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DawnR
Member
Myerstown, PA
USA
12 Posts |
 Posted - 11/01/2008 : 4:49:21 PM
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| Those large empty tissue boxes make great plastic bag holders, too. You can cram alot more bags than you might think into one of those. |
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EllenNC
Star Contributor
Raleigh, NC
USA
497 Posts |
Posted - 11/01/2008 : 8:54:14 PM
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I double and triple coupons. Stockpile like the dickens when the coupons match the sales. Other groceries are bought while MSing. We spend next to nothing for food or rather could but we find that doing this we can afford expensive cuts when we want them and of course since there's just the two of us now, we tend to eat out a lot. We joke between us that if we are at home and mealtime is approaching we will think of someplace we need to go so that we will have to eat out. |
Ellen |
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Gayle R
Star Contributor
Eastern Shore, VA
USA
1396 Posts |
Posted - 11/02/2008 : 8:30:10 PM
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| Ellen, how do you dbl or triple coupons? Most stores will only let you use one coupon at a time. |
Gayle |
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Jnanne
Star Contributor
Shreveport, LA
USA
2744 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2008 : 04:47:40 AM
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Some grocery stores advertise that if you use coupons at their stores they will double or triple the value of the coupon up to a certain amount. For example, a coupon with a face-value savings of 25 cents can be tripled so you get 75 cents off. One with a value of 40 cents would be doubled and you get 80 cents off. Frequently they stop at $1.00. Up to 99 cents is doubled. Any $1.00 and over are just the savings value of the coupon.
Some stores only do this one day of the week. Others do it for any purchase any day. This is only good for manufacturers' coupons. Store coupons are the face-value. |
Jnanne
Silver certified and looking for work near my new home |
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Katie O
Trainee
Oaklyn, NJ
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2008 : 07:22:40 AM
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When I realized the mark up on pre-packaged cookies and cakes from in store bakeries; I started making my own. A package of Pepperidge Farms Oatmeal Raisin Cookies generally sells for $3.79 and you get maybe 8 cookies. I make 4 dozen cookies for less than half that price!
An 8 inch round birthday type cake (undecorated) sells for $15.00 in my local supermarket. I could have home-made cake for breakfast, lunch & dinner for a week on $15.00! |
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Gayle R
Star Contributor
Eastern Shore, VA
USA
1396 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2008 : 9:13:21 PM
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| I've started freezing my leftovers for a 2nd meal. Don't know why I didn't do this all along. What I used to do was maybe eat some of the leftover for lunch the next day or a snack. Then I would be tired of it so what was left got thrown out. Now I might put a little aside for lunch or a snack & freeze the rest. So far this week I've frozen home made chicken stew, stock & veggies for chicken noodle soup & spaghetti. |
Gayle |
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Ricki
Member
Olathe, KS
USA
25 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2008 : 2:32:25 PM
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This is outside of what you are thinking but, I have saved the most money by learning to tell my children "no." I will spend money on them that I will not spend on myself. I had to learn that "no" is a great money saver. |
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Diane G.
Contributor
USA
77 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2009 : 2:38:38 PM
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| Gayle, thanks for the leftover tip.....I had people over last night for dinner and have leftovers----- I will now go freeze a meal or two for me for a future dinner..... |
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Irene_L.A.
Star Contributor
Valencia, California
USA
922 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2009 : 1:29:50 PM
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1. Double coupons
2. always turn off lights when leaving room, is a habit now.
3. do a lunch shop, and take half home.
4. get free flights by using credit card, have 74,000 miles accumulated, planning a trip this year, and use Starwood Hotels for bigger saving.
5. grocery shop Wed. thru Sun. only for the great 10 for 10, and chickens sometimes up to 1/2 off....always read paper for savings.
6. Buy gifts at macy's when they have their great sales, 1/2 off + another 40%.
7. never never buy retail, only buy on sale.... |
Irene Eichel |
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Wendy G
Star Contributor
Park Ridge, IL
USA
284 Posts |
Posted - 02/28/2009 : 12:23:09 PM
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| This is an obvious one, probably, but I thrift store shop and get name brand clothing. Hubby has lots of Tommy Hilfiger clothing and Dockers that literally look brand new. I hate shopping to begin with, but when I can get a Tommy shirt for $1, I get a bit excited. Got an office lamp for $3.50 at the new Salvation Army and use that exclusively in our office instead of overhead or halogen lighting. Also got a long sweater dress/cardigan there for $3 that was by Ralph Lauren and sold at Bergdorf Goodman. I mean c'mon that was probably super overpriced originally and looks brand new. |
Wendy |
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Cherie from the Heights
Member
Weirton, WV
USA
26 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2009 : 09:05:43 AM
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Ok this is probably going to sound really cheap but I almost never buy Ketchup or Sweet & Low. Whenever I or my hubby go to eat fast food I take extras. I'm the only one in the house that uses ketchup and sweet & low so with the extra packets he gets I never need to buy any.
My other advice would be to replace all the light bulbs in your home with the compact florescent bulbs. They cost more initially but you will save so much on your electric bill you will never go back to the cheaper regular bulbs. |
Cherie |
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Jnanne
Star Contributor
Shreveport, LA
USA
2744 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2009 : 4:43:11 PM
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| I hope they are better quality than they were when first marketed. I bought enough for my whole house in 1997 (when I bought the house), spending as much as $15 per bulb. Every one of them had burned out within six months. I never got any kind of a refund on the bulbs and have not tried them since. I certainly didn't see the savings from my electric bill. |
Jnanne
Silver certified and looking for work near my new home |
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LisaOV
Star Contributor
MN
USA
2609 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2009 : 5:38:44 PM
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Our dishwasher died (a long, slow, depressing death) and I have started washing dishes by hand, something that 25 years ago I hated doing, but all the sudden I am sort of enjoying it. For one thing it warms me up, so its a good thing to do in the winter and I love saying to my DH *Oh, sorry, can't get the phone (change the baby, take the dog out, etc) my hands are wet, I'm doing the dishes*! And I just got our water bill for the quarter and I'm not kidding you - it is down about $150.00 (we had a really high bill before and since this is the first house I've ever lived in I had no idea how high water was or should be) - so I've decided that I'm just going to keep washing these dishes by hand - the only thing I miss is when I can't get to the dishes right away they look messy in the kitchen.
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Irene_L.A.
Star Contributor
Valencia, California
USA
922 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2009 : 5:53:11 PM
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| This is crazy, but, I wash my hair every two days instead of daily, and I swear, my water bill went down...also, the beginning of summer, turn my hot water heater to med (not high), and turn it back up start of winter..my water bill is really low due to these things. I do take equal whenever possible, never buy the stuff....yahoo! |
Irene Eichel |
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Gayle R
Star Contributor
Eastern Shore, VA
USA
1396 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2009 : 7:50:14 PM
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| I bought those bulbs last year for all my lamps & 2 burned out within a month. They were supposed to last 5 yr so I took them back & the store replaced them. The 2nd time they burned out I didn't bother. I have not seen any noticable difference in the electric bill in the year I have used them. (I still have them in all the other lights in the house.) |
Gayle |
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PamInCa
Star Contributor
CA
USA
6478 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2009 : 06:02:00 AM
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I don't remember who posted about unplugging appliances, but I wanted to say THANKS! I have always turned the lights off when I left the room, but never thought of unplugging things like the washer and dryer when they were not being used. That one tip saved me about 20% on my electric bill in the first month. I took it one step further and now unplug anything I can, like toaster, can opener, etc., until I need to use them.
The other thing I did was hook my cable TV up to a nearby switch on the wall, you know the kind of plug in the wall that connects to one switch or another. I kept hearing a small humming sound everytime I walked next to the TV. The cable TV box was always running. I turn it off when we go to bed and it doesn't come back on until the next evening.
This is copied from my electric bill online:
Energy Usage History
This Month (kWh 7.5)
Last Month (11.2)
Percent change (-33.0%)
Last year, this month (11.7)
Change
(-35.9%)
Days 32 this month / last month 29
So, I had 3 extra days of billing for this month and still had this drop. There are three of us and Tony and Teneyah are really not too good about turning lights off. We used the heat as we had some cold days. I am just tickled pink not to have to give them this extra money. |
PamInCa
Author of: "The Essential Guide to Mystery Shopping" |
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Tawnyia Shops in AL
Member
Huntsville, AL
USA
36 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2009 : 1:19:27 PM
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I have never thought of unplugging appliances. I am going to try that as TVA just raised rates again.. Good Tip |
Tawnyia
Apprentice Shopper |
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Gayle R
Star Contributor
Eastern Shore, VA
USA
1396 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2009 : 7:18:13 PM
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| I turn off the cable box whenever I turn off the TV but I hadn't thought about actually unplugging it and /or the TV. The TV Has a blue power light on it that never goes off. How does unplugging appliances that are not running save electricity? If they have those little LED lights I can understand but washer/dryer & that kind of thing? My heat has been kept at 66 this year,24/7; a first time ever for me, & I've gotten used to it. I turn off the modem box for my computer broadband service whenever I'm not on the computer & put the computer in stand by mode. Completely off would probably be better but it's a pain to boot back up every evening. The hard drive has a small green LED light that does not go off even if you shut the computer down and I would have to crawl under the desk to pull the plug & plug it back in every day. About the only real waste of electricity I have is I leave my outside garage lights on all night for security reasons. Too many deer in the area for motion detectors to be any good. I live by myself in a dark wooded area & had my van broke into last year so the lights stay on. Also a night light in the bathroom & one in the hallway. If somebody can tell me how unplugging "idle" appliances saves money, I'll start doing that. |
Gayle |
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PamInCa
Star Contributor
CA
USA
6478 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2009 : 7:54:19 PM
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I don't know how it works, but someone here posted about unplugging stuff. We have had to use the heat and it has been at 78 to 80. The only thing I changed was unplugging these things and using the light switch to completely turn off the cable box.
I do know that electricity runs to everything plugged in whether using it or not, so not being plugged in is the only way it doesn't use electricity. I also found out that the cable companies do all of their updates, etc., through the night to save them money, but not us. My cable box literally hummed as if it was doing something all the time.
Oh yeah, before I forget...someone emailed me and said their clock on their cable box went screwy when they turned it back on. This will fix itself after a few moments, as well as update anything the cable company decided to do through the night/day. |
PamInCa
Author of: "The Essential Guide to Mystery Shopping" |
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RepSusan
Valued Contributor
USA
131 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2009 : 12:59:03 PM
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| It is referred to as "Vampire Power" or wasted standby power. If you google this you will find some sites that expain it. |
Susan |
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Topic |
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What every day things do you do to stop wasting money?