What do you do to cut household costs? Spinoff of Gas/grocery thread...

[Terra]

So I've heard some good input from from all of you concerning the grocery and gas threads...
And it got me to thinking.

What do you do to cut costs/corners and/or save money? [Even though I know some people don't have to worry as much, I'm sure we all like to be concious of what we spend...

So let's hear those tips and what you do!! I'm always up for learning something new!

For our household [I'm a SAHM..this is what we do]...

* Shop at 'discount grocery stores' quite a bit [Sav-a-Lot/Aldi's/Ect]...Although there are a few items that I never skimp on like good quality meat from Publix and Organic/hormone free milk for my son.

* Open windows when it is cooler [which is like 2 days out of the year in Florida...lol]

* Cloth diaper my son [saves us roughly $ 16-20 a month if broken down]

* Make my own baby food [not so much now that he can eat table food though]

* Line dry my clothes/diapers when possible.

* Use coupons [although we don't use a lot of brand named stuff, so only the the things we really use]

* rarely eat out...cook most meals/more from scratch

* Plan out a week's dinner menus before grocery shopping and then make a detailed list and stick to it. I also try to plan meals that have leftovers for lunches.

* No cable TV

* Netflix [$12 per month] for our "date night and entertainment].

[Dakota Rose]

I buy bread at a local bread outlet. I can get 2 loaves of wheat for $1.19 where the cheapest wheat bread at WalMart is $1.27 or something.

I don't buy gas with ethanol in it. Ya, it's usually 5-10 cents cheaper per gallon, but I get much better gas mileage on the regular unleaded.

We drink water from the fridge filter and only get sodas as a treat.

In the summer, I plant a large vegetable garden.

But my biggest money saver is going shopping alone. When DH or DS goes along, we end up with things we don't need and spend money we shouldn't

[RenDuran]

The best way I save money is by staying out of Target! :blush:

We gave up our bottled water habit this winter. Unfortunately, we did drink more when bottles were handy, but it was so expensive. And our recycle container was full of all those bottles. We have a filter on the sink, but it takes longer to fill up a glass.

We use coupons and have our grocery list with dinners preplanned. This is one of the best things I think you can do. When I go into the stores blind, I'm just grabbing stuff like an insane woman and still don't have anything to eat....so the dinner list goes up on the fridge when we come home from the store and we know what we have ingredients for. We check them off as we make each dinner.

I used a grinder when my daughter was a baby and never used more than 3 jars of baby food when she was an infant. Unfortunately with my son, things couldn't have been more difficult. He has a severe texture aversion and we never could just grind stuff up.

[merlinmagic4]

Planning out meals and sticking to a grocery list.

Cloth diapers although I have been using disposables lately which made me notice the 2.00 increase in a pack of diapers in recent weeks.

Nursing my babies saved hundreds in formula costs and they were so healthy that I'm sure I saved some dr. and prescription costs.

Buying clothes for my kids a season ahead. Then trying to keep them in great shape to resell on Ebay. I buy all the big brands (gymboree, gap, old navy) and sometimes sell them for more than I paid!

Energy star appliances. Good for the wallet and the environment.

No more bottled water.

Cut out quickie run throughs at fast food/coffee places. Adds up to way too much at the end of the month.

We don't carry cash anymore. Too easy to spend. Everything is debit and tracked through our checking account.

Great thread! I hope I get some good ideas!

[Tink&Goofy]

For groceries, I make my list from the grocery ad. Obviously, we need the basics, but if there is a good sale on a certain meat - thats what we're eating. If cereal is on sale, thats what the kids get (if its not, then they have to wait for their favorites).

I DON'T go into Costco. I end up buying WAY to much stuff, just because its a good deal. But who needs 12 cans of green beans, or 60 eggs at a time?

[Terra]

Planning out meals and sticking to a grocery list.

Cloth diapers although I have been using disposables lately which made me notice the 2.00 increase in a pack of diapers in recent weeks.

Nursing my babies saved hundreds in formula costs and they were so healthy that I'm sure I saved some dr. and prescription costs.

Buying clothes for my kids a season ahead. Then trying to keep them in great shape to resell on Ebay. I buy all the big brands (gymboree, gap, old navy) and sometimes sell them for more than I paid!

Energy star appliances. Good for the wallet and the environment.

No more bottled water.

Cut out quickie run throughs at fast food/coffee places. Adds up to way too much at the end of the month.

We don't carry cash anymore. Too easy to spend. Everything is debit and tracked through our checking account.

Great thread! I hope I get some good ideas!

I am so with you on the nursing....I am so looking forward to nursing again with this baby! So much easier and cheaper!!!

And I agree about the disposables too....it is insane to me how much money they are! For the cheapest brand it's like $6-7 for **maybe** a weeks worth...and gosh forbid you want to use Pampers or something...nearly $11 for a weeks worth!!!!!!!!!

[Hull-onian]

Good question.

We don't drive any car :drive: for one day of the week. It can be any day of the week.

Cut down on the amount of laundry detergent per wash. NO hot water!!!!:nono:

Shut off lights after hubby!!:secret:

Walk to local market when feasible.:walk:

If I can do it, will pickup friends :crowd: and take them shopping too. :spend:

Purchase local items that don't have to be trucked or shipped.:truck:

Skip DD's.:mcoffee: way too expensive.

Give money to Walt, priceless.

[Dakota Rose]

Skip DD's. way too expensive.


Okay, I'm stumped. What's a DD and how do I skip it? :confused:

[merlinmagic4]

Okay, I'm stumped. What's a DD and how do I skip it? :confused:

I thought she was talking about Dunkin Donuts coffee :)

[Dakota Rose]

I thought she was talking about Dunkin Donuts coffee :)

Hm. That would make sense. We don't have that here, so I was stumped. :blush: I was like, how can you avoid your Dear Daughter? Or what if you really wear a DD, how do you avoid that? :blush: I guess I should have had caffiene this morning!

[offwego]

one big tip (or not if your not going to work) is the brown bag and bring the coffee issue.

It's amazing what that adds up to vs buying frequently.

Also it pays to make sure your purchasing some items of better quality vs trendy stuff if your having to have a work wardrobe. (I wear business suits a good one on sale can run between 130-150 if I'm really lucky less on clearance but they start at 300-400 for the two peices) I find if I don't purchase really good ones the style will be "too trendy" the seaming will give etc and I'll be buying a new brown/black/grey one again far too quickly. The same for dress slacks. (tops which add variety however can often be much much cheaper just be sure to be ruthless as to any issues of seams giving threads etc)

[thrillme]

Cloth diapers although I have been using disposables lately which made me notice the 2.00 increase in a pack of diapers in recent weeks.

Great thread! I hope I get some good ideas!

I had to smile a bit on this one. Both my late husband and I swore to take out a second mortgage on the house before switching to cloth. :D Fortunately those days are long behind me. These days I make it a point to "give" disposables to all new parents for baby gifts. The biggest boxes possible. My sister-in-law used a lot of the cloth at home.

My Mom told me a story of how my Dad was left in charge of me for an hour while she went to the store. Back in those days only the very very rich used disposables. Needless to say when she came home the diaper was in the trash and I was in the tub.

Anyway...my boyfriend and I adjusted our hours at work so that we can carpool together.

[BelleLovesTheBeast]

use coupons
don't go out to eat unless it's a special occasion like a friends birthday
stay away from the mall and target
check online for the gas station with the lowest gas price
make grocery list using ads before going to the store - only buy whats on the list
keep thermostat on 66

[Terra]

I had to smile a bit on this one. Both my late husband and I swore to take out a second mortgage on the house before switching to cloth. :D Fortunately those days are long behind me. These days I make it a point to "give" disposables to all new parents for baby gifts. The biggest boxes possible. My sister-in-law used a lot of the cloth at home.

My Mom told me a story of how my Dad was left in charge of me for an hour while she went to the store. Back in those days only the very very rich used disposables. Needless to say when she came home the diaper was in the trash and I was in the tub.

Anyway...my boyfriend and I adjusted our hours at work so that we can carpool together.

:haha: OH gosh, men and diapers...my husband did the same thing one time...except you threw the cloth diaper outside....I was like honey, that's $2.00 you're throwing away! lol...

For disposables you are right, buying by the box is actually cheaper in the end. I know for me when I do use disposables, I use the Seventh Generation or G Diapers [Eco friendly/less chemicals]....and they are more expensive to begin with anyway, so it's cheaper to buy in bulk. One small package of 30 diapers is roughly $15 where as I can buy a whole case for $40 [about 120 diapers...I get a discount from my local organics shop if I purchase by the case! so that's nice!]

[merlinmagic4]

:haha: OH gosh, men and diapers...my husband did the same thing one time...except you threw the cloth diaper outside....I was like honey, that's $2.00 you're throwing away! lol...

]

Ha! I bought bumGenius diapers and they are 17.00 each so my DH knows not to throw those outside!

I started looking into cloth diapering for environmental reasons. We are such a society of disposables! I know there is debate over the cloth diapers (another thread please) but I can't help but think it's better to wash something than throw away. It's just the way I think!

Plus, the cloth diapers are so cozy and comfortable looking........I sure wouldn't want to wear paper underwear ;)

[Terra]

Ha! I bought bumGenius diapers and they are 17.00 each so my DH knows not to throw those outside!

I started looking into cloth diapering for environmental reasons. We are such a society of disposables! I know there is debate over the cloth diapers (another thread please) but I can't help but think it's better to wash something than throw away. It's just the way I think!

Plus, the cloth diapers are so cozy and comfortable looking........I sure wouldn't want to wear paper underwear ;)
Oh yeah, the bumgenius diapers are expensive...I actually use the G Diaper covers for my prefolds and those are near $17 as well! It's actually cheaper to buy the starter pack that has 2 covers and 10 inserts and use the inserts for nighttime in the cloth nappies! And the kit is only $25 or so! I started cloth diapering too because of environmental issues and the chemicals in disposables as well!

[poeticeclipse]

DH and I are newlyweds and something we'd like to start doing is the pre-planned meals. That would definitely save us money and save us from doing another thing on our "don't" list... eating out more than once a week.

We pick one day that we will buy fast food. Breakfast, lunch, OR dinner on only one day a week. It's working for us.

I'm cutting down on my lattes. Right now i'm using teeth whitening strips so that helps me not drink any coffee at home either.

We buy the cheapest brand water bottles and then refill them. For guest, we have the big water jug from the grocery store. We don't drink that water so then we know we'll have some left when guests come over.

A big thing for us since we started following Dave Ramsey's advice is to carry cash and not use credit cards. Our credit card is almost payed off. Hooray! It's much harder for me to physically spend cash. So, if I don't have it, I won't spend it. :)

[poohluva]

We shop in bulk as much as possible, that way I only get necessities at the grocery store, which is a once weekly trip!! I always bring my coupons with me too.

We have a pellett stove insert in our fireplace, we order our pellets in April or May (cheapest time), this helps out on heating costs!! We didn't turn the heat on until the end of November!!

We have all energy star appliances

Only run the dishwasher 3 times a week

When the weather's nice I walk to pick DD 10 up at school.

We have replaced almost all of our lightbulbs to a more enrgy efficient type.

For Christmas whenever there was free shipping, I would order presents on-line.

[prprincess]

*Cut coupons...and just like Dakota Rose, if I go shopping alone, it saves me more money than when I go with DH.
*Reuse the bags that we get from the grocery store...our grocery store gives us 3 cents per bag we reuse.
*Use the Brita pitcher for drinking water, instead of bottled water.
*Eat out only once a week.
*Shut off all lights and electronics when not in use.
*Try to run my errands all at one time, to save gas.
*Use a programmable thermostat.
*Bring my own lunch to work.
*Taking a trip to the Goodwill before going to the store for new clothes for myself and the kids. Half the time I will find what I need there, in good condition, and super cheap.

[Marker]

My most successful expense cutting action was getting my adult children to move out. Amazing how much you can save in food, water, laundry, etc.

As for diapers, our 3 wore a lot of cloth diapers. We'd get disposables for traveling, but at home, it was cloth. And to he defense of all the capable dads out there, it was no big deal.

Get rid of cable ---- NEVER!