<p>Switched from premium to mid-grade gas. Fewer meals out but that might be because the weather has been so nasty we just stay home. Raised rent on tenants. Used Hotwire more on trips. Started working more hours.</p>
<p>Working lots of OT to make enough money to offset the rising fuel costs. I drive about 600 miles per week in my Dodge Caravan, sometimes more if there are extra ballet rehearsals D needs to attend.</p>
<p>Sometimes I think it would be cheaper to eat crap than buy groceries, 3 footlong subs at Subway is $15 but fixings for subs made at home is about twice that. </p>
<p>I try to buy 6 gallons of milk and 6 loaves of bread every 2 weeks, saves trips to the store for those things and stops impulse buys. I have found that to be a HUGE money saver. Making my own lattes at home and bringing my own coffee to work in the morning is also a huge money saver. I found a little Melitta personal coffee maker that you pour hot water over regular coffee, it sits on your cup and makes much better coffee than the work cafeteria. </p>
<p>I also just found out about Platos Closet which is a chain of second hand stores that cater only to teens. You can sell clothes there and get Abercrombie, Aero, and Hollister stuff there dirt cheap and in great condition. They are extremely picky, turned away a ton of stuff the day I was there. We spent $24 and came home with 6 tops. Not too shabby. They have a website PlatosCloset.com There is probably one near you.</p>
<p>Momof3stars, great tips! We don’t have a Plato’s closet around here but my niece shops there all the time. That and the Goodwill store and she is most fashionably dressed.<br>
The coffee is a huge money saver too.<br>
Although the person who posted about vegetarianism…that’s another one of those myths. Buying decent produce is more expensive than buying a cheap cut of meat or chicken. Agreed with above about it is cheaper to eat bad food out than it is to make food at home.<br>
I have been bringing lunch to work and trying to spend less on groceries by planning ahead.
One of my siblings works at a gas station, says they are cheaper on bread and milk than the chain grocery store by far so next time you get gas you might want to check in their little market.<br>
PackMom as for giving away, we don’t have it here but where my Mom is they have a “swap shop” at the landfill. If you bring something useable you don’t need you just leave it and if there is something you want there you just take it.
She gets great stuff all the time. Just sent me two knock off purses, one Prada, one Guess…brand new. Wish we had that around here as it keeps stuff out of the landfill and saves people money.</p>
<p>Oh, I get coffee at my local Dunkin Donuts by the bag. I get 4 bags for $20. I make it home, and my DH takes it to work. We bought 1000 of those nice Dixie hot cups with travel lids online and that was less expensive than even Costco’s price (at least that is what DH told me).</p>
<p>You’d be amazed what your neighbors throw away. My dh has come back from walking the dog with some amazing stuff…2 brand new computer keyboards, garden tools, a excellent bicycle that needed a douse with a hose and a spray can, some very nice framed posters and more. If we can’t use it, we pass it along to Goodwill or the like. Some people are just too busy/lazy to take it there themselves and just throw stuff out even if it is still good. I’m typing this at a solid wood desk that somebody dragged out to the curb with a ‘free’ sign on it but most of it is just out by the curb on trash day.</p>
<p>“What people throw away”</p>
<p>The people upstairs moved out, left the floor covered with silver coins. They left behind a whole roll of duck tape, who throws out duck tape?</p>
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<p>You mean, like, money??! :eek:</p>
<p>As in quarters, dimes, nickels. Bizarre.</p>
<p>Duct tape, not duck tape.</p>
<p>I save money by taking on additional responsibility at work - less time on ebay or shopping online (at work), and too tired to out on weekends.</p>
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<p>I bought a $275 Dooney and Bourke purse at Goodwill a few weeks ago for…$3 :)</p>
<p>No real vacations or trips into NYC for shows. We consider trips to get our daughter at school our vacation - a dinner out with her is our splurge.</p>
<p>Very few meals out or take-out orders. No pre-made or convenience items. I try to make a enough at dinner so I can send DH to work with leftovers for lunch. Ebeee, we are vegetarians and you are so right about how expensive produce can be! It also takes a lot of fruits and veggies to feel satisfied. I find I save a lot on food if I plan my meals for a week and go to the farmers’ market for produce. </p>
<p>More careful planning for errands. Driving the car as little as possible. I wish we had better public transportation where we live, I would use it in a heartbeat!</p>
<p>Could be duck tape…did it quack? </p>
<p>How much money is coin are we talking? Sounds like somebody was trying to keep the CIA from listening to their brainwaves. Remember folks, shiny side out!</p>
<p>Walk to work – save two miles of gas a day, not much, but still :)</p>
<p>Run around the house turning off the lights like mad (should have done that years ago.)</p>
<p>Instead of movies out (entailing gas and tickets), seeing movies on TBS and other free channels at home, even if I’ve seen them 100 times (and if I have, that means I like them, so it’s all good!)</p>
<p>Costco is the closest grocery store near my house. I time my weekly runs so I buy both gas and food at the same time. And if I bring a shopping list, I do not buy extra stuff and actually save a ton of money. I discovered that our Cosco “business center” carries food-service sized packages of stuff (think bigger than regular Costco-sized stuff). A lot of it freezes really well. I bought a slab of real steak last night, which cost 40% less than the pre-cut pieces my H drooled over at our regular Costco. I played butcher tonight, and we ate grilled steak for dinner. Yum. And the dog thought we were gods :)</p>
<p>I “heart” Macy’s 50% off 50% reduced clearance clothes and shoes. DSW Shoes clearance prices are hard to beat ($15 for $200 boots - ha!), and Nordy’s Rack is a great place for bargains if you can spare an evening of digging though the shelves in total disarray.</p>
<p>Live close to work, drive a beater for a car, shop at Food4Less, don’t buy “stuff”.</p>
<p>if you time your Costco trip properly, when the food demonstrators are going full force, you can have a “free” lunch making the rounds of the samples over and over. The seniors in my neighborhood do it all the time.</p>
<p>Drive slower and drive less.
Telecommute when possible.
Plan one trip to the store per week and purchase everything needed for the week.
Eat in instead of eat out.
Walk to the park instead of driving to the gym.</p>
<p>I was down to 14 miles of driving per week last week. I don’t think I can sustain that but I will try.</p>
<p>I now view oil as a curse. Money spent on gasoline/oil goes to support horrible middle eastern countries intent on destroying freedom and democracy.</p>
<p>Not to mention CEOs pulling down 400 million a year…</p>
<p>I wish I did not live so rurally that carpooling/public trans were in the car for me. Even the building I work in is rural…we have been lobbying the company for a compressed work week and/or telecommuting since the company we just merged with offers both of these things but I really don’t foresee it happening anytime soon. With a $600/month gas bill I am basically working to get to work a lot of the time. I work as much OT as I can and on Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays we are given milage to come to work (mine comes to $33 each day I come in) so I try to take advantage of that. We are also given an extra $5 meal allowance if we work 10 hours or more in a given day or 5 hours or more on Sat, Sun, or holidays so w/ a few of those $5 allowances, and a couple of milage allowances in each check it is very helpful.</p>
<p>These high oil prices are being driven up by market speculators looking to make a quick buck. The tech bubble moved to a real estate bubble and now moved into a commodities bubble. The prices do not reflect traditional supply and demand fundamentals. </p>
<p>I think oil and commodity prices will fall soon. Oil will fall to around $80/bbl sometime this year and fall to $50/bbl in the medium term. </p>
<p><em>Disclaimer - I work for a Big 5 Oil company</em> </p>
<p>In the meantime to save money, I switched my upcoming Las Vegas trip hotel reservation from the Palazzo to the Mirage. I’m still driving my paid-off SUV…I did a cost/benefit analysis, and payoff for gas savings would be about 5 years if I bought a Honda Civic.</p>