Topic : Money Saving Tips and Tricks

Seems like you have some good insight into life.   I work with several people who work 2 jobs (although the number of extra hours involved in their second jobs varies a lot from a few hours, to a second full time job) and have also known and worked with other people working 2 jobs.   The ones who work a larger number of hours at a second job (let's say about 20 or more) are constantly sick, look emotionally drained, and they look half dead.  Then you have to consider the costs of extra medical care, child care, and extra services to make up for the time spent at work.   Even scarier some of these people are nurses and then you have to think about medical errors.    I do live a very different lifestyle from a lot of the 2 job workers, but the important thing is I get to enjoy my life.  I get to have hobbies, relaxation time, and fun.   I agree that today's society is way to materialistic.   It is also sad seeing that some people make so little, and it is sad that we don't pay people enough to at least have a decent life on.  

Have you looked into government assistance?    You might qualify, if for nothing else at least medical care for your children.  

I like most of those.  I actually do spend, my change and find that it saves me money in the long run.  The quarters I need anyway for laundary.  I keep a regular towel in the kitchen and only use paper towels if I need them.  

More Money Saving Tips and Mistakes to avoid

Here are some money saving tips:  

   

If you have a farmers market near you, get up early (be there around 7 am) on Saturday morning.  Last Saturday, I bought fresh butter peas, early peas (english peas), brocolli (2 heads), 3 lemons, and a bag of plums.  I splurged and bought a boquet of camilias.  I spend about $15.  On other trips, I have spent about that much for tomatoes, green beans, lemons, strawberries, and flowers (I have a thing for flowers).  They also sell melons, potatoes, peanuts, squash, etc.  It's a fun thing to do and economical and healthy.  You can go later than 7 a.m., but the items get picked over.  

   

After I finished my shopping at the farmer's market, I went home to unload my produce and flowers.  Then I went garage selling.  I bought a good, namebrand blender for $5.00.  My husband bought a John Deer lawn mower for $40.    

   

Last week, I bought a Faberware waffle maker (makes 4 waffles at a time) for $5.00.  It converts into a grill.  It can be laid out flat for pancakes or eggs or folded up to make grilled sandwiches.  It looked brand new, but had a knob missing.  It was set for medium so when I want crunchier waffles, I just let it cook a little longer.  I'm trying my Osterizer blender out tonight for strawberry short cakes.  

   

Mistakes I've made this year:  

   

1.  signed up for Direct TV, high speed internet, and unlimited long distance through Bell South.  While I love the service, I am ticked, because my bill goes up every month!  I was very careful before I committed to a year of this service in that after I figured in the rebates and what I was paying for separate long distance telephone and dial up (s l o w) internet, it was suppose to cost me only $15 a month more.  I felt that was worth it because then I could get the Direct TV and watch more interesting programs.  When my contract is up in December, I will look into separate services.  

   

2.  My husband kept putting off fixing the plumbing, so I decided to do it myself while he was away traveling.  Let me tell you, I took the kitchen sink faucet apart and couldn't get the new faucet tight enough - I didn't have the right tools.  I took the toilet apart and couldn't get it back together so I decided I would fix the bathroom sink (I became obsessed!).  I could get it back together, but they no longer  make the part I needed.  I was sick of water leaking.  So when my husband came home, I had a mess.  He said call a plumber.  I did and then I got taken by the plumber - my husband was traveling again so I couldn't call him at the time, because he was in a meeting.  The plumbers found mildew from a behind the wall pipe in my bathroom, fixed that, fixed the toilet, replaced the faucet w/a new faucet in the bathroom, and put in the new faucet I bought at Lowes.  It set up back $1632!!! Ouch! mistake.  The lesson learned is that if I couldn't get my husband to fix it, I should have called a handy man (one that is popular around town) and got an estimate...this handy man gives free estimates.  The good thing that came from all of this is now when something breaks, my husband is quick to fix it himself.  

   

So you see, I may be older, but I'm still learning.  I hope I helped 

Always read the descriptions of the products very carefully.  Some people are tricky.  For instance, I like to buy Partylite products.  There was an ad for a candle holder that fits on a patio table and in the title they had the word Partylite.  Well I bought the candle holder, and it ran a little under $52 with shipping.  As it turned out, it wasn't Partylite.  The seller would send you some Partylite candles for it if you used the Buyitnow option - $49.99 plus shipping.  The candle holder was not Partylite.  In fact, I found the exact same candle holder through ABC for $7.95!!!  The seller used the same picture.  When the candle holder arrived, it would not connect together properly.  Someone had tried to fix it buy drilling another hole in it, but the hole wasn't deep enough.  One votive holder was cracked.  It was a small chip under the rim.  That told me it wasn't cracked from shipping, but rather from banging together when someone had used it.   Also, the paint was worn and thin.  This seller was one of the "Power Sellers."  Her feedback rating was 99.1%  After I read their feedback, I could see that they could afford to give others bad ratings for complaining, because their sells were in volume.  I only had a sell/buy rating of 50, but my feedback rating is 100%.  Now, I read the feedback.  If it is less than 100%, I look at how many sells/buys they have.  If it is a fairly new seller with a small number of sells, I look for the negative feedback and try to determine if one of the power sellers gave them a retallitory feedback rating for complaining.  In this case, I decided to leave no feedback to this power seller because it wasn't worth hurting my rating.  When I find something I want in eBay, I go outside of eBay and research to see what the item is selling for somewhere else like ABC or LTD Distributing.  To this day, they are stilling selling these on eBay for way over $7.95.   I put this in my "lessons learned" category.  Now I'm sharing it with you. 

  

Another thing to read carefully is the shipping and handling fees.  This seller's shipping and handling fee is $18 from California to SC where I live.  I bought an item last night from California and the shipping fee was less than $7.00.  Of course you have to consider the size and weight of the item.  When you use the calculator on eBay to determine the shipping fees, the number they give you includes any handling fees.  Many of these sellers hike the handling fees up in order to cover themselves if the item does not sell high enough to satisfy them.  If it does sell high, they made even more money. 

  

As it turned out, I plan to paint the umbrealla candle holder and  put a garland of ivy and flowers around the base. 

  

Shopping and selling on eBay is fun and usually a great money saver.  You just have to learn to be careful.  I hope these tips help you. 

Great tips!   

  

After reading some of the tips on here, I noticed that my dishwasher's normal cycle is 2 hours, so I tried the light cycle.  The light cycle is 1-1/2 hours and my dishes are just as clean.   

  

I also only fill one cup with dishwasher detergent.  Now the dishwasher soap (name brand) that I buy  from the Dollar General Store lasts twice as long.  Someone on this message board suggested using half the amount of laundry soap in my clothes washer.  Guess what! my clothes get just as clean! 

  

Thanks all! 

Yeah we do have medical for the kids and he has his through work but I am not covered which of course now I am the one with all the medical problems...

I used to spend up to $145 on shopping alone per fortnight.  Now, I spend around $90 (this is in Australian dollars).  What I did was get myself a second pantry.  This doesn't have to be anything fancy; an old air-conditioner box, children's waredrobe with a lock or another cupboard in the kitchen you haven't used.  In this pantry, stockpile some food that's unperishable.  It'll take about 6-12 months to get it working properly.  But with me being on a pension, it has its benefits.  I also had a good hard look at what I was eating and what went to waste.  I looked at home brand items - which are usually a lot cheaper than name-brand items - and they have the same ingredients.  I don't eat out, I have my own vegetable and herb garden - all in pots and in the ground as well - and I have learnt to buy my dvds and records (vinyls) second hand thus making things a lot cheaper.  I love to read, and so 90% of my books are bought at garage sales and library sales.  With a little bit of cutting back, you can also keep the money you want where you need it - in your back pocket.  I also have two savings accounts where money it automatically moved by the bank into those accounts.  They are passbook accounts where I have to go into the bank to get money out.  I don't own a credit card - they are the evil of all humans!  I used to when I travelled but I put money into it first then spent it because it was mine.  Now, I use my own cash and send back the credit cards offered to me with 'Thank you but not interested in debt' on the envelope. Learn to make all the sweets you want to eat and put all the change you have into a tin or money box that you can get into for little things and luxuries only.  I have a Milo tin full of change where I get money for bus fare and bread and milk out.  It's better than using my keycard ( which isn't a credit card) and I save on bank fees.  Hope this helps.

It is really sad that the rich people monopolizing the power in the government don't care about people like us and could care less about our medical problems.   This is why I support the Green Party the one party that actually cares if we have health insurance.  

I'll have to give washing my dishes on the light cycle a try to.   My dishwashing detergent is actually a little more expensive because I buy the environmentally friendly non-tested on animals brand (works great though).