<p>Shop TJMaxx, Ross Dress for Less and Marshalls for EVERYTHING, not just dorm stuff. Shop their clearance racks & shelves and save even more! Also Target, especially weekly specials and clearance shelves.</p>
<p>Join Ace Hardware’s (if there’s one near you) frequent buyer program - you get coupons which are basically gift cards quarterly, amount varies depending on how much you spent in the previous quarter, plus various other coupons & deals. The prices and rebates on their monthly/weekly specials are very good, and you get good customer service (unlike Lowe’s and Home Despot). If you’re an Ace Rewards Member, you can submit the rebates online -VERY easy, and their rebates are pretty substantial.</p>
<p>The clearance racks at Kohl’s can be AMAZING, when the prices are 80% off the original, or more. Plus, if you have a Kohl’s charge card, you can almost always get an <em>additional</em> 15-30% off the super-low clearance price.
Likewise 80%+ off clearances at Macy’s - if you have a Macy’s charge, there are very frequent offers to save an additional 15-20%.
Just make sure you pay off these charge cards, and ALL credit cards, in full every month, of course!</p>
<p>For car maintenace and repairs (you drive old cars, of course) we have a Firestone Credit card - works like the Ace Rewards deal, where you get a quarterly rebate check to use on your next purchase. The amount varies depending on how much you charged the previous quarter - our rebate check has been as high as $80! When you first get the card you save something like 10% off the first purchase. Also they send good coupon deals in the mail. You can double-up and use a rebate check plus a coupon when you go in for maintenance/tires/repairs. Another great feature - 6 months same as cash (with a small monthly amount due) on all purchases. It really helps to be able to spread out those big repair bills. There’s a Firestone shop/dealer very close to us, and we’ve saved hundreds of dollars since getting their card. The savings by getting the lifetime rotate/balance and lifetime alignment when you buy tires there really adds up as well.</p>
<p>Re: Hunt’s “unless you really need it” comment - emphasis on the word “NEED” - teach your kids (and train yourself) to distinguish between “wants” and “needs”.</p>
<p>Few people really NEED a smart phone, or cable TV - they just think they do.</p>
<p>I agree about shopping for clearance items, etc. However, don’t buy something just because it’s drastically reduced. Buy it only if you really need it *and *it’s drastically reduced.</p>
<p>Here’s one that might not be so relevant for a college student, but it could be: if you stock up on a food item that’s on sale, it’s no bargain if you end up throwing it out because it is expired, or because you get sick of eating it. Same goes for very large containers of some kinds of food that you might get tired of. How may Craisins will you eat?</p>
<p>Somebody mentioned the library for DVDs–don’t forget that you can also check out *books *there for free.</p>
<p>Another tip if you listen to a lot of music on your computer–you don’t have to buy the music-there are lots of free ways to listen. One easy way is to make a playlist on YouTube. Almost every song you can think of is on there, usually with its video.</p>
<p>I find that the best way to save on car maintenance is to find a good, friendly and honest mechanics that own their own shop, and better yet if they let you bring your own parts. Never do anything at the dealers unless it is a manufacturer recall especially avoid doing 15k, 30k, etc… at the dealer. Read the owners manual and do the things that you need to do according to schedule in the manual. You can get parts online or on ebay at 30-60% off whether it be oem or after-market parts. That 15k checkup will cost you hundreds dollars for maybe an extra air filter that you can change yourself for less $10.</p>
<p>You don’t need to do oil change every 3000 miles, again check your owners manual for recommended interval. I have been using synthetic oil for my newest car and you can double the oil change interval when using synthetic if your car engine is fine with it. Synthetic oil can be bought a lot more inexpensively online or when it is on sale. Same goes for filter. I basically change oil/filter twice a year at about 7500 miles interval using synthetic. I ended up spend less money and most importantly less time this way.</p>
<p>Hunt, in terms of buying in quantity, it’s important to not be a slave to expiration dates-- they’re at best only a guideline, and many things are fine WELL past the so-called “expiration” date. The taste may decline slightly or seem a bit stale, but if it looks okay and smells okay (can not bulging, no mold growing, etc) it’s okay to eat.
I shudder to think how many tons of food are wasted each year by people thinking that food should be tossed one day after the “expiration” date…</p>
<p>Oh, I agree. I just ate a bag of pita chips that were two YEARS past the expiration date. They were a little dry, but edible. But I’ve been unhappy with some expired food, like microwave popcorn.</p>
<p>I’m not in your league. I never insisted that they go to breakfast, just that they choose meal plans with 14 meals or fewer so that they wouldn’t be prepaying for breakfasts that would never be eaten. I gave them cash for the difference in cost between the smaller and larger meal plans (knowing that this money would be spent on late-night food rather than early-morning food).</p>
<p>My son didn’t have the option of a meal plan without breakfast, which is why we’ve been hounding him to eat breakfast. Whatever plan they have, they should eat the meals.</p>
<p>Hunt, you are so right! Our DD got the unlimited meal plan FY, but missed almost every breakfast and 2 lunches a week due to team practice and class schedules. She also did not take advantage of the dining hall’s late night hours or her free pizza credits much. She used all of the plan’s dining dollars ($500 for the year) at the convenience deli/market to replace the missed lunches and snacks.</p>
<p>We are saving $1,100 next year by moving her down to 150 flex meals per semester and giving her $500 PER SEMESTER to buy dining dollars. I expect she will have $ left over.</p>
<p>We expect to save even more when she moves off campus the last 2 years.</p>
<p>It’s already been mentioned but wanted to point out that S’s school had insurance for $1000 just automatically built into the tuition. Since he’s covered on ours had it removed. He can still use the University health center for cold & allergies, etc.</p>
<p>In 2009, when the economy was tanking & so was our discretionary spending we called to cancel water delivery, garbage contractor (there was a competing firm), newspaper, cable & lawn. Everyone negotiated-- since we were willing to do w/out.</p>
<p>DDs school requires the first two years on campus with meal plan but it is flexible spending. She usually has several hundred dollars left at the end of the semester. At move out I make sure we go to the on campus store and use every penny. Otherwise they keep it. Laundry detergent, aspirin, cleaning supplies, sodas, anything that won’t expire we take it home.</p>
<p>We cancelled the newspaper and magazines. We go to library more often than ever.
Cancelled the landscaping service, we do the lawn and mulch by ourself. Good excerise!
Got a better rate for garbage.
Use coupon all the time. We won’t go eat out without Groupon.
CancelLed the cable TV, use Netflix and of course, Internet, YouTube…
Time to have new washer and dryer, we are thinking about steam W/D if they really safe for dry-cleaning only clothes.</p>
<p>What else we can do? Oh, I haven’t go to neiman marcus or bloomingales for a long time, now, outlets are my favorite! But, not-buying will be my best friend if I can control myself.</p>
<p>I don’t buy textbooks. If you go to library.nu you can find many textbooks available for download. You have to register as it shows a much smaller selection if you are not logged in, but it is free to sign up.</p>
<p>If the books you need aren’t there, you can still usually find the books you need in the library. </p>
<p>If you’re really trying to save on food, I’ve found that I can often bum guest meals from others. Though this is getting increasingly harder as the classes I take start having fewer freshmen.</p>
<p>I think the most important thing is to do a really careful analysis of where the money is actually going. Keep a log for a few weeks of cash expenditures. Analyze a year’s worth of credit card payments and checks. You might be shocked at how much money is going to Starbucks, or the “occasional” dinner out, or to online purchases.</p>
<p>Getting our kids and their friends to stop using the mall as an activity has saved a great deal. The kids spend a lot more time together, rotating between houses - every house has different “entertainment” (lake house, XBox/Wii gaming, beauty spa stuff, arts & crafts, pool table, etc.)so it keeps things from getting too boring.</p>
<p>Some people – and my husband is one of them – find it entertaining to sell things on E-bay. If you have stuff you don’t need any more, you can declutter your house this way and make a little money in the process. </p>
<p>Another thing that I find helpful is to go out of my way to avoid buying clothing that requires dry cleaning. Paying for dry cleaning is like paying ransom to get your clothes back.</p>