For me, I think it was the decision to move to a city with a low cost of living. There is also a lot of free educational opportunities here. I was able to go to culinary school for free and am considering attending nursing school for free. My city also is great for senior citizens. I'm not one yet, but will avail myself of the opportunities one day. The reason it is so good for seniors, is the
Pennsylvania Lottery proceeds fund a lot of senior programs. Buying a house in this area is a lot cheaper than most cities although I do pay $5,000 a year in property taxes.

I'm curious as to what others feel saves them the most whether prepaying your mortgage, hanging your clothes to dry, making your own cleaning products, buying used cars,or whatever, large or small.

Quitting smoking saves me the most by far. cigarettes are about 10$ a pack and I smoked about a pack and a half a day. I save $450 a month 0r 5400$ a month.

babs

I've seen my bigges savings by line drying my clothes and washing them in cold water. I've noticed a $25 a month difference just doing that.

By an larger I save the most by shopping at my salvage grocery store. It may not take coupons but they do take a check. Most items are 1/2 of what I'd pay at the regular store. Lots of namebrand items cheap.

Laurie in Bradenton

I would say keeping our cars for a long time. It lowers our car insurance and we go years without making car payments.

Staying Home ; )

I have been using my coupons real well lately......but I sure like the grocery store ; )

leezza

Staying out of the stores. . if I don't see something, I don't buy it.

We have done most of the above, moved to a cheaper area, pre-paid our mortgage and are now mortgage free, always wash in cold water and hang to dry, buy used cars and keep for a long time - we just bought a 2005 and paid cash, I have quit smoking, unfortunately my husband still smokes but we pay no where near $10.00 a pack - but still too much. I guess right now the thing that saves me the most money is smart grocery shopping and a well stocked pantry, never use coupons but buy mostly loss leaders and from a liquidation center. I do get some strange bargains though but willing to give anything a try. Recently bought eleven quarts of pancake syrup for .50¢ a quart, brought it home and boiled it and canned it again so will see what happens - so far - so good. I also cook from scratch except now and again to sneak in some Kraft Dinner or Hamburger helper cause all kids like both. Also sometimes buy cake mixes when they are on sale really cheap but do have a collection of very good basic recipes for almost anything.

I think it's our choice in housing. Our home sits on a 1/2 acre that produces lots of vegetables, some fruits, and houses egg-laying poultry. The actual house is just under 900 sq ft, and has two bedrooms and one bath. Our home is within commuting distance of a large city, which allows us to earn 'city wages' while not racking up too high a gasoline bill. The current value of our house is 60% of the 'average' sales price of a house in the city. 'Course so is our square footage, but who wants more house to clean!? :toothy:

Cooking from scratch and taking things with us to munch on if we are going to be out. Staying away from stores. Alot of people I know cant believe I rarely go to Kohls, the mall and etc. I was there last christmas to get a gift for my granddaughter that I couldn't get anywhere else.

Good question.

Buying our house when we did - 1994 before things shot up.
We picked a house where we could have two kids and we stayed with that decision of 2 kids. Many I know had to buy a bigger house when they had their 3rd and 4th kids.
Refinancing at exactly the bottom - 4.5%.
And we only have 7 more years of mortgage left - will be done way before the kids go to college or retirement. And all that used to pay to the mortgage company money will fund other things.

And if their stupid mall gets built across the street all of that will be lost as we'd have to move. Can you understand why I'm sooo angry!!!!

We cut out going out to eat. Saving hundreds a month. I'm cooking more at home and trying to be creative with that. I'm using the crockpot a ton.
Shopping loss leaders and stocking up with those is another. Food is a place where you can really cut back.

Being happy with what I have & making do.

Living below our means. There is no credit card debt or car payments so there is no interest.
Buying the kids clothes at yard sales. My kids are in designer unending wardrobes for about $50 each per season.
coupons, loss leaders and stockpiling and cooking from what I have.

couponing and cooking all our meals (even lunches for work and school)

Not eating out for lunch. I'd spend $20 or more each week just buying lunches.

Eating more healthy and at home and drinking only water. We eat much, much better and it costs much less than the more unhealthy food we were eating.

It would have to be eating meals at home. We can really spend when we're on an eating out binge!

Eating all of our meals at home
Having only one "paid for" car
Living very close to work saves on gas
Using the library or used book stores instead of buying books new
Yard sales and thrift stores for 90% of our clothing

Cooking from scratch is probably our #1 money saver. When I worked, we ate out a lot. Now that I stay home, I cook most of the time. I really enjoy it, and I often check out cookbooks at the library for variety. (Even though I probably have 40 or so cookbooks of my own.) I freeze a lot of what I cook, too, for when I'm sick or tired. We learned that lesson the hard way a few years ago when I was extremely ill for several months. DH was having to get take-out many nights because I was just too sick to cook. That experience taught me to always have meals stashed in the freezer.

If I had to say one thing that saves me the most money, what would it be. Hmmm... I would have to say being an intelligent consumer. That encompasses it all to me. Price book, thrift shopiing, used cars, no fast food, the whole enchilada. Using my wits to get the very most from every penny I spend.

I found this to be true for me: being lazy. I am often too lazy to be bothered with shopping for anything. This is good because I rarely buy any sort of knick knack or clothes and bad because I never plan out our meals and buy what I feel like when I feel like.

DH is like this as well. He has been talking about buying an mp3 player since 2003 - he has yet to buy it. He spends hours talking about how big it has to be and where he will buy it from and what sort of connection it would need and whether it would require batteries, etc.

I'm with you about moving to a city with a low cost of living. We did this too. We have a nice home we never could have afforded anywhere else. Our taxes are only $2800cdn.

Other than that, buying a used car saved us $20,000.

And following that would be cooking from scratch and buying clothes secondhand at thrift stores. We've saved bundles on that too.

Jean

Putting money away before we see it -- 401k, etc.

When we moved here, we bought a house with an eye to public transport (good bus route) that was near to dh's work (saving gas). It also happens to be close to grocery stores, gas stations, dr, vet, dentist, and other errand generators.

That house is smaller than normal, so less to heat, light and tax it. Speaking of which we ALWAYS check any house BEFORE making a final offer, to find out the TAXES, HEATING BILLS, LIGHT BILLS, and the utilities the city charges, such as water, sewer and garbage pick up.

Little things add up over time, and attention to those details means that over the 7 years we lived here, we pay less each month on all those things without ever doing another thing.

Talk about passive savings!!!! they really add up.

Then dh and I went to one car. And that saved us the second biggest chunk of cash.-- that alone is worth a part time job to buy a car, maintain it, fix it as needed, insure it, licence it and fill it with gas.

I get the car once a week and I do everything on "car day". I plan a gas saving and time saving circle route and get it all done.

The third big savings comes from me being willing to menu plan and shop carefully according to plan and do some work in the kitchen. It pays off big. One of the reasons OAMC my way works for me is that on my tired days, like today, I have a bunch of ready made meals in the freezer.

Take out is reserved for a treat, not an emergency meal.

EB's post reminds me. Another passive savings. We have auto deduction savings for Christmas etc, and also for car and house insurance which comes due in January.

We also auto deduct our RRSP's which in Canadian speak is our retirement fund which is tax deductible too.

And finally on the auto paycheck passive savings, we pay our mortgage every two weeks, as dh gets paid. It means several extra payments per year and over the life of the mortgage it saves a HUGE chunk of money too.

One thing that saves me a lot of money and something I'm trying to be very vigilant about is sticking to my list when I go shopping and avoiding impulse spending. Once in a while a good sale or clearance item is ok and a real savings, but all those miscellaneous $2.00, or $5.00, or $10.00 expeditures add up over a month.

I also have been keeping track of how much my annual savings would be when I find a new way to save money on something. This keeps me motivated and it's kind of fun to see how much a few dollars here and there add up over a year's time.

If I had paid credit card interst rates and or finance charges, I would say shopping costco.
But, I think since we have always had 0% on all consumer credit (not mortgages) that would be the #1 moneysaver. I am not too sure.
If I just was to answer the way we live with 0% interest, I would still say Costco helps ALOT!

Food!

For me this has been a weakness. I always leave the grocery store on average $200.00 or more per week!!! This was killing my pocketbook.

I've learned what is neccessary and what isn't since joining here. I learn to eat in small quantities and as a bonus weight-loss has happened. Yippee

Vegetarianism. By far, it is the most money-saving thing I've ever done. Not only do I feel a million times healthier and I lost 30 lbs., but I never buy meat if it's not for :smooch: or for a big special dinner.

I think the one thing that saves us the most is being like-minded about money. Dh and I have always been on the same page about finances. We have never, ever argued about money. We were raised with the same attitude and respect about finances/responsibility and it has been the one thing that has made our life more peaceful.
The second thing would be cooking from scratch. I learned to cook when I was about 10, and can make a decent meal out of pretty much anything :-)

One thing that saves me a lot of money and something I'm trying to be very vigilant about is sticking to my list when I go shopping and avoiding impulse spending. Once in a while a good sale or clearance item is ok and a real savings, but all those miscellaneous $2.00, or $5.00, or $10.00 expeditures add up over a month.

I also have been keeping track of how much my annual savings would be when I find a new way to save money on something. This keeps me motivated and it's kind of fun to see how much a few dollars here and there add up over a year's time.
I love the idea of calculating savings over a month or year. When I gave up my 4 dollar lattes two months ago, I figured a savings of well over 600 dollars a year (if not more.) You're right, that is very motivating.

It is just a combination of so many things. Staying out of the stores. Not paying interest on anything but our mortgage. Living in a low COL area. Keeping our cars that are 10 and 8 years old. Only getting carry-out (cheaply) once per week. Staying away from pre-packaged foods. Buying store brands. Saving energy by keeping compact flourescent lights off, thermostat low in winter, high in summer, conserving water. Not having vices such as smoking, drinking, gambling.

Living below our means. There is no credit card debt or car payments so there is no interest.
coupons, loss leaders and stockpiling and cooking from what I have.

Thanks Jerseygirl, I had to pop in here because of what you posted, so add this to my other post.:thumb: Living below our means has allowed my family to have me be a stay at home Mom, not buy more house than we can afford and so many other things. Our family is all the more richer for what we don't have and really don't need. You very seldom have to worry when you live this way. And less worry leads to better health... it all adds up to good stuff.
Wishing all of you ~ good stuff.
I know some of you are struggling right now but you will find your way & things will get better. When you do, I hope you are able to find that what you want & what you need, give you the balance that makes you happy.

Saving money by not having more mouths around to feed - adults, kids and animals and even plants. I gave up my weekend-staying, freeloader boyfriend who was not contributing a dime to our living expenses but eating and sleeping here every weekend and parking his carcass on the couch watching tv everyday and night while I did the cleaning and cooking and everything else. Sometimes he even brought along his 2 kids to stay here, too!

Everything else that could be done, has been done. Food and gas is expensive now so if you eat less and go no where, you can save some $$$ for something else or savings.

I gave up my weekend-staying, freeloader boyfriend who was not contributing a dime to our living expenses but eating and sleeping here every weekend and parking his carcass on the couch watching tv everyday and night while I did the cleaning and cooking and everything else. Sometimes he even brought along his 2 kids to stay here, too!

Good for you! Very cost saving in many ways.:thumb:

cooking from scratch and only going once a week to store for main shopping

I would have to say just a few things that have saved us a lot of money are; heating with wood in our wood stove, using comp ads. to help cut food costs, buying things that are gently used. That is probably the biggest one. About 90% of our clothing is used,our cars are used, the workout equipment we have is used, our furnature is used. I don't see the poit in taking the depreciation for most of these things, especially the work out equipment, when someone else is willing to do it for us.

I gave up my weekend-staying, freeloader boyfriend who was not contributing a dime to our living expenses but eating and sleeping here every weekend and parking his carcass on the couch watching tv everyday and night while I did the cleaning and cooking and everything else. Sometimes he even brought along his 2 kids to stay here, too!

Here here! Good for you! I'm working on that process too! (Unfortuneately mine involves an actual divorce, but I'm with a wonderful man now, so it makes it a heck of a lot easier :smirk:.)