What do you do to cut costs in your household?

[BurnItDwn]

I added some weatherproofing and additional insulation.
When I bought a new water heater, I went with one of moderately high energy efficiency.
Eventually, I will replace the furnace and the AC, and I will go with more energy efficient models as they will save money over the long run.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Got a pellet stove to save on oil.

Run the washer on cold only.

Ride my motorcycle whenever possible to save on gas.

Stay single so I don't spend money on a g/f.

Motorcycles don't save money. I've done the math trying to justify purchasing one to save gas and it never saves money in the end. I even drive a F150 truck and I still can't justify the purchase since its cheaper to just drive my truck and eat the gas costs.

 

[Ashenor]

I buy gtx 670's instead of 680's.

:thumbsup:

 

[JoeyP]

Obviously it's not for everyone. I've never had a smart phone, so I don't have anything to miss . I used to call my brother often at lunch on my cell phone and had to cut that out. I don't do much texting, and texts use one minute, which is about 9.5 cents. Compared to a cheap cell phone plan of $60 for 2 phones, My wife and I can use 631 minutes/texts and spend the same $60. We're never even close to that.

The nice thing is that we can use our cell phones a lot while out of town, maybe spending $30 that month. But then when we're at home, we might use $12-15 per month. With our old plan, we spent $720 every year regardless of our usage (unless we went over). Now, we spend $250 per year at the most.

You and I are very much alike. We use T-Mobile prepaid flip phones that are around $50 each a YEAR. We don't miss a single thing about smartphones because we don't have one. I have a small phone book in my car under the seat if I need to look up a number.

I'll add that I've successfully negotiated appliance deals by using cash. Most places will easily take 3% off if you're paying in cash, because that is the fee they don't have to pay out for credit card merchant fees. I've also asked for their "best price" and was amazed at how they will give you a discount just for asking ($25 off a bike, $150 off a TV, $120 off a washer/dryer set).

And, of course, craigslist is a great place to liquidate stuff and find steals on furniture, tools, etc.

 

[bignateyk]

Motorcycles don't save money. I've done the math trying to justify purchasing one to save gas and it never saves money in the end. I even drive a F150 truck and I still can't justify the purchase since its cheaper to just drive my truck and eat the gas costs.

Sure, if you buy a $30K Harley. If you bought a $500 scooter it would save you a ton.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Sure, if you buy a $30K Harley. If you bought a $500 scooter it would save you a ton.

A $500 scooter? Im basing it on an actual motorcycle that can get on the highway without me getting run off the road for going 40mph. If that was an option I'd just get on my mountain bike and ride that instead.
Motorcycles get better mileage but the high maintenance costs far outweigh the gas savings. And that's not even including the initial purchase price of the motorcycle.

 

[edro]

Refinanced to save $300/mo.
Need to drop DirecTV.

 

[Ashenor]

This is so the anti thread for me i need to be better with saving, then i got into magic the gathering and spent probably 1,000 on this month alone ...

There is always some new hobby or some crap i talking myself into, why i have always had a 2nd job bartending on weekends, lets me afford the hobbies and impluse buys.

I do shop at costco a lot, and pack my lunchs for work.

 

[MrColin]

I don't register my car until I get harassed by the police about it.
Disconnected from TWCable and connect to my neighbor's wifi for $10/mo.
Use CFL's.
Grow lots of veggies in the garden and freeze/can them.
Go without heat/AC whenever possible.

 

[bignateyk]

A $500 scooter? Im basing it on an actual motorcycle that can get on the highway without me getting run off the road for going 40mph. If that was an option I'd just get on my mountain bike and ride that instead.
Motorcycles get better mileage but the high maintenance costs far outweigh the gas savings. And that's not even including the initial purchase price of the motorcycle.

People drive scooters all over Europe. You can drive them at interstate speeds no problem. You might not be able to drive 150mph. Just as safe as a motorcycle...

 

[vi edit]

People drive scooters all over Europe. You can drive them at interstate speeds no problem. You might not be able to drive 150mph. Just as safe as a motorcycle...

Very few scooters will do over 50MPH. And even if they could, with the size of the wheels and general low weight I wouldn't exactly call them "safe as a motorcycle".

Interstates are an entirely different beast than suburban commuting in stop & go traffic.

 

[kalrith]

A $500 scooter? Im basing it on an actual motorcycle that can get on the highway without me getting run off the road for going 40mph. If that was an option I'd just get on my mountain bike and ride that instead.
Motorcycles get better mileage but the high maintenance costs far outweigh the gas savings. And that's not even including the initial purchase price of the motorcycle.

I agree. Unless someone drives a crazy number of miles (100/day) or lives in an area where they can sell their car and just ride a motorcycle. For me, I could possibly ride a bike 6-8 months out of the year, which means I'd have to drive my gas guzzler the rest of the time and pay insurance on both. I'd actually save more money by selling the gas guzzler and buying a $2,000 econobox than spending $4,000 on a motorcycle and gear, even though the motorcycle would get better mileage.

 

[kalrith]

Refinanced to save $300/mo.
Need to drop DirecTV.

Do it! Do it now!!!

I found that about 2/3 of what my family watched was on network TV, so it was silly to pay $80/month for that extra third. My way to get the wife (and me, for that matter) to accept dropping satellite was to build an HTPC with a dual TV tuner and buy a TV antenna. I control it with my universal remote, and it works very well as a DVR.

I recommend checking out the new HTPC forum as a start

 

[RearAdmiral]

Spend a short time thinking about cost saving measures. Then go and make more money instead doing something else. Pinching pennies will make you miserable at some point. You saved quite a bit with a quick amount of work. You'll hit diminishing returns now and won't really be able to save another 130/month anywhere near as easily. Earning another 130/month on whatever is cake!

I plan on doing some things mentioned, continuing to garden/can food, and really just not buy crap or go out to eat too often. I also maximize my credit card usage for points/cash back(5% CASH on gas on old PenFed card), of course don't carry a balance. I get several hundred dollars a year just on that!

Good idea on getting books from the library, I just bought a kindle when they were 40% off so I hope mine has ebooks or something.

I'd like to figure out how to drop TV, but I just love NFL network so much

 

[RearAdmiral]

This is so the anti thread for me i need to be better with saving, then i got into magic the gathering and spent probably 1,000 on this month alone ...

There is always some new hobby or some crap i talking myself into, why i have always had a 2nd job bartending on weekends, lets me afford the hobbies and impluse buys.

I do shop at costco a lot, and pack my lunchs for work.

Haha I know the feeling! I keep shouting, "DISCIPLINE!" at myself now that I'm saving for a house.

 

[Oil]

Nothing really

 

[HydroSqueegee]

also... too many hobbies. need to focus on 1 or 2 instead of wanting to do 20 different things.

 

[ch33zw1z]

don't eat out.

drop cable tv.

don't buy things we can't pay for up front, or can't afford.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Potty training my daughter. Diapers are expensive. Been looking into getting solar panels put up for the house. Haven't done a ton of research yet on them but I've also heard the PG&E has programs to help out. Not really cutting costs but I recycle cans and plastics. Make a decent amt of $, esp. on the plastics due to football games, swim meets etc. Lot of h2o bottles in my house.

 

[purbeast0]

i busted my ass in school to get a degree in a field i know i could make money, and now i'm at the point where i'm making good money and don't have to worry nearly as much about money as a lot of other people do.

i'm fortunate enough i can pretty much do what i want when i want, within my means. when i buy stuff i usually buy higher quality stuff as well in the hopes that it lasts longer.

but there are times when i definitely do have to try and buckle down a bit and not do it as much, and when that happens it's typically me just bringing lunch to work instead of eating out. and on the weekends my wife and i won't go out to the bar which can EASILY add up to $100+ in a night.

like right now we're about to close on a home next week and have to be certain we have enough for the down payment (and we do by a few grand) but to be sure, this past month we didn't do anything on the weekends other than stay in and watch movies and grab some beer.

although we still ate out on the weekends... (fast food like chipotle and subway)

 

[SillyOReilly]

Got a pellet stove to save on oil.

Run the washer on cold only.

Ride my motorcycle whenever possible to save on gas.

Stay single so I don't spend money on a g/f.

A realdoll is expensive.

 

[Dumac]

I buy gtx 670's instead of 680's.

I did that too

 

[shortylickens]

This summer I turned off the AC during the day, and when it was really hot I hung out at McDonalds and drank water all day.
Also turned off all the computers and read outside when the sun shifted.

 

[Dumac]

I never turn any lights or AC on.
I unplug the alarm clock during the day.
I use mirrors+sun for cooking.
No furniture, just sit or lay on the ground.
I use a stolen bicycle to get where I need to go.

 

[Squisher]

This year:

I redid my insurances on 2 houses and three cars and saved $3200/yr ($266/mo.)

did a refi which lowered my payment by $186/mo.

redid my 2 cell phones from Verizon to PagePlus (same network as Verizon) pay as you go 2000 minutes/$80 which lasts a year and will more than last me a year. So I went from paying $120/mo. to $12/mo. for the 2 phones.

Total savings $560/mo. without ANY sacrifice.

I'll have to say I'm pretty happy with myself, and then again I could kick myself for not having done it all sooner.