The Money Saver Thread

[Katastrophe]

I thought it might be fun for us to post some ways that we use to save money. Every little bit helps, at least to be able to afford more gear!

I'll start with the first idea.

Mrs. Kat and I have started using the local public library extensively. It's free, and has dropped our expenditures for books to near zero.

The cool thing is that our library has a reservation system where we reserve books in advance, then pick them up at our leisure. If the library doesn't have the book, they search other libraries to find it, and they loan it out, free of charge.

We've used the same service for DVDs, and it works great!

[Spudman***]

+1 on the library. The whole Spud family just came back from ours which is 4 blocks away.

Make and take your lunches to work.

Buying lunch out every day can really add up. Figure ($5 per day) just at Taco Bell x (5 days) = $25 per week or $100 per month. By making and taking your own lunch you can eat healthier and cut that cost in half. So now lunch is saving you ($50 per month) x (12 months) = $600 extra to spend per year. That's a new guitar or amph.

[R_of_G]

I too make extensive use of the library. When you have the appetite for reading that I do it's amazing how much money you can save by borrowing the books from a library rather than buying them.

Biggest piece of advice I can offer for saving money is this... if you smoke cigarettes, quit. The health benefits should be obvious, but no matter how many times you do the math on paper, nothing shows you how much money you spend on smokes better than not buying them anymore. My lungs and my wallet thank me all the time.

[Tig***]

Make and take your lunches to work.

Buying lunch out every day can really add up.

Same goes with dinner vs eating out. Mrs Tig is a great cook, and I can throw together something decent when she's tired from work. Taking the family out to eat runs between $25-$60, and home cooked is always under $10.

Left-overs are good to take to work. When we do go out to eat, there's always at least 1 or 2 servings that go home for later.

Also, Mrs. Tig works at a clinic where the pharmaceutical rep's bring in catered lunch 3+ days a week. The clinic will throw away most of the excess, but she grabs a few helpings and puts them in the fridge for home use later. Saves us a bundle and it's good eats!

[Tone2TheBone]

Buy beer ON SALE. Saves in the long run.

[tunghaichuan***]

+ 1 billion on libraries.

I'm on the staff of a small public library, and I get books, CDs and DVDs and save my self a ton of money. In fact, I do not buy fiction. I generally read a fiction title once and never again. I do like to get non-fiction books ahead of time and look them over if I'm considering buying a copy. I still buy non fiction if I want to own a copy of it.

The library is also great for getting rare and/or out of print books.

[Robert****]

Leave the car at home, and take the bicycle.

[Mr Pants]

Leave the car at home, and take the bicycle.

+1 0n the cycle - sure beats running! ;-)

[Commodore 64***]

I buy used gear on Craig's List.

[bigG]

Buy store brands! I buy all of Walgreen's offered store brands at a HUGE savings, and I drink caffiene-free diet cola from Publix in-house: sweetened w Splenda (no aspartame!) and only 79 cents for a 2-litre bottle! Coke and Pepsi are like $2.00/bottle!

Spud's recommendation to brown-bag it is a great one! Saves at least $25/week!

And those little curly screw-in fluorescent light bulbs that replace incandescent bulbs are pretty cheap now, cost virtually nothing when on, and last forever!

[Sluggs]

I snapped my debit card in half. Now it's nearly impossible for me to spend my money.

[sumitomo]

I snapped my debit card in half. Now it's nearly impossible for me to spend my money.

Just call and have them send you a new one. Sumi

[M29]

Sumi

[Bloozcat]

I snapped my debit card in half. Now it's nearly impossible for me to spend my money.

I really like my credit card...

I have to spend money on food, gasoline, clothes, etc., anyway. So, I can pay cash or write a check and get...food, gasoline, clothes, etc.

<OR>

I can put it all on my credit card, write one check each month and....they give me free airline tickets (so I can go somewhere else and use my credit card to buy food, gasoline, clothes, etc....

What a deal!

[perez]

hi, this is a great thread.
i'm only 15 years old, but i receive about 80 €/month to pay my food from my school (great deal :P), but almost every day i walk to my home (about 1 mile) to eat, and that way i save a lot.
i read that internet is futile and that we could live without it, but then how the hell could we read this damn thread???? (just kidding)
if you are a student its always a good idea to get a part time job, or even a summer job just to get some extra bucks!!
here in Portugal we can only work when we are 16, so next year ill get some 5 pm to 12 am job, and i still get some time to go to the beach, and get some money to, guess what, BUY A NEW GUITAR, AMP OR EFFECT PEDAL
(this tips only work if you are still fed and dressed by your parents, like me)

[kiteman]

Here's a real money saver, drop your internet service.

[Spudman***]

Here's a real money saver, drop your internet service.

Shame on you.

[Robert****]

Drink plain tap water instead of buying over-priced, environment-unfriendly bottled liquids.

[M29]

Use one sheet instead of three...