"You are such a cheapskate!!!"

**Preston** · 08-26-2009, 04:14 AM

“You are such a cheapskate!”

I’ve learned to take this as a compliment. In fact, I take pride in the fact that I am as frugal as I am. By frugal I mean that I try to stretch a dollar further than most people would. It doesn’t mean I will completely rip somebody off or abuse the government welfare system, it means I will take the time further my financial standing by the phrase” a penny saved is a penny earned.”

It does not mean you buy whatever is cheapest, you buy what is most economical -- best value for money.

I’ve been reading a lot of finance books lately but probably the most interesting was “The Millionaire Next Door” in which there was a study done of those who are well off. In most cases they found that those who have a lot of money are pretty frugal. They have learned to make their money work for them instead of them working for their money. In fact, a study was done that the guy with the mansion who drives the jaguar and eats out all the time will more likely be up to their eyeballs in debt with little net worth to show for it.

When I did my game show I had a reputation in the agency of being the most frugal act they had ever had. I actually kept a list of ideas of ways to save money on the road and passed them onto other acts from time to time. I came across one of these lists while I was going through old records tonight and I figured with the way the job market and economy are right now that others could benefit from some of my ideas.

It’s also kind fun to throw this up here and open the discussion to other ways people have learned to save money.

I weeded out the ones that only apply to traveling performers and the like, the ones that are pretty universal will be listed here along with some things I have learned recently:

Automotive

- Run a car until the wheels fall off

- Never EVER lease a vehicle. It is a rip off that I cannot even begin to explain

- Peak gas mileage happens around 55 mph. It may take longer to get places, but what is the hurry? Furthermore, by driving this speed will eliminate any chance of getting stopped in a speed trap.

- Get behind a semi truck going around 60 mph do decrease wind resistance and increase fuel economy.

- Two words - Cruise Control

- Drive in the right lane as much as possible. Cops tend to watch the left lanes for speeders more often.

- Keep mileage log of various brands of gas you buy and calculate the mileage. Eventually you will find out which brand gets best mileage on your vehicle.

- Get a bike and use it for local errands on your days off.

- Get a credit card with a 5% gas rebate and pay at the pump. That way you are not tempted to go inside and buy junk. Just make sure you pay the bill in full every month.

- There are still some gas stations where buying gas is cheaper with cash.

- If you have the facilities available, do your own oil changes. Learn basic car maintenance and do it yourself.

- Do not use air conditioning unless you have to. If you do, use the MAX setting so it circulates the cold air inside the car instead of cooling down hot air from outside.

- Do not drive with the windows all the way down. This creates serious drag. When I traveled my windows would be down about 3 inches max. This was enough circulation to get the job done.

- Pay car insurance in full every six months.

- Only replace the drivers side wiper blade, unless there is a 2 for 1 special.

- Buy a car with a manual transmission. Learn the glory of ‘neutral.’

- Never EVER EVER EVER EVER finance a car and take on a car payment. Instead, open a savings account, put the amount equal to a car payment in it every month. When you need a new car, you will have the cash.

Hotels

- Sleep in the car whenever possible.

- Drive all night and show up shortly after 7am, this is when most hotels change over their business day. Often times you can check in, sleep until noon, then go about your business, comeback and sleep again that night. Basically get 2 nights for the price of 1.

- http://www.priceline.com

- When you know you are going to have to stop in a state stop by the welcome center and get coupons for hotels. Not only will you know where the cheaper hotels are you will get them at a discounted rate without having to negotiate.

- Take everything you can from the hotel room -- soap, shampoo, TP, etc. You never know when these will come in handy.

- Take advantage of continental breakfast. Bring Ziploc bags.

Car Rental

- Take the airport shuttle to hotel your first day and don’t worry about car rental until the next day when you get up. This way you will pay for one less day of rental. Do the same thing in reverse for the last day.

- Book economy sized car. Better gas mileage. Also, sometimes they will not have this level of car available and you will be given a free upgrade.

- Fill car up with gas. Cheaper than them doing it.

- Do not get the insurance, use a credit card that includes this automatically with the payment for rental.

Food/Groceries

- Get a shoppers card for everywhere you go. I have about 25 different key chains after years of working the road. And they’re kind of like free souvenirs.

- Learn the art of coupon clipping and tracking sales at the local grocery stores. Buy items on sale and with a coupon.

- Keep a notebook of the prices paid for certain items you buy all the time. Keep a spreadsheet to learn when certain items go on sale.

- Freeze bottled water and put it in the cup holder when you leave.

- Instead of buying ice at gas station, freeze bottled water and put it in cooler.

- Bring a cooler to make sandwiches. Every meal you don’t buy at fast food is usually better for you and a few bucks saved.

- Try not to shop at truck stops, the prices are WAY too high.

- Don’t use vending machines.

- Before leaving home, bake something that can be stored at room temperature to snack on along the way.

- Buy water instead of soda.

- Save plastic bottles and refill them with tap water.

- Do not go through drive-thru, it wastes gas.

- Brew your own coffee instead of stopping for it on the way to work.

- Buy generic brands.

- Plant a garden.

Household

- If you have a regular cell phone contract that involves everyone in the house, cut the land line.

- Do not pay for trash removal. DIY.

- Do not pay for lawn service. DIY.

- Buy the size of house you need, not the largest house you can afford.

- Learn how to fix things yourself.

- Unplug things that are not being used. They still drain power even when they are off.

- Switch to energy efficient bulbs when the incandescent bulbs go out.

- Use ceiling fans and set the thermostat higher in the summer and lower in the winter.

- Only heat/cool the rooms that people are in. It uses a lot less power to run a window unit AC than it does to run central air if everyone is in the same area of the house.

- Close blinds to keep the heat out during the summer.

- Hang dry laundry.

- Do dishes by hand uses less power than using the dishwasher.

- If you need new furniture, try Craig list or get up early on Saturday morning and hit garage sales.

- Look for new appliances at scratch and dent stores.

- Learn to use a programmable thermostate so the furnace/AC isn’t running all day long.

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Clothing

- Shop at goodwill or other thrift stores. You find more unique things and they are dirt cheap.

- If you must buy new, consider Target or some lower end store. Clothes are clothes and they will wear out. Do not pay a premium price for shopping at a hellhole like macy’s.

- Check out garage sales in high income neighborhoods, you can find some really good deals on clothes that have hardly been worn.

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Misc

- If you have student loans sign up for Upromise. Link shoppers cards to it. This may not add up to much but every little bit helps.

- Use internet at libraries. Either on their computers or yours, as many more libraries are wifi equipped.

- Quit Smoking.

- Pay bills by online banking. Quicker and easier.

- Do not buy a health club membership, walk or bike everywhere will get you into shape.

- Cancel Cable. It forces you to be more active and do things that are not quite as mind-numbing.

- Learn to save up and then pay cash for major expenses. When you have no debt payments you will be surprised how much further your paycheck goes and how much more freedom you will have.

**Siebrie** · 08-26-2009, 05:19 AM

What a list! At 55mph, I think you have a lot of time to think of ways to save money ;-))

**Grainlady** · 08-26-2009, 08:14 AM

Thanks for taking the time to share all that information. It's good to be reminded we can usually live very well on MUCH less than most of us do.

**joyofsix** · 08-26-2009, 08:30 AM

Thanks for posting these. I do most, but it's nice to have them in one place instead of floating in my head. I'm making a 'book' to give my oldest for her graduation and I'm going to include this.

**tracyq** · 08-26-2009, 10:45 AM

Some really neat ideas! I've heard most, but there were a few that I hadn't heard! This one is ingenious:

Car Rental

- Take the airport shuttle to hotel your first day and don’t worry about car rental until the next day when you get up. This way you will pay for one less day of rental. Do the same thing in reverse for the last day.