Simple money saving ideas » Group

Hi all!  I have been redoing our budget and couldn't cut down anywhere else but on bills.  We had already dropped our power bills by being more aware of what we are using and switching everything off when not in use.  But how do you reduce phone and internet?

Firstly, internet.  I shopped around and found a much cheaper option.  I can use same modem and just pay a $99 transfer fee - yes that is expensive, but our monthly rate has dropped by half, so in three months that is covered.

Next phone, I looked at different plans and different phone companies and couldn't see any major gains, until a friend put me onto VOIP.  This runs through your broadband connection and you have a separate voice box attached to your modem and computer.  However it means for $15 p/m I get free local and national calls, and cheap mobile rates.  I then pay the minimum service hire to Telstra.

Lastly, I contacted my mobile provider.  I can't change the contract, but by going through the bill I am more aware what I am paying for and can cut down on unnecessary uses.  Plus they put a bonus on my plan so I get some free txts and cheap internet access from my phone.

So, our communication expenses have dropped - from an average of $260 p/m to $100 p/m.  That's huge!

As we all know, cash is a hard thing to come by and most people work hard, long hours away from thier families to get it.

As it happens though, it is not how much you earn but how much you spend.

1)Pick your pay up 1 day later every week. eg: If Payday is Thursday don't get your pay till Friday then next week get it out on Saturday and so on until you have and extra weeks pay each 7 weeks.

2)When you purchase anything put an extra 5-10% in a tin. eg: groceries cost $250 then put another $25 in a tin, a drink cost $3 so just 30c in the tin. You will be surprised just how fast it adds up.

3)Put and extra silver in a tin and save it for 1 year and then treat yourselves to a nice meal. Last year we save just over $100 this way.

4)GOLDIES. Do not spend gold coins, save them for just 1 month and then cash them in at the bank. My best month was $600 which is one third of our income.

Otherwise the bulk buy thing IS a great idea but Tin food keeps for ages and is a good thing to add as are rice and pasta.

Happy saving fellow scrooge's

Regards

Robert

Pick one non perishable item you buy with groceries - say washing powder. One week, skimp somewhere else and spend $30 or $40 and buy a whole carton of washing powder.

I found I can get cheaper cartons at Kmart, Big W etc cheaper than at the supermarket.

Not only do you get the cheaper price, but then you don't have to buy washing power for six months or so. So that's an extra $4-ish in the weekly budget that you have free-ed up.

I do this every now and again with washing powder, toilet paper, dish detergent and similar items. I store them anywhere I can fit them, and then I don't have to worry about that item for 6 months. It's worth it to skimp for one week to but the bulk and then not have to buy it again for a while - all together it's probably about $15 free-ed up in my weekly shopping. Just give a little bit of wiggle room.

I can't remember where I heard this hint, but it has come in handy when I need money fast.

We do our grocery shopping weekly. Simply put - don't go one week.

That is, take $30, buy anything you really need (like milk, bread etc) and then don't buy anthing else.

Have a look in the back of your pantry. How many tins are there which haven't been used? Can you scavenge your meals for a week? Found a stray lump of mince in the back of the freezer? Found a tin of pears and a packet of spagetti?

Most of us have enough food to see us through the week. Sure, it might not be our normal meals, and some of them might be a bit strange (tinned corn with cruskits anyone?)

Think about it - sometimes you just don't make it to the shops. The kids might be sick, you might go away that weekend or whatever. You still manage.

So, don't buy groceries one week and pocket the money you save. Useful every now and again to save money, or if you get an unexpected bill.

If you live in SA we have a place where it's called the rite price where you can get alot of stuff really cheap, and get things like 3 of the same item for $2 and thing like that. It's a real bargain in there.

Hi all,

this is an oldie but a goodie - stock up on non perishible items when they are on sale.

Any thing like cans, pasta sauce, pasta, rice, or cleaning products, toilet paper, nappies etc I will buy extras of if they are on special. Once I filled a trolley with topilet paper - didn't need to buy any more for months!

The trick with this one is to make sure that you still use the product at the same rate that you would normally. For this reason I avoid stocking up on things which we don't use all the time. I don't stock up on treats, because that wouldn't be stocking up, it would be buying more!

And remember - it's not a bargain if no one will eat it, no matter how cheap it is! My rule is, if I wouldn't normally buy it at full price, I don't buy it on special!

Today's idea - use your credit card reqards points. I never really paid much atention to them, but I rang up the other day. Just by cashing in half of them I was able to get $150 in fuel vouchers. They also have supermarket vouchers too, I think I'll get some of them next.

So free petrol for me for three weeks! Yay!

We all know how many bibs a bub can go through when they first start having solids.
Rather than buying lots of bibs, cut up a couple of nice towels that don't get used often, it doesn't matter if they are old at all. Cut a neck area and then stitch some ribbon to the towel and there you have it....plenty of bibs for bub and you have saved lots of money on bibs!

How many times have you heard that we eat whatever is on our plates, so we should use smaller plates and we will still think we're full? This tip is kind of like that.

We have crumbed chicken strips in our family. (Just chicken breats, cut into strips, cover in flour, then egg then breadcrumbs and cook in fry pan or grill - easy peasy)

I buy in bulk (saving number one) and then cut up into strips and crumb in one big go. I then freeze in freezer bags with the right of strips for a meal (5 strips per adult).

What I find, is that I get about 7 strips per breast. If I was to crumb the whole breast the adults would eat one each, but 5 strips really is enough. So I get more meals out of the same amount of meat (and we don't eat more than we need either) Saving number two!

 

Hi all,

I tend to be someone would like to invest in good quality things which last, instead of buying lots of cheap things; I'm very wary of false economy.

However, I found this wasn't working for me in one respect. I wear pantyhose to work and was buying medium quality ones - about $A 5.50 per pair from the supermarket. I probably averaged two or three ladders per week - sometimes higher. Spending $10 to $15 a week on pantyhose didn't sit well with me!

So I started treating pantyhose as disposable. I buy cheap cheap ones now - $4.99 for five pairs. They're not as nice as the others and not as elastic so I get more ladders. I only get one or two wears out of each pair - but I'm still coming out ahead. Even if I ladder a pair every day of the week, that's equilvent to only one ladder in the ones I used to buy. Now it's $5 a week, not a day!

I estimate it saves about $5 to $10 a week, which certainly adds up.

Buying cheap and nasty isn't for everyone (and usually isn't for me) but it worked in this case for me.

What other ideas do you guys have for saving money?