Little Changes make Big Difference

[Heather]

Our country is facing a financial crisis, and I don't mean just big business.  With the rising cost of food, gas, and everything else our families are struggling just to get by.  I have found little ways to cut our expenses here and there.  Buying food in bulk is a good way to cut your food expense if you have a big enough family or appetite to consume it all before it ruins.  Do some price checking in your area.  There are some things cheaper at some stores than others.  I usually shop at 3 or 4 different stores for groceries and household items, so I can get the best priced items at each store.  It has cut my monthly cost by about $100 bucks.  Believe it or not the "go green" light bulbs from Wal Mart really do last a long time and save $ on power.  We reuse grocery bags as trash bags.  Eating out is a forbidden term in my house lately, and just going for a drive is unheard of.  Our entertainment expense is practically nil as now we go fishing, or bicylcing, or stay in and play games or turn our backyard in to a mini construction site.  These are just a few ways I have found to help our family during this financial crisis.  Please share anything you have done to cut expenses or ideas that might work.  Any little bit helps!

Heather

[Dixie Dude]

We have a "stupid" credit card that pays us 3% when we use it.  So we charge everything, food, gas, etc.  But, we must pay it off at the end of the month.  So we have to watch it carefully.  However, we get anywheres from $100 -$400 a month in gift cards back.  We use it for gasoline, so we can save the same amount for future vacations or unforeseen expenses.  You can't do this unless all your cards are already paid off, which ours were.  Then save a month's salary, then use a high payback card and pay it off.  We also buy bulk from Sam's.  We have a vacuum sealer to divide up meat into usable portions.  Hunt and fish also.  We also installed 6" more insulation in our attic.  Also installed timer thermostats.  Every little thing helps.  Hoping to pay off the mortgage within the next two years.  Vehicles are paid for also.  Took a while to get this way though. 

[Swampman]

Both of my cars get 40+ mpg and I ride my motorcycle a lot.  We check the flyers in the paper, and hit the stores on 2 for 1 deals.  We have a few resturants where both of us can eat dinner for less than $10.00.  Many of them have a kids eat free policy.  We take home and eat all of our leftovers even when we are tired of them.  Turn off any light you aren't using.  Change the oil in your car every 5000 miles as the manual suggest, instead of every 3000 like the Quick Lube suggest.  I sell my own aluminum cans instead of letting the county take them for free.  Grow/kill your own food.  Dry your clothes on the line.  Run the dishwasher only when it's full.

[Graybeard]

If a certain two folks I know would STOP SMOKING that would save another $250-$300 per month.

[SHOOTALL]

I found out I can no longer have sugar , had no idea how much i spent on junk food ! Might be like smoking !

[jvs]

Cook your own meals from scratch.  Buying prepared food is expensive when you figure out what those portions cost you.  Buy family packs when you can.  Use your computer to look up the recipes of your familys favorite foods and make them from scratch.

This may take some of the older crowd back a few years but meals of Toasted Cheese sandwich with a bowl of Tomato Soup can hit the spot a couple of times a month.  Pack a lunch.  Homemade Mac-n-Cheese can last for weeks if you freeze leftovers.   I am not a big fan of Spaghetti, but I could eat it if I had to.  Make mini individual pizzas out of a sliced French bread, a little sauce and some cheese.  Get your family involved in coming up with ideas, then let them help you make it.  

Puffed Rice isn't so bad for breakfast for a change.

I spent some time at a farmers market this past sunday and I walked out thinking that I couldn't grow the stuff for what they are charging for it right now.  It is really cheap.   Sweet Corn came in my area so profoundly that the farmers couldn't get rid of it fast enough and had to sell it for 25¢ per dz before it started drying out or spoiling.  Buying fresh vegetables at this time of year and learning how to Blanch and freeze them would really pay off.

Growing your own garden and getting into canning can also pay dividends.  I don't grow Cabbage but I found it at the farmers market for $2 for a great big head....  Stuffed Cabbage is on the menu.

[billy_56081]

If a certain two folks I know would STOP SMOKING that would save another $250-$300 per month.

As much as I love it, I quit dipping. saves me more than $100.00 a month. All it took was a very strong stubborn German will. Buying whole foods, IE potatoes, dried beans and such can make for some good eating for cheep.

[Dixie Dude]

I have a book showing eatable wild plants, but my wife doesn't want to try them.  Even kudzu is eatable, leaves and roots.  Boil the leaves like turnips or collards. 

[magooch]

My wife gambles a lot, so we stay and eat free at Hotel/Casinoes.

[Graybeard]

If she's gambling she's almost certainly losing more than she's winning so I'd not exactly call it FREE. 

[dukkillr]

If a certain two folks I know would STOP SMOKING that would save another $250-$300 per month.

I once spent a season as a volunteer tax preparer for low income housing units through a program called VITA.  There were 2 things you could always count on:
1) The people were ridiculously poor and generally did not work.  
2) They all had cable or satelite TV

I continue to see this in my collections/bankruptcy practice.  People can't make ends meet and EVERY SINGLE FREAKING ONE OF THEM has cable.

[rex6666]

Glad some one found a use for KUDZU.
those casino are not in the business to give things away.
I love pinto beans, can live a long time on pintos cooked with ham hocks
through in some cornbread and i am set.

[Dixie Dude]

One can use Kool-aid instead of soft drinks. 

[gypsyman]

Pays to look around, and walk around. Where my bank is, is at the end of a shopping center. A Kroger store,grocery store, in the middle. A dollar store, Odd Lots store at the other end. 
I'll park in the middle, and walk to whatever store I want to go to. At the Dollar store the other day, found the same exact canned dog food that Walmart sells for .47 a can, 3 for a dollar. Buy the unsweetened Kool-Aid, and then just put in enough sugar to do the job. About half of what the directions call for. Kids don't need that much sugar. Plus at the Odd Lots store, have found name brand stuff at better than half off.
Go to the local Goodwill store to get heavy flannel shirts to wear in the welding shop.Cost $3--Although the last trip I found a like brand new L.L Bean,(probably a $40-$50 shirt) That went into the closet, not the shop. Make my boys take their lunch's most of the time. At $2.50 a pop, can save over $25 a week by them taking peanut butter sandwich's and carrot sticks. It asll adds up. gypsyman

[DalesCarpentry]

If she's gambling she's almost certainly losing more than she's winning so I'd not exactly call it FREE. 

Ain't that the truth. Dale

[Swampman]

I buy Handi Rifles instead of Dakotas. Making a map of all the gun stores so you can save gas by driving fewer miles round trip.

[rex6666]

I buy Handi Rifles instead of Dakotas. Making a map of all the gun stores so you can save gas by driving fewer miles round trip.

Now we are getting some where Swampman is making sense.

[petemi]

We do just about all the above.  The farm and vehicles are paid for, no long term credit card debt, just monthly charges.  I use a Nothwest Airlines air miles card to pay all my insurance and utilities, and its balance gets paid off monthly.  Most of my family is 1000 miles away, so we use it.  I use a BP card for gas and convenience store items and get a 5% rebate on the gas.  That makes 4.00 gas 3.80.  We usually put three deer in the freezer, vacuum sealed, each year along with veggies from our garden.  The deer cost the price of a tag and a bullet.  All the other equipment is bought and paid for.  We also can veggies, tomatoes and venison.  Patty has a dough machine and makes our own bread, rolls, pizza dough etc.  We heat mostly with wood cut on our property.  From now until bitter cold sets in we warm up the house with a beautiful, old, working wood cook stove.  Since Patty is still working, I cook most of our Spring and Fall meals with it.  I connected our gas grill to the bulk propane "pig" in the yard.  It is a lot cheaper than filling 20 pounders and much more convenient.  Also, you're not driving to buy propane.

[victorcharlie]

With the inflation rate what it is, I spend it before it looses any more value!

Seriously, my 401K has taken a beating.  I'm back to 1995 levels on most of my holdings.  My retirement isn't looking quite so good now.

[petemi]

With the inflation rate what it is, I spend it before it looses any more value!

Seriously, my 401K has taken a beating.  I'm back to 1995 levels on most of my holdings.  My retirement isn't looking quite so good now.

Tell me about it, our little annuity lost $10,000 in June and July, and is still going down.