What do you do to save money?

Not having kids is a super big way to save money.
Getting totally out of debt,is another way.
Cutting down on eating out.
And comparison shop, just shopping around a little we saved $300 on tires and a brake job for Mrs Squeekys SUV.

I do my own nails usually rather than at a salon.

I let my husband cut my hair about half the time.

I dye my own hair.

We don’t eat out much, and I often use coupons when we do.

I buy packaged goods on sale.

Do my own gardening and lawn chemicals. I do pay someone to mow.

In the winter I turn down the heat during the day. When I lived in a large house I blocked off one entire zone and kept it at 62 when we weren’t using it, and we rarely used it. The rest of the house was 68–70.

Completely turn off the irrigation for the lawn when it’s a rainy time of year.

I usually buy inexpensive face lotion, but I just spent a small fortune on some Chanel that I haven’t in years, so I’m not sure I can still say it.

I buy drug store shampoo and conditioner.

I use the free shampoos and conditioners from hotels.

Inexpensive laundry detergent when my husband isn’t around. He likes Tide. It’s a fortune. It’s double what I pay for other laundry soap.

My husband uses reusable K cups and we buy the coffee on sale. Right now he lives in an apartment and there is free coffee, so he goes down every morning to save the 50¢ or whatever it amounts too.

I had kids so they could do all the yard work, grass cutting, snow removal and was blessed with the added bonus that they could do almost any car repair so I have saved thousands over the years.

LOL!! Touche @Vignette! Same here.

Go to the local food pantry.

Not buy things and put the money in the bank or invest it.

If I eat in a restaurant, I usually don’t order soda. I drink tap water with my meal (in restaurant) and that saves a few dollars.

A lot of what I buy comes from Costco. It’s more of an initial outlay, because instead of 3 or 4 dollars, something may be 10 or 15 dollars, but the cost “per each” will be way less. Instead of buying 20 garbage bags, I’m buying 100. Instead of buying 20 K-cups, I’m buying 100. Instead of paying $5 for 12 oz of shampoo, I’m paying $7 for 32 oz of shampoo. Those are just a few examples. They have deals on tires, eyeglasses, prescription medications are cheaper, Clothes are cheaper, Contact lenses are cheaper. Housewares are cheaper. You name it, it’s cheaper.

In a regular store, I will sometimes buy the store brand.

I’m not getting mani-pedi’s. I don’t buy fancy handbags. My makeup is drugstore brands. My clothing is average, and if it’s expensive, I’m definitely buying it on sale at stores where it may be cheaper than Walmart even though the stores are great, because I get it on sale. I’m pretty low maintenance with those things.

We love to take trips but I google and find decent places that are well reviewed and well priced.

Drop the tree myself and save an additional 500.
By the way, if you do a thing yourself, which would have cost you had you hired someone to do that specific task, you don’t save money.
By that logic I’d have saved tens of thousands by cleaning my apartment every so often.

Edited to add:
Well, now that I read that again I’m not so sure….
I’ve never been good with money ;-)

Fire apartment house staff.

@rebbel, A) I don’t have the skills or the equipment to do it myself and
B) How is having someone else haul the wood off for free not saving me $500?

@Dutchess_III Yeah, I just added something to my initial answer.

Gosh, I’m hella cheap and my focus has been on security aka saving money for quite some time. I’ll probably die at work before spending any of it though.

I take my lunch to work most days, husband gets free meals with his job.
I buy clothes about twice a year, except special occasions.
We eat out about once every two weeks.
To reduce water usage, we’ve put bricks in the back of the toilet tank.
Turned down temp on hot water heater.
We use lamps rather than overheads.
We both drive older cars (no payments, lower insurance)
I am very low maintenance-no nails, hair maybe few times a year, etc..
We have zero credit cards and only a couple store cards which we pay off without paying interest.
Any chance we can, we get wild game or mushrooms. Healthy and cheap.

I’ve been doing this so long that I can’t even remember everything I’ve done to save money.
But in order to buy nice things when we want, and help other people when needed, it’s far more important to have that money available than to spend.

LOLL @rebbel!

The small things add up. I buy 6 packs of Diet Pepsi when it’s on sale for 2 bucks a 6 pak and take them to work. They are 2 bucks a bottle at work. Take my lunch almost every day. Buy in bulk as @jca said, but I’m lucky that I have room to store bulk items. Borrow books from my library for my kindle instead of buying them. Use coupons whenever I can. CVS pharmacy sends me a 40% coupon once a week. So I use it to buy shampoo or toothpaste or quips, etc.

@chyna I wondered where you got your “quips”!

I got rid of cable and bought a really nice flat screen with Roku built in. I still have to pay $10 for Netflix and $12 for Prime, both of which seem worth the cost. I’m still saving $60 a month compared to when I had cable.

I did the same thing when I needed a tree dropped. I cut it up and use it for firewood.
I don’t have any fancy vehicles, buy most things 2nd hand and generally live below my means. I stay out of debt, save etc…

Wink.

I opted to not sign up for Medicare part B. It’s about $140 per month.

Forgot to add that I don’t drink alcohol. I could easily have a drink now and then, but it just doesn’t matter to me either way, so when everyone at the table is spending $6 to $15 on a drink, I’m drinking water usually. One drink could be another meal instead. I can’t wrap my head around spending so much on alcohol. Even at home it’s expensive. Beer, wine, and liquor is so much more money than water, tea, and soda.

I rarely even order a soda at a restaurant because it’s so expensive (usually around $2,50). One drink

Here it’s like 2.99 for soda in a restaurant. Sometimes they justify it by having free refills, but I can’t drink 32 oz of soda and to me, it’s not worth it. If there’s not free refills, I can’t see spending 3 dollars on a little glass of soda that’s half filled with ice.

If I have to go to the store or any other places for personal reasons, I incorporate them into trips I make for my business. Saves gas and mileage for the biz is tax deductible.

I don’t buy coffee or other drinks at Starbucks.

I’ve never even stepped foot into a Starbucks.

I try to stick to water to drink.