75 Things You Can Do to Save Moneyby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 10 Jun 2008 08:34 AM If you need or want to tighten your budget, there are so many things that you can do to save money. Pick a few from the list and get started today, or try them all. It will be nice to have some extra money available.
- Mow your own lawn and perform lawn care yourself.
- Drink water instead of flavored drinks.
- Get rid of the cleaning service.
- Perform your own minor repairs, such as patching a hole or fixing a leaky faucet.
- Change your oil in the car.
- Paint a room yourself.
- Hand wash clothing instead of taking it to the dry cleaners.
- Walk to local errands instead of driving.
- Barter your services for someone else's. For example, you might agree to tutor a child in exchange for getting a hair cut.
- Skip eating out.
- Bake bread and muffins from scratch.
- Skip the convenience foods, such as instant oatmeal and meal kits and make it from scratch.
- Cut coupons and combine them with grocery store sales.
- Reduce the number of times you go grocery shopping. Once or twice a month will reduce your grocery bill, believe it or not.
- Plan meals around food that is in season.
- Skip junk food such as soda.
- Use dry milk for cooking and or baking.
- Buy store brands instead of name brand food.
- Buy food in bulk.
- Use less meat in your cooking.
- Eat leftovers.
- Make soup, especially freezer soup, as a filling part of a meal.
- Stockpile food when items are on sale.
- Practice freezer cooking.
- Join a food co-op.
- Take advantage of the library for books, CDs and DVDs.
- Visit library sales for purchasing books.
- Go to free summer concerts, such as music concerts, theater in the park and more.
- Get rid of or downgrade your cable television service.
- Exchange memberships with friends. Very often a membership to a museum or other attraction will allow you to bring guests. Bring a friend under your membership and have her bring you under her membership to a different attraction.
- Shop at garage sales.
- Shop at bag sales.
- Shop at thrift stores.
- Shop at outlet stores.
- Shop the end of year clearance sales.
- Haggle and bargain on new and used items.
- Hold a clothing or toy swap.
- Ask for hand-me-downs
- Become a member of your local freecycle organization.
- Borrow tools from a tool library.
- Combine your errands to save gas.
Check back for the rest of the list!
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don't miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
frugal, save money, Tips, thrifty
|
|
|
|
|
