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

Move out of your parents' place, pay rent for a year, then move back home. All of a sudden you won't have to pay thousands of dollars a month and you can set that money aside to pay for a deposit on something to own.
What parent's place?


@Niggaplease
11. learn the ways of passive income
are you at home?
do you have free time and no obligations?
well guess what, you could be sitting on your ass doing nothing or you could pull up your phone or go on your computer and earn some passive income.
websites pay for surveys.
apps pay you to play games.
Where the hell are you finding surveys that are actually worthwhile?
 
A couple of small enhancements to some earlier posts:

USPS has forever stamps for postcards, so I've gotten some envelopes that are the regulation size for a postcard and save a little bit on the price of postage if I'm just sending a check or something like that.
Even better if you can pay electronically. Back in the day I used to go through at least 20 checks and stamps a month. Depending on your bank fees, you might be paying for the box of checks AND then also paying a processing fee per-check when it gets cashed. Paying online saves money and saves the time of preparing and mailing bills, plus going out for more stamps.

Related to that: SET REMINDERS for your bills so you always pay them on time. It's amazing how much a late-fee here and there can add up (not to mention increased interest on credit cards).

2. coupon, everything
3. when shopping take stock of what you have and what you need first.
4. shop at a store that offers a rewards point system.
4a. Combine these three tips and try to buy most of your groceries & household supplies ONLY when they're on sale. If you shop every week you'll notice that many items tend to cycle on/off sale. So when it's on sale, buy enough to last at least until the next sale (it helps if you have a pantry closet and a separate freezer). I make a game out of it, and try to get around 25-33% off my total order from all the "member discounts".

11. learn the ways of passive income - websites pay for surveys - apps pay you to play games
I can't speak to the games, but I did the InboxDollars surveys when I was poor. I don't know if they've improved any, but I stopped doing it because I was lucky to get $1-2/hr. and it was very frustrating going through a 15-20 minute survey just for it to "not register" the completion half the time.
 
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I can't speak to the games, but I did the InboxDollars surveys when I was poor. I don't know if they've improved any, but I stopped doing it because I was lucky to get $1-2/hr. and it was very frustrating going through a 15-20 minute survey just for it to "not register" the completion half the time
I just used it as a way to earn beer money, your not gonna make alot on surveys however you can make anywhere between an 20 to 50 a month by dicking around on surveys I used mostly for drinks.
there used to been an app that allowed me to phone farm for an extra 5 dollars a day and I made about any where from 50 to 100, unforunately its dead in the water.
 
more tips for poor fags

1. food banks
you can get free food once a month from certain food banks, you can get non perishable staples mind you its a crap shoot sometimes but its free, and you can get some stuff in between pay days.

2. collect bottles and cans
its chump change but chump change adds up over time

3. donate blood/plasma
you'll be doing a good deed and some clinics pay you anywhere between 100 to 800 a month for a healthy plasma donation. its painful but once a a month and they give you snacks afterward.

4. donate your cummies/eggs
are you moderately healthy? sperm donation is modeterativly lucartive. egg donation is upwards of 10k a donation.

5. ask stores and business owners about buying undersold stuff at the end of the day
dunkin donuts can give you reduced donuts and coffee at the end of the business day, it doesn't hurt to ask. worst they can say is no.

6. be part of a study
now this is tricky so use your own discretion studies are important to help test new drugs new surgical methods new stuff in health care. theres risks involved of course so again use your discretion in determining risk/rewards. but it can help you save money if you have lets say a mildly important surgery coming up, being a medical guinea pig can help you save anywhere from 50 percent to 75 percent on your surgery cost. also some drug trials will pay you weekly or pay you a lump sum afterward. plus if you have a rare costly disease its free medical care.

7. be fwiends with fast food workers.
the amount of free and discounted food I've gotten from being fwiends is awesome.
 
10. DUMPSTER DIVING!
this isn't recommended for every body cause some parts of the country have gross dumpsters and others are okay. I have lived in quite a bit of places but I'll let you know this grocceries stores and restaurants throw out shit all the fucking time. want to know wheres a good dumpster? pay attention to your local homeless people, or go on R/dumpsterdiving, if you want to make extra cash hit up dumpsters at make up stores like ulta beauty, or sephora bath and body works, clothes stores like jc penny, game stores like game stop, make up can be disinfected and repressed with a low abv alcohol, wipe all game discs with alcohol. launder any clothes and wipe down shows. relist on mercari or ebay profit.
4. donate your cummies/eggs
are you moderately healthy? sperm donation is modeterativly lucartive. egg donation is upwards of 10k a donation.
OK at first when you posted about dumpster diving I was like, holy fuck have some respect for yourself.

But hey if you are hard up enough to need to donate your eggs then I guess eating out of a dumpster is fine.
Edit: The other tips seem legit.
 
4. donate your cummies/eggs
are you moderately healthy? sperm donation is modeterativly lucartive. egg donation is upwards of 10k a donation.
If doing this, remember to check your state & local laws to make absolutely sure you won't get hit with a bunch of paternity suits and/or child support down the road. (I considered doing this once upon a time, and didn't pursue it for exactly that reason.)

6. be part of a study
now this is tricky so use your own discretion studies are important to help test new drugs new surgical methods new stuff in health care.
And depending on exactly which "experimental surgery" you go for, you might even get featured in the SRS and GRS surgeons and associated horrors thread! :smug:
 
OK at first when you posted about dumpster diving I was like, holy fuck have some respect for yourself.

But hey if you are hard up enough to need to donate your eggs then I guess eating out of a dumpster is fine.
Edit: The other tips seem legit.
nigga I made 3k reselling shit I found from dumpsters, then again I dumpster dived at department store and mall dumpsters. make up stores throw out sealed in boxed returned products all the time.
you may see trash but treasure to be found if you dig hard enough.
I don't recommend it for everybody though if you plan on eating out a dumpster things like climate and local wildlife are variables. when in doubt don't eat.
 
nigga I made 3k reselling shit I found from dumpsters, then again I dumpster dived at department store and mall dumpsters. make up stores throw out sealed in boxed returned products all the time.
you may see trash but treasure to be found if you dig hard enough.
I don't recommend it for everybody though if you plan on eating out a dumpster things like climate and local wildlife are variables. when in doubt don't eat.
OK honestly I'm kind of impressed.

But don't sell your eggs. It's just going to go to some gay ass transportation secretary.
 
If you use a major mobile provider (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon here in Burgerland) you might be able to save money by switching to an MVNO. These are companies that sell the same service* as the networks but with cheaper plans. If you don't use a shitload of data and don't have a whole family of lines, you are definitely better off with an MVNO.

* - the caveat is that lines on MVNOs can have their traffic deprioritized if the network is congested, but in reality this isn't an issue for the vast majority of use cases
 
Learn to cook in bulk. Learn how to organize your kitchen. I can cook a weeks worth of food in three hours of active prep or less.

With a four burner stove I can cook 2lbs of black beans dry, two-four cups of dry rice, and 3lbs of frozen spinach while doing a hot, one off meal on the fourth burner. You can combine these things with minimal effort over the week. With different seasonings, a bit of cheese, or freshly sauteed onions you can add variety.

There are other dishes (red beans and rice) where you can make many meals all at once for $11.

Stop drinking soda, and stop getting coffee out. Get used to drinking unsweet black tea, and get accustomed to black coffee. Tea and Coffee without cream and sugar costs almost nothing. Especially if you get the coffee when costco has it discounted. I bought a years worth of folgers for $21.

I spend $40 or less on food for my girlfriend and myself a week. As a bonus I'm a healthy weight.

I can only do this shit because I don't have kids. Kudos to any parents - I wish we had a stipend for parents in the US.
 
6. Cable is for boomers, and having more than one paid subscription for streaming services is gay.
this is a no brainer but cable is a scam, and unless you can really keep track of billing dates stick to one subscription service for streaming that you use a lot and pirate the rest. remember piracy is always an option.

ABSOLUTLY STRONGLY DISAGREE BECAUSE...

YOU MUST DO YOUR RESEARCH IN YOUR AREA THAT YOU LIVE.


Cutting the cord in my case there is no benefit not there was any real cost savings as it would cost me more money to get those subscriptions .

My Cable bill with Comcast @ 600 mps with the channels that I want costs me base $105 per month. In 27 years the cable cost has gone up X 2.5. That is completely acceptable for the work/entertainment that I use. Cutting the cable was @ $80 base rate for internet access. Just not worth it.

Every state has different services. In Northern California in Counties Comcast does not have under control it is insanely cheap. By Half at times depending on the packages you pick.

I don't like the mindset of people that just blindly listen to what the social mantra says.

Cutting the cord = savings... That is god damned false.

You are looking at a guy who was homeless, who made it to be a 1%er by SAVING MONEY in every way possible. I made that assessment on cable in my area just the same way I made the assessment on my garbage, my housing insurance, and so on.

I've got a perfect example by doing a cost assessment on my auto insurance. Because of how the fucking peanut counters work using data analytics of the region where I live, if I am married, how old you are, and how many people are on the policy... I would have to PAY more money if I changed my policy to only driver status than just leaving it alone.

I make my assessments every single year so I can continue to use my money as efficiently. This is how you STAY Rich. This is why I am continuing to be making good money in an economic down turn. I keep an eye on everything and live within my means.

We have become Data Points to the corporations. That is how everything is done these days. We are no longer human beings to them... Just a meat bag with certain amount of value.

I've already posted on how I got ahead of the game, so I fucking know how it worked for me.

Cutting the cable might be a good option for you depending where you live. But you HAVE to do your cost assessment. Do your research and do it all of the time on everything you are spending money on. In that way you will have to save as much money as you can.
 
4. donate your cummies/eggs
are you moderately healthy? sperm donation is modeterativly lucartive. egg donation is upwards of 10k a donation.
I recommend against egg donation. The pay looks great, but it's not worth the toll on your health.

6. Cable is for boomers, and having more than one paid subscription for streaming services is gay.
[...]
Cutting the cable might be a good option for you depending where you live. But you HAVE to do your cost assessment. Do your research and do it all of the time on everything you are spending money on. In that way you will have to save as much money as you can.
Heh. Red's a boomer.
:smug:
 
I recommend against egg donation. The pay looks great, but it's not worth the toll on your health.


Heh. Red's a boomer.
:smug:
Nope... JONES GENERATION... GET IT RIGHT... :hah:

Fuck Boomers can't even program a DVD or their cell phones. Give them a computer and watch them freak out on that type of technology. That certainly ain't me.

Rest assured I'm from the Jone's Generation. We are the cynical bastards in life because baby boomers took all of the good things in life during the 50's to 70's and gave us the shit afterwards.

We are the Suffering bastards of the Hyper Inflation Generation.
 
Lots of good advice in this thread. It's unfortunate that it is a zombie one because maximizing value out of your dollar is an aspect of life that I enjoy contemplating. So my two cents advice that I don't think was explicitly stated (though was hinted at). The best way to save is to learn the true value of the goods and services you buy.

This is more than just standard advice to "shop around" but rather to keep track of what things cost and which stores have those prices. Mentally know what's a fair price and what isn't. It doesn't make sense to drive to three different stores to save 15 cents on butter, but if you learn which store has the 15cent butter savings you can actually plan your shopping out and go directly there when you need it. This also helps you to identify the rising cost of goods and determine if a "sale" at one store is actually even better than regular price at another.

In particular I find this mentality is important when shopping at dollar stores. The Dollar Tree sells everything at $1.25 (sign of the times, RIP $1 price point). There are great deals to be had at that price but a large majority of what they sell isn't worth $1.25. Knowing which is which is the key to success.
 
The best way to save is to learn the true value of the goods and services you buy.
Had this exact thought the other day and forgot to post about it, so thanks for the reminder. Just wanted to add my thoughts on the second half, "goods and services".

Might've already been mentioned by others, most basic maintenance and repair around the house or yard is far cheaper if you learn to do it yourself. Spend a few hundred bucks on basic tools, take good care of them, and you'll save many thousands over the years not having to hire people to do every little thing.

Lots of basic plumbing, electrical, and carpentry jobs are easily within reach of a capable homeowner. Replacing a switch or outlet, mounting a ceiling light, patching holes, painting a room, changing a valve or faucet -- any of these would be a few hundred bucks to have someone come in. Or just spend an afternoon and DIY for free and enjoy that sense of accomplishment (and a celebratory beer when you're done). It used to be you needed someone more experienced to teach you, or you have to buy a bunch of books. Now you can just learn it right on YouTube.

I thought of it over the weekend as I was mowing the lawn. A good $500-600 mower pays for itself in one summer compared to hiring a lawn service ($200/month where I live). So over the many years I've been a homeowner, I save around $3000/year between the lawn, the pool, and other maintenance, just by doing most of it myself. Being handy really adds up over time.
 
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