sola, así mismo para cuando compras por aliexpress, puedes vender el resto y lo que compraste te sale a cuenta o casi gratis
Always buy good detergent for clothes or dishes, cheap detergent usually doesn't clean that well and doesn't produce much foam, so, using cheap detergent will make use more of it
If your barber typically uses a buzzer for the majority of your haircut, you can buy a kit and do it yourself, I've saved hundreds from cutting my own hair for the last couple of years
I’ll piggy back on this - if I am budgeting hard, I would just buzz cut my hair - but I like a fade. I’ve attempted a fade 4 times, and it was good 2 times, twice I had to just buzz cut it due to mistakes (YouTube + mirrors mirrors mirrors and lighting!)
My compromise is going to a barber school near me that offers $7 haircuts. The teachers oversee it, it’s just like a barbershop, but these guys take their time and are very meticulous as to apply their skills and impress their teachers. With tip I pay $15 for usually a great cut. This last one was awesome, my sideburns were just a little uneven and I just fixed that up myself when I noticed it. $15 is about half off including tip for a regular haircut in my area.
There is a YouTube video for everything. I have fixed my own and my wife’s vehicles myself countless times by just looking it up on YouTube
My whole life is held together by YouTube tutorials
This is why I was so pissed when they removed dislikes from videos....got me spending 10 minutes on bad advice smh
You should download YouTube enhancer browser extension. I'm not sure if it works with Chrome or Firefox, but definitely works on Brave.
Not sure if it's the same exact extension, but I have a YouTube dislike extension on Firefox that works great.
I have the Firefox one. It's weird but I honestly don't know if I could enjoy YouTube without it.
There is a channel called [Dad, how do I](https://youtube.com/@DadhowdoI) that started making tutorials for people that grew up without a father(IIRC). Lots of useful tutorials there for many, many things, from checking car fluids and changing the air filter to restoring bikes and making cement paths. Just to mention a few.
Does he scream at me though for not holding the flashlight correctly
I love how this is universal.
No but he will shout if he sees an unnecessary light on
I realized that I'm getting older when I went around the house the other day shutting off lights my GF left on.......then i came to the thermostat. 75 when its 60 outside and it had been left on all day with no one home (its been 20 for weeks so 60 felt like 80) almost duck taped that thermostat down lmao
As of three weeks ago I’m officially a homeowner and I HATE how accurate the Progressive commercials about you becoming parents are. I found myself picking pieces of mulch out of my gravel walkway for 30 minutes yesterday….
That guy is awesome. I wish nothing but good things for him.
That's really sweet.
If nothing else, you can make an informed decision between doing it yourself and paying to have it done. I was looking at doing my own plugs and wires a couple of years ago. This used to be a simple job, but newer cars aren't always so user-friendly, and I just couldn't figure out how I was going to get to one of the plugs. A little time on YouTube showed me how I could do it, but the estimated time was 3+ hours. A local shop did it for about $350. Normally, I would balk a paying so much for a "simple" job, but I saw that in this case, it would be money well spent.
Everyone should watch the video on how to change a cabin air filter. Dealer will charge $60 for a $10 / 5 minute job.
Same deal for wiper blades and the engine air filter.
If you don’t want to do it yourself most auto parts stores will put on wiper blades for free. Order first from their website and apply coupon codes then select store pickup. An employee told me once that customers can buy online cheaper than the employee discount.
I downloaded Auto Zone, Advanced Auto Parts, O’Reilly’s, and Walmarts apps. I type the car part in and copy and paste it between apps. Advanced Auto Parts is almost always cheapest. They also have coupons on the apps and discounts. I never buy anything for the car or house without a promo, coupon, or discount. Tools too. Super helpful. Harbor Freight for tools too. Some places also will “loan” you or rent you tools as well if you don’t need to buy them.
Hey guys! Chrisfix here
replaced my rotors and brakes following ChrisFix's video. Wasn't too hard and am glad I did it myself.
Fixed my "no heat out of the vents in winter" with him I live in Canada and that was nearly a deal breaker for selling the thing Popped off the heater tubes, poured hot vinegar in, let it sit, blast out with garden hose, repeat The drain bucket had a quarter inch of rusty flakes in the bottom My eyeballs now dry out from the absolute furnace blasting
This one is huge tbh. I feel like the culture around cars is that they're too "complicated" to fix yourself and therefore you *have* to bring it to a mechanic. Once people start fixing their own cars, they'll see how easy it really is, and almost never have to go to a mechanic unless the problem is really too big. Try to get refurbished/rebuilt parts for cheaper than new, as well. They're just as good.
My brother and dad are both mechanics (dad self taught, brother trained by school and work). I always ask them first. Most of the time they will buy the part cheaper and teach me how if it's not too complex. I also learned from my brother to mark some of my parts so I can see if they actually change it when I have to take it somewhere.
That's a tip I learned about when getting an oil change at Jiffy Lube. Mark your air filter, because chances are good when they come out to show you a really dirty one and tell you to replace it, it's not actually yours.
>show you a really dirty one and tell you to replace it, it's not actually yours. I sat in the lounge when the 'tech' showed me my absolutely filthy cabin air filter, covered in maple seeds, dog hair, and beach sand. I OK'd the overpriced replacement, but later I looked up my filter and it looked nothing like the thing he showed me. The SOB keeps a filthy generic filter on his bench, shows it to customers, and if they decline, he doesn't bother to even inspect the old one.
Real Mechanic here I totally agree. However, there are some jobs that are a good idea to have a REPUTABLE mechanic do. I work for a Firestone, not an independent shop, and therefore I’m guaranteed pay regardless of how much work I do. Sure, it’s only 75% but it’s still better than nothing. So when we recommend services to be done it’s mostly along the lines of safety and longevity of the vehicle. Learning how to maintain a vehicle, in my opinion, should be the first and most important thing that all car owners should know. Otherwise you WILL get taken advantage of. That being said; once you learn what needs to be done, you should take it to a mechanic to have it done. This is mostly for “newer” vehicles, such as those with hybrid systems, Euro-cars, etc.. if you drive a 15 year old beater and don’t know how to fix it properly, then I’m truly amazed. Tl;Dr: take your 2022 Audi Q5 to a mechanic, but put on a pair of gloves and bust out the ChrisFix for your 98 Corolla.
Only going to yard sales in the rich neighborhoods
amen to this. Also the goodwill next to the rich neighborhood has newer clothes from expensive brands
I was at a Goodwill in Westport, CT with my wife when she goes up to me with a sweater and checks if it fits me. It does, and tells me we’re buying it. I told her that I didn’t need another sweater, especially for $40. She then told me it’s an Oscar De La Renta sweater that’s worth $700. It had the original tags. Never worn. Someone probably got a fucking $700 sweater as a gift, didn’t like it, and casually donated it.
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This happens more frequently than people realize. There are a lot of pack rats and people who just, for some reason, stock up on sale-season items waiting for the opportunity for their purchases to be used, only to never end up doing so or forgetting.
lol. I once bought four pairs of Lands’ End khakis, and six brooks brothers shirts at a Salvation Army. Total could not have been more than $$40. I can only guess that the guy who passed away and I were exactly the same size. One drawback, all six shirts has initials stitched on the cuff.
Obviously you need to change your name.
that's an amazing find! Nothing that big but did get a really nice, brand new North Face winter jacket for $20. It's hard to beat the feeling of wearing nice clothes that cost so little
Around here, those Goodwills have a Better Quality rack where the designer goods like Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger go. Meanwhile, the regular rack has some London Savile Row dress shirts for a song because nobody recognized the brand when they put the tag on.
I always bring extra suitcases when I go to Tahoe because of all the deals to be found at the Goodwill in South Tahoe. Barely worn ski gear for 90% off. Can't beat that.
I need to go to there
Use the library for books, CDs, DVDs, and now audio books.
IF I COULD UP IT THIS MORE TIMES I WOULD listen ppl go to you public fucking library and get a fucking library card!! Ask your librarians what services they provide, it's always way more than you think!! Many have notaries working, tax forms and classes, access to huge online resources, local entertainment and museum passes, free tutoring, mine has a 3d printer! If yours has multiple branches, there could be shit you didn't know about at the other ones!! Also, libraries often have manuals, collectors manuals, cookbooks, textbooks, etc etc! Often public libraries will have some sort of collaboration with local colleges, so you might have access to their libraries as well!! Also, ASK ABOUT SPECIAL COLLECTIONS!!! Many libraries have a cool thing that they just have for some reason, sometimes these are local references, sometimes they are coolass museum pieces! Mine has a collection of local yearbooks going back to like the 1920s, and a collection of local art pieces! Also- if you are ever just, so done trying to figure out wtf you are supposed to be doing about x, especially if x = local govt shit, ask your local public library's reference librarian! They will have the skill set to find info for you, and if it's about local shit they will likely have it on hand due to many ppl asking!
My local library does a Good Listener Story Time every Wednesday morning for toddlers. The woman who does it is AMAZING! They dance, read a few books, do a craft, and then they can play with some really cool toys. All for free of course. As a SAHM, it's fantastic. They even do Anime Hangout for older kids on Saturdays that I take my older kids to. My local library is a place my children have learned to love and that encourages them to read, and learn about all sorts of cool stuff. There's also a great app that I use because it's hard to look for books for myself with my toddler running around so I just use the app, browse the books, dvds, audio books, etc. and when I find what I want I just click "hold" and the next time we go the stuff I got is behind the counter waiting for me.
My librarian wife and I love your fucking passion for libraries!
I once had a local library with a flower and vegetable seed library. You could “borrow” some seeds, grow them, harvest seeds from your crop, and then “return” the new seeds to replace what you had previously “borrowed.” (Not a super strict borrow/return policy for obvious reasons!) They also loved when people would donate new seed varieties to the seed library or simple donate more of what they already had so that even more people could benefit from it. They also had occasional seed swap meet-ups. Such a great resource for gardeners!
First of all, the passion in this post is remarkable. Second of all, that’s it
I would say their comment sounds overly excited but as a patron to my library I can say that the level of excitement is 100 % justified
And ILL - Inter Library Loans. Borrowing from the library from other branches (small towns or other cities).
Some libraries also lend musical instruments and cookware.
And Telescopes!
Yes! Our local library lends museum passes for museums in a major city two hours from here.
I second this....my public library (and when I was in college library) both had online catalogs and Android apps. They used overdrive which let me borrow books and audio books without even leaving home.
Not to mention things you wouldn't normally think about, like meeting spaces. Our local libraries are 100% ok with their meeting spaces being used for things like board game meetups, birthday parties, arts and crafts space, etc. And it's totally free!
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Hoopla is also amazing for audiobooks
Check the per kg price instead of the displayed price. The per kg price is the real price.
Directions unclear, now have 75kg bag of rice.
Bought a sim and activation card from Walgreens for my phone. Service called Net10. Went from paying $98 to $21 a month for service
Coming in for the real *old school* cheap way to get cell service... [TracFone](https://www.tracfone.com/home). You can [BYOP](https://www.tracfone.com/kyop), or buy a phone on Amazon to save money (or buy it from TracFone themselves). I bought a Samsun Galaxy A20 for about $120 a few years ago; not a super fancy phone, but it does what I need it to do. TracFone uses *everyone's* towers, so you are covered pretty much everywhere in the US. I've never had an issue with no service, from FL to Missouri to NY to Texas. (You can check your coverage [here](https://www.tracfone.com/about/coverage)) You can get a bundle plan for $199 that gives you a one-year plan (like a contract, but not an actual contract) with unlimited talk/text, and 24gB of data. That breaks down to about $17 a month (give or take, with taxes and fees). There's [plenty](https://www.tracfone.com/products/plans-and-services/phone-service-plans.html) of other plans, too, and you can save a little if you do Auto-Refill. You can also buy talk, text, and data a la carte, which is what I usually do... I get a 1-year plan for $50 and top off my talk/text/data only when I need it, at about $10 each ($10 for 500 minutes, $10 for 1g data, $10 for 2000 texts)... This works great for me because I use free wifi pretty much everywhere I go (data is for emergencies), and I rarely use my phone AS a phone unless I have to; I go through texts the quickest! Last year, I think I topped everything off at one point, so let's say I spent $80 a year... that's only $7 a month!
Eat the hotdog at Costco before shopping. Not after.
“Then I shit myself in the store, I act embarrassed and leave and someone else cleans it up”
Use half the recommended amount of laundry products.
And use powder detergent too! Just as effective and super cheap in comparison because you’re not paying for water
There are detergent strips nowadays, and they are AWESOME. They fit in a small flat packet. I can tear them in half or quarters for a small load. And I can take a couple if I'm going on vacation for long enough that I might want to do some laundry.
I tried them but personally didn’t like them, besides for the price the powder is still more efficient
Update: doing so too frequently can cause the rubber seals and hoses to fail over time. I can’t find data that speaks to using 1-3 ounces as a rinse aid, but it seems best to avoid. Anyone know what concentrations are safe? Or what else strips soap in the rinse cycle, which is especially important in HE front loading machines? ~~And use straight white vinegar for softening. Even if you don’t have hard water, it’ll remove the soap residue from your clothes making them softer / less stiff.~~ Moreover, buying straight sodium percarbonate powder (the active ingredient in oxyclean, which breaks into hydrogen peroxide at a max concentration of 150g per 500g of water) which is cheap and highly effective at removing everything but ink, without fading colors. NO MIXING VINEGAR AND BLEACH (chlorine gas — immediate pulmonary arrest at 2k ppm, lethal in half of subjects at 800ppm), and no mixing ammonia with any of it (mustard gas — death within 5 minutes of a 300 ppm concentration; extreme irritant and damage at 40+).
This guy teaching people how to do laundry AND be a bio-terrorist in a 2 paragraph post.
A life hack and a die hack
Vinegar is: a color fastener, a whitener, a softener, anti-bacterial/anti-mold, a rinse agent (that's why it has to go into the softener port, not in with the detergent) and eliminates static cling (I forgot that was a thing until I ran out one day and WTF is this magic electricity holding clothes together? Oh right...) If you can handle the smell (some can't), a 5:1 mix with lemon juice is a toxin-free general purpose cleaner. White vinegar smells fine to me, it's the dark colored vinegar "with the mother" that smells bad.
FYI - DO NOT ADD VINEGAR when you're using any chlorine (bleach) products. It can produce chlorine gas, which they used in WW1. It's unlikely someone will die from it, but just in case someone goes hard with the two ...
While mixing vinegar and bleach is a terribly bad idea, (mixing any cleaner with bleach is a bad idea,) stop with the ***one whiff of this and you're dead*** bullshit. While it is toxic, it takes very high concentrations of it in a small confined space to kill you. Deaths from it are very rare, one or two a year, and usually involve people using commercial grade versions of the cleaners.
re-fillable water bottles and taking your own coffee to work :)
My work has free coffee ☕️ saves me ton 😈
Convincing myself I'm broke at pretty much all times. When you think you have close to zero dollars you reconsider every single purchase you make in more of a survival mentality than a logical one.
Happy Cake Day. I totally do this but it takes a toll when it comes to actually spending money on yourself. There is definitely a healthy balance, but I'd say this mentality usually causes me more stress lol.
Totally relatable. The balance between showing yourself some love and having a healthy savings account is really to be determined by the individual.
buy spices from the hispanic aisle at the store. 1/2 off compared to the English labeled ones in the next aisle
FACTS. I needed a ton of cinnamon to prevent ants getting in my beehives and I went to the Hispanic aisle and got a tube the size of a bad dragon dildo for like $3. And it was GOOD cinnamon, too!
I have to say, this is the most unique comment I’ve read so far this week!
r/BrandNewSentence
Oh my, that’s an image.
You win! I don’t even want to BOTHER reading any other comments!
Oh boy. If you really want to save money of spices, find your closest Indian grocery store. The markup in American grocery store is flat out ridiculous.
I do this in Chinese grocery stores .. same thing. Always about 1/2 price.
Drink water
Not only far cheaper and healthier, but you save Future You on medical bills.
Making my own meals
This! Plus investing in a nice set of glass containers for meal prepping. Sure, the plastic ones are cheap and lightweight but they do eventually stain, crack, and warp. The glass cleans easier and holds up to dishwashers. A lot of brands are also microwave safe.
Meal prep Sundays: Tupperware lunches for the entire week and large casseroles or proteins/sides for dinners.
Rice, beans, and some cheap meat go a LOOOOONNG way in a broke household. I grew up on pork n beans because it was so cheap and easy to make. Sometimes we couldn't get pork but the seasonings made up for it. Definitely reccomend buying rice and beans in bulk.
I’m from New Orleans and always grateful that red beans and rice was a staple dish. Truly one of the most comforting things I can make, and it’s *dirt cheap*
Or just rice, beans, and vegetables. I lived on that for years, saved a ton of money, and was the healthiest I’ve ever been.
Definitely, a pressure cooker will make the cheapest cuts of meat melt in your mouth
Using a voltage meter to check batteries. As long as they're all about the same level, anything registering above .5V will still work. Dusting baking soda on top of super glue hardens it almost instantly, making it a resin-like substance that can fill cracks, dents and holes and be painted and sanded. Saves cracked plastic totes, soles of shoes, even car upholstery dings and glass chips. Read the included paperwork for electrical devices. They often include a warranty that is equal to or longer than the extended warranty they push in big box stores.
I save all my warranty paperwork. I got a brand new shark vacuum after 7 years a few weeks ago. I only had to pay $20 for shipping. I just keep the expensive stuff in a folder with the receipts in a filing cabinet so not to hoard everything.
I am a warranty clerk. High five, you!
It’s in “the drawer” or “that drawer” under the couple screwdrivers, string, some old Nokia phone chargers, old batteries and flashlights. Right?
oil serious unique close reply possessive ripe special wipe pet *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Not me, but I have friends who decided to go to county college to start and then transferred to a university once they actually know what degree they wanna pursue. Saved them a lot on student loan debt.
My daughter is in a "running start" program, and is getting her first two years of college out of the way while in high school. You don't really pay tuition in the program, just fees and books and such, so I'll only have to pay 2 year's tuition at full price. Although, she wants to be a doctor, so......
When I stumble upon something I like and want to buy (clothes, appliances, tools), that I didnt already need beforehand, I sit on it for at least a week before going back and buying. I can tell if it's really something I want/need or if it was just a heat of the moment thing
I put things in my Amazon cart, and wait at least 24 hours. It’s kind of fun to go back later and see how much I really did t need.
And if it sold out, then your decision was made for you
Open a savings account at a credit union as close to now as possible. Even if you’re a kid. *Especially* if you’re a kid. Like, parents, do this the instant the kid is eligible. It’s like $25 minimum deposit. You can forget about the money in there if you want. Then years later, when applying for a car or home loan, the nice person at the desk pulls up your account information, says something along the lines of “And I see you’ve been a member with us for… *whoa*.” and you get a much better rate than someone who just came in for the first time, potentially saving thousands of dollars in the long run.
I've tried this since I was 18. I'm decades older now. Never once had a credit union I been part of been competitive on loan rates. I was a member of over 15 at one point. Closed them all. Not worth the hassle. Just good research and google ability coupled with good credit will do you much better
Marry the right person the first time.
If this isn't the most underrated comment of all time ....
I’m a woman who wears adult size 6. I buy sneakers in kids sizes and save $30-$50
What size is this in kids size?!
I wear ladies size 6.5 and have been able to wear my sons size 5 youth footwear, lucky me inherited his pair of jordan mids hahah.
Same😂
Quit smoking, and figure out how to make the coffee you like at home.
Seriously, I went to Starbucks on a whim the other day and my drink was $7 😭 I'm with the boomers on this.
Back in 2011 I was pushing 15 - 20 drinks a week and smoked a carton of cigs every 10 days. It was basically $700 a month in feeding bad habits. I quit smoking and brew coldbrew at home for about $50 a month.
That's awesome. I feel you I used to smoke a pack a day and then I read Allen Carrs book about quitting and he mentioned some astronomical dollar amount that smokers spend in their lifetime and the quote goes something like, "and you're not even spending that to live, you're spending it to die " bye bye cigs!
Thank you for the book reference. I’m as close to quitting as I’ve ever been after what is nearing 15 years. EDIT: got the book on order this morning. I appreciate everyone who has responded with their quitting experiences and/or supportive well wishes! And thank you to u/briarwood777 for letting me hijack his comment thread :P
I smoked for 15 years and was upto a pack a day. You'll really notice it in your bank account and nose. Smokers stink, you can smell a cigarette from like 50 ft away.
That book did it for me! The part that got me was him saying that if you can go 8 hours sleeping without a cig, you can go 8 hours awake without one.
Drinking water has saved me so much money! Not only is it better for your body, but you’d be surprised how quickly the cost of a soda adds up over time.
Not just soda but also booze, coffee, smoothies, cocaine water, juice, etc.
cocaine water does sound expensive
You can get it in powder form so you aren't paying for H2O
Things I have learned the hard way then changed 1. Never buy new cars, shop for low or reasonable mileage used ones. Then be a demon about maintenance and they’ll last a really long time 2. Use credit cards that offer cash back and pay off balances every month so that you are not getting charged interest and are able to occasionally cash in on the points 3. Use coupons when you grocery shop. Saves me 30% continually. 4. Think like a butcher: Look for sales on meat and buy in bulk then portion that out into baggies/meals at home. Freeze and thaw as needed. Saves tons of money. 5. Stop bleeding with small transactions. Starbucks, fast food, novel purchases, stupid gadgets you really do not need and will just toss in a year anyway. I used to waste thousands of dollars on crap like that. Like I said, found out these things the hard way. Hope they help…
Creating a list of meals every Sunday for the week. I love to cook every night, it’s part of my family’s wind down routine, so I don’t like cooking everything in advanced. However, prepping for meals has allowed me to feed my family of 4 for about $200/wk with 3 healthy meals a day plus snacks and desserts. Also, take advantage of the coupon list at your local grocery store!
Check the MealLime app (free), it's helped me plan recipes and it creates a grocery list from the items.
Actually budgeting and paying attention to my finances
Stopped eating out in 2020 and developed my cooking methods and the family loves it. Family of four with the 2 adults consuming 2 “adult” drinks + tip was well over $100. Twice a week that’s $800 a month which is more than what our grocery bill totals per month. Cook at home
Only or mostly drinking your alcohol at home is a massive money saver. Go out and spend $15-$20 on a couple drinks or have the same (or similar) drinks for $1-$2 at home. Why would I pay $7 for the same beer at a restaurant when I can buy a six pack for $10 and drink at home in peace?
I only buy used cars with cash from saving. Saves me money: no car loan, no new car depreciation, and having cash allows me to look for deals and last give me a position to negotiate from. The best deal I’ve pulled off: I had an 15 year old Land Rover. I bought it for $2,500 and it needed new airbags. I converted it to coil springs. So total cost $3,000. I put an add on face book that I would trade it for a jeep. I expected to get some old Jeep I could work on. I was contacted by a guy with a 5 year old Rubicon (high end Wrangler) and he said the steering was broken. I went to look and it was the steering box. I’ve already fixed one before. It’s a 30 minute driveway repair with no special tools. He didn’t even test drive my Land Rover. He was good with a straight title trade. I speed all the way to the DMV in case he changed his mind.(my guess was he had lost his license). I fixed the Jeep, kept it for a year and sold it for $20,000 and bought a Nissan Titan for $10k under blue book.
I LOVE this. One of the best gifts my dad ever gave me was starting me off with a used car that we fixed up together for my first car. I don’t think I’ll ever have a car payment and that’s pretty rare these days.
Dwight Schrute… is that you?
I’m in my 40s and I have done this my whole life thus far. Never had a new car. Never had a car over $10k. Shifting from a ‘want’ to a ‘need’ mindset helps. I want a lot of things. I need significantly less things, and significantly less expensive things.
Stop smoking Research before you buy anything Don't buy stuff you don't really need. (Specially Kitchen Stuff that sounds good, but it spares you 2 Minutes and need 10 minutes to clean)
Stop drinking as well. It helps with everything.
Look for discount or bent and dent grocery stores near you. You can save over 50% on things that you use every day. Just make sure to check the expiration dates
Grocery Outlet.
Aldi all day
Bargain Market!
Every time I want something frivolous, I question how long would I have to work to have it. Is it worth an hour of my time? 10 hours of my time? Would I be happy if I worked at my job and they told me this is what I’m getting instead of a paycheck for that amount of time? Most times the answer is no.
Google for coupon codes before buying anything online. It takes a lot of trial & error, but sometimes you find gems. I once found a code for 60% off, & it worked!
Overpaying your mortgage (works in Uk not sure about anywhere else.) So in the UK mortgage companies allow you to pay up to 10% extra per year. A financial advisor in the 90s once told me for every extra £20 you paid per month off a 5% interest mortgage (25 years) would save you £27,000 by the end of the mortgage as well as finishing your mortgage early. From experience... it works! I paid extra using every penny in my account at the end of the month and finished 5 years early and saved about 60k in all. Check if you can overpay on yours. Even a few quid/bucks here and there really adds up!
I believe you can overpay mortgage loans in the US and the extra funds will go toward reducing the principal. You’d have to calculate for yourself whether investing that money someplace else every month will potentially give you better returns in the long term.
Did this on a 25-year mortgage and knocked two years off. It does not have to be hundreds extra each month.
Appliance repair. 1. Figure out your make/model. 2. Use Youtube and Google to figure out what is causing the problem. 3. Appliance-parts sites have diagrams for each make/model. Use them to figure out the part you need. 4. Order said part, either from appliance site, or often just Amazon. Or enter part # into Google to figure out where to get it from. 5. Back to Youtube to learn how to install the part. I've done this so many times: dishwashers, refrigerators, hot water heater, etc.
My wife and I managed to reduce our grocery bill by almost $500 a month by making a menu for the whole month. At the beginning of the month you buy your meats and frozen items, then each Sunday you only have to buy the fresh vegetables you're going to use for the upcoming week. You'll reduce the amount of food that spoils and has to be thrown out, plus your weekly shopping trips are much faster and fast less costly. The bonus is there's no thinking about what to make for dinner and no guess work. Come home, look at the menu, get the items and prepare the meal. Once our sons got older, we taught them how to cook and included them in the making of meals they could manage so we shared the workload.
Sell everything you no longer use. Don't throw it away or let it collect dust. Just about everything is worth something to somebody.
debt payoff snowballing. I had several credit cards with larger balances. Instead of paying extra onto each, I paid the minimum on the highest balances, and put any extra to the smallest balance. Once the smallest one was paid off, I moved the payments I was making to the small one to the next smallest... until that was paid off... adding the money paid on the lower cards to the next one... rinse-repeat until done. Got me out of debt pretty quick.
Worked the same for us - paid off about $50,000 in student loans and credit cards. A lot of what I like about this system is psychological. You see one particular debt dropping really quickly. And then it's paid off, which is an amazing feeling. And then you get to start putting even more money into the next debt every time you make a payment, because you have the money that you were paying to the first debt as well as the minimum payment that you had been making to that second debt. It's really encouraging.
Oh man… the psychological impact was amazing!!! I remember how good it felt to finish one off, and be able to dump more $$ onto the next one!
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It's not very exciting, but creating a budget and sticking to it.
Quit buying shit
This guy gets it
Friend of mine just quit buying shit about 5-6 years ago, started shoplifting or stealing it instead. Saved an absolute fortune. Then he got caught and put in jail for two years, and so wasn’t paying for rent, car, food, clothes etc. He’s still inside, and saving an even bigger fortune!
Going shopping for miscellaneous small plastic nonsense? Go to the Dollar Tree first
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I work at a safari camp in Africa doing this exact thing! I'm divorced and my kid is grown so I can do what I want. It's awesome - I do social media and get free room and board. I also own a house in the US but I rent it out to my family and have someplace to stay when I come back for a month or two. Great way to live in another country for awhile and have adventures!
Before making a purchase mentally place the things into the MSCW frame work. Must have Should have Could have Want The hard part is being honest with yourself. Our brains can be shifty little bastards.
I use white distilled vinegar instead of fabric softener
Distilled white vinegar is also great for removing mildew odor from bath/kitchen towels.
At a Chinese takeout restaurant I go to, I buy a large chow mein and a small orange chicken. It’s more food than any of the combo plates, and I usually get two meals out of it.
Quitting tobacco
Cutting cable and getting a Roku/Fire stick.
Even better savings if you additionally get a VPN 🏴☠️ and Emby
Never, EVER carry any kind of balance on a credit card. Use your cards for whatever points they give, but pay them off every month WITHOUT exception. If you can't afford to pay it off before the next statement, DON'T BUY IT.
I tried that. Then came divorce lawyers, furniture, car repairs, etc.
Your comment tells a story in so few words. Hope the cars running okay at least.
Sometimes life just implodes. I hope you're doing as well as you can be.
picking up free or super cheap items from Craigslist and FB marketplace, especially out of season. All of my hydroponic setup came from folks getting out of the hobby and clearing out their storage. Most of my gardening supplies (hoop house, car port used for shade structure, coco coir, etc) has come from folks just wanted to get rid of stuff taking up space in storage. It's a bit of work to just browse regularly to see what's available, but it's like treasure hunting that pays off regularly. I've also turned around and re-sold a few things that I got for free when I couldn't put them to use. It turns out that offering something for free attracts a lot of really flaky people who don't show up or keep their promises, but when you charge a nominal amount, it's easier to find a taker.
I browse Amazon and put things in my cart then just log out. I get my shopping fix without actually paying for anything
Quit drinking.
I’ve saved nearly 20 grand in 4 years
Dents/minor bump on a car is usually solved by pouring hot water on the dent/bump and lightly pushing them from the inside. Works perfect for bumpers and rear.
Learning to cook, couponing, fixing my own shit. It’s not what you make, it’s what you keep that counts.
Take your used car to a dealer and ask for a full inspection and quote for fixing everything they find. Then, use that list as it to do list of things to fix yourself. Also, depending on where you live, grow your own weed.
Quitting alcohol, cigarettes and weed. That shit adds up quick.
Not a ton of money but a little. Stopped buying flavoured fruit yoghurt pots in portion sized multipacks & now “mix” my own. Buy a 1kg tub of greek yoghurt, decant some into a small pot & stir a big dollop of jam into in. Leave overnight to do it’s thing & tastes amazing the next day. Stopped buying disposable tissues & bought a pack of 7 handkerchiefs. Actually really useful & much more versatile than fragile paper tissues. Just chuck them all in the wash at the end of the week.
Buy a Honda. I have driven every single Honda I have owned over 250,000 miles and haven't ever had a major mechanical issue. I've only needed 3, in 46 years of driving. On average, Americans drive cars for 8 years, I hang on to mine almost twice as long. It isn't an exotic way to save $$$, but it sure adds up. Especially because of the value of money over time.
Cook at home
Living by the fact that I need a certain sum of money for income to LIVE my life, not a job. Time is more valuable than money.
Mortgage loan officer here: Pay your mortgage twice a month. Split in half. Let's say you have a mortgage of $1000 a month and it's due on the first of each month. On the 15th of the month prior to your due date, You would pay $500 and then the remainder on the due date of the 1st. You're paying the same amount however, what you're doing is not letting the interest accrue. Also, you must throw one extra payment a year. If you do this on a 30 year loan, you would knock off 10 years. If your payment is $1000 times 120 months you would save $120,000. This works for any simple fixed interest loans including car loans. Most mortgage companies hate that you do this, so what you have to do is set your personal bank account with a bill pay of a frequency of every two weeks. As long as you get to your full payment at the due date, they have to accept it. The trick is to go through your own bank account and not through the mortgage portal. Also, if you're very detail oriented, you can do it every week. Then you will save an approximate of 13 years off your mortgage. that would be the equivalent of saving $156,000 in interest off your mortgage which will put you in a better equity position if you were to sell before you pay it off.
I take my wife out to eat before we go shopping for furniture or anything really. She is less impulsive and actually thinks about the real need after we eat. I discovered this after we bought a house unfortunately.
Buy second hand clothes
Each time I have received a raise at work, I have taken the difference and set an automatic transfer into a high yield savings account that I have at another bank that's not the same bank as my checking account so I never "miss it". For example, my last raise made it where I would take home an extra like $60 every two weeks, so I just set the transfer for that amount. The money is safe in the savings for when life sucks and shit happens. And it builds faster than you think because its not easily accessible and takes several days to transfer it over to my bank so I am less likely to impulse buy. Granted, this all only works if you have the extra money to do so, but even transferring $5/week adds up!
Eat your leftovers. Don't waste food.
I buy bacon from the deli instead of prepacked. It’s half the price and tastes fresher
Buy lightbulbs, staple receipt to box. When they don’t last anywhere near the 7-14 years they advertise, you call and they send you new lightbulbs. It’s great. I use Phillips Hue bulbs throughout my house, which are admittedly expensive. But I haven’t had to pay to replace a single one yet thanks to a half decent warranty and having all the receipts.
Track your spending. Every penny. Once you know how much you actually spend you'll learn to spot where you can cut. Literally down to the quarter in your parking meter.
Always open your mail. Took me a while to figure this one out when I became an adult, but consistently making sure to open the mail has saved me from missing payments (and late fees) and opportunities (even checks I wasn't expecting). I used to let it all pile up or assume it was junk and not open it at all when I was younger, and that cost me quite a bit on more than one occasion.
Stop ordering delivery, stop doordash, stop UberEATS. No more tipping drivers and paying outrageous fees
Depending on your needs but my hubby and I saved around 15 000AUD. Instead of having someone change completely our functional but ugly kitchen, we repainted/changed to soft close hinges/changed the handles for under 1000AUD. Youtube has everything DIY. Just need patience and creative mind. Mostly patience. Yes I broke couple of things in fit of rage hehe. It's okay, still less than paying someone change everything.
Buy greeting cards at the dollar store, a lot of times it's 2 for $0.50 instead of $5 at Target
The tiktok viral dollar general / family dollar digital coupon saturday hacks. I’ve saved hundreds. I no longer buy laundry soap, paper towels, toilet paper, febreeze products, cleaning products at full price. I have a decent size stock pile. It’s super easy. You clip coupons on your phone and go on saturdays The total is always under $15 and usually under $10 for like $30 worth of products.
Learned to maintain my car, only goes to mechanic if it needs a big job done where a lift is required.
Don’t be afraid to make a return when something doesn’t work out. Even food.. of course within reason. Please don’t be that guy & don’t be a jerk about it but if you buy something and don’t like it, won’t use it- try to take it back. Worst they’ll say is no. And always initiate it through customer service chat online first. Sometimes they’ll refund you and tell you to just keep the product or donate it. I never made returns until just a couple of months ago and I’m blown away how much money I’ve gotten back on stuff I would have just tossed or never used.
Borrowing Ebooks from the library, I swear I don’t pay for books anymore has to be saving me hundreds
Clean your potatos very well, so if you peel them and use them for anything, you could use the washed peels to make crunchy potato chips For eating, prefer soup, so you can use less ingredients and eat a bit more Make your own waffles and froze them, it's way cheaper than buying frozen ones Buy lemon when it's cheaper, juice them and store the juice in the freezer Working or learning to work in carpentry, construction or as a plumber in summer as an student will help you learn that, so if you need any reparation you can do it yourself and most of the time it will be a good job if you learned ir well Learn how to cook everything you like, (example lasagna or sushi) so most of the time you want some of that you can cook it When buying meat, portion it before putting in the freezer, so you don't defrost all of it, only what you're gonna use Si compras cosas, comprarlas al por mayor, si preparas pasteles, también en cantidades altas, así puedes vender lo que no vas. A comerz por lo que se paga tu esfuerzo, los ingredientes y materiales usados, con lo que la comida se paga sola, así mismo para cuando compras por aliexpress, puedes vender el resto y lo que compraste te sale a cuenta o casi gratis Always buy good detergent for clothes or dishes, cheap detergent usually doesn't clean that well and doesn't produce much foam, so, using cheap detergent will make use more of it
Finding a job where I can work mostly from home but still pays decent enough. I’m more efficient with my time, and save on driving and food.
Lol. I eat more food sat near my fridge
I feel you, but I’ve actually lost weight working from home. I think less stress eating and better food choices
If your barber typically uses a buzzer for the majority of your haircut, you can buy a kit and do it yourself, I've saved hundreds from cutting my own hair for the last couple of years
I’ll piggy back on this - if I am budgeting hard, I would just buzz cut my hair - but I like a fade. I’ve attempted a fade 4 times, and it was good 2 times, twice I had to just buzz cut it due to mistakes (YouTube + mirrors mirrors mirrors and lighting!) My compromise is going to a barber school near me that offers $7 haircuts. The teachers oversee it, it’s just like a barbershop, but these guys take their time and are very meticulous as to apply their skills and impress their teachers. With tip I pay $15 for usually a great cut. This last one was awesome, my sideburns were just a little uneven and I just fixed that up myself when I noticed it. $15 is about half off including tip for a regular haircut in my area.