Guest Post
If you’re the frugal type you’d be forgiven to think that you already do everything within your power to cut down on expenses. However, even if you cut old school coupons and buy in bulk, there are still a 6 little-known tactics you may want to consider adding to your money saving arsenal.
Contents
Make Coffee at Home
It’s surprising to see how many people will eat sub par food to save a few pennies at dinner –just to blow $3.50 fora pumpkin spiced Latte and Starbucks the next morning. Even if you get a cheap cup of Joe, those cups add up. Buying large amount of coffee to brew at home can save you hundreds of dollars per year –even if you brew the fancy stuff. You can of course still get an occasional coffee to go without breaking the bank: it’s the daily coffee buying habit that really adds up.
Shopping Bags=Trash Bags
Sure trash bags probably aren’t your #1 expense, but we can all agree that they aren’t cheap. Old shopping bags that are probably collecting dust in your basement can be re purposed as trash bags. This is also an eco friendly way to live the mantra “reuse before recycling”.
Fight Fees
Almost anyone can relate to that sinking feeling in your stomach after realizing you’ve overdrawn your checking account. The fees banks and credit card companies charge for late payments and overdrafts can really add up quickly –even if you miss a single payment or overdraft by few pennies.
But you don’t have to take those fees lying down. Banks work hard to get your business and are surprisingly flexible about reversing fees if you call them and ask. If may not work 100% of the time, but if you have a history of on-time payments, they’ll usually let a late fee or two go.
Shop on Craiglist
Craigslist is an amazing place to find just about anything under the sun. And because most things on Craigslist are used, you can usually buy things for 75% off the sticker price. So the next time you’re in the market for a lawnmower, head to Craigslist before Home Depot. You may not find what you’re looking for every time, but when you do, you’ll have saved some serious cash. However, be warned that most items bought on Craigslist are bought “as-is” –meaning they don’t come with any sort of warranty. Buyer beware!
Get a Water Filter
Bottled water may be cheap, but it can really add up if you drink large amounts of it every day. There’s always the tap, but many people have issues downing glass after glass of tap water. You can usually save a bundle on water — and drink clean water — with the small investment in a water filter.
Unplug Appliances
Do you know that certain appliances — especially TVs — eat up electricity even when turned off? When you’re not using an appliance, consider unplugging it. And be sure to turn off and unplug your PC when not in use as this is one of the biggest energy drains in most households.
This is a guest post from Spencer Mitchell of SurveySpencer.com. His website is the go-to resource for people looking to earn from paid surveys without getting scammed. His website covers the basics of surveys for money as well as in-depth and hands on reviews of the web’s most popular survey panels, including his latest review of Swagbucks survey site. When he’s not blogging or writing the latest paid survey review for his site, Spencer is usually rock climbing somewhere in upstate New York.
unplugging the appliances have really made a difference for us in the past 2 months. That’s the only thing we changed and we’ve seen a difference. Not a HUGE money saving difference but I know it adds up so we’re going to continue to do it
These are great tips!
I’m notorious for putting on a sweater instead of turning the heat up too! 🙂
These are all good practices. We gave up going to DD every day and really noticed a big difference.
Amen to this. I will not pay three bucks for a cup of coffee. I find it’s the little things that collectively add up and suck the life out of a budget that are the worst culprits…and this is right up at the top.
On rare occasions when I’m out and really want coffee, 7-11 has many choices at a third of the price.
These are all great ideas. Some of them I already do and some of them I will start doing. The one that I find the hardest to do is to unplug everything when you’re not using it. There is just so much to unplug! We are home 95% of the time, but we could still unplug things not in use. I suppose it is like the habit rule – Do something consistently for 18 days and the n you will just do it without thinking about it. This rule does work. I used it when making myself put my seat belt on when getting into the car.
Thanks for all the great tips!
Thanks for the tips on saving money, unplugging the appliances I need to start doing for sure. Thanks again.