What do you do to cut expenses down?

[lcertuche]

I do that too. The only thing I have to worry about is my husband who thinks he needs everything he wants when he wants it. I try to curb his spontaneous spending but it's hard because he thinks if he wants it he should have it because he deserves ______ because he works so hard.

 

[Britesea]

My FIL thought that way too, @Icertuche and MIL always had to have the most up-to-date computers, every year. They never did have any extra money....

 

[freemotion]

Pretty much everything here is reused until it's gone. I'm not going to make a list because so much has already been mentioned. But I just kept adding things that I do myself until now I do almost everything myself.

One of the big things I did that created a huge jump in savings was to stop looking at coupon circulars. When they land on my driveway I throw them directly into the trash. Almost all the coupons were on things that were processed and unhealthy and that I didn't need. But the deals were so good I tended to stock up. I save a ton of money by not being drawn into the grocery store by coupons. Now I don't need much at the grocery store at all.

I get some of my basic organic stock up grocery items online, amazingly. I've got some black beans soaking that I will be canning this morning. When I was shopping for this type of thing two or three years ago and I contacted one of the places that had really good prices about their shipping costs. It's not on their website but they said they would put it in one rate box for me which ended up being about a third of the shipping cost that their online order form gave me. They said they might not be able to fit the entire 25 lbs but would adjust the price. The savings were incredible and I order regularly now. I have to go back to the old fashion way of ordering on the phone.

In the years that I was not in this forum much, one of the things I added was almost obsessive sewing. I have a goal to make pretty much everything I wear. I make a lot of my clothes now.

Sometimes you have to spend in order to save. I was hitting some walls with my sewing and recently decided to get some lessons. I found that there was a nationally known teacher that lived an hour's drive for me so I've gotten 3 private lessons from her so far and we're scheduling at 4th. It cost a pretty penny but I already see the results in that I am very fast and now have several basic patterns that fit me really well. I mean really, really well! This is reducing the number of wadders. I can see that the money spent is going to save me in the long run, probably fairly quickly. I was a fairly competent sewer before these lessons but this is really upping my game and amazing ways.

When learning a new skill I tend to buy a lot of books on used book websites. This way I can find the older books that tend to have information on doing things the old way. Once the skill is part of my life I sort through all the books and donate most of them, keeping the ones I use regularly for reference.

 

[lcertuche]

@freemotion skills are so very important. I'm glad I lived when skills like sewing, cooking, canning, knitting, crocheting, etc. were still taught. There is a dear lady in our church that will let anyone who wants to learn to quilt come and sit with her as she makes quilts. I look to YouTube now when I want to learn a new skill. That's how I learned to make tamales. I have taught one of my son's to knit and a friends daughter how to crochet. Most my children have no desire to learn these things. My son just did this for some one-on-one time with Mama.

 

[baymule]

I buy my jeans at an outlet store, usually pay $7-&10 for them.

 

[Wannabefree]

I buy all my scrubs at the thrift store for a dollar. Got some more today

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That's a heck of a deal! And, who doesn't love scrubs? I'm wearing a scrub top right now.

 

[Wannabefree]

And I sell the ones I don't like on eBay for a small profit. If I don't like the way they fit, or not enough pockets, or color doesn't suit me...I can't lose. It makes the keepers free actually.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Very cool! I work with a gal who is a serious garage sale consumer. She buys stuff that's in good shape and re-sells on ebay. She brings in a pretty decent amount of extra money that way.

 

[NH Homesteader]

I have friends who do a lot of that also. They make a fair amount of cash!