The money saving thread

[SenseOfTumour]

In a world where we're constantly battered with ads telling us we're nothing if we don't have the latest clothes/car/gadget, I wanted to collate a set of tips shared between us to save money.

I oughta state in advance, I'm not here to try to advertise sites for my own gain, it's more that I've found them useful, and of course I'd expect anyone to do some research before just trusting some guy off the internet.

As a brit, I find the HotUkDeals.com site really useful, if I need a new ... anything, I'll search there first, and if there's something I need but not immediately, I'll wait and watch until a decent offer shows up. The site is basically a community site where special offers and misprices and the like are posted and voted on. If not there, I'll always shop around on at least half a dozen sites before I order anything.

Also I've used Freecycle a lot, which I believe is worldwide, not just a brit thing, I know it's at least in the US now. (Just did some research and it's actually an American invention and a UK charity.) Essentially, at least in the UK , its a Yahoo group message board, where people post things they don't want, and post things they do want, and it means a lot of working, useful items don't end up in landfill, and people don't end up buying more stuff than they need.

On top of the ecological side of things, of course, if you can handle not having an LCD TV, you can go get a 28" TV for free, just because so many people want the latest things, or need the space, or for whatever reason. Also, if you have space, you can get heaters free in the summer, to put away for the winter, and fans and the like in the winter

I've also picked up a few old PCs and done a little refurb on them for friends of the family, and it's meant some older scquaintances have learned how to use a PC and even get online, when the few hundred pounds it might have cost to try kept them away.

I've used it in both directions, for instance I heard of an offer in Tesco where they were clearing out blank DVDs in cd cases, 5 for 25p, down from £3.99, so I got 20 packs, unwrapped them, and freecycled the empty cases, and 2 people got to take 50 off me.

Anyway, enough from me, any tips?

One more, I've kept a list on Steam of games I want, and just leave it lurking, knowing they'll put just about every game on offer over the course of a year.

Oh and I play WOW, by gamecard, and I tend to leave a few days to a week between my game time running out and registering a new card, meaning I end up paying for 10 or 11 months instead of 12.

They're all coming to mind now, I also stock up on anything I need in the home that's not got a 'sell by date' such as cleaning stuff, because storing extra stuff at home is far better than paying full price. Recently got £16 of laundry liquid for £2 due to a misprice, it's under the sink forgotten about and I won't be paying for more for ages!

 

[Omikron009]

My number one tip for saving tons of money:

Don't buy things.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Give your banking details to Nigerian businessmen so they can wire you cash.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

Give your banking details to Nigerian businessmen so they can wire you cash.

Nah, I think Kevin Butler already exhausted that possibility.

 

[Radeonx]

Give your banking details to Nigerian businessmen so they can wire you cash.

Thanks for the information, by the way, Pimp.
Don't I make a fantastic prince?

OT: Buy Top Ramen, and eat tons of it. I buy packs of 24 for under $1, so it is super cheap.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Give your banking details to Nigerian businessmen so they can wire you cash.

I wouldn't suggest that:

 

[Ham_authority95]

Save gas money by riding the bus.

If your towns bus system is shit, ride your bike if at all possible.

Also, try to get your food from dollar stores, specifically Top Ramen.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I sense a diet of Top Ramen at 24 for a dollar, also means you won't need to invest in a pension either, it being unlikely you'll see 60

On a serious note, when I had a credit card, whenever I saw something I might 'impulse buy', I learned to add 30% to the price of it, knowing that if it takes me a year to pay for it, I'm going to pay 30% extra, meaning it's rarely a good idea to even put a 'bargain' sale item on a credit card.

Also, when it comes to games,movies,music, if you CAN wait a while, do so, as generally within a couple of months you'll be able to pick it up new for half price or less if you shop around, again, the impulse buy, and the push of marketing is the enemy of you keeping your money

 

[crudus]

Pee in the shower to save water(I don't mean just while you are taking a shower).

Use a flashlight rather than lamps or overheard lights at night.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Ramen noodles and CiCi's Pizza. That's how I save my money.

I go by a rule of "it doesn't matter how disgusting the food is, it's cheap."

 

[RowdyRodimus]

Goodwill/Salvation Army thrift stores, I also quit buying individual comics after 30 years and started getting the trades since they come out every few months and Hastings always has them used for 1/2 price.

 

[RanD00M]

Easy saving on food.Buy a lot of noodles,and some cheap meat.Mix the meat and noodles.And voila,cheap meal.

 

[enzilewulf]

Conserve food. Buy store brand instead of name brand. Ride bike to work (if you can) only use lights when necessary. Don't but lotto, smokes, or alcohol. Just drink tap water. (that would be hard for me)

 

[The_Decoy]

snip

Cheers for the freecycle hint, checked it out and it seems like an excellent scheme.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

snip

Cheers for the freecycle hint, checked it out and it seems like an excellent scheme.

Yeah, last time I was helping my dad taking garden rubbish to the tip, and I was getting rid of a broken PC monitor, and there's a place for TVs and monitors...and I couldn't help but wonder how many of that huge pile were working and just thrown out because people upgraded and chose to dump the old one instead of trying to find it a new home.

With any luck, one good thing about the global recession is that people may become more careful, more willing to reuse items, and go with second hand, and reduce the amount of stuff getting mass produced and sold that we probably don't really need.

There's a great stand up comedian called Alun Cochrane who makes a couple of great points about the recession. One was that 'who decided 110% mortgages were a great idea? Who wants to take one out, move in, look out the window at some guy walking past, then realise, that technically, that guy owns more of this home than he does.' and that the other one, was that 'experts keep going on about how we're globally spending less and it's leading to a downward spiral of recession, but maybe, just maybe, more and more of us are realising that we've just got enough shit clogging up our homes.'

For a bit more of him :


(just trying to keep a bright side to a potentially not very fun and quite serious thread)

 

[Gardenclaw]

Save money on your water bills by drinking Beer instead.

 

[BGH122]

-Snip-

These are all great tips! Thanks!

I wish I had some of my own, sadly I'm awful with money, thus why I'm posting on a free message board rather than doing something that requires cash.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

-Snip-

These are all great tips! Thanks!

I wish I had some of my own, sadly I'm awful with money, thus why I'm posting on a free message board rather than doing something that requires cash.

To be more serious, almost any loan or credit card short of a mortgage is a bad idea, and anything where you're paying for something over 60 months or whatever is pretty crappy too.

I bought something once on a monthly payment, it broke after 2 years, and I was left with 3 years paying for something I didn't have and they wouldn't replace.

I've learnt over time to build up a small emergency fund that I can dip into if I see a limited offer, as buying on credit cards usually leaves you paying interest for months.

However, my parents are smart and probably helped my mindset on this stuff, along with me getting into very heavy debt about 10 years ago and having to fight my way out. They keep a range of credit cards, take all the bonuses, all the perks, and if they use them, they pay them off completely each month. The finance people don't get a penny in profit from them and my parents get all the benefits.

Most of all, so often you can save yourself an awful lot of money by just leaving anything 'impulse' for a day. If you come back the next day and still want it, and think it's worth the money, go for it, but so often it's the power of marketing and impulses pushing you into a rash decision.