[N/A] Any Money Saving tips?

I'd almost rather dump my change in one of those than in the ammo cans I've been putting it in. I'm not a miser, I just don't like change in my pockets. But it piles up. And it can be a loooong session at a coin star machine when I go.
 
Zeldman said:
Unfortunately the local electric co-op charges 50 bucks a month just for the privilege of being connected to the service that may or may not work all the time. With the technology for off grid systems increasing almost constantly, going off grid is looking good to me. Plus with all the sun shine we get here plus the wind at night, having at the very least a grid tie system makes sense.

I am not looking to be cheap, I am just not wanting to depend on a service that may or may not be working.
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I totally agree and am very pro off-grid or grid tie. I've been wanting to do it for years, but we haven't been in a place where we think it's remotely justifiable.

In your case if you have an unreliable electrical service, that's your justification.
 
Mistake Not... said:
I'd almost rather dump my change in one of those than in the ammo cans I've been putting it in. I'm not a miser, I just don't like change in my pockets. But it piles up. And it can be a loooong session at a coin star machine when I go.
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I cashed in $900.00 that I saved up in coffee cans in one year, vacation money. Glad my bank has a no fee coin machine.
 
Old cars are great, unless you don't know jack **** about fixing them and have no tools to do it anyway.
 
GlennAB1 said:
I cashed in $900.00 that I saved up in coffee cans in one year, vacation money. Glad my bank has a no fee coin machine.
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Last time I did it, I made a profit... do coin star machines still give you, like 5% or something if you turn it into an amazon credit?

Edit: Hmmm. Maybe it was just no fee. They still do that, according to their website.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I was listening to a financial guy on the radio. He mentioned something about checking your rates on homeowners insurance.
I forget the details but he mentioned that they tend to out climb the going intro rates.

Sure enough I was paying $2100 for insurance.
I called them and said "cut me a deal bruh." They said they would knock it down to $1800.

I called a competitor and they said they would give me the same coverage for $1200
Done.


Any other things folks have done where they had been able to recover wasted spending?
I find as I (and especially my kids) get older, I grow much less happy parting with money.
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In all seriousness, check your coverage terms to make sure they are truly equal. A nice trick to quote you a cheaper deal is to switch your roof coverage from Replacement Cost coverage to Actual Cash Value coverage. For an old roof that will save you big $$$ on the rate, but screw you if you do need a new roof. ACV will only pay you the cash value of your roof. If your 20 year roof is 19 years old, your ACV will be 5% of the new roof.

Remember you get what you pay for.
 
mscard88 said:
Buy one of these.

Yugo_01_1000-970x647.jpg
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I once saw a news story that a Yugo was involved in a push-by shooting.
 
luvflyin said:
Are you a gambling man? Get rid of all your insurance that isn't required by law. I did that for years, it paid off. Yeah, it was stupid, but I was lucky and won.
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I live in North Texas and have a 6 week old roof on the house. I don't want to pay for one out of pocket. We get hail here the size of volkswagons
 
Ted DuPuis said:
That won't work very well. The grid is actually much more efficient at providing utilities than most people will be with current tech. Payback is 20 years or so.
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So if I plan to live more than 20 years, I'm ahead.

If I live less than 20 years, I won't care anymore. ;)
 
Spend your money now and enjoy it! convalescent homes cost $500-600/day. That's 200 AMUs per year!
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I live in North Texas and have a 6 week old roof on the house. I don't want to pay for one out of pocket. We get hail here the size of volkswagons
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The hail you say. Everyone knows Volkswagens can't fly.
 
Eat a ton of Ramon noodles,give up your car for a bicycle .
 
Don't get married, that's a BIGLY money saver !!
 
If you have the financial discipline to not carry a balance, get a Citi Double Cash card (or any Visa/MC that pays 2%+) and put anything and everything you can on that card. Just make sure you don't put stuff on the card that you wouldn't otherwise spend if you didn't have the card.
 
MauleSkinner said:
So if I plan to live more than 20 years, I'm ahead.

If I live less than 20 years, I won't care anymore. ;)
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It's not just living that long, it's living in the same place since the equipment won't add a 1:1 resale. Plus that means you're spending the money that you could spend on having fun.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
It's not just living that long, it's living in the same place since the equipment won't add a 1:1 resale. Plus that means you're spending the money that you could spend on having fun.
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True, but there's also a lot of value in not having to rely on "the grid".
 
MauleSkinner said:
True, but there's also a lot of value in not having to rely on "the grid".
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Unless you have battery backup or a generator (which is not cheaper) then you do still have some grid reliance.

I've been wanting to do some alternative energy for the past 3 houses, but didn't expect to be in any of them long enough for it to make sense. I was right. This house we do expect to be in a long time, but it's not well set up for solar (primarily east/west facing with lots of different angles on it) and the winds aren't that strong. But we love the generator that came with the house, it's been very useful.

It's something you do because you want to or need to.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Biggest ways we save money:

- no cable.....
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I went without any cable for over 4 years. totally out of touch. I just splurged and signed up for directv. I also just found out we actually elected donald trump? and other stuff happened too? wow. but I guess I saved a few bucks.
 
eman1200 said:
I went without any cable for over 4 years. totally out of touch. I just splurged and signed up for directv. I also just found out we actually elected donald trump? and other stuff happened too? wow. but I guess I saved a few bucks.
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You hear about the hurricane over in TX, and a couple more coming for FL?
 
mscard88 said:
You hear about the hurricane over in TX, and a couple more coming for FL?
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I'm still catching up but I did see something about an eclipse coming in 7 years.
 
Baron62 said:
Spend your money now and enjoy it!
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This. But I realize that it's much easier to say when you are older and don't have anyone depending on you or your money.
 
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How I retired at age 60....buy the least expensive house in the neighborhood. It will usually appreciate more, percentage wise, than the others. Stay married and educate your kids so they get scholarships. Eat at home and pack your lunch. Learn to do what needs to be done from house and car repair to hunting, fishing and even welding. Buy used cars and keep them running. Pay off your credit cards each month and live within your means. When you have to move rent out your old house but stay active with the rental agent. When you buy your plane, pay cash and designate an income stream to pay its bills.
 
Don't finance anything.

I haven't even financed a house. I would finance a house but I haven't. If you can't afford to buy it, don't.
 
Biggest cut in our discretionary spending was restaurants. In your case, @Bryan, your saving <$100/mo on your insurance, $900/yr. We just finished one month of not eating out for any meals.

We netted +$600 after the grocery increase. That's $7200/yr we could put back in our pockets.

Second thing was the written budget. Every single dollar accounted for each month before the dollars were spent found us $3000/mo in discretionary spending categories that could be trimmed.
 
eman1200 said:
I went without any cable for over 4 years. totally out of touch. I just splurged and signed up for directv. I also just found out we actually elected donald trump? and other stuff happened too? wow. but I guess I saved a few bucks.
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Dang should have told me..I could have referred you and saved you another 100 bucks for the year. Well of course that was a greedy statement since I would have saved 100 bucks too.
 
An Asian massage parlor experience will cost $200. Get married and have a kid and it's more like $200,000.

Do the math.
 
Well, I was going to suggest beans and rice, rice and beans, but somebody beat me to it. Story of my life.
 
luvflyin said:
Are you a gambling man? Get rid of all your insurance that isn't required by law. I did that for years, it paid off. Yeah, it was stupid, but I was lucky and won.
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I've had just liability and uninsured motorist on all my cars for 38 years....saves quite a bit! It helps that I'm a safe driver, and by paying attention at the wheel I've avoided a lot of potential accidents from mouth-breathers trying to ram me! No hull insurance on the plane, either. Chances are that if I damage it, it's my fault and I'm more than happy to have self-accountability.
 
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