I have been trying to keep a track of my expenses for the last two months and I am trying to figure out a way to cut down on my monthly expenses by a bit and try and save that money for a better use. I have managed to get down my expenses on fuel by carpooling with my neighbor. I have brought down my energy bill by a bit by installing a solar water heater in my house. Apart from that I have not been able to bring down any other costs. Do you have any ideas? How do you do it? Your views and comments on this subject would be appreciated. Thank you
There is a saying that no matter how small, it counts. When it comes to saving money, my first in the list is the electricity. Take for instance the air conditioning which is a necessity during summer. As much as possible, I delay the turning on by an hour and advance the turning by another hour. That’s already 2 hours of electricity. With the food, I always make a proper computation of the volume. Leftover is a big part of waste and expense so I focus on that. If we eat right then there is no wastage. Planning your trip with a car is a good idea because it can really save money considering that gas is expensive. We also have many ideas in saving water like re-using rinsing water for irrigating the garden. Every little thing counts and if added up, it will matter.
Yes I think a lot of people opt out of the mortgage thing today and go back to the land-so you could adopt a lot of these ways. One would be to have a garden and grow some of your food-and look into a little bit of solar power as well. Also you could use your bike to shop at the market and to get some errands done in your village,but the key is to live one day at a time and really get creative and enjoy life!
I have figured out plenty of ways to save the last couple of months because I am trying to do a better job with budgeting. I cut out my Birchbox subscription which saves us $10 a month. My husband and I are only buying espresso coffee 3 days a week now, which saves us $42 A week. I am also buying cheaper food, which I estimate will save us another $100 A month. I am also looking for new ways to save.
I don't have any. My best idea will always be to avoid superfluous spending and over-buying (which I already do naturally... so, it's something that I have no problem doing). It has been very effective for me.
I have biogas installed in my home this saves money on cooking fuel. Installing domestic biogas plant is not very costly. You can use your kitchen waste and other organic waste to generate gas for your kitchen. I have also installed solar panel in my home which I use to light the house as well as heat water in the bathroom. Food is number one expenses, you can cut food cost by growing vegetables in your back yard or terraces,.
As mentioned in some of my other posts, I'd say the putting stuff on a grocery store and gasoline card is a big help. Anyway, some other ideas include walking, riding a bike, using public transport, or getting in a car pool. Finally, of course, limiting the distance you travel every day also saves money.
Saving by watching sales is one big way to save money. Locally on Oahu in Hawaii we have weekly supermarket sales like CVS and Walgreens have weekly sales so do grocery stores have sales. If there are no circulars check online for them. Many stores now days have loyalty rewards cards free to obtain. Online stores have their sites you join and get even better savings. I got an extra $5 off my grocery bill at Safeway because I clicked on their digital $5 off when you purchase $20 & over! So it's worth to get store cards, sign up on their sites see what their weekly sales are and get bigger savings just for checking what's on sale. If you're a Senior Citizen, Walgreens has Senior discount every first Tuesday of every month. Saver's Thrift Store has a membership card free to get and sign up for their email alerts on sales and discount. We get a Senior Day discount locally from Savers every week. Check their site for more information. These are some ways I save money. Clipping coupons that comes in our Sunday newspapers is a grand way to save extra too for purchases on sale as well as using coupons, double savings. It adds up when you buy via sales, use coupons and having store cards. If you have a Walmart, many products are just cheaper than any stores most of the times. Walmart has health friendly products too, for a lot cheaper than other stores too. Happy savings!