Stretching pennies

[entitled]

It was suggested that a thread be started for penny pinching tips and strategies. Here goes.

1. Map out your appointments. Instead of making appointments or completing things on your to-do list as they strike, map them out. A single loop through the neighborhood will save both time and mileage on a vehicle compared to driving backa nd forth and all over the place.

2. Coupons! Sounds like a 'no duh' but has saved more than most would believe.

3. Make a list and stick to it. Plan meals for a full week ahead of time, make a list of ingredients, and get only those things. Do not pass the marshmallow and chips aisle, do not collect worthless snacks along the way.

4. Learn to make your own clothes, and to make them well. It doesn't take very long to actually sew together a complete outfit if they're simple patterns, they can be tailored, only one pattern needs to be bought, and there's quite often really good fabric on the dollar rack. Instead of tossing $20 or more on a shirt it costs less than five and a little time.

5. Gardening is good. So is freezing and canning.

6. Get to know your local hunters. Trade meat for something you can do well - housekeeping, balance a checkbook, whatever.

7. Get to know your mechanic. See if they'll barter - chinese takeout for an oil change, sweep out the shop for a good once-ever on the vehicle, etc.

8. Haircuts at home. A pair of clippers for the menfolk costs less than two months' worth of haircuts and a pair of scissors and comb is less than a single woman's haircut. If necessary get together with a close friend to cut each other's hair.

9. Unplug everything that's not in use. Even when they're not turned on, lamps and toasters draw electricity and will jack up the bill.

10. Second hand nearly everything. With a little time and persistence it's very possible to find a full set of dishes, perfectly good furniture, brand name clothing with tags still attached, etc. for a fraction of 'new' prices.

 

[Recidiva]

Skin care, use plain sugar as an exfoliant, add honey if you want to add an antibotic, as a paste.

Best thing I ever did for sensitive skin.

 

[entitled]

A drop of either olive or almond oil is a kick ass moisturizer/lotion.

Hair conditioner makes a good shaving cream substitute.

 

[Recidiva]

Baking soda as toothpaste.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Leftovers, tons of them. I know that already. Been there. Done that.

Needless to say, video or DVD rentals are out of the question.

Hope things improve, Ent. Hard times suck. They might be good for character, but that's cold comfort when you're going through them. I know that from experience.

 

[FallingToFly]

If you have the room *room being relative, a 60X180 lot can be plenty* invest in a small flock of chickens and 1! only 1! rooster. Allow one clutch a year to hatch (a good brood hen is worth her weight in gold) and allow the chickens to wander at will within the perimeters of your property (if it's a small lot) or fence in your garden and allow them to wander there. Pest control, fertilizer, and they won't bother your veggies (although they sometimes nick the skins while snapping up pests). It is extremely easy the butcher, pluck, etc a chicken, and you'll have fresh eggs all the time. I know quite a few people who have small flocks (10 or less) and sell their extra eggs to the neighbors for a little bit of cash on hand.

I second the clothes-making!

Run clothes only when you have a full load to wash. Wash like colors together to keep their color stronger, longer. And if you're bleaching your white clothes, skip the laundry detergent. It doesn't add anything to the washing when there's already bleach in the equation.

If you can, carpool. If you're close enough - walk or bike. And for heaven's sake, if you don't need it, don't buy it! (That's a bit of a joke, so please don't jump on me for it)

Hang linens out on a line, if you can. Jeans and heavier clothes really do need the dryer, but linens, underwear (except for socks), dress shirts, sundresses, light knits, etc, do just fine on the line, and smell wonderful when they come back in. Do your ironing once a week instead of a piece at a time, to minimize the extra wattage that an iron uses while heating up for five minutes for less than three minutes of ironing.

Make sure your tires are properly inflated to add to both their lifetime and to improve gas mileage and vehicle performance. Rather than buy a new tire because you ran over a nail, get that tire patched (around here it costs about 5 bucks to have someone patch and reinflate the tire).

I'll add more later.

 

[cloudy]

* don't flush the toilet every time you use it, if you can stand it. Saves on water.

*I have a friend who has one boy older than mine, and one younger. Clothes go all the way down the line, as well as shoes, if they're still in decent shape.

*you'd be suprised how much money you can make with a yard sale. Last one I had brought in right at $200 for stuff that was just gathering dust.

*iced tea instead of soda

 

[R. Richard]

Needless to say, video or DVD rentals are out of the question.

Yeah, but the public pibrary has videos and DVDs for free! You don't need to do without.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Yeah, but the public pibrary has videos and DVDs for free! You don't need to do without.

That's good news.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Yeah, but the public pibrary has videos and DVDs for free! You don't need to do without.

Books, too... *wink*

1. Dilute liquid soap with water, in the ratio of 1/3 water to 2/3 soap. It still has plenty of cleaning power and you're paying a third less for it.

2. Smell your clothes, especially ones you only wear for a few hours. Sometimes clothes can get by with a good airing out instead of being washed. This tip will save wear and tear on the clothes as well as water, detergent and electricity to wash them.

3. Put leftovers in serving sized containers and freeze. Individual yogurt cups are great for this. Seal the lids with tape and mark the contents. When you're busy or tired, dinner is already cooked and everyone can mix and match to their heart's desire! Just run water over the containers to release the food, put on a plate and microwave.

4. Rubbing acohol is great for wiping down shower walls. It cleans, disinfects, and dries quickly, not to mention being cheap!

And this I just like: To clean your microwave, place a (microwave safe) cup of water with a teaspoon of baking soda in it. Run microwave for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove cup and wipe out inside of microwave with a damp cloth.

 

[pop_54]

* don't flush the toilet every time you use it, if you can stand it. Saves on water.

*I have a friend who has one boy older than mine, and one younger. Clothes go all the way down the line, as well as shoes, if they're still in decent shape.

*you'd be suprised how much money you can make with a yard sale. Last one I had brought in right at $200 for stuff that was just gathering dust.

*iced tea instead of soda

Save water... Bath with a friend.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Save water... Bath with a friend.

Or in my case, I'm not as hard up as I used to be, but I still bathe with my slave. Of course, I do that more for fun and company, than to save money. But it helps there too.

 

[Guest]

...............

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Who is Penny!? and stretching Penny's what?

and how much stretching and pinching can she take?

LMAO. Good comic relief. I'm sure that there are plenty of stories with girls named Penny getting stretched out.

 

[Weird Harold]

3. Make a list and stick to it. Plan meals for a full week ahead of time, make a list of ingredients, and get only those things. Do not pass the marshmallow and chips aisle, do not collect worthless snacks along the way.

Avoid "prepared foods" and buy staples in bulk -- learn to cook "from scratch."

The price of one large can of refried beans will buy you ten to twenty pounds of dried pinto beans you can turn into refried beans OR turn into any number of other bean-based meals.

Look at the price-per-unit labels on the store shelves -- sometimes it's cheaper to buy two five-pound bags of sugar than one ten-pound bag, but the next time it might be reversed.

Build up a safety reserve in your pantry -- Everytime you shop, buy at least one or two non-perishable things towards your reserve: an extra can of soup, a bigger bag of macaroni, etc. Eventually, you can reduce your regular shopping trips to just filling holes in your reserves and perishables like bread and milk.

A used stand-alone freezer that will let you buy meat in bulk and save leftovers in larger quantities will pay for itself in short order -- With the capacity to cook in bulk you can even reduce cooking energy costs by reducing the amount of time you use your stove. Making a small pot of chili takes nearly as much time and energy to make as a large pot does, but making a large pot of chili and freezing a half dozen servings for later microwaving saves you both time and money.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

-Hit the auctions and yard sales if you're looking for something big like an appliance or a piece of furniture, even a car. Sometimes things go for almost nothing. So your fridge is avocado colored, at least your beer is cold.

-If you've got scrap metal lying around, sell it, the prices are good right now.

-Do it all in one place. Read the weekly store ads and figure out who's closest and who has the most things you need on sale. Driving all over town to save a little money isn't worth it anymore.

-Buy ahead. If you happen to have some extra money and find a great sale on groceries or neccessities, hoard away. You'll be glad you did later.

-Cut down on all the things you think you absolutely need, like cable, multiple cell phones, eating out, etc. Remember that people lived just fine without text messaging for centuries.

 

[entitled]

Yeah, but the public pibrary has videos and DVDs for free! You don't need to do without.

However, it's not worth the over $3 it takes to get to the library, then again to return the videos - unless you're passing by the library anyway. Note mapping appointments post.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

-Close the rooms you don't use regularly and close the vents. In the rooms you do use, install a fan or use small electric heaters. this can save you tons on the electric if you have central/heat and air.

-Get a checking account and link it to your savings, at a bank that allows online wire transfers. You can keep your money in the savings, wire transfer it to cover as you are doing bills. This allows the money to be drawing interest, right up until you write the check for it.

-insulate your home up to the standard or better, go around the outside with some silicon caulk and fill in all the holes around pipes and ducts, make sure you also fill in any cracks around windows. You can save as much as 50% on your heating and cooling bills for the cost of a 5$ tube of silicon and two cans of insulating foam.

-Save all those junkmail envelopes. Invest in a package of mailing lables. For a buck twenty five in lables, you will never need to buy envelopes again.

-Get a crock pot. Leftovers, plus a quart of beef or tomatoe stock will make a very good stew. Make it once a week, with whatever you have that's getting towards the end of it's shelf life in the fridge.

 

[entitled]

Store brand everything is good!

If you absolutely MUST buy books, try to find out when the local library is selling the bulk stuff. i've gotten $30 books for $2 before.

Don't use a laundromat if you can help it. The cost of doing laundry in a laundromat is fairly equivalent to buying your own small washer/dryer set if you can get credit at a store like Best Buy.

Get the extended warranty on everything. It may cost a couple hundred dollars more (for the big stuff) to begin with, but will save thousands if something goes wrong. (Without the extended warranty on the computer, for instance, i would have had to buy five new ones out of pocket. They were replaced for free.)

 

[cricketbug]

I second and third the coupons and making your own clothes. Coupons have helped me trim the grocery budget a LOT, es'pecially with me only working 1 day a week.

I'm planting a garden this year to help us with veggies for the winter.

-- Carpool whenever you can (if it's feesable)
-- Don't buy the store bought baby food (like Gerber) - it's just as easy to throw cooked food into a blender and then freeze portions in an ice cube tray for baby.

 

[R. Richard]

Put on a jacket/sweater inside the house instead of turning up the thermostat.

 

[mlady_france]

4. Learn to make your own clothes, and to make them well. It doesn't take very long to actually sew together a complete outfit if they're simple patterns, they can be tailored, only one pattern needs to be bought, and there's quite often really good fabric on the dollar rack. Instead of tossing $20 or more on a shirt it costs less than five and a little time.

This can actually be a bit profitable too. if you can find a local store willing to sell on consignment. This year a big summer fashoin in pesant skirts/shirts and even simple ren shirts for men. They take about 2-4 hours each to make (from organizing the pattern to finish) and only cost about 5-8ish dollars in materials, not including the pattern. The pattern can be expencive, but look at you sewing shop for sales. I know Joanne Fabrics and Hancock Fabrics both have dollar or 2 dollar days on their patters. Also they're great to be on their mailing list, you get coupons and advance notice of these sales. But a simple man's ren shirt sells in my shop for 20-25 dollars. The owner takes 20% leaving me 16-20 dollars, minus the 5-8 it cost to make is 8-15 dollars left over. If the owner is willing to let this go on in the shop this is another great place to barter. If he's not so keen on the idea, then you can always aproach the person out side of the shop.

 

[zeb1094]

When this thread first appeared I could have sworn that it said

"Stretching penises"

and I thought I'd better look into this!

Ok, I got nothing.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

When this thread first appeared I could have sworn that it said

"Stretching penises"

and I thought I'd better look into this!

Ok, I got nothing.

-Don't spend a lot on expensive penis enhancing drugs and devices, those things never work.

 

[zeb1094]

-Don't spend a lot on expensive penis enhancing drugs and devices, those things never work.

Good advice. Thanks.