whomper Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 With the big crunch the country is in I was thinking about things in our everyday life we can probably do without and how they all add up. I bet if we listed things we would be surprised at the results. I usually have 3 cups of coffee a day and I buy them all in NYC at 1.00 a cup. The first cup of the day is essential and I would give up a pinkie before I gave that up but if I gave up the other 2 5 days a week 52 weeks a year I would save 520 a year. What things like that could you eliminate to hold on to your cash ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MojoMan Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Stop going to h00kers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westvirginia Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Stop going to h00kers. And blow, don't forget the blow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_am_the_swammi Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 quit smoking: $4.50 x 365 = $1642 pack lunch instead of buy: net saving of maybe $3 per day x 5 days x 50 weeks = $750 reduce our restaurant dinner dependence from 2 days to 1 per week : net effect probably $15-20 x 52 weeks = $780-1040 man, that could easily put around $3K in my pocket yearly. multiply that by 16 years, and thats $48K....probably 2-3 years of college for my youngest kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperCharger Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Since I'm not a coffee drinker I've always had a Full Throttle Fury at the QT each morning. They usually run $2.99. I stopped drinking them about two months back. 5 days x 52 weeks = 260 days x $2.99 = $777.40 worth of Full Throttle a year Other cost saving things we've done. Dropped NetFlix Dropped HBO, CineMax and Starz (Kept Showtime for Dexter) Dropped private cellphones for landline bundled with Comcast (Which actually made our Comcast bill cheaper) Started telecommuting to work 2 days a week. (Huge saver on gas and lunches) Only eat out as a family once a month. (Previously we would eat out at least twice a week.) Started shopping at Target for childrens clothes instead of Gap for Kids. Stopped grocery shopping at WholeFoods and switched to Kroger/Publix. In all we trimmed just over $1000 off our monthly budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chester Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Quit FF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Beatings Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 I'm the same with pop throughout the day. I need the first one to feed my caffeine addiction, but could and should cut out the rest. I spend about $75 a month just on pop alone. That's $900 for the year. We need to be smarter about how we buy groceries too. If we just planned our meals for the week, and shopped for those meals, we could save a ton of money I'm sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperCharger Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 We need to be smarter about how we buy groceries too. If we just planned our meals for the week, and shopped for those meals, we could save a ton of money I'm sure. That is exactly what my wife has done. She makes weekly dinner menus and posts them on the fridge. She makes very accurate grocery lists to prepare these meals and then sticks to the list. For a family of 5 we use to spend around $2000 a month on groceries. We have that down to around $1200 now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Holy Roller Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Quit FF Amen, brother! Besides, I read somewhere that a lot of retards play fantasy football. No more hOOkers, blow, cigarettes, and fantasy football. What is going to become of us? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darin3 Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Dropped HBO, CineMax and Starz (Kept Showtime for Dexter) We dropped Showtime, even with us being big Weeds and Dexter fans. We'll just get the seasons' DVDs via Netflix. Gotta keep Netflix. I work from home, but have wanted to go out to do some research on my own which would require me driving around the Austin area. With gas prices where they are, I've held back from doing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caveman_Nick Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 With the big crunch the country is in I was thinking about things in our everyday life we can probably do without and how they all add up. I bet if we listed things we would be surprised at the results. I usually have 3 cups of coffee a day and I buy them all in NYC at 1.00 a cup. The first cup of the day is essential and I would give up a pinkie before I gave that up but if I gave up the other 2 5 days a week 52 weeks a year I would save 520 a year. What things like that could you eliminate to hold on to your cash ? You could get an automatic coffee maker and a thermos. Set it up at night and fill the thermos in the AM. That would save another $260. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caveman_Nick Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Drink water from the tap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darin3 Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 You could get an automatic coffee maker and a thermos. Set it up at night and fill the thermos in the AM. That would save another $260. That's what my wife does. She NEVER buys coffee... well, very, very rarely. If we're on the road to Louisiana she may have a cup if we stop for fast food... but she's religious about setting up the coffeemaker the night before, setting it to start brewing while she's getting ready for work, and having the Thermos ready to go for her short commute. She can't operate without coffee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperCharger Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Drink water from the tap. Forgot that one. We use to buy pallets of the bottled water. We bought a Frig with a filter and water/ice dispenser dohickie in the door and haven't bought bottled water since. Saved some coin there too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 I dumped my lawn service and now have two boys who live in my house take care of the lawn: approximate savings = $1200/year I dumped exterminating service and do this myself: approximate savings = $850 I have a dog. I no longer have an active alarm system. I still have the alarm signs out: approximate savings = $1000 per year I always pack a lunch. We shop much more at BJ's and even Wal-Mart. Eating out has decreased to about once every two weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperCharger Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Gotta keep Netflix. We ran through about a hundred movies the last year we had it and at the end our queue was full of crap that we didn't enjoy watching so we both agreed to drop it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 no sex = no new kids = money saved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isleseeya Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 cut back on eating out ( lunch and dinner ) working with a budget ( created in excel ) and trying to really stick to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pope Flick Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 I cut back on the coffee shops, and home brew instead. That became an easy 30 bucks a month right there. I plan ahead more on the weekends to hang in the neighborhood without driving the car either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caveman_Nick Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 no sex = no new kids = money saved Sounds like you didn;t ask the question before you got married. You know the question... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Sounds like you didn;t ask the question before you got married. You know the question... The one where I aks her dad for a hugh dowry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramhock Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Trying to get the boys to turn everything off when they leave a room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTed46 Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Quit Win FF Fixed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Like Soup Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Sounds like you didn;t ask the question before you got married. You know the question... I was thinking of a particular question myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Like Soup Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 I've had a spreadsheet to keep track of my bills, etc. since around 2002. It is great to compare year to year on electric, gas, etc. I've really whittled away at keeping the bills down. I am an electricity nazi as that is about the only bill that fluctuates to any degree. I'm on the time of use plan and ensure that I use my programmable thermostat wisely. For the bills, I'm pretty lean. My credit card gets paid off every month. This, however, doesn't mean I spend less, so I need to take another look at that. I know Dave Ramsey says to pay everything with cash since when you use a credit card, it isn't felt quite the same (even if you pay it off every month). While I like to use my AMEX for just about everything so I get cash back, I think I probably spend more. I do buy my Diet Dews by the 12 pack when they are on sale so I usually get either 4 or 5 of them at a time at about $2.50 each. I bring a couple to work every morning when I'm in the office. I need to cut back on eating out with the guys at work. Lately I've been going home and heating up food that I have so I can at least get out of the office instead of just heating it up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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