How many steps will you take to save money?

[AngelineRose]

For me, the desire to go far with steps towards saving money depends where I am at in life. There were times I was challenged myself to use coupons, looks for sales, eat cheaper meals, walk instead of drive and etc. I became a live in help for someone with a disability for free room and board while keeping my day job. This was when I was single and before I tried the married life.

Using coupons, walking farther, cooking homemade cheap meals all went out the window when I became a single mom of an infant after my divorce. I was juggling between working full time, 2 hours daily commute from work and making sure we were fed, bathed and clothed and doing/being where we were supposed to be at the time. I had no spare time to clip coupon, read or research the internet, often grabbed a lot of fresh fruit and veggies on the go. I was too tired to cook that it was easier to go out more frequently. I also paid higher rent to avoid the stairs (I didn't want to haul all the stuff up and down the stairs with a baby alone) and also to have my own washer and dryer hook-up so I didn't have to wake a sleeping baby or haul everything around. If had a partner, everything would have been different.

Now that my son is older, I am forced to budget with meals and extra expenses now that his daycare/preschool is ridiculously expensive (I have no family nearby to help). Its hard to get ahead during these times.

[Like2Plan]

I learned from experience how to handle this. Do you have a place where you keep "small, must under no circumstances lose, need to be hidden, but don't access often enough to remember where they are" items? Put the gift cards there. Since I started using that system, I haven't misplaced any gift cards. They are with my passport, safety deposit box key, funny little tag with a number from the car dealer (I think it's in case we lose our remote keys), neighbor's house key, voter registration card, emergency cash, and foreign currency that DH uses once or twice a year when he travels back to his home country.

That sounds like a good strategy. I've never lost track before, but it was a case of a lot of things happening at once when I went to use it at Disney World- it was left over and somehow it got mixed up with the paperwork...

[Like2Plan]

Oh- the gas discount reminds me of a recent event. Our grocery store gives $$ based on purchases.

DH fills up about once s month. He waited 'til the low fuel warning light came on--when he got to the gas station, the interface from the grocery store wasn't working- the guy at the gas station suggested trying the station across the street. DH goes across the street- not working there, either. The guy there suggested going to the grocery store...grocery store says there is a system wide problem.... So, 45mins later- no discount. DH still needs gas. And, the points expire if not used... So, DH put enough in for us to get to the airport and back. He has to go back to the grocery store before he fills up to verify the points didn't fall off....

The discount was over $1.00 off per gallon (x 20 gallons), but what a pain!

[FLA]

those DisBoards people will do anything! They have a general budget or money savings forum that is not focused just on Disney, some good tips in there on real life stuff. For Disney, I took what for me are my normal travel steps to save money. Score airfare as low as possible, when we had a large group we stayed in gorgeous homes with private pools that made the lodging cost so low it was laughable. I did not want to spend my vacation being home for all meals, but we always did breakfast, often packed lunch. My dad loves to grocery shop so he would do that over a day at Disney, lol. So we saved on food, we also were not on site so we could go to the many inexpensive restaurants in the area for dinner. We liked Texas de Brazil, expensive but I had signed up for coupons and had some great discount. We love Sweet Tomatoes salad, soup and pasta bar, 3 adults could eat and drink for $20 with coupons and it was everyone's favorite place. I always waited to score deals on cars, some people do not appreciate that they have a seat in a very inexpensive economy car, so next time, I went up a bit, lol. I did not do all the tricks those Disney Heads do. I would not take out a Disney credit card to earn Disney points, or buying all the Target gcs. I just used the same discount company, didn't save much but it was better than nothing. One thing I did at Disney was I had read you can get a cup of water free at any food place. Then we didn't have to lug water bottles and refill them at dirty water fountains. I felt funny at first, not buying food or anything, then I thought about the tons of money Disney has made from our family, and it was ok. We stayed on site once when it was just DD and me, we hated it and for the same or less, we could've done a condo with a pool, done all the saving on food, had a car to do other things. We were at Port Orleans, I think. Not the cheapest resort, maybe one level up, pretty on the outside, small normal hotel room on the inside. Long bus waits. Just not our way of doing Disney.

As for real life, I always take at least one step to save money, like I will never ever pay close to retail for almost anything, especially clothes, furniture, food, my brain rebels against retail. I will buy retail on a few items in my grocery cart but for the most part, I wait for a sale and stock up. Even nice restaurants I usually have a coupon, my dad loves Texas de Brazil now that we have one. We go when one meal is free, thus two people eat well for about $26 each, a rare treat and one I won't do without a good coupon. I will not buy anything I can get for free at the library, even e-books and my library has long waiting lists for e-books. Before a vacation, I will buy 2 e-books for convenience of not packing books and being able to bring the multi-use iPad. I'm 50% on Apple products, if I can get a great refurbed item from them with the warranty, I will do that. Somehow I got a reputation in the family as being good at negotiating for a car, now my dad, his sibs, a cousin or two have brought me with them. I'm not doing anything difficult that anyone else can't do, so not sure how this happened, lol.

I used to super coupon HBA because I drove by drugstores all day long as I saw patients in different towns. I didn't take lunch and I would use that time to run into some random CVS and get the good deal, usually free items combined with coupons and all the CVS steps. I did have two garage sales of just free HBA and netted $1400 that I put my Roth, earmarked for college as were other deposits. Then it got to be too much work, DD used to help me clip and organize coupons but she got bored. So I just stopped. I'd like to start again, just enough to get freebies we need just at our house.

Now that I am ill and need Cobra, expensive meds, and equipment, I'm learning how to not pay the highest price for everything. I was very ill when I had to sign up for Cobra, could not comparison shop, it's not a great plan but if you use our big hospital, testing and MD network, care is pretty cheap. However, all the neuro stuff I need can only be done at our competitor. So I am paying thousands I have never had to pay before. NYS has it's own marketplace of health plans, Mon I am making an appt with someone who helps you figure out the best plan for you. For my upcoming test at the competitor, I spoke to the finance people who said afterwards, I can apply for charity care or work out a lower cost for the testing. But there is a high chance of brain surgery happening in the next few months and the guru is at the competitor and I will not compromise on my brain, lol. So I HAVE to fix the insurance problem ASAP. When meds are too expensive even with my drug plan, I called drug companies, they had grants and discount cards, I have saved tons. Under COBRA, I'm paying for dental but it is not a good plan. My dad found this very inexpensive Cigna discount program, participating dentists accept it, my parents have saved so much, it looks like this may be cheaper than Cobra dental. I have the phone number to get this if anyone needs it. Medical equipment not covered by your insurance is way more expensive at a medical supply company, even with the employee discount I had. Amazon, Jet and Ebay have great deals. I need a certain piece that retails for $178, I found a new one on Ebay for $40 and $20 shipping, the person died having never used it. Score!

ok, finally shutting up. A med I take for my brain has a side effect of me talking non-stop, SORRY!

[HappySaver]

The best way I save money is not to buy something in the first place.

I decide if I'm willing to spend the money on something (do I actually need it, or is it a consciously thought through purchase of something I want) and how it fits into the monthly expenses; only then do I shop.

I don't coupon. I buy practically no processed foods so that wouldn't help me much anyway, at least for groceries. I do shop at farmers markets as much as possible.

For the past year I've been cutting my own hair. This is probably only practical if you're a women with longer hair that you can reach, but that's been a huge money saver. YouTube is your friend. Practice helps. With my last hair cut in particular I've been getting compliments left and right. I don't tell anyone - I just smile.

Very often my purchases are made online. I always track the item afterwards and if it goes on sale I request a price reduction. I favor stores that have good customer service policies for returns and price adjustments. These stores also tend to carry higher quality items - I would rather buy less but of better quality that will last longer. I do try to wait until they have a sale and with clothes I also take it a little as a challenge to wait until the price drops, as it almost always does. I'm on the mailing list of just a couple select stores so that I get their discounts via email.

I get rewards back from my credit cards, but I don't go nuts trying to maximize every offer out there. I won't get store credit cards. I do have those member cards (like from CVS) to get the lower price a few of my most shopped stores.

I will always send in the rebate. That's easy money.

[MonkeyMama]

The discount was over $1.00 off per gallon (x 20 gallons), but what a pain!

How annoying!

That's also the beauty of just printing it on the receipt. If the electronic system doesn't work they just have to over-ride the register. Has never been a problem. (This grocery store would just hand us $20 cash in an instance like that, if they couldn't get it fixed).

[MonkeyMama]

I always track the item afterwards and if it goes on sale I request a price reduction. I favor stores that have good customer service policies for returns and price adjustments.

It's a given that if we buy anything it always goes on sale after. Price adjustments are more common for us than using coupons.

[disneysteve]

Our grocery store has a gas station. Instead of having to give them all our personal info and carry a card (like some stores), they just print coupons on our grocery receipts (which you can scan at the pump).

Yep, that's not a thing around here. No grocery store that I'm aware of has a gas station associated with it.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Not common in Northeast DS gas savings. Other places do it.

I agree with HS. I don't buy it. Also I try to save on big ticket items and I will clip a coupon or check if there is a deal online. But for the most post I'm not a big coupon clipper. I do tend to save on airline tickets and tickets to parks or something that is an easy save for big money.

I am not a clothes fan so I don't watch websites and huge sales. I buy a set amount of clothes for the kids and that's it. 10-14 days and that's it. I don't buy clothes just because it's a $1.99 at goodwill. That's $1.99 can stick back in my pocket. Will i buy a bigger size if needed? Yes but the kid doesn't need more than 2 pairs of shoes. I'd rather not spend the money by not having it.

[disneysteve]

The best way I save money is not to buy something in the first place.

Well that goes without saying around here. My point was to see how far people go to save on things they are going to buy.

[HappySaver]

Well that goes without saying around here. My point was to see how far people go to save on things they are going to buy.

But it never hurts to repeat it.

I think the rest of my post addressed what you were looking for.

I don't have much to add in terms of travel, which was the general starting point for the thread. Whenever possible we use points for flights, car rentals and hotels, since we are lucky to collect a great deal of them. That sometimes means not picking your preferred option but that one you can get with the points. For flights I will pay more for non-stop, within reason. I absolutely will not do more than one stop (assuming domestic) even if that means a higher airfare cost. We have rented outside of the airport if it comes out cheaper (it doesn't always). If the airline is offering you money to take the next flight because they're overbooked, I will never be the one to take that offer. On the other hand, I hate paying for taxis/parking when I can walk, even if it means a much much longer walk than most would do. I have traversed ridiculous lengths through Manhattan on foot.

In another thread I mentioned my refinance dilemma. Ultimately we would have saved money with the refinance, but not enough to make it worth the hassle. So apparently we won't go that far to save money if it means going through going the time and effort and dealings with the bank .

[disneysteve]

Whenever possible we use points for flights, car rentals and hotels

We have a Marriott rewards Visa and get hotel points from that. I'm always a little unsure when it's best to use points and when it's best to pay cash. If we earned zillions of points, like some people I know who travel a lot for business, it probably wouldn't matter. But I try and make sure I'm getting good value when I use them. So I'll tend to save them for stays that I perceive as being a good use of the points.

[FLA]

I have reached a new low in steps I will take to "save" money. My dad had his free meal coupon from Father's Day at Texas de Brazil. Expires Thurs. We could only go today. My dad said we can go tomorrow. We are having a family meeting with my mom's doc to finally hopefully get her on hospice. There is not a snowball's chance in hell she can do that and eat out. My brother has blown into town but is blowing right back out. So my dad and I would be leaving my mom who will be upset if she did get hospice and upset if she didn't. And he's fine leaving her alone while he eats his weight in Brazilian meats!

So he's like, "tonight's the night", I get a 5p reservation, the minute they open, my dad is apparently expecting that horde of 5pm Brazilian meat eaters are gonna take all the tables.

BUT, after months of insurance BS, I finally got a 24 hr EEG put on just before dinner. This involves electrodes stuck all over my head, with wires coming out of them that are connected to a box I carry. The lady doing it and I were chatting, mentioned my dad and his obsession with his free meal and that I have to go there after this. She shows me a mirror, I go O.M.G. She starts laughing and wraps tons of gauze around my head to "hide" this hot mess.

I happened to be having a very bad balance day, my legs were like jello, there was no way in hell, I could walk from the parking lot, through the mall into the restaurant. Tell dad, I need wheelchair, please. He's annoyed, he is focused on one thing only. He must've thought I was in the chair because he pulled it back just as I went to sit in it, he wasn't even watching, I land on the ground, and he's the one who is pissed! I finally get in chair.

We're early, he's telling me everything he's going to eat, I'm starting to be a little out of it, he has to keep pushing me upright, lol. Doors open, we race in, the only people there. I am not asking for a wheelchair ride to the BR, so I stagger over, and in the tiny stall, bam, fall. Grrrrr!!! Of course, I didn't use the handicapped BR, oh no, I had to show off. I try pulling myself up by grabbing the toilet paper holder, yeah, that comes off the wall. My only choice is to touch the toilet! I wash my hands like I'm about to perform my own brain surgery and hobble back to my dad. Who is already in full force with the meats. He didn't wonder why I was gone so long? He got sick of waiting and just ate? This right here is when HE took too many steps to save money. If you are so blinded by your free meal that you fail to notice your very wobbly daughter has not returned to the table, you have crossed the line into cheap bastard-hood. He asks why I'm not eating, as I Purell my hands a few times. Ugh, gross. But I ate.

Various family members need to see what Don will do to his daughter to "save " $44 on a meal that somehow still cost $93 with tip and I offered to pay and THAT made his night! So I had the waiter take pictures of dear old dad and me in my new headgear. He has reached a new low, that is somehow an expensive low, when his point was to save money. He has the hugest smile on his face!

[HappySaver]

Never was the meaning truer "it's the thought that counts". On your part, of course, being the very good daughter that you are.

Hope you feel better.

P.S. I had to laugh at your story while feeling your pain. My dad would be exactly the same way.

[disneysteve]

"save " $44 on a meal that somehow still cost $93 with tip

Sorry for your whole saga and hope you're feeling better.

Just wanted to comment on this, though. It is so true. Very often a "deal" turns out to cost you more than it's worth, especially if it makes you do something you weren't going to do.

Years ago, we won a "free" cruise. It wasn't a scam or anything shady. It was a bingo prize we won while on a cruise. The prize was a free cruise for 2 on a future sailing.

By the time we were done, the free cruise was anything but free. Why? The prize was for 2 but there are 3 of us, so we had to pay the regular fare for our daughter. The prize didn't include taxes and port fees of a few hundred dollars per person. The prize was cruise-only. It didn't include transportation. We had to pay for airfare and ground transport. We always fly in a day early for cruises so had to pay for that hotel room. The prize didn't include any extras or activities on the cruise so we paid for drinks, shore excursions, etc.

So the free cruise we had no plans to take ended up costing us about $3,000.