Cost Cutting Measures

[SMinGA2]

I'm proud of myself. I have managed to get 2 bills reduced this month. Got my cable company to give a $15 reduction, and saved on XM radio also. (I know XM is not a requirement, and it would be the first thing to go. But we like having it - and calling them got it down to $5/mo + fees.)

We've also cut back on our water use - and that bill is now consistently under $25/mo where it had been $35-40.

Little amounts add up.

[HHM]

Nice work, but you should trust instinct and dump XM. I know, it's tough.

[SMinGA2]

Guilty pleasure perhaps - but I spend many hours in the car! I was prepared to ditch it when I called last week, but I expected them to give me a better rate.

[Pandora]

nice job getting costs lowered

While not "cost lowering" in that sense, I have cut costs to our grocery / household bill by doing some of the following (along with many other things as well) :

- I love Downy laundry softener and Gain Apple Mango Tango, both are highly concentrated. I make 1 bottle into 2 by dividing it into left over bottles and adding water. Its just as strong as regular strength and I get 2 bottles for the price of 1.

- hand soap - ya'll know the type, little pump bottles? I purchase the huge refills and depending on the type of pump bottle I have (foam or liquid), add enough soap and the remainder being water. The foam dispensing types are terrific as I use about 1/3 soap to 2/3 water, mixing well. For the little liquid depensers I use about 1:1 ratio depending on the type of soap I buy (I like softsoap refills, very thick to begin with, but Wally worlds works well also.)

- groceries: stretch meats by adding veggies! I just made 4 steak & cheese subs last evening using 1 NY Strip steak then added onions and green peppers to the mix. They were awesome and you would never guess it was only 1 steak between 4 sandwhiches.

[tobee43]

pandora i so like the original "fresh" better than the others i did try the dish liquid soap on sale for .99 cents but it doesn't smell as nice as the laundry detergent. i agree, i use HALF the amounts and it works just as well. (soft water may also help that).

cutting costs is actually fun if you look at it in a different light. we get soooooooo excited when we are able to save money whether it be the grocery bill, the cable, or gas bill. it means more for the savings account! we have hardscaped the entire backyard to save on water. (our water bill last year ran over $400 monthly!!!! we were NOT use to that after having a well). so we had to do something to comply with the HOA but look excellent, so hardscaping it was. stones and block do not need watering! so i made a BIG ZEN garden with no water...just bring a tape recording of a creek running and one is all set for peace and love in the garden

i also agree with you as far as food. there is no excuse not to make excellent nutritional meals at low costs by stretching food to the max! veggies and fruit markets offer excellent deals on local produce. and i just found this wondrous lady that makes her own yummy interesting pastas (one is a FRUIT pasta i mixed with yoghourt as a dressing and mixed fruit i had in the frig which i usually made a mix fruit cobbler out of) it was really cool having the fruit pasta salad at about ten cents a serving!

[SMinGA2]

Groceries is a whole 'nuther topic. I have learned to follow the sale strategy for shopping. Stuff goes on sale. If its not on sale now, it will be again soon. So when on sale for a good price, I get enough of X to last til the next sale. (Which isn't the same as hoarding. That might be 6-8 boxes of pasta, for a family of 5 doing 1 pasta meal a week for example.) And I use coupons when appropriate. My break point: if I can get a generic for cheaper, then its not a good price. Its easier to do this strategy if you're not brand specific, and if you have a good grocery store to shop at. And I've learned I can get many personal care items for cheap at CVS, Walgreens, Riteaid. I no longer pay much for toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, etc. Paid $.44 the other day for mouthwash - after stopping hubby from paying $6 for it at Walmart.

For meats - I buy ahead when its a good price. I've also made some buys from Zaycon foods. I'm picking up 20 pounds of tilapia on the 19th, at $2.79/pound.

[tobee43]

Groceries is a whole 'nuther topic. I have learned to follow the sale strategy for shopping. Stuff goes on sale. If its not on sale now, it will be again soon. So when on sale for a good price, I get enough of X to last til the next sale. (Which isn't the same as hoarding. That might be 6-8 boxes of pasta, for a family of 5 doing 1 pasta meal a week for example.) And I use coupons when appropriate. My break point: if I can get a generic for cheaper, then its not a good price. Its easier to do this strategy if you're not brand specific, and if you have a good grocery store to shop at. And I've learned I can get many personal care items for cheap at CVS, Walgreens, Riteaid. I no longer pay much for toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, etc. Paid $.44 the other day for mouthwash - after stopping hubby from paying $6 for it at Walmart.

For meats - I buy ahead when its a good price. I've also made some buys from Zaycon foods. I'm picking up 20 pounds of tilapia on the 19th, at $2.79/pound.

that's a GREAT price for tilapia!! i found a GREAT fish store, only problem is you have to buy the entire fish. so when flounder is selling at the market for $10.99 a pound i can get a whole one and i can get it filet...for $3.29 a pound. only problem is what the heck am i going to do with a 7 pound flounder!!!!!! i don't own a freezer any more only the side by side because it's only two of us now and the deep freeze didn't pay to have. also, i'm so terrible because i can't eat anything but fresh fish. i think i know why...it's from being born and raised on the coast lines and all, but i can't help it.

what is really cheap here in florida is shrimp!! very cheap and that for some reason i have no probem with freezing. beef is expensive, so we don't use it at all really anymore.

[SMinGA2]

Best I've found in the store is about $4/pound, and we do have a freezer. So I have room for 20 pounds. Check to see if Zaycon foods does any events in your area. You can read more about them, how they do business, on their page. Its buying in bulk quantities - though perhaps you can find a friend/neighbor to go in with you if you don't have much storage space. I've gotten the ground beef before, and it was great quality. Zaycon has shrimp that I could pick up w/ the tilapia - but even at $5.99 a pound I don't see the need to buy 20 pounds of it. (In 2 pound bags, I believe.) It would take us a LONG time to use that much of it. I can easily pick up a 12-16 oz bag occasionally at Aldi for $5 or so.

Doing grocery shopping based mainly on sales prices makes it easier to build a weekly menu plan for less $. Before I'd make a menu, and shop. Now I make a menu based on what we have on hand & what's on sale. And of course - much less eating out. And when we do eat out, its smarter.

[tobee43]

well i have to say, since it's only two of us we don't spend more that $50 weekly for groceries. it was funny at our 341 the trustee said don't let my husband see your food bill!! LOL!!!

since we actually do never eat dinner but a larger lunch type meal, we just don't go through much food. most of our budget is spend on fresh produce and buying in bulk for us, well, most of the time it just gets freezer burned before we can use it i did approach a few neighbors about sharing a fish or two, but these people eat out 5x's a week and don't even cook!!!

when i had the kids home we always purchased in bulk it really paid off and saved money. now i can stretch and stretch for just us two, but if there were kids in the house i couldn't do that.

[GoingDown]

well i have to say, since it's only two of us we don't spend more that $50 weekly for groceries. it was funny at our 341 the trustee said don't let my husband see your food bill!! LOL!!!

since we actually do never eat dinner but a larger lunch type meal, we just don't go through much food. most of our budget is spend on fresh produce and buying in bulk for us, well, most of the time it just gets freezer burned before we can use it i did approach a few neighbors about sharing a fish or two, but these people eat out 5x's a week and don't even cook!!!

when i had the kids home we always purchased in bulk it really paid off and saved money. now i can stretch and stretch for just us two, but if there were kids in the house i couldn't do that.

$50 per week? That's amazing.

Post some recipe ideas for anyone interested in saving money on food.

[tobee43]

$50 per week? That's amazing.

Post some recipe ideas for anyone interested in saving money on food.

we have a "group" here on the forum that i tried once:

http://www.bkforum.com/group.php?groupid=13

pandora and a few others are genius when it comes to money saving tips...thought it would be a good place to post. i'll start posting some recipes there???

[SMinGA2]

There are a couple of grocery/savings websites I follow. They post the sales at local grocery stores, and matchup to the coupons that are available for those products. One is southernsavers.com and the other is iheartpublix.com. SS covers the southeastern region and a larger variety of stores, while the Publix store prices at Iheartpublix match up to my local store prices.

[tobee43]

There are a couple of grocery/savings websites I follow. They post the sales at local grocery stores, and matchup to the coupons that are available for those products. One is southernsavers.com and the other is iheartpublix.com. SS covers the southeastern region and a larger variety of stores, while the Publix store prices at Iheartpublix match up to my local store prices.

LOL!!! yeah publix is usually so expensive. i use stop and save and will even take a ride to albertson's for the great deals!

[SMinGA2]

The key to Publix is to watch their weekly B1G1 deals, and use coupons smartly. Stack coupons, meaning use store (or competitor store) coupon & manufacturer coupon on each item.

Last week I stocked up on dog food. We use Beneful. The 15.5 pound bags are usually about $15 and the small 3.5 pound bags are $5.79. The small bags were on sale BOGO so rang up $2.90/2.89. Manufacturers coupon for $2 off each, and store coupon for $2 off each. Saved $4 for each bag. Overage pays for other groceries. (I did pay about $1.50 for postage to buy extra manufacturer coupons, because I only have 1 paper delivered.)

I don't go to Publix for random shopping trips - things are higher priced when not on sale. But I do follow the sales, stock up as appropriate. Most grocery (non-perishable) items go on sale regularly, and the major manufacturers put out coupons often. Its about smart shopping, not just randomly walking the aisles of the store.

[tobee43]

The key to Publix is to watch their weekly B1G1 deals, and use coupons smartly. Stack coupons, meaning use store (or competitor store) coupon & manufacturer coupon on each item.

Last week I stocked up on dog food. We use Beneful. The 15.5 pound bags are usually about $15 and the small 3.5 pound bags are $5.79. The small bags were on sale BOGO so rang up $2.90/2.89. Manufacturers coupon for $2 off each, and store coupon for $2 off each. Saved $4 for each bag. Overage pays for other groceries. (I did pay about $1.50 for postage to buy extra manufacturer coupons, because I only have 1 paper delivered.)

I don't go to Publix for random shopping trips - things are higher priced when not on sale. But I do follow the sales, stock up as appropriate. Most grocery (non-perishable) items go on sale regularly, and the major manufacturers put out coupons often. Its about smart shopping, not just randomly walking the aisles of the store.

i seem to do the best with animal foods at walmart for some reason. now, publix this week avocado's were cheaper there than walmart's and they looked much better too. i also find walmart cheapest for detergents, soap supplies, toilet paper, cleaning supplies in general.