Today, Prosper & Budgets Are Sexy team up and celebrate the season of Lent! (Didn’t see that coming, did ya?). If you’ve ever heard of “peer-to-peer lending” before, you’re probably already aware of Prosper.com – one of the biggies in the industry. The site’s based on the premise that consumers should be able to help each other financially by borrowing & lending from one another, instead of through banks. Some people lend money out, and some pick money up! Pretty cool concept really, except for that fact I can’t participate cuz I live in Maryland! Boooo…
So yeah, back to Lent. As a Catholic, I give something up every year for 40 days until Easter hits. Sometimes I give up Soda, sometimes complaining (and I charge myself a dollar per complaint!), and most recently SHOPPING! You could probably guess which is more financially rewarding ;) I reckon I’ve saved at *least* $300 a month since I first gave this up 2 years ago, and it’s been awesome ever since (I still shop btw, just not every single weekend like I used to! I’m much better with my habits now).
But enough about Prosper and I, we want to hear from you! How do YOU currently saving money? Share with us and be entered to win a $200 check!!! Here’s what to do:
- Drop a comment letting us know what you’re currently doing to save money, AND how much you’ll have saved up by Easter! (even if you don’t celebrate Lent)
- Then, leave me a way to contact you (email, twitter, blog, etc)
That’s it! We’ll leave this up for a week, and one lucky bastard will be rewarded with $200. It doesn’t get much better than that my frugal friends. Be extra nice to Random.org this week, okay? ;) Mad thanks again to Prosper for hookin’ us up! NOW START COMMENTING.
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PS: And if you want *another* chance to win, be sure to sign up to my V.I.P. Newsletter! We’ll be giving out a separate $100 check on top of this one come Friday!
PPS: How cool is it that people give us money to give away?
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*UPDATE* Make SURE to leave your contact info! You can go anonymous all you’d like, but if I can’t tell you that you’ve won you’re going to be mad at me ;)
*UPDATE 2* Blogger is only showing 200-something comments, but I AM getting them all! So don’t worry if it doesn’t show up here, you’re still on the list :) Picking winner tonight (Thursday, 3-11)
*GIVEAWAY OVER* Congrats to Meg from CarsxGirl.com! You win the $200 :) Thanks to everyone for sharing your tips to save! Stay tuned for more giveaways to come.
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I'm following Dave Ramsey's principles to get out of debt, and over the last two months I've already saved $1k and paid off $2k (only making $2k/month)!
Love,
JP
http://denimdebutante.com
I use coupons for everything possible. I don't like to pay full price for anything. I literally wait for clothes, shoes, misc stuff on clearance if I want it. I check the clearance bin in all grocery depts, then if I really scored big with that I freeze & put in freezer (meats, cheese, frozen). I should have saved by easter $200
Pretty cool you giving your readers this opportunity!
bearabledeals@gmail.com
I finally got rid of Cable TV… I miss discovery channel and the history channel but not much else. I also got rid of my Land Line finally and replaced it with OOMA several months ago. Saving about $100/month from dropping the two.
abandonmind@gmail.com
I use coupons for everything and send in rebates. I also do what Renee does with the clearance and freezing things. If you stock up when you find a good deal, you should never have to pay full price for anything.
Currently I'm trying to talk my husband into dropping Dish Network (they just raised the rates) and the home phone service and just watching TV over the antenna and online. That could save us $100/month – which would be enough to pay for a nice computer to run the TV/Internet in just a few months, and after that it's all savings.
I've got about $1000 saved, got to start somewhere right? By Easter I should (hopefully have another $300).
I'm being better about sticking to my newly created budget so I'm just sticking any "surplus" income right into the savings account/Roth!
I love getting e-mails…so do that!
I stopped eating out, I am making my own cleaning products, I groom my dogs myself, gave up my iphone and the heavty monthly cell phone service (for a pre-paid service), gave up Netflix (I don't have a TV or cable, so this was IT for me), re-upholster the furniture out of paint drop clothes, make everything I can like food and clothing, bought a live cow this year/had it butchered/and split is among myself & my friends (I traded for the butchering!),grocery shop with circulars in hand….the list goes on!
In the end I spend half of our income on living expenses and the other half goes to debt (almost gone), savings, than retirement. I've been doing it as an experiment for seven months and I'm not looking back! OK, it totally sucked in the beginning, but now I'm having a blast.
Seven months ago $200 didn't seem like much but now all I can see how I will stash away that $200, if I win, rather than go out and blow it on more stuff.
Would you believe I save money by moving to China?! It's true! I am an English teacher living in China. I get a free apt, free heating and water, free round trip plane ticket and I get an above average salary (for Chinese standards.)
So not only am I having an amazing cultural experience teaching university students but I am managing to save more money then I ever could back at home. In my budget it would take approximately 3 more years to pay off my student loans, but after this year I will be able to pay it off completely!
I'm making as many meals of my own as possible. My schedule is constantly fluctuating so there are many days when I'm not home for lunch or dinner. Packing it saves me from stopping at Panda Express or Sbarro, saving me a couple bucks a day! I'm hoping to have $300 extra to put towards buying a car by Easter!
I bought a single cup coffee maker so I won't be at the coffee shop paying $2.00 per cup. Instead the cost will be .41 cents per cup. Doing the math for 31 day that is a saving of $41.29 if i have 1 cup per day.(sometimes I have more).
Also I have change my home phone service to the minimum since I use the cell phone most of the time. The change in fees when from $41.22 down to $12.50. Making a savings of $28.72
Also since I wasn't going to the gym I cancelled the membership last month.Saving $58.00 a month. I will only count that for this month.
All totaled
$41.29
$28.72
$58.00
_______
$128.01
$128.01 not to bad for making some simple changes.
cashsmarts@gmail.com
I've done a few things that I'm hoping will have me in better footing. I finished my taxes and refuse to spend over $200 (not counting grocery necessities and gas) until my return comes back. I also decided to call both my cable and cell phone providers to renegotiate my rates with both of them. As long as you familiarize yourself with competitive rates and activity in the market, you will be able to get your monthly bill down in most cases. Lastly, I have been cutting down on the electricity by reading by candlelight. It saves money and it's an easier transition into sleep than having all of my lights on.
With my bills lower and my spending in check, I'm hoping to save over $400.
jlanzet@gmail.com
Right now my biggest money saving habit is cooking almost EVERY meal. I save so much by not eating out it's kind of ridiculous. I also manage to save a ton by cooking very low budget meals (chicken/rice or pasta) and buying a lot of those ingredients in bulk at Costco.
I have also saved quite a bit of money these last couple of months by encouraging my friends to watch the basketball games etc at one of our houses instead of the bar. Most of our friends have a pool table or dart board or a great entertainment center. And the booze is MUCH cheaper from the liquor store!
My last big savings habit is that I skim a certain amount off the top of the paycheck to go directly into savings. It's almost like I never even know the money is there. That way I don't spend it :)
We have money directly removed from each paycheck and sent to two different savings accounts,and money removed for 403b's for both DH and myself. We use envelopes and have so far been very good at controlling our spending, it's been fun to try to see how much we can save each payday.
Never pay full price for anything! Ask for a discount. We have money directly deposited into a savings account from every paycheck, we don't even miss it (it doesn't have to be a lot). Use coupons. If we don't have a coupon for a meal out, we don't eat out. If you have children, buy museum/zoo memberships. They are well worth it:)
Jen jenleopard@yahoo.com
i have a small way and a big way:
small way: i round every entry in my checkbook register to the nearest $5. so deposits are rounded down ($118.75 becomes $115) and purchases are rounded up ($118.75 becomes $120). that way i have a cushion in my account, and every other paycheck, i sweep the "cushion" into my savings account – and it's usually around $100 or so!
big way: i used my savings to free up my cash flow a bit by paying off two smallish debts, even though they had low interest rates. their rates were still higher than what i was earning on my savings, plus, they had fairly substantial monthly payments. now i have quite a bit of budget wiggle room, saved myself some interest, and see my savings balance plump up by quite a bit every month. you always have to weigh cash in hand over low interest debt, but this move was great for my budgeting.
normal way: i can set my direct deposit at work up to divvy up between accounts, so i truly don't see my savings – it comes straight from my employer to my ING account. doesn't even glance at my checking account (or pretty shoes or a stack of books or a plane ticket…)
I have a bi-monthly budget – and "pay" my savings account a set amount every paycheck.
jencook1@hotmail.com
I do several things – but probably the biggest is that I budget every penny with zero-based budget, and have a set "payment" to savings. At the end of the month, depending on how well I've budgeted, I'll have a surplus to move over, as well….
jencook1@hotmail.com
My husband joined the military. Yes, that's right. He spent a year and a half unemployed so we were living off of my $50k a year salary. We also moved in with my parents to save money on rent. We were getting desperate, so he joined the Air Force. We had over $20k in credit card debt and a large car payment. Now that he's joined the military and we've got two incomes, we've paid over $10k off of our credit card debt and are throwing every last penny we can to debt. I have $1,000 stashed in an emergency fund and I save a little bit each month for my Christmas Savings and our Travel Fund.
I don't hit up Starbucks as much and he eats for free on the base for his 3 main meals every day. Yes, we live apart right now, but it's a sacrifice we had to make if we wanted to get our finances in order. The economy here in Oregon is awful and has one of the highest unemployment rates in the US. And there was no money for us to be able to afford him to finish his Associates degree. So military it was and we are loving it! He has a guaranteed job and paycheck for the next 4 years, benefits, and they provide for me as well, which is awesome.
I have so much pride for our country and the men and women who serve in the military, who give up certain freedoms to do what they do for our nation. And I'm so incredibly proud of my husband. :)
I joined Mint.com and now look at it religiously. Watching my networth which is already negative, get smaller is exciting.
Also, I noticed one day by driving the interstate to work my round trip was 30 miles. Looked at google maps and saw a different way to go to work via the side roads and now my round trip is 19 miles around trip. It doesn't sound like much, but I can now go 3 weeks on a tank of gas compared to 2 weeks via the other route.
(10 days x 30 = 300 miles)
(15 days x 19 = 285 miles)
Bonus, I now drive less, relax at a slower speed before getting home to 2 little boys and the wife, and try to get even better fuel economy simply by driving a different way (coasting etc). Over the 6 week period I will save over 100 dollars at least.(2 less fill ups)
okcornjerker@yahoo.com
I recently got an iPhone (which was just a $20 upgrade from my former phone!) and have since shut off my home internet connection. Between the 3G on the phone and taking my laptop to libraries and cafes, I really don't need home internet. This saves me about $40/month. Plus my service was never that great (stupid Comcast) so I'm actually much happier with the new arraignment.
kelly.obp@gmail.com
It's not as sexy as these other comments but I bring my lunch to work everyday which saves on average $250-$300 per 6 week period. I'm not a fan of P2P lending i.e. Prosper/Kiva (or any kind of lending). I sure will take their money though. :)
conqueringpersonalfinance(at)gmail(dot)com
Although I mostly use extra income to pay down debt, I have opened a Roth which I contribute 100 a month toward and began using a credit card with double cash back which feeds into the Roth, by Easter I'll have saved an extra 850. Each lent I give up purchasing items for myself. I still buy things for my home and wife but no indulgences.
I don't go out for lunch at work. I go to the gym and afterwards have tuna or chicken. If I spent 5 bucks for lunch I'm guess I could save around the two hundo mark during Lint. I've actually been doing this for about 2 years. I'm saving and I also am shredded! Peace…
I have been cutting our weekly grocery/necessities budget by about 5 to 10 percent every month to see where our true sticking point is. That and the money I already put into savings will give us about $1500 by Easter.
My wife and I are saving money by shopping second hand for a lot of our things this year. This is especially helpeful when shopping for baby clothes/toys/etc for our first child!
I started my new second job right before the start of Lent! By Easter I will have earned about $800, and plan to slap it right onto one of my credit cards.
While this is more passive than active savings, I bought only 1 outfit for our incoming baby. She's got about 100 outfits (newborn to 12 months), but they're hand-me-downs from various relatives and friends. I kept all of them (even if I thought they were hideous) because baby clothes are @#$%ing expensive. I can't put an exact number on it, but it's probably going to save us about $300 in newborn and 0-3 month clothes, and closer to $1,000 over the course of the year (figuring $10 an outfit)
On a more active level, we just refinanced, saving us $230 a month. We're actually paying that right back into the mortgage so it will be paid off 10 years earlier, but we're saving $60,000 immediately over the course of the loan by lowering our interest rate and another $150,000 in interest over the course of the loan by paying it down faster.
We've been stocking up on foods we eat when the grocery has them Buy One, Get One. Not sure how much we will save on this by Easter, especially since sometimes we are spending more now to save on food somewhere down the road.
I've been trying to save money and stick to my newly set budget by purchasing gift cards for my categories. I have one for groceries, one for clothes, one for gas, etc. I can only use what is on the card,and once it is over, it is over. For Easter though, I am not allowing myself clothing purchases so all that budgeting money will be going into my E fund – hopefully $200 by Easter!
I called my cable company to ask for a lower rate conveniently at the same time that Comcast is running large promotions on their new cable service. They lowered my monthly payment by $20/month for an entire year. My wife and I are also maxing out or Roth IRA's early in the year to focus on debt repayment. With these two focuses, I will have saved $20 from cable, and put away $1000 more towards retirement.
George2384@gmail.com
I called my cable company to cancel and got my bill lowered by $20/month for an entire year. I also am trying to max out mine and my wife's Roth IRA's as early in the year as possible. I will have another $1000 in that account before easter.
George2384@gmail.com
I'm saving myself money by keeping busy constantly. I work full time. I also work part time and babysit on the side to keep busy. I'm saving on cable and internet costs cause I'm not about to pay for that stuff when I'm never home! I also have money directly taken out of my account and put into a savings so it's not in my checking, therefore won't be spent! Between all that I should have an extra $1500 or so in my savings before Easter!
We were spending way too much on take out food, so we've designated one night a week as take-out night. I've also got an automatic $100/month going into a high-interest savings account. That racks up fast! You know what else racks up fast? Change. I have a big bank at home that we fill with our spare change. We trade it all in for cash to spend on our vacation once a year. It's like a big sweepstakes win, and it's almost always over $100.
Thanks for keeping savings sexy!
I've done a bunch of new creative things for 2010 to cut my budget. First, I joined a gleaning co-op, which cuts my family's food budget by $250 a month.
Second, we have a phone/cable/internet package at home but we also have a small business. Go figure, but switching that to a business account saves us $99 without change in service (?)
Bartering piano lessons for on-call babysitting has enabled me to bill an additional $300-$500 a week in my small business. My kids go play at my best friends' house with her kids for an hour or two whenever I have an appointment during my normal "non working hours"
We also adjusted my husband's W-4 to withhold fewer taxes since we always get a refund and have tax credit carryforward for 2010. This brings home another $200 per week.
All told, we'll have saved $2600-$2800 by Easter. Of course, we're doing the Total Money Makeover, so this isn't going in a bank account–it's going towards paying off our very last credit card.
Jess
I gave up getting coffee outside my home so basically buying a prepared cup of coffee. I can only make it myself. I'm planning on taking the money i save and putting it in my parish rice bowl.
http://esperanza173.blogspot.com/
We only go out to the movies when we can get ahold of free Advance Screening passes (which is actually pretty frequent). Don't get to choose the movies you see in a theater, but hey, that's what netflix is for. And my wife and I just saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D and She's Out of My League this week for FREE! Not bad for a cheap date night!
I took on a part-time job in January, which has worked out really well. Not only am I learning a new trade and working for a cool organization, but I'm able to shovel the majority of that income into savings. By Easter, I will have saved $2,044.
kleisman@gmail.com
Since graduating college last May I worked the Dave Ramsey baby steps to get out of debt and have continued to live off of between 50% and 75% of my income. By living with room mates (even though I could technically "afford" my own place) I'm able to save a large portion of my income. This amounts to between $500 and $1000 per month. It takes discipline but in the long run pays off big time.
I call my credit card, car insurance, cable and internet companies every 6 months for lower rates! 9 times out of 10 they oblige and I save easily over $300 combined. In addition, I put away $240 a month to my 403b and another $400 buckaroos to an online savings account :)
I've cut back on Starbucks and started bringing my own lunch to work. If I'm in a rush now, I only let myself get coffee at Starbucks ($2 instead of the $4-5 for a latte or mocha!) and if I forget to bring my lunch I run to the grocery store instead of a local restaurant. I've also set up automated transfers to my CC's!
We started a budget, plain and simple. Once we saw the numbers and realized how much money was basically wasted we cut our spending way back. We are intent on digging ourselves out of the mess we made and never going back. The first thing we did was sold our $20,000 car with a hefty payment. Then we cut our grocery bill down to $200 a month for a family of four. We've even gone to such extremes as diapering our 4 month old in cloth diapers. By Easter we will have cut our debt by about $25,000, paid cash for an $8,000 car, and have our basement completely finished and furnished without adding any debt to our names.
Whitney
whitknie@hotmail.com
I gave up drinking anything but water for Lent, and the savings have been huge for eating out, grocery shopping and I wander over to the corner deli a lot less. Couple that with the weight loss and energy and this may continue post-lent!
I've also got stricter about having two no-spend weekends a month as well as rounding off my checking account balance into my savings whenever I log in to check my finances.
With these three items I'm on track to save about $400 I wouldn't have otherwise by Easter, mix that into other long term changes and we're looking at about $800 into savings a month, a year ago we where living paycheck to paycheck, so this is a huge deal.
For Lent, I gave up complaining while washing dishes (we don't have dishwasher). I find it really rewarding since I don't hear other complains as well. As for saving money, I just opened a free savings account with Ally and that's where my tax refund went. I only shop if it's really necessary, and I don't go shopping without a list, a coupon or a discount of some sort. Lastly, I keep our house organized and cozy so I don't feel like going out if I don't have to.
@ciawy
i've been trying to coupon it, but i've decided i need to just stay out of the store. i have plenty in the cupboards. so my goal now is to NOT use coupons and thus NOT spend money. we'll see how it goes.
plainoldsarahstories @ blogspot
I'm on tight budget, but I still save money in many small ways! Here are some examples from my experience:
–I turned off my heat about a week and a half ago to save on the electric bill. I'm now happily getting used to living at about 65-68 degrees around the house. (I'm in the South, so that helps–it's not too frigid outside.)
–I quit buying paper napkins and paper towels and instead stocked up on cute cloth napkins at the thrift store (at about 25 cents each!) It was a painless transition and is much less wasteful as well.
–I began cooking more, which it turns out I love, and became especially careful to freeze leftovers instead of letting them go to waste.
–I began feeding my beloved kitties a slightly cheaper yet still nutritious food.
–I cancelled Netflix and now get FREE DVDs from the library, as well as books and CDs. My library has almost every new release and I can manage it all through their website. It's wonderful.
–I culled much of my wardrobe, which leaves me less laundry to wash and thus less water and energy used. It's also easier to choose outfits now!
–I mainly shop at thrift stores and Goodwill for clothes. It's pretty easy to find quality stuff and great name brands.
–My car is 10 years old and paid for. I plan to keep it as long as I can.
–I don't have cable. I have an antenna/converter box and receive free programming over the air.
–I only pay $20 per month for high speed internet through AT&T.
–I plan on saving my tax return for Christmas. Last year I saved $500 for Christmas and it took so much stress out of the holidays!
I have saved about $3,000 as of now and hope to add $100 more by Easter. My savings recently came in handy when I had a big unexpected car repair. I was able to pay the $800 bill in cash!
Meredith
mk467@hotmail.com
I gave up drinking anything but water for Lent, and the savings have been huge for eating out, grocery shopping and I wander over to the corner deli a lot less. Couple that with the weight loss and energy and this may continue post-lent!
I've also got stricter about having two no-spend weekends a month as well as rounding off my checking account balance into my savings whenever I log in to check my finances.
With these three items I'm on track to save about $400 I wouldn't have otherwise by Easter, mix that into other long term changes and we're looking at about $800 into savings a month, a year ago we where living paycheck to paycheck, so this is a huge deal.
I am not eating out as much and not going out for drinks as much w/ friends. When I do, I opt to drink/eat less or do happy hour prices. Hope to have an extra $1,000 saved by Easter!!!
carrieonthecheap@gmail.com
I am not eating out as much and not going out for drinks as much w/ friends. When I do, I opt to drink/eat less or do happy hour prices. Hope to have an extra $1,000 saved by Easter!!!
carrieonthecheap@gmail.com
I am not eating out as much and not going out for drinks as much w/ friends. When I do, I opt to drink/eat less or do happy hour prices. Hope to have an extra $1,000 saved by Easter!!!
carrieonthecheap@gmail.com
I sold my car, my computer, got out of my expensive cell phone plan. My fiance has a car we use for now, and a computer we both can use. I got a super cheap phone ($24 bucks!) and a plan that works for me for only $24.99 a month. We save my entire check and we pay bills and extras out of his check. When he is out of money, we don't spend anymore. We are able to save about $1,500 a month this way so we can afford a nice down payment on a house when he is out of school.
Rylicious@gmail.com
I recently tried to pump my savings into overdrive to save for a downpayment on a home (the ol' home vs. school debt issue).
I've cut down (and dragged my gf along) by planning all our dinners (including eating out once a week as a date thing), and bringing lunch to work every day.
We're also shopping a lot of thrift stores for clothes. The gf is actually starting to think this is fun so she's getting into it (which is great).
We also started tagging along with this whole "Slow cooker Sunday" where we'll slow cook a meal that we can eat a few times throughout the week. It's easy, fast, and delicious.
I max out my 401k contributions and take advantage of my company match. I am in sales so I save ALL my commission – my rule is live off your salary, bank your bonus. Then I also expense work-related things, and when I get that money back, it goes straight to savings. Then I also put a portion of my paycheck in savings as well. I've saved at least almost 6k since the start of the year.
I have always been pretty frugal, however, since both my husband and I were laid off last year, we have been forced to save every way we can. We only shop for essentials such as food and personal hygiene items, and have started using coupons. We rarely eat out anymore, and when we don't go anywhere fancy. We tend to go to places like Panera bread and Chipotle. We don't run the dishwasher anymore and wash dishes by hand, and we only wash and dry clothes every other week. We prepay for services such as garbage pickup since we receive a heavy discount for paying upfront. Though we haven't been able to save very much since we are both unemployed, the measures we have taken to save money have allowed us to stay in our home.
Great free money opp. here! Love it! Well, my husband recently became a stay-at-home Daddy due to being laid off, so we are very tight on money right now. However, we've still managed to SAVE due to a change in spending habits and a lot of negotiating with our creditors. The way we save money is by coupons and rebates. I use them CONSTANTLY and when I save money, I put THAT into my savings little by little. For example, yesterday I saved $27.50 at BJs in coupons that I had clipped. I then went home and transfered $27.50 into our ING savings account. It really adds up! And, of course, we love ING b/c the money is a little more un-touchable and makes us less likely to want to pull from it! We also threw our tax money into our savings account instead of spending it this year! GO ME! :)
-Jen
jeneral8@msn.com
5 recent ones: 1) stopped home delivery of the Sunday NY Times, saving $32/month (and believe me, it was painful); 2) stopped "extended" cable TV, saving $38/month (switched to streaming Playon through the Xbox and watching content on the internet); 3) limiting the consumption of cold cereal to 3 days/week in favor of homemade muffins, scones etc. (savings unclear as yet, hoping it will be about $10/week), 4) let Newsweek go, that's an additional $20/year, and 5) went to Friday-Saturday-Sunday on the local paper, that's a savings of about $10/month.
Thanks Prosper & J! If I win the $200, I'll use $25 of it to buy you drinks in SF if we meet up!
I save money by "Going Broke To Win Big" every single day. My checking account is barebones so I know where all my money is going. All money is flushed away elsewhere instantly so I don't spend it.
Best, Sam
I just opened a 401k and hope to have $300 in it by easter plus the extra sexy free company match!
brandon.gibbs@ttu.edu
I set up a recurring transfer from my checking to my savings. Every other week (concurrent with pay day), $200 from my checking is directed to my savings account. I've already saved over $1,000 doing this!
I am using a combination of meal planning, fewer/larger grocery trips, coupons and store-brands, swagbucks, and mr rebates! Also am comparison shopping for insurance, banks, phones, etc. I don't give myself a set goal for saving (besides my already scheduled 15ish percent of my pay) because it tends to lead to purging once accomplished. Oops. So not sure how much I will save by Easter, maybe only an extra $75, but every little bit helps!
ab-83@hotmail.com
This is kind of weird, but I'm eating healthy and exercising every day of Lent. How is that saving me money? Well, I usually eat out A LOT. Now that I have to make time to exercise every day, I really don't have time to go out to eat. Also, I'm not allowed to go to the vending machines at work – instead, I eat veggies or fruit that I packed for myself. And despite what some people might argue, eating healthy is much cheaper than eating crap. Another bonus is that I have more energy to get things done at work, complete online surveys, work extra hours at my second job, etc, etc, etc. Hopefully this will all save me about $200. (I've already lost 3 lbs!)
I have nearly $10,000 saved. Simply by being debt free and having my savings automated through my employer. ~@tabitha2cute
I just bought my house last June, so I have no idea how much I'm saving… But when I bought my new furnace this fall, they gave me a free programmable thermostat. They had it pre-set to be 69 degrees, but I moved it down to 66 when I'm home, and 60 when I'm sleeping/away from home.
I usually bring my lunch to work every day (I didn't today! Grr!), and I'm working on ridding pop from my life.
Wow, what a comp.
The main thing I am doing to save money is Living In Egypt…. saves a ton.
Other things include learning to cook a wider choice of cuisine, only buying raw ingredients and only cutting my beard once a month!
I'll be honest this time of year isn't the most frugal as we have a guest over.
I will likely save around $250 by Easter towards my new Emergency fund.
Thanks,
Forest.
forest.parks@gmail.com
http://frugalzeitgeist.com
We are starting to manually deposit 10% of hubby's salary into our E-fund. I have never been a big % budgeter and I am starting to look at the big picture in terms of percentages. It is pretty interesting. From now until Easter we should be able to add $300 to our E-fund.
Thanks!
Trina
This is something that will be saving me money in the future…we finally got our e-fund up to where we want it and both of our cars paid off so now we are throwing a lot of extra money towards our mortgage and my student loans. I hate paying interest!
shaunalewallen at yahoo dot com
I follow many of the suggestions above, such as shopping at discount grocery stores (Winco), cutting extras like cable and subscriptions, keeping the heat turned off (difficult but doable!) and checking in every 6 months with Geico for lower rates on insurance for starters.
Another thing I do to save money is to park a small amount each and every week into different ING saving accounts. For example, I'll put $25 each week into my 'vacation' account, another $25 into 'additional retirement', etc.
My rationale behind doing this is in telling myself that, if I don't save that little extra, I'll blow THAT $25 on eating out, THAT $25 on going to the movies, THAT $25 on shoes, etc etc. which is, in fact, what would happen!! I take the money right off the top of the weekly paycheck in addition to automatic paycheck deductions that go right into (a) Vanguard Roth IRA and (b) 401(k). By Easter, I'll guess I'll have saved an additional $500 in these little side accounts which aren't actually that little anymore :)
Honestly, the best way I save money is keeping peanut butter, jelly, and bread at my desk at work. That way, I can make as little or as much as I need for lunch, and it's always there. I never forget lunch, and I have plenty of time to see before I get low enough to run out.
pepethewepe at gmail.com
We save money by automatically maxing out 401k & get a match from employer. We also automatically transfer money from c/k account to savings accounts once a month.
Other than what's already set in our annual budget, we give ourselves a set amount to spend on food, supplies, and others each week. If we don't go over that amount, than we're staying on target.
Instead of paying $200 a QUARTER for a parking pass on campus, I'm taking the bus. The bus pass costs $22.50. So every quarter I save at least $178 plus gas … probably like $300 by Easter!
Right now I am taking every child support check and throwing it into a savings account. That way, I'll be able to pay for things in full like summer camp for all three kids! By Easter I should have $2500 saved, and NO, I don't get a lot of support for three kids but I've learned to budget like crazy and make it do what it do, wink!
-Diamond
Diamondcharlena@hotmail.com
I take full advantage of signup bonuses, such as when I received $121 dollars for free just by signing up with ING. I also just signed up with a peer to peer lending group last week and got $25 dollars to start. I have heard good things there so I'm looking forward to earning close to 9% in interest. I also cancelled my huge cell phone plan and joined a "family plan" so now I'm paying less than half of what I was paying before.
Last but not least, I always monitor my transactions on Mint so I know how much money im saving each month.
kdneo28 at hotmail.com
I'm picking up all the loose change I find on campus. Not glamorous or quick, but it adds up to a couple dollars per week! Hopefully I'll hit the $10 by Easter. Not too bad for finding pennies while walking to class ;)
pennycouture (at) gmail
I have automatic deposit set up for my regular savings and then add any additional money from rebates, babysitting, cash back, reimbursement to savings as well. I also use coupons, take public transportation, and pay my car insurance up front to save some money on required expenses.
I have almost $10K saved and will add about $500-$600 by Easter.
karilou85 at gmail dot com
i've started doing the majority of my grocery shopping at a discount store.
lory.waldron (at) gmail
so i left out the part about how much i will have saved at easter….just from shopping at a discount grocery store…i think i'll have an additional $50-$75 saved!
lory.waldron (at) gmail
Although I always put money away each month into my 401k and regular savings, recently I've put into action a couple new ways to save even MORE.
1. I downgraded my Comcast internet service from regular to economy. The difference in performance was so small that I usually forget I'm on a "slower" connection. That saves $20/mo.
2. My boyfriend and I are putting a big focus on saving at the grocery store. We're eating vegetarian occasionally, planning meals based on what's sale, shopping at Aldi more often, and using coupons whenever possible. We're shooting for a savings of $100/mo this month versus what we spent in February.
Add those up to get an extra $120 by Easter!
jenna dot mehal at gmail
Forgot to put my e-mail in my post (the name used was Kevin, talking about only drinking water, rounding accounts etc.)
ominouskevin at gmail dot com
I've been doing a ton of savings in different areas and watching it all add up.
I changed my landline phone company and am now paying $16 a month for our landline (no voice mail, no caller ID, no call waiting, just local calls allowed from the phone). It is a difference of almost $30 a month!
I also have become a fan of coupons. Right now, it is frozen food month at our local grocery store and they are running special of buy 10 items, get $10 back. The cheapest frozen food items are $1.25 ea., so for every $12.50 I spend on breakfast food (10 boxes of sausage & pancakes), I am getting $10 for my next shopping trip. 25c for breakfast can't be beat and then I can spend the extra $10 on fresh fruit/veggies and other stuff that almost never get coupons. I also shop the loss leaders on grocery circulars and plan meals around what is on sale which can save a ton.
At the end of every week, I deposit all my change, $1 and $5 bills into my savings acct. I am on the envelope system, so if I have extra in a week's envelope – that gets swept into savings as soon as the week ends.
But probably the biggest change for me has been planning how much money per month I want to save and putting that money away before paying everything else. I went cash only to make sure that I have saved what i think I save every month and it is quickly adding up.
By the end of Lent, I should have saved ~ $1500 in savings on utilities, groceries and monthly savings goals. And that will help fund our 10 year anniversary trip even faster!
lilibeester at gmail dot com
I just ditched a car payment! So that'll be either $411 or $822. (Not sure if I'd have had one or two payments in the time frame. :-)
Give me money or give me death. I'm saving by one simple principle. Spending less than I make. I'm also trying to enter contests and win money so I can save more. Don't you want to help me with that!? DONT YOU!
I pay myself first and am always looking for ways to save whether it's through coupons, combining cell phone plans, or sacrificing a night out with friends! I'm also paying down my credit card so I can save more money. I should have around $500 saved by the time Easter rolls around. It doesn't seem like much but it's a start. :o)
analyzethat25.blogspot.com
Making my own cleaning materials that do all in one, not buying as many clothes or if I do on sale, not buying shoes until they are worn out, not eating out at super pricy restaurants! Prolly will save 200 or so this month! My expenses sometimes go all for food since I can't help but like the good stuff!
Din6715@gmail.com
I plan on saving money by keeping up with the family budget!! I have an automatic deposit set up for $250 to go to our ING efund, and another $250 to go to the ING travel fund. No eating out except for my Birthday & our Anniversary! lol. At the end of the month, whatever is left in the account is going to be split between the two ING accounts. So I should have an additional $700 or $740ish saved by Easter.
lencibryant@yahoo.com
I round up all my checking account withdrawals (a $23.45 withdrawal is posted as $24.00). Then at the end of the month figure out the difference and transfer that into my ING "sexy money" account. It's about $25-30 a month and since starting this last year I have over $225 in this account. It's painless and really fun thinking about what I'm going to spend this sexy money on!
we generally by store brands, shop at farmers markets for groceries and cook more than eating out. I'd imagine we save a couple hundred dollars by Easter.
I make my own lunch at work rather than going out to buy lunch with the rest of the crew! :)
I am saving money but putting myself on a credit card challenge keeping my balance (which is paid in full monthly) below a certain limit.. it worked last month! So in 40 days… I hope to have saved another $2500!
3monthsfoward (at) gmail (dot) com
Every Monday morning I grocery shop and fill the fridge at work with breakfast and lunch items. This way I stay within my budget and don't feel tempted to get fast food.
Thanks for the chance to win :)
bryansgirl_1979 @ hotmail dot com
I started a contest with a friend to see who could find the most change on the street.
I have learned so many things from this site and others and I'm so proud of the progress, but I still have more to save! One of the main things that has helped my family is to open an ING account and create 4 different accounts for separate things. Right now I have 1) Christmas 2010, 2)Paying our Taxes 2010, 3)Paying back a family member, and 4)our Fun MOney account for a Disney vacation. I don't miss the money when it is taken out and I have to think twice about wanting to take money out to purchase an unnessary item.
We eat at home every meal except one in the week (thats our entertainment cost – our night out for that dinner). We find that it is healthier too.. We only shop for what we need – with a list and plan all meals.
We shop for bulk items but ONLY buy them if we use them and need them – always buy extra of the bulk items when on sale.
:-)
I opened one Suze Orman's Save Yourself accounts and come Easter I should have $1100 saved so far, almost a year's worth. Then I'll get $100 for putting in $1200 over 12 months!
I pledged to not eat out this year to save money. I am single so this is relatively easy for me. I am quite frugal to begin with but I had gotten into the habit of saying yes to nearly all requests to eat out with friends. It adds up and I got tired of it. So I decided to save my money and my health this year by not eating out. I foresaw this as not quite 100% realistic so I have allowed myself $120 in cash to use at my discretion this year when I choose to eat out.
I'm buying less junk, trying to stay out of the stores and will be canceling a second land line in my house. I hope in a month to have saved a couple hundred or more, so I can put that to my travel fund :-)
I took over the family grocery shopping, because my husband doesn't believe in a budget for food. To his credit, he doesn't buy processed food, but still! I also stopped keeping $10 in cash in my wallet – I spend it much faster, partly due to the way I track finances. And finally I began testing websites for money – the extra $40/mo goes toward student loans!
Lent is…6 weeks away, so I save $10*6 cash + $10*6 websites + ~$100 groceries = 220!
I'm buying less junk, trying to limit my shopping trips and I want to cancel a second landline in my home. Hopefully by Easter (just a month away!) I'll have saved around $200… which I'll send to my travel fund!
Cool contest, J Sexy ;-)
Last month, we gave up cable to save money. We're also saving money on parking tickets by finally getting off our lazy butts and getting parking permits for the cars! Also, eating out WAY less. But I love to cook so that's easy.
In January we cut my daughter's preschool back from 3x per week to 2x per week saving us $13/week. Starting Monday, we have no more cable saving us $50/month. Just these things will add up to over $200 by Easter, in addition to the money we have been saving since putting ourselves on a strict budget last year. We should have 6 months saved up by early next year if we can keep on track!
mrsaharper at hotmail dot com
We save money by spending only what we have to spend either to comply with demand or to fulfill our needs/wants. For example, California sales tax is a demand – I avoid paying it by purchasing higher priced items online. We save money by using PagePlus Cellular for our primary cell phones, and shop at CVS using their coupons only on properly priced sale items. It's hard to say how much we'll save by any particular time, but between now and Easter I would estimate that we'll save $800. Another way we save that makes estimating savings difficult is by purchasing multiple sale items at one time. I can't predict when sales will occur, but the savings come later when I am not purchasing the items at all.
You can find me via twitter – syllana
I have been using coupons and have reduced my grocery budget by $200 per month! I am now trying to to reduce it by another $100 by tracking store sale cycles.
I am currently saving money by not using the vending machines at work. I used to spend an average of $2 a day. So by Easter, I will have saved around 50 bucks and hopefully saved myself from gaining a few pounds as well.
my email address is withinpeace at gmail dot com
I keep all of my receipts and write them in a book by hand. In addition, I utilize Mint to help assist with tracking my spending and receipts.
I compare my electric bills and try to do better every month (sometimes not so successful).
I use coupons, utilize the library, utilize those free codes for redbox and blockbuster express. I borrow quite a bit as well. I buy used when I want to splurge a little bit.
I contribute to my 403B and other savings before anything so I never really miss the money in the first place. I'm content and I honestly don't even know where to begin when folks ask me how I save money. I just do and try to be very conscientious about it.
It's not easy being cheesy.
I have been also using coupons.. We really have to save money
I will be giving up Subway footlongs. Currently, I probably eat there 4-5 times a week so roughly $5 x 4.5 times/week = $22.50. I can make sandwiches for half that the same number of times. So I will be saving a rough estimate of $11.25/week or $1.61/day for 40 days.
*Fingers crossed for $200 Baby*
David
LifeExcursion
I only buy stuff at iTunes, Starbucks, and Coffee Bean if I have a gift card (and one that I didn't pay for!!)
svens100 (at) chapman.edu
Here are a few things I am doing:
1) Inter-library loan system (local library is very small)
2) Monitor energy usage closely (I read the meters!)
3) Decreased use of the clothes dryer
4) Changed cell phone and internet providers (saved $50 monthly)
Also, saving money from occasional gigs (I play clarinet) to a total of $850 in the past month.
Total hoped for by Easter: $1200 +
Donna Korzun
donnakorzun@yahoo.com
We have cut back to basic cable ($30/month saved) and cut down our phone plan minutes ($20/month saved). We should have saved about $100 by Easter.
Kate Jay
Twitter: @katehjay
I'm cutting back on eating out. Hopefully I'll have $200 saved by Easter (that could be $400 if I win this drawing ;))
twitter: meg1620
i have cut out unnecessary expenses, dry cleaning when I can do my husbands shirts for work at home, also researching blogs about couponing and saving money so that it's also top of mind. So far I've saved about $300/month just doing these two things.
So, I am doing quite of few things to save money.
1. Using my taxes to pay of a balance transfer that I have.
2. Changing my W-2 to take out less for next year taxes so that I am not giving the IRS too much of my money
3. Today i just opened up my 1st credit union. Have checking and saving but never had a credit union account
4. Just stared a new job and starting 3/16 I will be able to open a 401K where company matches 5%.
So these are the things I am dong to save money
kayhasitall@aol.com
1. started bringing lunch to work every day (I work in downtown DC, so this can be up to $10/day in savings)
2. Stopped hitting up starbucks/dunkin' on the way to work. instead, i got an old coffee pot to keep at work. Now I go to dunkin and buy ground coffee to brew at work(only $12.99 for 2 lbs!), and I let other people drink it too and they chip in money. Now I am fully caffeinated, saving tons of money, and more social since i stand and drink coffee with coworkers every morning.
3. Cut down on eating out, obviously. I was doing it way too much. This might save, like, $250/month.
4. Pre-game more before going out with friends. I'd rather have a bunch of $.75 beers from my fridge before going out and paying $7.50/beer. savings must be in the billions of dollars per month.
5. cook at home more. it sort of goes with #3 but bears repeating. I live alone, so i can cook once and eat left overs for a few nights.
6. maybe this is overboard, but i bought a roast instead of buying roast beef cold cuts. I marinated the roast in olive oil and soy sauce for an hour or so with some chopped garlic, then roasted it in the oven for about an hour until 130 degrees in the center. I've been slicing it every day for roast beef sandwiches. think about it… 4 lbs. of meat of like $12 + a little effort, versus 8.99/lb at the deli counter.
7. Since I've had USAA insurance for years I didn't think there was any point to trying to switch since I was already getting the best deal in virginia, right? wrong. I switched to geico and saved 33%. insert talking gecko joke here.
8. stopped buying super fancy running shoes. i run races and marathons so i figured i needed a lot of foot padding. it turns out, according to a new(ish) book, that the best runners run barefoot with NO padding. that was a little extreme, so i just shifted to a cheaper pair of off season shoes. should save me about $60/pair of shoes.
9. also, I signed up for fewer races so I am saving on entry fees. running should be free, anyway.
10. to make sure I stick to these goals I borrowed from J Money's playbook and I upped my 401k contribution to reduce the income i am budgeting for. savings are about $400 month and will grow tax free for like 45 years since I'm only 23. Also, it's nice to see my net work tick upwards just a little bit extra since taxes aren't withheld on that money.
11. even though I don't have balances on them, I cut up my credit cards. the credit lines are open so it doesn't affect my credit score. and i'm not tempted to go wild on borrowed money since I reduced my income via the 401k election. the only card i have intact is my amex charge card. yes, i pay a $95 annual fee but there is an important caveat… my apartment building lets me put my $1256/month rent on Amex, which equates to 15072 membership rewards points, or about $150 in rewards value per year.
i am apparently also saving money on spell checking
My partner says that Dave Ramsey has ruined his life! I squeeze every penny until it screams. No more going out to lunch, no more XM radio, no more Showtime/HBO, no more shopping without coupons! Most of the savings is going to pay off credit card debt, but I also set up an automatic savings plan with ING Direct. I will have my $1,000 emergency fund as of tomorrows paycheck.
But my best moment was in January right after I started my budget. I didn't have the money to pay off a deferred interest purchase of a washer and dryer. I was going to get hit with over $700 of interest. I called the credit company (GEMoney) and asked for an extension. They gave me 14 extra days which gave me time to raise the money and avoid the big interest payment. It only took 5 min and I saved a ton.
I'm on a no eating out plan for this month to save money. Hopefully I can fully commited to it. So far I haven't eat out yet. I pack my lunch and eat at home for dinner.
We currently use coupons for everything and ONLY shop the sales. Just this year Jan & Feb we have saved 825.94! This is just 2 months, so by easter I should save about 400.00! We budget EVERYTHING! We use Dave Ramseys budget tool from his website and we each get a fluff fund to spend on something each of us wants. Our goal is to bring our spending to $30 a week for groceries, toiletries, home items. We are getting very close!
We cut back on expenses like dry cleaning, eating out, and watch our daily spending on little stuff very closely. I have also recently jumped into couponing and watched my grocery budget more closely. I have managed to save about $250/month doing this!
lecta8@yahoo.com
Angela
I am trying to be diligent about eating lunch at home or packing lunch to take with us when we leave the house. I am an at home, homeschool mom, so usually we are at home. But, we live about 30 minutes from the city where we do most of the things we do. So, usually twice a week we are out of the house running errands, taking extra classes with other homeschool families, and haning out with friends. These days out are usually all day, lunch and dinner. So, if I can not buy lunch out that helps. At about $12 for the three of us to eat, twice a week for 4 weeks, we should save $96.
Sherry
cvick@coastalnet.com
I ask myself: do I need it or want it? Most of the time I can walk away. And if I end up getting whatever it is, at least I don't feel guilty about it. I guess I would have saved hundreds ($300-1200) because I was looking at laptops and imac's… =D
[lyndagp at gmail dot com]
I have my pay check direct deposited into three different accounts. "Household Bills" "The Monica Fund" and "Savings". Eventually I'll raid the "Savings" to finance my trip to Costa Rica, but for now, it's sitting pretty :-)
twitter @monicarolevans
How am I saving money? Coupons, looking for deals when shopping, and no splurge shopping for us! Plus in honesty we do a lot of free sites to get deals for free stuff. Every little helps!
@eko0724
willingamy@gmail.com
I'm generally a deal-monger which saves me a fair amount of money. Lots of coupon clipping and sales at grocery stores especially have helped. Also cash-back credit cards, lurking on Fatwallet and Slickdeals. I'm still happily adjusting to a lower cost of living after living in NYC, so it doesn't take much to save here.
I'm cleaning out the cabinets. Trying to use groceries I've already bought before buying more.
Fiance & I are saving by moving closer to work — and carpooling when we can (which unfortunately is not often). For essentially the same price of house, we've cut the commute from 35 miles to 10 miles each way. Saving 50 miles a day, 5 days a week each for 2 vehicles (his being a gas-guzzling truck)… We figured it's saving each car about 2 tanks of gas per month. That'll translate to $60-$65 savings/month on my car & over $100/month for his. Every little bit helps! :)
juztice4all @ gmail . com
I'm saving money by not going out to eat as much this month. We love trying new restaurants, but it gets expensive. This month I planned lunches and dinners for both me and my boyfriend so we can avoid spending $10 (each) on lunch and another $30-40 (combined) on dinner. Personally I'm hoping this will save me at least $200.
@luciagia
luciagiaa [at] gmail.com
p.s. I live in SF, so if you're in town this weekend, give me a shout!
Saving money by bringing lunch to work, not buying coffee out, and using the gym in my apt building! Will save ~200 between now and easter!
twitter: @minneswiss
Sweet giveaway! I gave up alcohol for Lent. I figure I drank about $15 per week on average, so the 7 weeks (or so) of Lent should be around $105 saved….and a smaller beer belly.
My income is very low right now, but I set up automatic deposits to my ING account. It's not a lot, but is adding up! I love seeing the money there and knowing I have a bit of cushion if there is an emergency.
kvnnvk at gmail.com
Currently I am saving money in the following ways:
– I recently plugged everything in my apartment into power strips. These strips then go into only those electric outlets that can be controlled by a wall switch. This allows for a simple flick of a switch to turn off all electronics completely (no more standby power usage). This has led to average savings on my electric bill of $30/month.
-The other major way I am saving money is by planning my grocery list and researching prices. By planning my grocery list ahead of time, I no longer come out of the grocery store with way too much food. This makes sure nothing goes to waste as well. By researching prices, I have come to the conclusion that Wal-mart is the cheapest place for me to buy groceries. Nearly every item I buy there is cheaper than other grocery stores like Kroger and Food Lion. While the savings are little on each item, they definitely add up to big money savings.
Overall, I have been saving about $60 per month. SO by Easter, I will have saved about $240!
-MK
culibine (at) vt (dot) edu
Currently I am saving money in the following ways:
– I recently plugged everything in my apartment into power strips. These strips then go into only those electric outlets that can be controlled by a wall switch. This allows for a simple flick of a switch to turn off all electronics completely (no more standby power usage). This has led to average savings on my electric bill of $30/month.
-The other major way I am saving money is by planning my grocery list and researching prices. By planning my grocery list ahead of time, I no longer come out of the grocery store with way too much food. This makes sure nothing goes to waste as well. By researching prices, I have come to the conclusion that Wal-mart is the cheapest place for me to buy groceries. Nearly every item I buy there is cheaper than other grocery stores like Kroger and Food Lion. While the savings are little on each item, they definitely add up to big money savings.
Overall, I'm saving about $60 a month. So by Easter, I will have saved about $240.
-MK
culibine (at) vt (dot) edu
I am saving my money in a Discover Bank account earning 1.6%. :)
My wife and I save money by doing all of our automotive maintenance. I know a lot of people don't have the knowledge or the time to save money on this, but I enjoy doing it, so it is a win-win. Oh and we are careful about lifestyle inflation by asking, is this a need or a want.
Heres some things I've done to save money:
*I've stopped going to the movie theatre
*I get my hair cut every 6 weeks instead of 4.
*I eat out a lot less often
*Im trying generic or store brands for more products
31337h4ck3r [at] gmail [dot] com
P.S. I think I would have saved $200-$300 by Easter.
31337h4ck3r [at] gmail [dot] com
Things we're doing to save money:
*Making a shopping list using the grocery sales papers and only allowing 1 non-list item each to be added to the basket.
*Refusing to look at catelogs – LLBean, Lands End, etc… Out of sight, out of mind.
*Having a glass or two of wine at the bar on the weekend, then everything else has to be consumed at home.
*Coupons!!!!!!!!
*Get a set amount of cash out of the bank on payday and spend only that. It's REALLY REAL money that way.
*Read personal finance and frugality blogs to get new ideas and stay motivated.
*Enter contests to win cool prizes ;)
cherylawh at gmail dot com
I've been having money directly deducted from my paycheck and deposited into my savings account. Right now it's just a small amount, but by Easter I should have at least $500 from doing that, and I'll probably be contributing more in addition. My birthday falls on Easter this year, so any savings is good as long as I don't go blow it on birthday festivities!
jennifertoth44 at gmail dot com
What I'm doing to save money: cut back on the snacks and convenience food I buy, which should save about $100 a month. I'm also cutting back on my coffees, and the amount of take out we have, which should save about $30 a week.
stas351@hotmail.com
I keep getting an error message, so I hope this doesn't post several times!
Anyway, I've been having money deducting directly from my paycheck and put into savings. Even if I don't contribute more on top of that, I should have saved at least $450 by Easter by doing that. My birthday falls on Easter this year, so it'll be a test to not blow my savings on birthday festivities!
jennifertoth44 at gmail dot com
I have started couponing in a big way. Yesterday, I saved $72 on groceries and put that 72 that I saved into the savings account. If I can continue to save $50 per shopping trip (which is my goal) I will have 200 saved by Easter by shopping once a week.
Plus, to not spend money, I am just not going to the places where I like to spend ( Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Kohls).
What I'm doing to save money:
*make a shopping list and stick to it
*bring my lunch to work every day
*pay extra on loans
We should save about $60 a week with these things.
kitty.incarnate at gmail dot com
So far we have $0.00 in our savings account. Maybe by Easter I will receive the $200 for this winning post.
Good luck to all!
Happy Friday :)
caitlin_melody@yahoo dot com
My husband and I live on a 70 acre hobby farm in northern Minnesota. The growing season is short and harsh, but we have expanded our gardens and last year I froze and canned all of our vegetables for the year. Two sturdy, long haired cows are ready to have calves this spring, which is the start of our beef herd. They are Christina Anguslaira and Brittany Steers. Justin Timbersteak is already in the freezer. Free range chickens fed with left over scraps from the kitchen provide us with fresh eggs. I cannot say as yet if we are spending more on our food through the farm, but it keeps us more occupied so we do not go out for entertainment nearly as much. We coupon much more, watch our trips to town, eat in meals with less processed foods and my husband has quit smoking! In other words, living the good life and saving money!
gksedgeman@msn.com
I have been spending more than I'd like lately, and it's time to recommit. I'm getting it in check. I'm starting with less expensive plans for this weekend, and I'm spending some time reevaluating the things I've bought shopping over the past few days – and I'm not even going window shopping until I'm out of this spending mood!
Email is this AIM username at aol.com
I do coupon searching, meal plan and create a list just to have a full week's worth of meals to prepare. Then we treat ourselves to a dinner out together every other weekend, saving us approximately $70 a month. By Easter the savings for this year should be $210.
tami_girl@hotmail.com
Thank you for the giveaway opportunity!
Income tax refund checks are going directly into the savings account. My federal refund is pretty sizable (for me) this year because I was laid off mid-year and wound up having 0 federal income tax liability for 2009. Total: $1636, which will put our savings acct balance at $1697.42
edwardra3 @ gmail.com
I'm saving by using coupons when ever I can. I probably save about $100 a month at least with coupons. So by easter… that would be about $100-$150 dollars saved.
I'm also saving by staying out of Walmart. That alone will probably save me hundreds!
emilylyn @ yahoo
I've been packing my lunches instead of buying them in a cafe. I save at least $5 per weekday (probably more), so that means by Easter I'll have saved a cool hundred bucks.
another thing i've been doing to save money (besides eating still good thrown out food which i mentioned in the email i sent) is avoiding eating out for lunch for as many days as i can, i've scaled it down to only once or twice a week!
http://overcomingqlc.blogspot.com
overcomingqlc@gmail.com
To save money I use coupons, cook and eat at home, pack my lunch every day, I've also been working on doing a pantry and freezer clean out…where i use what I have before i buy more…so I would say that in the month we have until Easter I will save about $150.
mtw816 at gmail dot com
I'm finding little ways here and there to save money… I cancelled my internet serve at home. This has was not only a money suck but also a time suck. I'm finding new and more productive ways to spend my time! I've also sold some books and am looking into selling some unused furniture.
I save money using ING Directs automatic savings plan. My wife and I sat down together to map out our savings goals, created separate accounts for each goal, then set up the month auto-draft accordingly.
It is also worth mentioning that we save 25% of our monthly cash flow and use the other 75% for debt repayment.
We save automatically by channeling 25% of our available monthly cash flow into each separate ING Direct savings account using their automatic savings plan. The other 75% is put toward debt repayment. To formulate the different accounts my wife and I sat down and mapped out our savings goals… works GREAT!
No more eating out. Finally putting 6 years of being stuck in the resturant industry to good use.
jake.alleman(at)gmail.com
I'm trying to cook at home rather than grabbing takeout or going to restaurants. I'm also using coupons more than ever. Recently reduced my cable TV package to save money each month as well.
prolvaag@aol.com
I'm in college, so it's not like I spend a lot already, but I'm saving up for a 7 week missions trip to Hawaii this summer, so I've been going out less and being more of a hermit in my room.
dearsarahlam@gmail.com
I cook and pack all of my meals, using the bulk/freeze method. I've cut all entertainment expenses except for netflix single disk, and have frozen all other non-essential spending until I pay off my medical debt. For now, I watch movies at home with friends, have people over for games and coffee, or knit/read/exercise for entertainment. I also refinanced my car loan for a full 2.75% lower, and am looking at consolidating my medical debt.
I posted this yesterday and forgot to put in my email address! sorry!
jobwbr at hotmail dot com
I have learned so many things from this site and others and I'm so proud of the progress, but I still have more to save! One of the main things that has helped my family is to open an ING account and create 4 different accounts for separate things. Right now I have 1) Christmas 2010, 2)Paying our Taxes 2010, 3)Paying back a family member, and 4)our Fun MOney account for a Disney vacation. I don't miss the money when it is taken out and I have to think twice about wanting to take money out to purchase an unnessary item.
Whoops! Forgot to say, I'm going to have $2500k saved by Easter. I'm moving cross-country for a new job and want to make sure it's all taken care of.
I have $10 taken out of my checking account each week.. it goes directly to my ING savings account. I started in January and Already have over $100!! I love saving! I've also stopped using my debit card for my checking account.. mondo savings!! woot woot! Thanks for everything!
gel907@gmail.com
Working extra hard this tax season (I'm an accountant), shopping on Craigslist (New babies are expensive), and setting goals for our online savings accounts.
Oops, emailed it to you instead of posting here!
These days to save money I've started doing pot-dinners. One person in our group (about 6 in total) makes dinner for the other 5 each night. This rotates each day and so in the end we only need to make one big dinner a week! As I'm in University right now and on a tight budget, this works really well. "Bulk cooking" in a sense almost halves the food cost, not to mention the cooking and washing time saved 5 days a week!
– chromis.elda@gmail.com =)
Hi J! I'm saving money two ways – I started doing my own hair instead of going to the salon every other week, which saves me about $80/month. I have also just opened up an IRA and am saving $50/month. It's not a lot, but it's more than I was saving before and more money for me to send to my creditors! Yucky!
Pick me! Pick me! =)
bloominglater@gmail.com
http://helpyourselfblog.com
I'm saving money by:
1.) Having an automatic savings contribution made the day I receive my direct deposit paycheck.
2.) Cutting back on entertainment expenses (ie. allocating myself an allowance, canceling Netflix, and seeking free or inexpensive activities).
3.) Monitoring my budget.
4.) Networking like crazy – leading to a lot of important contacts for a not-so distant job search and leading to a lot of free meals.
5.) Going on a clothes shopping diet.
Oops, I forgot to mention how much I'll have saved up by Easter. If we are only counting the time during Lent (and not my previous efforts) I should have about $500 saved.
Keeping 10% of my check in savings – should get us over $100 by Easter
Switching to a checking account that offer 5% interest. I haven't done the math to see how much that will get us by Easter – probably not a whole lot.
I save automatically, by upping my 401k percentage 2% each year, (which includes my bonus and overtime pay), direct depositing $100 per paycheck into my T. Rowe Price Roth IRA, and direct depositing 25% of my paycheck into my high-interest savings account. This way, the money that shows up in my checking account is a combo of bill money and guilt-free spending. I feel that I am in complete control of my finances using this method. :)
….and by the way, I am 23 years old!
rsmorale@syr.edu
I cancelled my Blockbuster account. I cancelled long distance on our phone. My wife is an avid couponer. We also send $50 a month to ING account.
I'm tracking all my spending on my blog publicly! That will make a difference. :)
I just cut back on a family cell phone plan, and am poking and prodding the budget for other cutbacks. That and fully intend to pick up a real W-2 job. :)
I forgot to put my contact info. I use this one for work – dojmarketwatch@gmail.com
J., when is Easter this year?!? LOL. Depends on what things I buy on how much I'll have saved… Right now, my major savings goals are in place (Emergency fund & moving fund) so I'm just working on a few fun things for myself before my income goes bye-bye & I take a crack at freelancing. (If I fail, it doesn't hurt me!)
Out of the five things I set my sights on as the big things I want to get, I've got one fully crossed off, one I'm going to be crossing off here soon and enough money to cover a third. :)
Contact: blog or @foxytuner and I wanna hear from you, J., for reals. ;)
Automatic contributions baby… you don't miss it if you never have it! I hope to save $2,000 by Easter!
We canceled our tv service- and we don't even miss it! By Easter, we'll have saved almost $400 just from this action!
We coupon like crazy and also just cancelled our landline and scaled back our internet service. We are paying half as much for internet and there hasn't been a noticeable difference in the speed.The internet company told me if I scaled back to the "cheap" package, it would be as slow as having dial-up but apparently that was just a scare tactic becuz there's been no difference!
mkamye @ yahoo dot com
Since most of us in the family have cell phones with free Verizon to Verizon calling, I had our family landline reduced to just basic service..no caller i.d., no long distance, no call-waiting. The guy at the phone company called it "phone service like your grandmother used to have". I managed to save almost $30 a month that way and none of us miss those extra features.
We also locked in the thermostat at 66 degrees. No more up and down with the thermostat and my husband cleans the furnace each week to help efficiency. While we've only been doing this for a month now, our current gas bill is almost $55 less than last month's and this month is colder.
I'm guesstimating we'll save almost $300 by Easter doing just the two things above.
we're cooking every meal at home these days, and hardest of all, i'm down to one medium latte per day instead of two.
I've gone coupon crazy! I'm clipping coupons from the Sunday edition and matching them up to weekly sales. I've started searching for coupons to everything. Before I go to the store I Google for coupons. I recently found a bunch to stores like Michael's and Jo Ann Fabrics and used them when buying birthday gifts for friends and family.
I'm paying off debt so am not saving cash per se but following my budget to free up as much as possible for the debt snowball.
Ways I do this is use coupons, menu planning based on grocery sales, and mostly by following the budget.
Eating at home, stretching recipes for more than one meal and using coupons for everything possible.
@atweetmom
I (and my fiancee) are saving money by eating in more often, buying more food in bulk, and going on less expensive dates (when we do make it out on a date…). Hopefully, it's enough to make a difference, and I'm hoping to have built up an extra $500 by the time Easter rolls around. Either that, or it's time to mug the Easter Bunny…
I can be reached on Twitter @amateurfinance or via email at theamateurfinancier [at] gmail [dot] com. Great giveaway idea, by the way.
I'm renting out our second bedroom which should save me about $2000 on my rent before Easter. I'm also limiting myself to buying no new yarn for crafts until I've used what I have. Not sure how much I'll save on that but I'll be spending $0!
cmfpublications@yahoo.com
I visit my local library,which is within walking distance of my house,and I clip coupons for my bi-monthly grocery expenses and Ive signed up with coupon websites,where I print variuos coupons and my last visit to the local Grocery Store I saved $200 on a $315 purchase which will now last me 4 the whole month,minus the basic-milk-bread, thats all I need to buy now milk,bread maybe.With the money I saved in the past couple months Ive started a savings account,and my family doesnt even know about it."Thats the best part, Ive kept as a Emergency-Fund and now it totals $650 dollars.Thats the way to save,just never tell your family that theirs a special pot of gold that your saving that could 1 Day Save your Butt if necessary!
We are paying down are cards, clip coupons, look for extra savings with free shipping online of course with coupons on top of the clearance savings. As far as what I will have by Easter, I am hoping for some, but not sure on the amount and not comfortable talking amounts online in public forum areas, just me sorry. But we are trying to save even while being unemployed. not easy lol but doing it slowly. All will be good again! I know it will. jenni104 at yahoo dotcom
We are paying down are cards, clip coupons, look for extra savings with free shipping online of course with coupons on top of the clearance savings. As far as what I will have by Easter, I am hoping for some, but not sure on the amount and not comfortable talking amounts online in public forum areas, just me sorry. But we are trying to save even while being unemployed. not easy lol but doing it slowly. All will be good again! I know it will. jenni104 at yahoo dotcom
We are paying down are cards, clip coupons, look for extra savings with free shipping online of course with coupons on top of the clearance savings. As far as what I will have by Easter, I am hoping for some, but not sure on the amount and not comfortable talking amounts online in public forum areas, just me sorry. But we are trying to save even while being unemployed. not easy lol but doing it slowly. All will be good again! I know it will. jenni104 at yahoodotcom
We are saving money by doing extra jobs on Craigslist and selling unwanted items on Ebay. I'm hoping to have $2,00o in the emergency fund by Easter.
Good luck everyone!
Kyle
thepennyhoarder@gmail.com
using coupons more
sandra
ksmgll@sbcglobal.net
Increase my automatic savings contributions. I definitely won't miss it, and will be putting away an extra $800!
I have my paycheck deposited in my savings account. I transfer money once a week to cover that weeks expenses. I keep a $100 buffer in my checking account for small unexpected expenses. I should have about $6500 in my savings by Easter; I'm pretty proud since I'm a broke grad student.
goodamy8609@yahoo.com
Dang, so MANY comments! =)
I am saving by setting up entirely different accounts to contribute to each time my paycheck comes around. Right now all my savings is going toward my emergency fund (except some is going toward my vacation fund as well!)
A cool tool I use for my vacation fund is smartypig.com Love it!
I can be contacted at megfife@gmail.com
I've just been making smarter choices. Like buying generic brands of food, avoiding going shopping when I don't need things & of course buying on sale! I think by Easter I'll have saved at least $200 :)
I WILL clean out and close my storage unit by May 1. I have a house so there is no reason why I should need a storage unit. I want to have most of the sorting done by mid April so I can sell things at the community yard sale. Savings by lent? None. Yearly savings? $1,800 :)
I'm saving money by getting outside in the nice weather. It sounds strange but going for a run rather than surfing the internet and inevitably finding another item I need to buy saves money and helps me keep straight what my needs vs wants are.
dumei42 gmail com
I just cut back on my cable programming and I'm not spending $80 a month on salon coloring anymore. It'll save me between $60 and $100 a month from here on out. And once I pay off some dentist bills, all of the money being used for those bills will go into my savings account. Awesome!
You can reach me on Twitter: @likeabadhabit
Thanks for the opportunity!
I use coupons to buy most of my groceries. Hopefully save almost $200 by easter!
palford2006@gmail.com
Lately I've been paying more attention to sales tax which is almost 9% where I live (yikes) and trying to either purchase things out of state or weigh whether buying online and not paying tax but paying shipping is cheaper. Also trying to avoid buying goods that are taxable, as most of the necessities of life are not.
We coupon clip like crazy, my wife always amazes those behind her in the cheakout line.
Everytime I save money on groceries with coupons, store offers, club card savings, etc., I save the receipt & transfer the amount "saved" from my checking to my savings account. I started in January & by Easter, if my average continues, I will have saved approximately $250!
LeAnne
lbj042959@yahoo.com
I use coupons, play the grocery game, and am saving up $10 a week for an emergency fund. I have $100, which is pretty pathetic. Really hope to triple it with this $200 give away. hehe!
Renee
claytonrenee@hotmail.com
I do Lent and Easter and to save money I am getting all of my chocolate at Joann Fabric…what? Yeah, I know I lost you on this one….Joann has these coupons for 40% and 50% off one item and they take coupons from Michael's as well. (Michael's has 40% off coupons.)
Thus, I hoard all of my coupons and then use them on LIndt chocolate. I am a bit of a chocolate snob so I do not like cheap chocolate, but when Lindt is 40-50% off before Easter, there is a lot of savings…
Also, in my basket, I am getting fragrance, Euphoria from Calvin Klein for $20. Normally, any Calvin Klein fragrance starts at $40, but Sephora has some of the scents in a rollerball, the the rollerballs start at $20.
Fragrance is a better investment than chocolate. It lasts longer.
topgun34er@hotmail.com
yeah, saving is important aspect of our life,without saving we can't think bright future,so I always searching to save my money offer, like Insurance, discount offer, coupon codes, free shipping etc, these are very helpful to save your money.
I'm saving money by limiting my dining out expenses, especially on the weekends. Oh, and I've pretty much sworn off clothes shopping.
I am using smartypig.com to track my savings. Not only is it 2% interest but also retailers have bonus cash if you take the savings out in gift cards. I am saving for a vacation and should have $1,000 saved by Easter that I will take out in Sandals gift certificate to get their 3% bonus.
goranger22@aol.com
I've been following Dave Ramsey for about a year now. My fiancee and I went to see his live show in October which made me really start to get with it. I use ING's subaccounts to help me save. Currently I have Baby Step 1, Baby Step 3 and Wedding. My motivator besides saving for a wedding is I'm hoping to move soon so I need to save for that. Plus I don't want to buy a lot that I'm going to have to move. From now until Easter I will have saved up $1000! :)
Jenna, jennapeck08@gmail.com
This lent I was going to give up shopping. But as I look closely to my spending habits the past year, I realized that I've become a smart shopper, so giving up shopping was not going to be as active to saving money as I want to.
So instead of giving up something, I decided to take on something. And it is to save all the $10 bill that I get by the end of the day. Right now, I'm simply collecting it in a piggy bank, but right after Easter, I'll be using it in order to help fund the NGO that my family is trying to build!
I use ING savings accounts!
Right now I am saving for our summer trip to Hawaii. I downgraded my cable, have been limiting my coffee purchases to $20 a month and canceld a gym membership. I should have $200 set aside by Easter.
Trying to cut back on buying junk food, eating out less and making more meals from scratch!
To save money, I quit my uberstressful job, and am now working at a much less stressful place, which means far fewer doctor visits (psych and otherwise :P). By Easter, I will have saved $150 on that alone.
http://ekingout.blogspot.com/
I keep track of how much items cost at the grocery store and when they are on sale I stock up!
I use an automated savings system at several different banks. This way I don't really "feel" like I'm saving, it also makes it hard to make a big purchase with my savings because the money is spread around, and I have enough to send on what I want with the rest. I save based on my budget and have the money directly deposited into each of the separate banks. By Easter I will have saved $250 by using this method.
Contact Info: sunrisegoods@gmail.com
Oh boy – where to start?
I've been cutting the fat from my budget for two years now.
I've never had TV/Cable. My big addiction used to be books. I cut that out and use the library or find a friend to swap with.
Two years ago I gave up my car and use a bike to commute.
A year ago, I took an artist residency in LA, and rented out my SF apartment. My rental netted $500 in positive cash flow.
In December, I left LA and moved to Mexico. This is where the savings are dramatic.
I spend less than $400/month on a 2 br. apartment, which includes all of my utilities (including Internet). Savings: 1,000/month.
When my contract with AT&T finally ended last month, I ditched the cell phone (even the cheapest plan was $50/month with all of their taxes, fees and crap.) and will never get a cell phone contract again.
I use skype for all my calls, and will get a pre-paid or pay-as-you go cell when I return to the US.
I'm mostly vegan, and the fruit and vegetables here in Mexico are plentiful (that's where the US gets so much produce) and cheap. Yesterday I spent $3.50 for a whole bag of fresh produce, grown here in my town.
With the savings, I have stepped off the crazy work-a-holic schedule that used to define my days and life, and am taking time now to build a new business without going into debt or having to work on it after a typical 10-hr workday.
The best part: living in a culture that values family over stuff and getting to finally become a fluent Spanish speaker.
Of course there are trade-offs and such to making such drastic changes (like temporarily living apart from my boyfriend) but these are "worth it" to both of us (he'll join me here in Mexico for the summer).
We joined a debt management service to help us get all of our credit cards paid off. Instead of taking the rest of our lives (which it sorts seemed like!) we'll be debt free in about 3 years (except for our car and mortgage). Once we get the cards done, all of that exrtra money will go to the car, then when that's done to the house (since we've been doing fine with the budget we worked out). All in all, right around the time our son is ready for college we'll actually be able to help him out!
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo (hugodlr@hotmail.com)
I am currently spending money rather than saving it! :-) No, really, we had money in savings but after reading The Total Money Makeover we took that money out of savings to start out debt snowball. It feels great! We switched to all cash and I have been indulging way less. leandrea246 (at) hotmail (dot) com
Well, saving is a relative term. We're paying down debt as fast as our little budget will allow. We're set to pay off sometime in June, fate permitting. If I still have my contract work after that, I'll go ahead and start saving up an emergency fund — as well as a puppy fund for Tim, who has been pining for a dog for the past almost-four years.
So I suppose we're saving interest. That counts, right?
Also, Tim's mom is coming to visit us in May and so she's sending a little money down each month so she has something to spend while down here. (She's on disability, so funds are limited. She wants to put it away before she spends it.) We're going to start an ING account with her funds once we get the second check.
Anyway, as of April 4 (Easter) we'll have paid down to just under $5,800. Considering we started in mid-November with $10,759 — and have had a few big expenses along the way — I'm pretty psyched!
Oh, you meant save in general. Hmm… I guess my big emphasis right now is coupons. I'm actually getting to the point where I resent paying more than $1-2 for anything! That's thanks to Safeway rounding all coupons up to $1. So I shop their sales and save BIG! Fry's is pretty good too, since it doubles (up to $1) coupons.
I have limited my eating fast food..spending $1000 a month easily. My pockets are surely thankful.
ssheena4k@rcn.com
We've cut back on our grocery and eating-out budget and started clipping more coupons and signed up for deal emails for our area. We try to save at least $100 every month, and by Easter hope to have saved up at least $500 year to date!
Email: JunkForCarmen @ gmail.com
Wow! There are a lot of good idea in here, so mine feels a little tame. I'm just "Dave Ramsey" all the way! So, it's not really saving money, but I've paid off $6,000 so far since January by eating out way less and not buying crap! I guess it is saving money, though, since I'm not going to be paying interest on those 3 credit cards I've closed during this time.
Ever since the recession hit I've been brown-bagging lunch. Sorry to all the lunch shops but I figure I'm saving about $5 day!
I thrift whatever I can, and try to be frugal with buying other things. The problem area is dining out, but I'm trying to cut back! I just started smarytypig saving accounts a little while ago to withdraw $ automatically on payday. I'll have about $1500 in the accounts on Easter.
GROUPON! And all of the similar websites that have started popping up. At this point there are about 7 or 8 daily deals for my city. We typically have 3 at a time on our fridge, most for 50% off at restaurants that we love to go to…great way to get out and save money!
danielajf@gmail.com
We're planning to save about $1000 by Easter. We actually started about two months ago, severely slashing our eating out expenditures and cooking at home. We also use Netflix and the library moreso than Amazon and Bestbuy. Plus we've set up saving goals for ourselves to motivate the family.
dan at danlerner dot net
I'm focusing on saving on groceries by planning meals, shopping sales with coupons, and cooking from scratch. I expect to save about $125 by Easter.
mcwalker711@yahoo.com
I have money automatically deducted from my checking account and put into my ING savings account each month. Now that I'm used to it, I don't miss the money, and it really racks up in the ING account.
-Allison
astombaugh@yahoo.com
I've been saving money this year by basically sticking to and working my budget:
-This year, I swiped one of your Excel budgeting sheets and tailored it to our needs…The rule is simple, if it's not on the budget list, it's not coming out of the account…"Fun money" is generally low so we just suck it up – however, you'd be surprised how it does wonders to see the changes (which so far have been all positive) in terms of increasing net worth and decreasing liabilities…I will say a great thing about not putting as much money into fun money is that it makes you think more and take advantage of all the "free" stuff you can do in terms of entertainment nearby…
-Secondly, everyone knows about the East Coast cold snap…Of course the electric bills were much higher than usual for us in NC…However, the great thing about when we built our house last year is that the heating is dual…Due to the hours we've been putting in at work, for the most part by time we were getting home, we were spending all of our time upstairs….Therefore, we readjusted the thermostats for the first and second floors to really take advantage of what the technology design could do…The temps on the 1st floor were set lower than the 2nd floor and we set up a cycle for what the heat would be at various times of the day/night…Just got the new electric bill…Implementing this change saved us a little over $50 in less than one month..From $207.52 to $157.01
-Lastly, there are short pockets in the year where we are authorized to get paid for overtime….Instead of being excited for the chance to spend "extra money", I still keep the same budgeting arrangements just as if it were a regular paycheck…I continue to be on track to max out my 401k this year…And part of that is by time money gets put away into "bill" account and savings, it leaves just under $250 for "fun money"….Therefore, with the overtime…I still keep $250 going into the fun money account…However, the savings account really gets pumped up…According to my rough calcs of the checks I expect to see during this time, I change my direct deposit (since payroll doesn't have to wait when you change the amount because the account number is already in the system) to place anywhere from $900 to $1300 into the savings account…Of course this budget was using some numbers provided by paycheckcity.com, but I made the committment to myself that if the payroll for some reason turned out to be more, then I would have to use the link between my fun money account and savings (at a separate bank so it takes a couple of days) to transfer over any excess of the $250 that normally is budgeted for the fun money account….
To be truthful, has it been hard? Of course…I mean how easy is it to "re-balance" a few items to get something in the short term while still beefing it up later in order to meet those long-term goals. However, for me, it just seems to defeat the purpose…So as I shared before, when I'm salivating for this cool chair I want, I continue to admire it via the internet…But I also admire the changes I am seeing when I pull up that Excel sheet…So it makes it all worthwhile :-D I know that I'll get the chair eventually, but it's not a priority (or even a need) right now….
Shelly – shirellej@hotmail.com
I live on one modest income. My wife home schools our eight children. We have just a little bit of debt and mostly our mortgage. We've saved way over $100,000 back for retirement and other savings and are in our early 40's and hope to have as close to a million dollars saved as we can by the time we reach 65. If we can do it anyone can it just takes discipline, budgeting, and a lifestyle that allows. Check out my site to learn how we do it.
*GIVEAWAY NOW OVER*
Congrats to Meg from CarsxGirl.com! You win the $200 :)
And thanks to everyone else for sharing your tips to save! Learned a lot from y’all.
i’ve been paying down my debt for 18 months now…it’s gotten harder now that we’ve added a kid to the family but being frugal with food and clothing have made the biggest impacts.
I quit smoking *doing happy dance* So I am having $50 a week set aside (about the price of 1pk a day) and seeing how much I can save. (unfortunately the hubby has been dipping in it so I had to take his card away) By Lent I should have 475.00
Me and my dad recently set up a magnet power generator our house. It was pretty easy and only took about 2 hours to set up. My dad said hes saving a lot now on the electricity bill for only 2 hours of work. the instructions to build one were pretty simple and easy to follow. We got them through here http://a2b60br4s0bz8pb6fb086-1d3o.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=2010 . I definitely recommend magnetizing your home, it’s good for the environment (using less electricity) and saves you a lot of money on the bills.