Ways To Save Money

I do things like that here in Mexico. i own an internet cafe. I trade my services to other business owners. One guy owns the fish market here, an the other is a pharmecy owner. We swap services. Of course most the time I owe them my services more. BUt it works out in the end.

I am still no good with saving, even with the great advice people here have given me. However my habits of buying have changed within the last few months and for that I am glad. I now try to buy a few things at once that can be "thrown" together in a meal. I am trying to earn more amazon GC's so that I can save on Christmas shopping this year and yet get some good things for my family, I also plan to use cash back sites so I don't feel as if so much is leaving my pocket. I work for a grocery store, and I see things come through and see fluctuating prices, the coupons that come through, but I still don't do couponing. Rare is it that that I have a coupon, and most of the time it's because it's on the item (as in physically) that I am buying at that moment. As for the economy, the grocery bill for people has gone up in recent years because of the economy. The cost of some foods are just ridiculous. I still buy a few certain brands just because I am used to doing so, but I try to catch it when it is on sale at my store.

I remember getting VERY involved with Freecycle in 2004-2006. I managed to furnish my home while clearing out a lot of things I no longer had a use for. I even made friends through the site! But when I moved, I tried to join some of the local groups, but my experiences here were FAR from satisfactory. Changes I've made because of the economy: probably the largest is since I've lost my job, I can no longer afford to get my nails done, or other beauty services. Back in 2006, I was spending about $160 a month to look nice-and that didn't include purchasing clothing. I've been trying to adjust but it's hard to do when I feel like a frump! Currently we are sharing a car, but doing so restricts each of us from working longer, or more flexible hours. We are renting a small apartment, having downsized from his home (that's messed up in his divorce proceedings). We can no longer afford to eat out. I'd love a dishwasher, but we are in a low-rent apartment and it isn't an option. I rarely replace clothing, instead only when it's falling apart. I'm back to shopping Kmart or Walmart again, something I hadn't done since the 90s-pretty soon, I'll be back to shopping at thrift stores. Generic food or using coupons. It's painful because I'm constantly worried about money, and to be frank, I'm OVER it!

My life became a living hell the moment several friends borrowed money from me and never paid me back. Since then, all my luxury living has been cut. No more excessive shopping. I only go to mall for basic necessities. Currently, I'm overseas looking for a job. To save money, I would buy 1 meal and split it in 3. I'm losing weight as we speak but I feel healthy since I was overweight for quite some time. I wait for things to be on sale before buying them. Take the bus than the taxi. And I do Mylotting to earn some dollars every now and then. Eventually, I will enjoy the fruits of my labor. Or should I say, living frugally.

Hi barting for stuff is getting bigger all over the Place I cook for some so they can sew some of My winter jackets and I all so use free cycle. Com to.

Great to learn things on how one can save money. I guess people should develop that habit of think more on how to save money not thinking of ways to splurge or always indulge. It gives more sense of satisfaction knowing you always think of saving money. You eliminate the habit of wasting money. There is nothing bad about it even if other people will pity you for being so frugal. I think of saving money so I can use the money on most important and urgent needs only.

What I've done with three of my friends is to have 'pot luck dinners' a couple times a week, everyone brings something. Who ever is the 'host' that day, makes the main course, the rest of us bring something. Using paper plates might cost a little more but we all bring our own and there are no dishes. It does, believe it or not, help with the cost of dinner every week.

Wow you do know a lot of ways to save money. In my country I haven't heard of trading child care here, I guess most are paranoid to leave the care of their child even with their neighbors. Anyway with regards to your topic, hmm as much as possible I try to see my money in percentage. For example, I get paid from my offline work and then the total amount is 100%. I allot 20% of it for my bills and 60% of it to my savings. I get alarmed if my money would go down to 30%. I don't look at how much I got in cash because it's better that I wont be hypnotized by the amount. I just got married and I can say that the current situation of our economy indeed impacted how I plan to spend my money nowadays.

Hi Fishmomma people has alot of strategies in which they save but for it doesn't work for me. Saving money is quite a difficult thing for me to do. When i was working i have tried alot strategies to enable me save some money yet i end up getting broke. I know i was too extravagant in spending but i tried adopting some strategies like one time i got my monthly pay, i divided it into three equal parts, one part of the money was sent to my people for their upkeep, i used the second part to all the things that i will be needing that months and the third part i split it into two equal part to save one part and use the other part for transport and other expenses, yet it didn't work. Happy mylotting.....!!! :)

Coupons are a great way to save money as you can get them. I was able to get a lot of discounts, mostly in food and some goods . Down here in Buenos Aires, lots of important supermarkets on weekends have promotions such as 2x1 or 70% discount on the second product , if you take two of the same. Also I find really useful, as wacky as it sounds, to hide the change I receive (either from buying on the market, shopping, or whatever ) in any place I won't easily find it... so you don't remember you have it ... and then... later when you don't expect to find anything , you come across with that money .

I am now using energy saving lightbulbs. They can last up to 10 times longer than ordinary incandecent bulbs, and using one can save you as $50 or more over the lifetime of the bulb. Also, I save the changed coins, even how small it is, it can make large amounts in time. Of course, as a result of the economic issues nowadays, my wife and I have to make both ends meet. That's why, we are doing our best to save while we can, even how simple or petty it is. Thanks

Hi friend, good to know about your saving activities. I am not interested in spending money lavishly. Always i give importance to the quality of the thing and buy the cheap and best products. Some persons are interested in shopping with a great mall which is expensive, even though the same quality things are available in the local shop. These kind of persons are giving importance to the luxury and status. The believe that buying things in a normal shop is not a good thing and it will spoil their status, but they are wrong. The quality of the thing is important than the locality of the shop. Some people are interested in buying clothes in a big mall which is having huge cost. We can buy the same quality clothes in the normal shops. The only difference is that shopping malls is having lot of entertainment features like dinning out, drive in theaters, kids play station and others, but the normal shop don't have this kind of luxury supplements as well as clothes are available in this shop with reasonable price. In the big shopping malls the same clothes are available with highest price which is one third of the normal shop rate. This kind of expenses must be avoidable. It is not tough to spend our money in this luxury ways, but it is really hard to earn that money. As most of us are working hard to earn a little income, so we must be very much organized in our spending and avoid this kind of unwanted spending. There is nothing wrong in spending money for quality thing, but at the same time spending money for luxury thing is not a good one and it will spoil our wealth and we will lose our hard earned money easily if we spent it in this way. Always buy the things which is cheap and best, you can buy three to four clothes in a normal shop with the same price of a single cloth in a luxury shop. If we spend our money wisely in this way, surely we will be happy with our spending and save some money for our future. This kind of money management is very important to every person. Be wise and spend your money in a nice way.

Seems like you have some really great habits! I also trade services for small things. It's different for me as a single person, living on my own (living with roommates has never helped me much financially--I can just have a small apartment and better control over my items and utility. My neighbor and I share the Internet bill. I help limited-literacy/limited English people with filling out forms, paperwork, phone calls, etc. in exchange for home-cooked meals sometimes :) I also provide transportation to places I am going anyway, and receive help with gas money. I eat mostly vegetarian, as beans and lentils are much cheaper than meat products. I have just started coupon, but only when it is a VERY good deal on something I could use. I shop mostly at the thrift store (except for shoes, which come from Payless). I've also been using the Internet for buying/selling on eBay and Craigslist. Hmm...there's actually a lot of ways that I have been trying to change!

Ways to save money? Simply don't spend. No credit cards. Priorities your needs. Buy only the amount that you can consume. Yes use discount cards if they are available. Make a grocery list and check for items with freebies so you wont buy them if you need them. Check the lowest price tag but of same quality or at least try a cheaper brand who knows it might be same as the one branded.

As living in the city, it is not easy to save on food, but we still try to plant some vegetable on the balcony. In the city, there are many shops on sale, so it is much easir to get cheap clothes and small items. My mother also uses old items to change them with other people for the needed ones.

For us it has always been about doing little things. For example, during the winter I've turned down the thermostat in our house so that we don't have to pay as much for our natural gas. This has made a huge difference in the years that I've been doing it. I also try to make sure and recycle things for cash when that is an option. Coupons are of course a great way to save money. Finally, I am the kind of person that really thinks about purchases before I will make them (for me this saves us a tremendous amount of money).

Good day Fishmomma, Your topic is very timely since nowadays, people should really be aware on how to save money wisely. Since this will really do a big help to everybody. Thus learning how to save will do a big impact on our finances. In my end here, I used to save money by saving my change. That whenever I purchase something, I make it a point that I save the change that I am getting from those purchases. In that way, I won't feel so much burden in keeping and saving since that money is just a coin that will not do a great effect on my pocket money. So, for me, this is one of the best way to save money, that is saving those coins from a change.

When you don't have much money, you have to put a lid to your expenses. When I go to the grocery store,I keep telling myself " now I can't go over $ 200.00 and if I go to use clothing I don't want to spend more than $ 25.00, etc...so that is how I'm doing it every single week, we are a family of 7 and I tell you I do have to puzzle up a way to make it work because otherwise can't pay the bills, and we do want a better life,In all that it is in God's hands Amen.

Hi fishmomma! I admire you for that. Personally, I have this problem on how to save some amount because of my present situation. I was assigned in a place which requires me to travel for two hours or more and the expenses I incurred everyday is really big. I am planning to rent a house near the place of work but I cannot do it until now because I wanted to see my children everyday also. I am spending around $7.50 everyday for my fare.

Hello! We tend to save on electricity since electricity is so expensive here. For instance, when we turn on our aircon, we turn off our fridge. In doing so, we were able to cut down on our electric bill, thus making us save some money from it. Also we tend to tighten our belts when spending, especially for things that we can do without or buy at a later date so that expenses won't be too much