STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Collette · Chanel

What do you do to save money?

JackieO527 · Dooney & Bourke

Here are a few tricks I am using to be able to put more money towards my credit card debt. I guess the same concept could be used to save money.
1 - I wrote down what I typically spend in a month, I included any and all expenses (no lying)
2- I figured out the expenses that don't change on a monthly basis. This money stays in my checking account to pay bills.
3- I looked at what I was spending on shopping, gas, nights out, etc, I realized it was A LOT. So I have given myself a budget. I make a gas budget and I stick to it. I keep an envelope with Gas money and I pay cash, this helps me cut down on trips I don't really need, I have consolidated my driving and I have been saving almost $10 a week in gas. I also keep money that is allocated for nights out and shopping on the side. Once it is gone, it is gone, I can not tap into my account.
4 - The left over money that is not used to pay bills and not used in my weekly budget goes to my credit cards, or in your case to save.

One big thing that has helped cut down on my food bills is a weekly menu. My boyfriend and I sit down once a week and decide what we are eating for the following week. We try and make dishes that go together. So we will make 2 chicken dinners because we know that we will only use half of a package of chicken if we make one dinner, we are bad at unfreezing meat. It usually ends up in the garbage. If we get Ground Turkey, we will have turkey tacos and burgers. We also realized that planning a menu, we tend to eat out less often because we have a game plan.

I know that I can't go without shopping, so I allow myself a budget each week. If there is something I really want and it is more than my budget I have to wait until I have the money. Even this is hard, but it has been helping.

I hope this helps just a little. If I think of other things I will let you know.

Kelly · Hermes

This is a good website. In December he had a daily tip to save $1,000 in a month (or something like that), you could read through the archives. There were some good tips:

http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/

Also, this is such a little thing but I've been cooking a lot more at home. I save money there, but then I also make extra and bring leftovers in to work for lunch. I only do it a couple times a week but I save like $15 a week that way, not to mention I eat a healthier and more balanced diet this way (so, in theory, I may be saving on medical bills too). This is nerdy, but I wasn't actually good and consistent about doing this until I found a lunchbox that I like. It has compartments, and it's clear, and the lids are colorful, so it's fun for me to pack up my lunch. Now I'm way better than when I had a more boring lunchbox. Hey, whatever works :)

Also, I assume you've heard about the $4 prescriptions that Walmart and a lot of other places are doing right now. Well, I learned from the Walmart pharmacist that the prescriptions have to be written a certain way, so if you take medications it would be worth it to figure it out. For example, there is one medicine I take that is on the $4 plan at 25mg. When my doctor initially wrote my prescription, she wrote it for 125mg. I figured my meds would just cost $20 then ($4x5), but it came out to like $45. After talking to the pharmacist about why the price was different, I got my doctor to rewrite my prescription. Instead of taking 125mg once a day, she wrote it as 25mg 5 times a day. Since it was written in increments of 25, now I do get it for $20 a month. I just take 5 pills at night instead of one.

I do most of my drugstore-type shopping from drugstore.com. This does a lot: first of all, I can have a list of my favorite products saved. Every month or so, I just open up my list, check off what I'm running out of, and order it. If I go to a physical drug store, I will usually end up picking up lots of random little things and end up paying a lot more. The prices are pretty good on drugstore.com, and you can also rack up points that you can redeem as a discount on future purchases. I think it's like 5% back or something. I also go through Ebates.com to get another 6% back. And, on orders over $49 you get free shipping, so I don't have to pay for shipping, or the gas it would cost me to drive to the drugstore myself. I also save 6% because I don't have to pay tax.

Any time I buy online, I use Ebates for around 5% off. But I think drugstore.com is the best deal from there, since I use it in conjunction with the drugstore.com rebates and free shipping. And if you refer people to Ebates, you get $5 (yes, that link up there is my referral link, but I'm telling you this because it really works, not for the $5

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-- Edited by ttara123 at 14:16, 2009-01-09

-- Edited by ttara123 at 14:46, 2009-01-09

tara t · Marc Jacobs

here's a stupid little thing i do... i can't believe i'm sharing this... i have a piggy bank that i only put dimes and quarters in. the pennies and nickels stay in my bag. when i spend, i usually pay in cash, so i'll always give the pennies and nickels to get the quarters and dimes back in change.

so if something is $2.14, i'll give $3.09 and get .95 back. it's silly, but this morning i took my piggy bank to the bank and had $415.00. i paid off a credit card balance.

my theory is if you have a pig full of all the jingle change, it holds less money, but if you keep the BIG jingle change it can hold more $$.

i also make shopping lists, and have 1 day per week that i run errands. i think it's been saving me some gas $.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

Bring lunch and snacks to work. If I don't it costs me about$40 a week. Bring it myself and it's only half as much!

Buy in larger packs. The Olay Daily Facials two packs save me a few dollars compared to buying them in singles. I also buy laundry soap in the large containers since it's less per ounce.

Coupons! It's worth buying the Sunday newspaper if you don't get it already just for the coupons!

Metric · Gucci

I shop at the local famers market for fruit and veggies. Its so much cheaper and better to buy local than the grocery store. Our farmers market is open year round but you can get really amazing deals in the summer. Also if you go Sunday afternoon, many things are marked down because they are only open weekends.

I use lots of points- drugstores, gas stations, mastercard, etc offer cash back points. I take advantge of these a lot.

Don't eat out very much or order take out. Cook and make your lunches, its amazing how much it adds up.

Kitty · Hermes

I think the biggest thing for me is just being a lot more aware of prices. I have some lofty financial goals this year, so I am cutting back A LOT. Before, I used to go grocery shopping and just buy whatever I wanted and NEVER looked at prices. Now I have myself $300 a month on groceries so I try to make a game of it and find the cheapest stuff so I can still splurge on a few items and/or use any left over money on other stuff. Just in general I used to buy things without taking price into account (just daily things -- coffee, magazines, etc.) and now that i'm more aware I think I make MUCH better decisions.

I also cut out a lot of salon things I used to go and do -- getting my eyebrows done, manicures, pedicures, facials, etc. I still allow myself to do those things, just not at the frequency I was before. Now they are more of a special treat.

I also try to go longer between haircut/color appointments and if it's just a small trim, I go to a cheaper place.

I also found a cheaper place to take exercise classes.

jj · Kate Spade

TaraT, I am totally going to steal your piggy bank idea - that's awesome! We already collect our loose change in one, but you're right about dimes/quarters.

This is going to sound weird, but the biggest money saver for me (and the least fun) is saying no. My hubby and I have a set amount of "free" money each week, and when it's gone, it's gone. So if I want to buy a top, then that may mean saying no to drinks with friends after work. Or I get a soda.

I also like to have a goal - I feel like if I am working towards something, like a vacation or getting my hair cut/colored, then it makes packing a lunch or making coffee at home less painful.

BargainQueen · Marc Jacobs

When I need to fill a prescription, I search the junk mail for prescription coupons from the grocery/drugstores that offer gift cards for filling or transferring a prescription to their pharmacy.

I shop at drugstores that offer cash back rewards. For example, CVS had eye contact solution for 8.99 with a cash back of 8.99. I found a coupon for $2, so I paid 6.99 out of pocket. At the register I received 8.99 cash back for anything in the store! You do it over and over again every week on many sale items and before you know it you're paying for your merchandise with their cash back!

Im enrolled in Keep the Change with my bank, which deposits all my change from my debit transactions to a savings account.

I shop for groceries at hispanic or asian stores, for some reason their produce is A LOT cheaper than mainstream grocery stores.

For those of you girls that do not cut coupons, this is perfect for you if you want to save money at the grocery store...sign up at cellfire.com, shortcuts.com and P&G Saver. They load coupons on your grocery store card and when you go to the store and buy the item, the register automatically deducts the coupon amount!

When I shop online I always shop through a cash back rewards site like ebates.

There's a lot more, but my DH and DD are rushing me out the door!

Suasoria · Chanel

Sorry, this is long:

There's a lot of good stuff here already. I think #1, if you don't already do this, is becoming aware of what you spend monthly. You can make a simple Excel doc with all your bills listed plus go through your bank and credit card statements to find all your little expenses. Or save all your receipts for everything for a month (or for a week and multiply by 4.3). For yearly expenses like insurance or taxes, look at the total and divide by 12 for the monthly amount you need to set aside.

When you figure out what you spend and where, it becomes much, much simpler to see where you can cut back - it's staring you in the face! (This is how I totally cut back on our dry cleaning bills. I realized I could buy and wear a lot less dry-clean only clothing, and I suggested that DH could wear nice polo shirts to his casual, jeans-approved office instead of DCO shirts. This saves us about $100 a month, and that's from a cheap cleaner.)

I give major snaps up to the suggestion of shopping the farmers' market, cooking at home, rethinking your social life/obligations, and simplifying your life in general wherever you can. However, as a middle-aged heavily mortgaged lady, I have something of a catchphrase that 'it ain't the dollars, it's the hundreds (or thousands) of dollars' that matter. I know you're asking about the daily stuff, but I also suggest looking at the big-ticket items too because you may have more leverage than you think.

You can contact your creditors to see if they're offering you the best possible rates. If you've been with a credit bank a long time and have a good payment history, ask if they'll reduce your interest rate, even in the short term. (They may reduce your limit accordingly, but that's fine.) There are so many balance transfer offers out there, you can generally shop your debt around until you're paying no interest at all for cards you won't be using anyway. Or you can keep opening new accounts and transferring debt from here to there until you pay it off - IF you're very vigilant about the due dates, because many offer zero percent but hit you hugely if you happen to mess up. We've always been very successful negotiating low interest rates, and only once have we had to transfer our balance and close a longstanding account. (Thank you, Chase, and so long to our 18-year relationship. Too bad you weren't willing to agree to my terms! It was really funny to get a supervisor on the line who said "How can we keep your business?" I said, I just told you how. You can drop me to 5 or 6 percent interest. "Well, I can't do that." Then you can't keep my business. Sayonara.)

Also contact any insurance agents/providers if you haven't already. Let them know your finances have changed, and ask if they can help you. Consolidating your car and homeowners insurance can save several hundred dollars a year - or ask an agent to really scrutinize your policies to find ways you can save. Most insurance agents I know are pretty sympathetic and it's a loyalty business based on forming good relationships. It's better for them and for you if you're not overinsured and are happy with their service. If your agent won't help, find another.

Speaking of cars, look at what your car payment is (if any) and whether you can make a change there. If your current car isn't that economical, maybe you can trade it in for something smaller and cheaper, even a 3-5 year old import you can finance. Lots of times we assume our car expenses are unchangeable when there can be way more alternatives - we're just accustomed to paying X for a car.

It's a tough environment, and you should check with your attorney first, but you could also see if your current mortgage is the best for you. If you're keeping the house but don't plan on dying there, you could find a better loan. I know, I know, there's a mortgage mess out there, subprime and blah blah blah, but if a new loan saves you $600 a month, why wouldn't you - at least for now. Any time your financial status changes (which it has), you should alert your providers. You may be surprised at what they'll do for you.

ico · Dooney & Bourke

I love this topic! I find all of your suggestions very useful and inspiring. I have been jobless for a couple of months, living on my savings (thank God I had them!!!), so I had to cut on spending. Here is what I do to save my money, in random order:

I use public transportation whenever it is possible. I am lucky because I have a subway station almost across the street from work, and I work in the center of the city, so there is plenty of buses. But I try not to use the car unless necessary (gas here in Italy is something like 5$/gallon)
On the same topic: I bought a very fuel efficient car and paid in full when buying it - many thanks to mom and dad that helped me choose and gave me part of the money as a "welcome back" gift.
I don't like to watch TV, so I don't have cable or similar services. I'd rather rent a DVD.
I subscribe to the magazines I really love (one for now, but I'd like another one too) and try my best to avoid buying them on the newsstand.
I don't use hot water for my laundry, and let my stuff air dry.
When I turn on the heat, I avoid keeping doors/windows.
I do groceries in a supermarket near BF's house (it's pretty cheap, plus it's walking distance, so no gas money), but buy fruit and veggies at the farmer's market or at another little store down the street, which is much cheaper.
I have learned to hold for things I need to buy (last one was a new pair of very good boots) until they are on sale, and in the meantime carefully check the prices of various brands I like, to make buying them quick and painless.
Cell phones calls are pretty expensive here, so I try to keep cell phone communications to a minimum. texts are cheaper, and either I use them, or instant messaging, or emails.
Both boyfriens and I love to cook, and don't really like to go out for dinner, unless it's a special place. So we can save a lot on eating out too.
We borwn bag our lunch, often using dinner leftovers
Also, we both love to entertain at home: I think you don't have to cook anything too fancy or expensive: people appreciate the effort, the company, the pleaseant evening, and usually contribute with a nice bottle of wine or dessert.
I'll put part of my money on a high interest savings account (ING in my case) as soon as it is activated.

I'd say, the most important thing I should learn (I think I am on the right path) is to hold until I can afford things. Put money aside for what I want (but don't need) andfor the emergencies.

One thing I will splurge on is theatre tickets and once in a while, a nice dinner in a carefully chosen place. It makes everything more special!

wetbandit42 · Marc Jacobs

Good post! I need to reign in my spending a bit.

Use netflix. Their cheapest plan is 4.99 for 2 dvds a month, which is what you would pay for one movie at Blockbuster.
Use coupons for grocery shopping! I can usually find them for a lot of things I buy. Also, I usually make a list for the grocery store, and try not to go when I'm hungry. This helps limit the impulse buys. I also try to buy less packaged stuff (especially snacks), which cuts down on the bill a bit.
Subscribe to magazines! It's so much cheaper. Or read them for free at a library or Barnes and Noble.
Use the library. I used to buy SO many books, but now I use the library more. I may have to wait a bit longer, but it's worth it. I also buy used books on amazon when they're cheaper than new.
Use a cash-back site. I use Lucky rewards, and it really pays to use it.
Check out teenfreeway.com. I've gotten several free magazine subscriptions this way, plus, who doesn't love free samples?
The biggest hurdle for me will be cutting down on my shopping. I usually only buy when there's a code, but I simply buy too much. I need to learn to wait for sales.
Make your own coffee drinks. My roommate is addicted to lattes, so she bought a milk frother, a little stovetop espresso maker ($20), flavored syrup, and ground espresso. She saves a lot of money this way.

NCshopper · Hermes

One thing I do (and I'm sure sales people HATE me for it, but whatever, I'm not trying to be their bff) is I'll try on clothes and put them on hold if I like it and think I might want to buy it. I'll go about my shopping and try things on at different stores and I swear, half the time I leave the mall and only realize days later that I had put something on hold. Usually if I leave the mall without an item, it's a good indication that I don't love it enough or need it enough to buy it.