Money Saving Tips

SLS said:
If you have a wood stove with a window in the door, you can just use wet newspaper with ashes to clean the glass. Go over it again with wet newspaper, dry it with more newspaper, and it looks great.
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I use a news paper to clean all windows, car windows and house windows. Need to use quite a few, but they leave less streaks.
 
Thavoice said:
Burning leaves instead of paying for special bags to have them, well, whatever they do with them.

Our whole 'hood on Saturday looked like an inner city during riots with all the fires!
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Your "hood?"
You struck me more an edge of the burbs type. Hadn't realized your were a city boy.

I just mow them for a little gas. Time is money. Quicker, better.

As for the burn option, open burns are not legal in Ohio (between 6am and 6pm, which makes ZERO sense) and yes, people in the closer compacted cities will complain as the idiots that don't know how to look at wind direction, pour smoke into the houses. The burning plants are also a bad allergy issue, which again is more a problem in the denser cities I imagine. Though it can be hard to separate the burning bush from the burning house in the "hood."
 
eastisbest said:
Your "hood?"
You struck me more an edge of the burbs type. Hadn't realized your were a city boy.

I just mow them for a little gas. Time is money. Quicker, better.

As for the burn option, open burns are not legal in Ohio (between 6am and 6pm, which makes ZERO sense) and yes, people in the closer compacted cities will complain as the idiots that don't know how to look at wind direction, pour smoke into the houses. The burning plants are also a bad allergy issue, which again is more a problem in the denser cities I imagine. Though it can be hard to separate the burning bush from the burning house in the "hood."
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Im just a rebel like that.
 
14Red said:
Getting close to the end of my Circle K Sip and Save program. Just a reminder for those who aren't aware of this. Circle K has a program where for $5.99 per month, you can get a drink a day at Circle K, and that included coffees, pop, freezes up to 64 ounces. They are normally .85 cents per drink for the polar pop. So quick math, I get on average one a day for about 25 days. If I paid per drink, it would be $21.25. But this is $5.99. So basically after your 7th drink, the rest are free, one per day.
I see dude walking out with 2-3 20 oz bottles of pop for $4-$5. If they do that daily for a month, that's $100 or more.
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How's CK's coffee? What size joe would that be?
 
PantherProud said:
give it a couple months to impact your bank account and you'll get over it.
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We have the money. I always wanted to support Hard print papers. Calling cable company today to get rate lowered. Just mention you're exploring budget cuts and competition. That will be the next thing to go probably. It's the principle of cost. You have to negotiate in today's world.
 
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I get the Cincinnati Enquirer print and online for $19.99 a month,six days a week (no more Saturday print edition). I also get the Journal News print and online edition for $16.50 monthly, 7 days a week. Enquirer lets me share the online edition with one other person and the Journal with four other people. I did have to negotiate to get these prices, but I enjoy the give and take of it.
 
I wonder if the Cincinnati Enquirer will give me a small rebate for their fake news headline this morning, which read Cincinnati 42, Jacksonville 21 in both the print and online edition.
 
The easiest way to save money? Start a budget, and track everything you spend. Seeing how much you spend without even realizing it is an eye-opener.

Except for the rare circumstance of the extremely disciplined individual, I'm a firm believer that whatever money we have, we will find a way to spend. So invest or save (move) as much as you can, automatically, before you have a chance to see it. Increase your 401k contributions. Set up automatic weekly transfers to a higher-interest savings account. Contribute more to your HSA or 529 plan. Whatever floats your boat. Just do whatever you can to not have the money immediately available in your checking account that is just 1 swipe away, thus reducing the starting amount for your budget. It's amazing how simply seeing a lower account balance subconsciously (or even consciously) makes you spend less. And you're saving money away in the process. It's a double whammy.

"Live within your means" is the obvious one. Don't spend money you don't have. But in the event you do have (and use) a credit card, set it up to automatically pay in full every month. Credit card debt is the beginning of the end.
 
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thePITman said:
Except for the rare circumstance of the extremely disciplined individual, I'm a firm believer that whatever money we have, we will find a way to spend. So invest or save (move) as much as you can, automatically, before you have a chance to see it. Increase your 401k contributions. Set up automatic weekly transfers to a higher-interest savings account. Contribute more to your HSA or 529 plan. Whatever floats your boat. Just do whatever you can to not have the money immediately available in your checking account that is just 1 swipe away. Reduce the starting amount for your budget. It's amazing how simply seeing a lower account balance subconsciously (or even consciously) makes you spend less. And you're saving money away in the process. It's a double whammy.

"Live within your means" is the obvious one. Don't spend money you don't have. But in the event you do have (and use) a credit card, set it up to automatically pay in full every month. Credit card debt is the beginning of the end.

Oh... the easiest way to save money? Start a budget, and track everything you spend.
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So easy to download a spreadsheet budget. Has all categories for spending and does the math for you. It's a must imo
 
I enjoy wrestling said:
So easy to download a spreadsheet budget. Has all categories for spending and does the math for you. It's a must imo
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I created my own excell spreadsheet for my budget.

The one issue most always fall into, and I did myself until I started this a few years ago, is they see a balance in their accounts and try to figure out what goes to what, and how much money do you actually have to blow on whatever.

I established three separate and distinct accounts with their own pots of money.


1. All 'bills' account where all my bills are auto paid. $$ is auto transferred after every pay and built it up to where it can carry 6 months of every reocurring bill I have. In reality, it would go longer as if crap hits the fan I would cancel some things and that $$ would go further.

2. My money. Essentially my day to day expenses. Gas/Food/Fun, etc.

3. Future stuff. Right now it has 17 diff categories to cover everything from vacation, new car, roof, hvac, car repairs, emergency house repairs, concert/sport tickets, medical, home improvement, etc etc etc. I have assigned each category a % so when I transfer $$ into that account every pay period it auto populates with the new balance. Every qtr or so I review the %'s i have and see if I want to adjust those in any fashion.

It has helped me TREMENDOUSLY to be able to save for future plans, whatever they may be. When I reach goals of what something would cost then I lower that % to a bare min and add % to other aspects I want to save more money on.
It is just been a terrific way for me to know what $$$ is allocated to what instead of just winging it. When I got my new furnace a few years ago after getting to my goal/estimate, I started at a low % again knowing it should be (hopefully) 20+ years before I have to ever get a new one so in the meantime $$ will keep accuring. If I repairs on it, then it comes from the emergency repairs allocation.

I wont say this is genius, but to me it has been genius and helps keep me on task. I have shared it with a few younglings in my downtrace and a few weeks ago they reached out and stated it has been working great and now they finally have been able to afford a down payment on a house because of the savings and allocation process I showed them.
 
Thavoice said:
I created my own excell spreadsheet for my budget.

The one issue most always fall into, and I did myself until I started this a few years ago, is they see a balance in their accounts and try to figure out what goes to what, and how much money do you actually have to blow on whatever.

I established three separate and distinct accounts with their own pots of money.


1. All 'bills' account where all my bills are auto paid. $$ is auto transferred after every pay and built it up to where it can carry 6 months of every reocurring bill I have. In reality, it would go longer as if crap hits the fan I would cancel some things and that $$ would go further.

2. My money. Essentially my day to day expenses. Gas/Food/Fun, etc.

3. Future stuff. Right now it has 17 diff categories to cover everything from vacation, new car, roof, hvac, car repairs, emergency house repairs, concert/sport tickets, medical, home improvement, etc etc etc. I have assigned each category a % so when I transfer $$ into that account every pay period it auto populates with the new balance. Every qtr or so I review the %'s i have and see if I want to adjust those in any fashion.

It has helped me TREMENDOUSLY to be able to save for future plans, whatever they may be. When I reach goals of what something would cost then I lower that % to a bare min and add % to other aspects I want to save more money on.
It is just been a terrific way for me to know what $$$ is allocated to what instead of just winging it. When I got my new furnace a few years ago after getting to my goal/estimate, I started at a low % again knowing it should be (hopefully) 20+ years before I have to ever get a new one so in the meantime $$ will keep accuring. If I repairs on it, then it comes from the emergency repairs allocation.

I wont say this is genius, but to me it has been genius and helps keep me on task. I have shared it with a few younglings in my downtrace and a few weeks ago they reached out and stated it has been working great and now they finally have been able to afford a down payment on a house because of the savings and allocation process I showed them.
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Great plan, and I think that's the key. I think alot of people basically take their check, put it in the bank pay their bill and whatever is left is "fun" money. Ok until the rainy day comes, and that includes health. I am one who spends very little on "frilly" things. I go to a few high school sporting events, not a big vacation guy, so little is spent on that. I don't drink so the weekend hanging out at the bar doesn't exist. Anything left goes into the bank or is invested in a 401(k) plan or outside mutual fund investment.
 
Here's crazy stuff I see..

Some mornings, I'll stop in and get a cup of coffee from the gas station. The amount of people that come in and grap a bag of chips, energy drink, Mountain dew..and a coffee, is mind blowing to me. Kids...kids, I especially see do it. When I was their age, I had a buck given to me to eat lunch and that was it.

And going to sporting events...$9.99 beers..really? You think I'm paying $9.99 for a beer?!!!
 
Tesoro said:
Here's crazy stuff I see..

Some mornings, I'll stop in and get a cup of coffee from the gas station. The amount of people that come in and grap a bag of chips, energy drink, Mountain dew..and a coffee, is mind blowing to me. Kids...kids, I especially see do it. When I was their age, I had a buck given to me to eat lunch and that was it.

And going to sporting events...$9.99 beers..really? You think I'm paying $9.99 for a beer?!!!
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It's a sign of age I think.
 
Tesoro said:
Here's crazy stuff I see..

Some mornings, I'll stop in and get a cup of coffee from the gas station. The amount of people that come in and grap a bag of chips, energy drink, Mountain dew..and a coffee, is mind blowing to me. Kids...kids, I especially see do it. When I was their age, I had a buck given to me to eat lunch and that was it.

And going to sporting events...$9.99 beers..really? You think I'm paying $9.99 for a beer?!!!
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I’m paying that for a few at the Reds and Bengals games. Beer is the only reason I can justify buying those insanely priced tickets. I do buy a bag of peanuts on the way in.
 
Tesoro said:
Here's crazy stuff I see..

Some mornings, I'll stop in and get a cup of coffee from the gas station. The amount of people that come in and grap a bag of chips, energy drink, Mountain dew..and a coffee, is mind blowing to me. Kids...kids, I especially see do it. When I was their age, I had a buck given to me to eat lunch and that was it.

And going to sporting events...$9.99 beers..really? You think I'm paying $9.99 for a beer?!!!
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I see the same $chit.

I see kids who drive a decent truck with a $5,000 lift kit and $3,000 tires and a $5,000 exhaust system and buys his breakfast, lunch, and dinner at gas stations and fast food restaurants but is "broke."

Most people that are struggling to get by manage simply suck at managing their money.

Pro or big time college sporting events? Fuggetaboutit. Giant wastes of money.
 
irish_buffalo said:
I see the same $chit.

I see kids who drive a decent truck with a $5,000 lift kit and $3,000 tires and a $5,000 exhaust system and buys his breakfast, lunch, and dinner at gas stations and fast food restaurants but is "broke."

Most people that are struggling to get by manage simply suck at managing their money.

Pro or big time college sporting events? Fuggetaboutit. Giant wastes of money.
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How many could even fill out a budget spreadsheet? Parents are to blame. One of my biggest educational issues. Teach these kid's financial skills. I'm frugal, but yet pick my spots to spend. When I go on vacation, I spend. Anniversary dinner was $830 for 5 Sunday. If you enjoy certain things, go for it. Just make sure it's within your means.
 
I enjoy wrestling said:
I'm frugal, but yet pick my spots to spend. When I go on vacation, I spend. Anniversary dinner was $830 for 5 Sunday. If you enjoy certain things, go for it. Just make sure it's within your means.
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To me this is how you can be successful. My buddy and I have had this conversation multiple times. It is great to be frugal and save for retirement or that huge trip you want to take in 10 years, but if you don't give yourself a little something to spend on things you enjoy now there is a high chance you will fail.
 
I enjoy wrestling said:
How many could even fill out a budget spreadsheet? Parents are to blame. One of my biggest educational issues. Teach these kid's financial skills. I'm frugal, but yet pick my spots to spend. When I go on vacation, I spend. Anniversary dinner was $830 for 5 Sunday. If you enjoy certain things, go for it. Just make sure it's within your means.
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Outside of our politics I think we'd get along alright. ;)
 
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