Money Saving Tips - Discuss how you save money and spend less

[WelperHelper99]

I'd say buy things like Christmas gifts early and on sale, when you aren't rushing for cash.

Also for tools: Buy good shit. You'll spend more in the short term but save more in the long term when your grinder doesn't burn out in half a year because you chose Milwaukee over harbor freight junk. Inversely, some tools, like a claw hammer, that you know you're only gonna use for picture frames? Harbor Freight. Basically buy accordingly

 

[glass_houses]

I really wish we had coupons the way Americans do in my country. We have discounts and specials, but it's not nearly in the same league as American commerce. That said, buying in bulk is not practical on a large scale unless you have a significant amount of room and a predetermined use and timeframe for the product. My housemate is very financially savvy and loves buying in bulk... and I'm the one who ends up having to figure out how to fit fifteen boxes of breakfast cereal into the pantry so that there's enough room for everything else, and cleaning out all the expired boxes that he didn't manage to eat eighteen months later.

(Also the fridge. Dear God the fridge.)

Anyway, I know a place where I can get a fuckton of discount fruits and vegetables... but the minimum amount I can buy is far in excess of what I can eat, freeze and palm off onto other people before it goes bad. My country also has generally stable food production throughout the year barring natural disasters, so we don't have the canning and pickling traditions that you find in cooler climates, or the correct places to store room temperature preserved food. I've been in one single house that had a basement in my entire life, that was weird as fuck. Houses here are traditionally raised above the ground or built on slabs. The whole concept of another room dug into the dirt under a house blows my tiny mind.

What was I saying? Oh yeah. Buying in bulk. Don't overdo it, especially for things that are hard to store or have an expiry date. There is such a thing as false savings. Just because something is cheap, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good or practical investment.

 

[NoReturn]

Yep, I haven't explored it much, but just type in things like "Dollar General/Family Dollar coupons". Every Saturday Dollar General has a $5 off of a $25 purchase day, and women on there will have TikToks showing how to use the DG app to add shit up, then knock it way down, while still getting the $5 off. Family Dollar has similar, I think. You can probably find other stores too.

I looked up some examples, so here they are for the thread:

1. Christmas expenses

Is there a formula/calculation one can use for figuring out a "good" price-per-person for Christmas an birthday gifts when budgeting?

1. 3 months worth of food

Putting food in its own category is a really good idea. Maybe I should do that.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Is there a formula/calculation one can use for figuring out a "good" price-per-person for Christmas an birthday gifts when budgeting?

Depends really. My nephews I go all out because I can and they're small. The older you get the less you get.

Putting food in its own category is a really good idea. Maybe I should do that.

Having a food budget prevents you from going crazy while making you feel you aren't eating gruel. Stock up on staples, and things like a camp stove don't hurt if the power goes out.

 

[Poppavalyim Andropoff]

Anyway, I know a place where I can get a fuckton of discount fruits and vegetables...

I'm more inclined to just watch the sales & buy a shitload from Coles than a fuckton from Mario's garden at the market.

Or grow your own stuff

 

[WelperHelper99]

I'm more inclined to just watch the sales & buy a shitload from Coles than a fuckton from Mario's garden at the market.

Or grow your own stuff

Growing your own food is usually cheaper overall. Canning things like tomatoes is easy, and herbs grow just about anywhere, ready to be dried and vacuum sealed. You can also seal up potatoes, which will very much keep you alive.

 

[glass_houses]

Growing your own food is usually cheaper overall. Canning things like tomatoes is easy, and herbs grow just about anywhere, ready to be dried and vacuum sealed. You can also seal up potatoes, which will very much keep you alive.

Sometimes it's not practical, however. The last time I attempted a vegetable garden the possums ate the lot. A couple years later a new housemate moved in and attempted same. After a week's long standoff between him and an urban bush turkey who wanted his compost heap for an incubator pile, my housemate finally got to the point he was able to put seedlings in. Which were promptly eaten...

...by bush rats, this time around. With all the time and money spent fucking around feeding the wildlife, it was much cheaper and easier just to buy what we needed from the supermarket.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Sometimes it's not practical, however. The last time I attempted a vegetable garden the possums ate the lot. A couple years later a new housemate moved in and attempted same. After a week's long standoff between him and an urban bush turkey who wanted his compost heap for an incubator pile, my housemate finally got to the point he was able to put seedlings in. Which were promptly eaten...

...by bush rats, this time around. With all the time and money spent fucking around feeding the wildlife, it was much cheaper and easier just to buy what we needed from the supermarket.

If you have that problem, buying is your main option. But if you have a plot of land that isn't infested, or you do some small stuff indoors, like herbs, it's a good idea. Sorry for your loss btw.

Also another I can think of would be changing your own oil. It's not difficult, requires little equipment, and once you know what you're doing, it goes fast

 

[toilet_rainbow]

"Paying yourself first" saving and microtransfers have really helped me in terms of saving overall. What I like to do is when I get paid is instantly transfer down to the nearest $25 increment. It may be $5, it may be a full $25. But transfer it to savings and forget it. Do not account for that money in your budget. Your budget is what is left after paying yourself first.

As for microtransfers, whenever I check my checking account, I transfer down to the nearest $5 increment. Example: have $421.69 after going to the grocery store? Transfer $1.69 to get it down to $420.00. Have $420.69? Transfer $.69. (Nice!) Obviously if I can't afford the microtransaction that week, I just don't do it. But it adds up quick. Every little bit helps. I think I started with microtransfers and then transitioned to $5 a week plus microtransactions as my income increased/debt lowered.

 

[neurotardvirgin]

How to frugal 101:

>Stop buying starbucks and ordering postmates/ubereats every other fucking day
>Stop purchasing tacky, gaudy and overpriced BLM x Gucci 'woke' zoomer hypebeast crapola
>No more fake chinese plastic & fabrics made by the penny using kidnapped third world orphans (ie. funko pops, amiibos, squishmellows, etc.)
>No more Bad Dragon dildos
>Move to an unremarkable, low CoL no-name midwestern/flyover metropolitan area - and if you are oh so concerned & hellbent in regards to the 'status' portion of having to live in some globohomo bougie coastal elite shitstain (at the catch of renting a moldy closet in a shared flat for $42069 per month) - that speaks more on behalf of your vain character than anything.

Simple as.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

I'd say buy things like Christmas gifts early and on sale, when you aren't rushing for cash.

Also for tools: Buy good shit. You'll spend more in the short term but save more in the long term when your grinder doesn't burn out in half a year because you chose Milwaukee over harbor freight junk. Inversely, some tools, like a claw hammer, that you know you're only gonna use for picture frames? Harbor Freight. Basically buy accordingly

Harbor Freight tools aren't actually that bad. I can't speak for the power tools but the basics are solid. I've restored two cars using only HF stuff and only broke one of their fancy 360 degree swivel head wrenches. Their tool storage bins are also excellent for the price. Makes no sense to get Snapon when both are made in China. You end up paying 5x the price for the Snapon name.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Harbor Freight tools aren't actually that bad. I can't speak for the power tools but the basics are solid. I've restored two cars using only HF stuff and only broke one of their fancy 360 degree swivel head wrenches. Their tool storage bins are also excellent for the price. Makes no sense to get Snapon when both are made in China. You end up paying 5x the price for the Snapon name.

Ok snap-on is a meme. It's like buying Supreme merch. Yes there is good stuff at Harbor Freight, like their 3 ton jacks, I'm just saying buyer beware. Not everything is of equal quality

 

[toilet_rainbow]

Debt is fucking shit. You should get rid of that fucking shit as fast as fucking possible. The snowball and avalanche methods of getting rid of that fucking shit have been detailed in this thread already. Here are a couple additional tips if you're in this situation.

Pay your minimum payment (plus ideally more money) as soon after your statement hits as possible. This reduces your daily interest, which in turn reduces your minimum payment. If you can't do the full amount at once, at least pay 1/4 of the minimum payment to help reduce some of that nasty interest.

Throwing any more money beyond the minimum payment per month also helps a lot with not only reducing interest and minimum payments, but also paying off your total balance faster in turn. Even $5 towards the principle at a time benefits you in the long run.

 

[Soggy paper straw]

"Paying yourself first" saving and microtransfers have really helped me in terms of saving overall.

I have a separate bank account that holds the money, savings, etc... and one that is for daily expenses.
So I give myself the spending money for the month and then forget about the rest (now I am more active managing savings, but used to just leave it in the account). If, for whatever reason, I need to up my budget, then it has to be a longer process of transferring money to the other account.

Pro tip:
- Pirate everything you can (morally and practically) pirate

 

[Aspiring Artist]

Is this the right place to look for some computer advice?

My Microsoft 365 rental lapsed, and fuck if I'm paying for it again. I can't afford that shit. I've looked into getting an Office grey license and I've found one site that's had consistent reviews for quite a few months. They are asking $50, which I tried to work myself up to pay, but I just couldn't bring myself to give some dodgy site my card details. So that's that. I'm not prepared to download a pirate copy; my computer may be cheap but I still don't have the cash to get it repaired if malware or Microsoft bricks it.

My next move is free Office clones. There are a number around but I'm very unsure. I've got documents going back to 2000; I need to both read and preserve them. I basically need a word processing program and a simple spreadsheet. They need to come with an Australian English setting. Can any of you cheapskates recommend something appropriate?

Onlyoffice has a nice interface and an Australian English setting.

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Just as I suspected.

 

[NoReturn]

Move to an unremarkable, low CoL no-name midwestern/flyover metropolitan area - and if you are oh so concerned & hellbent in regards to the 'status' portion of having to live in some globohomo bougie coastal elite shitstain (at the catch of renting a moldy closet in a shared flat for $42069 per month) - that speaks more on behalf of your vain character than anything.

People in flyovers still need jobs that meet their basic spending needs for food and housing. It doesn't need to be prestigious, but you need something.

 

[WelperHelper99]

People in flyovers still need jobs that meet their basic spending needs for food and housing. It doesn't need to be prestigious, but you need something.

Learn a trade. It's relatively cheap depending on the school, and everyone needs a plumber. You then get to sell your services to others.

 

[NoReturn]

Learn a trade. It's relatively cheap depending on the school, and everyone needs a plumber. You then get to sell your services to others.

Not trying to be argumentative, just constructive, so let me pose this as a question instead: How?
If you're young, it's easy, you should learn a trade while in your educational years, then you can take it anywhere.
What if you're older? It doesn't seem like the wisest decision to uproot and move to bumfuck Missouri in the hopes some plumber will take you under his wing.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Not trying to be argumentative, just constructive, so let me pose this as a question instead: How?
If you're young, it's easy, you should learn a trade while in your educational years, then you can take it anywhere.
What if you're older? It doesn't seem like the wisest decision to uproot and move to bumfuck Missouri in the hopes some plumber will take you under his wing.

It's never too late to start. When I was at trade school, we had plenty of guys in their thirtys and fortys training. Look for financial aid, FAFSA. I'd recommend this before you move

 

[Kung Pow]

Pee in the drain when you are taking a shower and if you are having a diarrhea just dump it right there. That water bill reduction will add up over time.