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Of Everything You Do To Save Money, What One Thing Saves You The Most Money?

20K views 94 replies 59 participants last post by  carfree 
#1 ·
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.
 
#2 ·
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
 
#4 ·
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
 
#8 ·
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.
 
#9 ·
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:
 
#10 ·
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.
 
#11 ·
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!!!!
 
#13 ·
Being happy with what I have & making do.
 
#14 ·
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.
 
#19 ·
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
 
#20 ·
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.
 
#21 ·
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.
 
#22 ·
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.
 
#23 ·
I NEVER go out to eat unless someone offers to pay for my meal. I know that sounds bad but my home cooking is cheaper, tastes WAY better and the atmosphere is much more calm and relaxing.

40hrs. a week, I work hard at my job so I deserve to be lazy on my time off which means I stay home most of the time.
 
#24 ·
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
 
#26 ·
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.
 
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