Making Money by Saving Money

[spirit]

I intend this thread to run in parallel with the "Making Money When You Don't Have A Regular Job" thread. That thread got me to thinking and reviewing my lifestyle...

Ben Franklin said - A penny saved is a penny earned.

It seems to me that it is easy to forget that we can save pennies (and nickels, dimes,...) and in effect EARN money at a good clip. With the taxation system as it is, saving a buck is (for some of us) as good as earning 1.5 buck thru actual employment.

So, if you don't have a regular job, what can you do with your time, creativity and energy to save some money in your day-to-day living?

Here are 5 of my answers:

1. Rotate my tires, check my tire pressure, change the oil, ...

2. Hang out my clothes to dry. (Saves electric/gas, maybe the dryer will last longer, maybe the clothes will last longer,...)

3. Anticipate purchasing "needs" and watch for true deals on them.

4. Cook good and healthy food from scratch instead of buying the finished product at a restaurant or the grocery store.

5. Do a better job of keeping track of and using up what I've already acquired.

How about your ways of earning by saving??

[Gardenarian]

Propagating plants, either by collecting seed or taking cuttings.

Use-it-up cooking - put off buying groceries till the cupboard is bare.

Checking the "free" section of our local craigslist.

Keeping a list of fun, free, local/home things to do, rather than hopping in the car.

Mending clothes and linens, polishing shoes, making sure things are well kept.

Being organized so I don't have duplicate purchases (esp. helpful with hardware items like nails and screws.)

[flowerseverywhere]

we retired at age 55 and researched where to move now that we were no longer tied to the workplace. We looked into how much taxes were, utilities and need for cooling in the summer and heat in the winter, ability to ride our bikes as opposed to driving among other things. We sold our house and bought one of equal value. Our taxes: from $8,000 in NY to $2,000 in Florida. Utility bill has not been over $80 yet, but august has been really hot so will be higher. One car with little mileage put on due to being able to walk and ride bikes, plus proximity to grocery store, library, farmers market etc. I estimate our living expenses will be at least $10,000 per year less altogether based on tracking this year as opposed to two years ago. Property Taxes play a huge part, as well as only one car. It makes a huge difference in how much you need to leave the workforce.

[SteveinMN]

Making money by saving money is how I spent my first year of retirement!

Some of the things I did:
- looked at the cable bill, electric/gas bill, cell-phone bill, etc., to see if we were getting what we wanted at the lowest price. Having the time to actually look at the cell-phone bill identified two "services" DW somehow had texted into which were costing us $20 a month (!). Nixing those saved us $240 a year. Marching into the carrier's store for a plan review identified ways to push our bill down even further once we're fully off-contract. And I've since had enough time to collect and run through our actual calling/texting/data history, I know what we need for when we're out of contract (stay with carrier, move elsewhere, try an MVNO, etc.). An MVNO could push our bill down to about $35/month for both of us -- though with significant limitations.
- sold no-longer-used items on craigslist and ebay.
- did preventive maintenance around the house. A little money on microbial drain cleaner is cheaper than hiring the 'rooter people. Replacing the hoses to the washing machine cost a few bucks for braided steel hoses, but there's no worry that old rubber hoses will leak and cause much more expensive damage.
- did the lawn mowing and snow blowing myself instead of hiring people. Time was more flexible and getting out of the house didn't hurt, either.
- quit spending money on lunches and breakfasts/coffee out during the workday. I still get together with friends for lunch or a drink after work, but it's still $40-50 a week saved.

[pinkytoe]

Hanging on to my old car just a little longer. No car payments now for many years and hate to have one again. I could pay cash for a new car but can't justify the expense since this old Volvo gets me from A to B just fine.

[catherine]

• Drinking filtered tap water instead of soda/bottled water/beer/wine
• Joining a freecycle.org group
• Before purchasing, putting a "hold" on the want for a week or so and not buying it until then
• Cut out automatic internet subscriptions (like Consumer Reports)
• Making my dog treats (old marrow bone, stuffed with cheap leftover meat and sealed with layer of peanut butter) rather than buying those horrendously expensive dog treats (often made overseas).

[razz]

Love this thread!
Everything that comes into the house must be washable or is not bought.
Cold water washing with vinegar rinse.
Pour half of a new bottle of shampoo into old bottle and fill each bottle with water to extend life of the shampoo at no loss of cleaning.
Don't buy on impulse!!!!!!!!!
Sit down and really think about what is important to your life and its enjoyment. - I love theatre, opera and ballet so I get the cheapest subscription for theatre, see opera and ballet on HD for less than a quarter of just one ticket.
Join a horticultural society for really thrifty (I don't like the word cheap) information meetings, modest cost plant sales and great friends.
Look at your clothes closet and see how many outfits you can make out of a few items and renew or refresh just those items as needed.
Use local hiking trails for your exercise instead of a gym.
Enter your food intake on My Fitness Pal instead of joining a weight watching club.
Plan a modest starch, protein and vegetable/fruit intake at each of three meals with planned simple snacks in between and DO IT!
Avoid pop/soda and any artificial manufactured sweets - waste of calories and poor nutritional intake.

[flowerseverywhere]

everyone is posting all the things most of us have realized save a bundle. I'll add look at gifting, are you giving gifts to people they can't use because you don't want to rock the boat? Eating less meat is helpful in budgeting too. Also, wanted to add to my previous post that we also looked at state income taxes, gas taxes etc. When I was talking to DH about this thread he added that not having state income tax and our gas being 50 cents less a gallon here due to NY taxes adds thousands more to what we save by living here. Not buying things on time and avoiding interest on things like cars can add up to a bundle through the years. Buying a used car with cash saves on car insurance too. wanted to add that reading the money saving websites that are often mentioned here on a regular basis like Mister Money Mustache or Bankrate, often can give you good ideas you never thought of for free. I can't remember the dollar one, maybe someone can post it.

[creaker]

The thread title is in my opinion probably the best definition of "frugal" I've seen.

[pinkytoe]

The thread title is in my opinion probably the best definition of "frugal" I've seen.

Yes, it always tickle me when I hear buy now and save.