" This has saved me hundreds , maybe even chiliad of dollars over the years . "
1.“A (very stupid-seeming) trick that helped me is having my grocery list on my phone instead of on paper. I always have my phone on me, so I’m never going shopping again without a plan. Plus, always having my wants and needs and looking over them multiple times makes me think about them more. ‘Do I really want frozen pizza, or was that an ‘I’m so hungry’ thought?'”
2.“If it’s not an immediate need, we have a 24-48 hour rule for online shopping. You can place it in the cart, but you must wait 24-48 hours before checking out. There are so many times we never go back to it. If we do, then it’s probably something that’s needed. We also ask ourselves often, ‘Is this a need or a want?’ Definitely helps us to not over-indulge in wants.”
— spiraloutkeepgoing42
3.“Not keeping credit card info saved on your phone or computer is a big game changer! Turns out if I have to go reach for my wallet, I suddenly don’t need the stuff right now. I tell myself I will do it later, and I end up really thinking about it!”
— Tough_Letterhead9399
4.“I like theenvelope budget systemwhen you allocate some cash to ‘needs’, ‘wants’, etc. My problem is that I can’t buy stuff online with cash. So I’ve bought a Visa gift card that I’m using as my monthly wants ‘envelope.’ It’s not perfect, but I get the benefit of the envelope system, and I can use it digitally.”
5.“My Bilt rewards credit card earns double points on the first of every month. I keep a bookmark on all the things I think I want throughout the month and go through what I actually want at the start of the month to maximize rewards points and still get things I feel like I want without it being an impulse buy.”
— sonybajor12
6.“Cook more at home AND plan weekly menus. We throw out basically nothing, and we have saved a staggering amount on take-out and restaurants. And we didn’t even go that often! Once or twice a week. But that adds up. Since the start of the pandemic, we have to have saved thousands. We barely ever eat out these days, and I don’t even miss it.”
— The_x_is_sixlent
7.“Always have something ‘ready-ish’ to eat at home. At the beginning of living alone, I wanted to be a ‘strictly ingredients’ person, which was fine when I had stuff like bread and toppings or pasta at home. But there were times I didn’t have stuff preplanned, and it made me much more likely to buy some junk food after university because I didn’t want to cook.”
8.“I cancelled my Wi-Fi and cable package ($180/month) and as a family of four, upgraded our cellphone plan to include 50 GB hotspot, which also came with 2 free Netflix accounts, so we ended up saving $10 off our original cell plan! We use our hotspots for the internet, and it hasn’t been an issue! $2,160 saving a year, cha-CHING!”
— Past - Strawberry-6592
9.“I used Privacy.com to create virtual credit cards for online subscriptions. Each card has a strict spending limit. So, for example, if I sign up for Netflix, I could either limit it to $8/month, or just set a lifetime limit of $16. After two months, it just stops paying the bill. If I want to reactivate, I can just go in and raise the spending limit.”
" I especially do this for free introductions . I get the liberal week , and they never have a scorecard they can charge .
This has saved me hundreds , maybe even thousands of dollars over the years . "
— sanityjanity
10.“Emergency cookies. I don’t eat cookies often, but sometimes, I have a craving for sugary things, chocolaty things. So instead of buying a box of cookies or chocolate, I make a big batch of cookie dough, make cookie-sized balls, and freeze them. I bake a batch of six or seven cookies at a time. It takes around 15 minutes to bake. Crisis averted, money saved, and better to eat six cookies than a box of 20-30.”
11.“Making three meals at a time. Wherever I feel like cooking, I triple the recipe and freeze two portions. Then, when I don’t feel like cooking, I can grab that instead of delivery.”
— saltyegg1
12.“Using my cash-back credit card to pay the bills. It took a little doing, from having torebuild my credit scorefrom scratch (I had to go the whole secured card route in the beginning), but now that that part is over and done with, it’s starting to pay off in rewards that I usually apply to groceries. As long as you discipline yourself to pay the bill before it’s due, it’s basically free money because these are bills that you were going to have to pay either way. Last year, it paid for my entire Thanksgiving dinner.”
— mzm123
13.“Using the library!”
14.“Keeping a case of water in my car and some snacks. It stops me from just grabbing fast food or buying an overpriced gas station snack.”
— BellaStayFly
15.“I have chronic allergies, so switching to handkerchiefs has been a big win. A couple dozen cotton squares cost me less than a year’s worth of disposable facial tissue and have been going strong for years, and they’re easier on my skin.”
— NotJustKidding
16.“I propagate my plants instead of buying new ones. New plants are a treat. I will propagate these ones to make many plants to maintain a jungle without spending a fortune. Plus, they double as gifts. Almost all of my gifts are plants or things I have crocheted with yarn I got for free from a buy nothing Facebook group.”
17.“Order groceries and pick them up in the car park. I don’t enter the store and impulse buy. I stick to the list and am done. Saves both time and money.”
— uncomfortable_heat
18.“Anytime I get a gift card, I first think about things I NEED. For example, I got an Amazon gift card and instead of buying random stuff, I used it to purchase shampoo, face wash, and toiletries that were on my list.”
— Weird_Ad6928
19.“I bought a small dry-erase board to put on the fridge and write on it every fruit/vegetable, meat, or leftover meal in my fridge, and update as needed. It helps me keep track of things so they don’t get lost behind other things and go to waste. Has prevented a lot of waste and also saves some money.”
20.“I learned to cut my husband’s hair during the pandemic, and now we never pay for haircuts. There was definitely a learning curve, but it’s not difficult and I save us roughly $100/month.”
— LastGlass1971
21.“I buy all my clothes and my kids’ clothes second-hand. I haven’t bought anything new other than shoes in a gajillion years. If there was a reliable place to buy used shoes in good shape for kids, I’d do that too, but I haven’t found it yet.”
— itsirtou
22.“My husband and I once added up the savings of doing our own yard work instead of hiring a weekly ‘mow, blow, and go’ service like everyone else in our neighborhood has, and doing that for the 29 years we’ve owned the house has saved us over $40k.”
23.“WAIT before you buy anything for a new hobby or interest! It’s lovely that you have a new interest, but do as much as you can without buying first to see if the interest will actually stick. Borrow some stuff from a friend or family member, read a couple of books from the library on the topic, and if it’s digital, then try to find a free version first to try out. If you actually use the borrowed/free stuff enough that you really do feel like you need to buy the stuff, then go ahead. And even then, depending on what it is, check for used stuff. A LOT of people get stuff for hobbies, then give up and sell basically new stuff.”
— Prestigious_Egg_1989
24.“Only one subscription at a time. Want Netflix? Goodbye, Apple Music.”
— tsukuyomidreams
25.“I collect water whenever I’m waiting for it to heat up in sinks and bathtubs, and use that to water my plants!! I have a lot of indoor and outdoor plants, so there’s always something that needs more water, especially my outdoor plants in summer.”
26.“I signed up for Acorns nine years ago. It takes the ‘change’ from digital purchases, saves it, and invests it. I have saved quite a bit. Most debit cards offer similar tools for saving. For cash purchases, I take the change and throw it in a drawer. It adds up.”
— surfingonmars
27.“If I NEED to buy something important, I always make sure it’s something that will last. Always check reviews, see how much it would be to repair, and never buy too cheap because that almost always means a headache.”
— DeadGravityyy
28.“When I know I’m gonna have a busy week, I make sure to have grab-and-go protein in the fridge. Smoked fish, cooked chicken, salami, lunch meat — whatever’s cheap and looks good. When we are coming home ravenous and ready to crash and order in, I grab the protein and put it in front of us. We shove it in our mouths, and pretty soon, we’re able to think again and find out we don’t need to order food in anymore! Protein, salt, and fat are a magical combination.”
29.“I cycle to work most days. It’s fun, great exercise, and saves a ton of money.”
— Elegant - Stable-7453
30.“I switched my phone plan to Mint Mobile and pay the year up front. Downloaded a screen limits app to prevent me from burning data, and for the last five years, my bill has amounted to $15/month.”
— bassySkates
31.And finally, “When it was time for a new car, I got a 2-year-old hybrid. I hate the interior and exterior colors, but I get 40-45 miles per gallon. Now, instead of 16 gallons per week, I use 12 gallons per month. I save 688 gallons per year, and I get it at Costco.”
