1. Don't cut out the internet if you are looking at ways to cut back. The internet is one of the most powerful money saving tools you have. You can save tons of money paying bills online rather than writing checks. I have never had my info stolen, nor have I ever missed a payment by it getting lost.
2. Compare bank rates at www.bankrate.com. Consider moving your savings to an online savings bank instead. Check your credit report for free. www.annualcreditreport.com Keep track of your spending. I use www.mvelopes.com for a fee through crown but I just found a free one at www.mint.com. Pay bills on time so you avoid late fees. If you use credit cards pay them off if you can or switch them to a lower interest rate. www.cardratings.com. Earn rewards for college at www.upromise.com.
3. Save on kids meals when eating out by using www.kidsmealdeals.com. It will tell you local kids eat free deals. Use www.restaurant.com to get great discounts on local restaurants. They periodically do 80% off sales where you can get $25 gift certificates for $2. Get the local entertainment book. There is tons of coupons for Buy 1 Get 1 Free. Stop going to restaurants. Try making your own instead. Have a Macaroni Grill night at home. It's really fun. You can get the recipes for free or very cheap at www.topsecretrecipes.com.
4. Stop using 411 on your cell phone. Try 1-800-373-3411 instead. You have to listen to a quick commercial but it beats $1.25 per info call. Use the internet at home for other numbers, or pick up a phone book at Save Mart. Consider changing your existing home phone to a internet phone or eliminating it altogether if you have a cell phone. You can try Vonage, Skype, or magicjack.com I use Skype for international calls always. It is way cheaper than anything else out there or even free if the other person has it. Cut your cell bill by having it analyzed at www.billshrink.com, and sell your old cell phones at www.cellforcash.com
5. Don't buy computers new, get the refurbished for much less. It comes with the same warrantee. Check out Dell, HP, or Apple. Don't buy Microsoft office, you can get all that stuff for free at www.openoffice.org. Download free antivirus stuff from avg.com, Free spyware from, lavasoft.com (Ad-aware) or safer-networking.org (spybot-search & destroy) and a free firewall from zonealarm.com.
6. Find the best price on cars at www.cars.com or cartango.com. Find the cheapest gas at www.gasbuddy.com, cut your insurance costs by comparing rates at www.insurance.com. Find the middle meeting place for friends who live far away at www.happymedian.com
7. Fly cheaply by buying your ticket online. Look for the lowest prices at www.bookingbuddy.com. Sign up for airfare alerts at www.airfarewatchdog.com, and get advice on when to buy your tickets at www.farecast.com.
8. Find hotel specials at www.hotels.com or name your price at priceline.com. If you want to go to Disney try www.mousesavers.com Also for homeschoolers. There is often discounts everywhere for amusement parks. Legoland and Marineland give the best deals I've ever seen. Check them out!
9. Use coupons for groceries. Subscribe to the newspaper if you don't get it already for the Sunday paper which is where most coupons are. You can also get coupons online at www.coupons.com but make sure your grocery store takes them as not all of them will. Winco for example does not accept them. You can get a discount on the subscription at www.discountednewspapers.com. Walmart carries a magazine called All you magazine that has lots of coupons and money saving tips. Do not be brand loyal. Believe me when I tell you that your clothes wash the same, your teeth clean the same, your dishes wash the same, etc. with different brands. I'm not brand loyal to anything except mayonaise. Consider subscribing to a service like refundcents.com which is where I get a lot of my money saving tips. Do meal planning, and shop with a list, and stick to the list. Check what you have on hand when you plan your meals so you can use up fruits and vegetables before they go bad. Do the rebates. Lots of them are in the sunday paper or even online. I got a $25 movie card recently for a rebate which became a christmast present. Awesome!
10. Buy your magazines at www.bestdealmagazines.com. I can't believe the discounts and they change all the time. Never again pay full price.
11. Start looking for grants and scholarships. There is tons of free money out there for everything imaginable. College scholarships, programs for summer camp kid programs, etc. There are grants for your home, you name it, it's out there if you look for it and take the time and effort to write it. We have gotten several grants for summer camp. We just got an awesome grant for our home and it cost us nothing but a little time to write it and gather the information requested.
12. Use the library. I spent half my life at the library as a kid. If I hadn't become a nurse, I defintely would have been a librarian. They have books, magazines, and movies for nothing. No you may not get the latest and greatest, but they hit the library eventually and the cost is nothing. Not to mention they have wonderful kid programs every summer at no cost as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment