If I could do it, it would be quitting smoking.

I just quit going to Target whenever I had free time. And while I sometimes miss the feeling I got when I bought things to decorate my home with, I do not miss the constant outlay of money or acquisition of STUFF. :)

Best Action for saving money:

Setting up automatic deductions from my paycheck. I put 10% to my 403b and 10% to my emigrantdirect.com savings account before I even see my pay.

Since it’s automatic, I don’t have to worry about it.

Oh gosh, as a library & information consultant working out of the home, you just made my day with your comment about libraries!!!

You ROCK!!!!!!!

Momma
Feature blogger at Engineer a Debt Free Life (check out all our great freebies and frugal tips!)
http://www.engineeradebtfreelife.com/

As a librarian I encourage you to make friends with your librarians in your home branch(es). These people sometimes make or influence buying decisions for the collection. I know at my library I’m responsible for some of the purchases, but more importantly we keep a log of titles (or subjects) that customers want, but we don’t have. These logs go in monthly to the collections development department (the people who are responsible for spending a million dollars a year on the collection). I’d say 95% of the time anything I put on that log gets purchased for my branch and usually a few copies for the entire system as well. Needless to say anything I want to read that we don’t own goes on that list - after all, I’m one of our best customers, too!

Mine is trying to only carry as much cash as I might need.

I do this using a variation on the envelope system.

I get paid twice a month, around every 2 weeks, so on payday I take out my budgeted grocery, and daily spending cash, and put them in envelopes. One for grocery money, and split the rest in 15 envelopes. One for each day until next payday.

Every morning I get that days envelope, and take out the money. If I don’t spend the money, I hold on to it, and add it to the next day, or put it in my “fun” envelope.

If I want to buy something, but don’t have enough that day, I hold off, and try to spend less the next couple of days until I have enough.

What I used to do was take out my weekly, or biweekly, budget and keep it on me. This led me to spending WAY too much early in the week leaving me to struggle later in the week, and usually take out some more money to compensate.

So my tip: 1. Keep to a budget of course, and 2) space out your budgeted money so you don’t FEEL broke near payday.

I find this keeps my spending far lower than it used to be.

Kudos for your library tip. Since my dad was a librarian, that’s almost automatically my FIRST stop!

For me it was learning to love cooking. My mom was a superb cook and I always felt intimidated and like it was a chore to be in the kitchen. Once I started really enjoying cooking as a hobby, and we started eating out a lot less, it really made a difference in the budget. Even with buying fresh and sometimes exotic ingredients, it costs less for a good (or even great) meal at home than cheap takeout.

I think mine is EITHER turning off overdraft protection and just watching my accounts more, leaving myself a little padding in each account for those times the bank charges their fees…

OR

taking more advantage of my ING Direct account and it’s cd ladders.

For me the best monetary change was finding a new job. Now I know what everyone will say, you found a job making more money. Truth be told, I took a job making a little less. However, my old job was in the city which required about a 3.5 hour round trip commute. On top of that, the train cost was about 200+ a month including parking. My new job is about 20 mins from home. The train station was 20 mins from my house. So I got about 3 hours of my day back which has allowed me to focus on so many other things. And the new job has opened up a few doors as well.

For it’s about making the saving automatic. I setup my online banking to automatically move money to my savings each time a paycheck is deposited. After a while I’ve learned to live without that much from each paycheck. Between that watching the balance grow, I’m encouraged to decrease my spending and be smarter about what I do spend. It’s easy to do and you can start with as little or as much as you can deal with.

Savings side
- buy used whenever possible (cars/furniture/etc.)
- don’t go out for lunch/dinner/coffee/etc.
- watch out for “lifestyle inflation” when you get out of school or get a raise

Income side
- if you have the means, get an advanced degree in science/engineering or other professional field with good job prospects.
- if you are being underpayed at your current position, get off your butt and find a better paying job elsewhere.

If I have to pick one that is most important I would say education… that opens up a huge amount of opportunities.

Mine was to quit smoking. When I first decided to follow Dave Ramsey’s plan to get out of debt I decided I would buy my cigarettes by the carton which was the cheapest way. Then I realized I was spending $100 per month to smoke (1 carton/wk). It wasn’t fair to my family and it didn’t make financial sense, let alone healthy sense. I decided to use the $100 per month to purchase the non-smoking ‘patch’ and it worked! I had tried many timese to quit but my urge to quit plus the addition of my motivation to become debt free was the absolute cure!!

Buying a Kindle

The single action in my life that has been most effective for saving money has been to have money deposited directly into savings from each paycheck.
This way I never get the money so I don’t think about it and certainly don’t spend it. In my opinion, this is the only way to save money.

Fill an enveloppe with the money you will need that month. Pay everything cash. Use ONLY the money in this enveloppe. No exceptions.

At the end of the month, take, say 50% of the remaining money and spend it in whatever you fancy with. The rest will go to (any) savings account.

Carpooling is also saving me above 300$ in gas.

Just the simple act of rounding up my check book for each check I wrote and each debit transaction. It has saved me from having overdraft fees and gives me a small stash in case I need something extra in the way of groceries or gas before pay day. You will really see a hunk of change if you leave it alone for a year!

I would have to say my biggest way of saving money is to use what I have before I go off buying new ones.

I used to be a big anime nerd. I still am now but instead of buying every series brand new I wait for sales and stuff. I don’t have Netflix but I did consider it for some of the series I wasn’t as interested in.

First, though is to watch all the DVDs I have. After this I plan on going through all my DVDs and then selling or giving away all that I don’t want. I did that with my VHS collection and my goodness you wouldn’t believe how much I was able to get rid of! :)

Dropping to basic cable saved us $30 a month, and we haven’t missed the channels.

Eating out less often, no more than once per month, has helped our budget greatly. My husband, teenage kids and I have tried to learn to cook or bake most items we would otherwise have bought at a drive-thru fast food joint or in a restaurant - even pork fried rice that tastes like the local Chinese restaurant’s. Cooking in the kitchen, as well as eating our entrees, has become a nice way for our family to bond.

I get the carry basket at the grocery store instead of a cart and leave when I can’t carry anymore. The list I take with is small but the small basket helps me from picking up extras. And I shop at the smallest grocery store for 95% of my food. The selection is smaller and so is the total bill.

I think the general answer to your library thought is “To find that thing that you love to do and you spend money on, and find ways to keep doing it without spending (as much) money on it.” Like you and your love for books. If you can turn that love into a money-making venture such as opening a book store or operating a website around books, that’s even better.

I think a good, simple piece of advice for a lot of people would be to drink water. Not bottled water. Just regular old water. Buy a $10 reusable water bottle, carry it with you wherever you go, and drink water. Don’t go to Starbucks. Don’t drink pop, soda, whatever you call it. Stop spending money on sugary drinks of all kinds. The results will not only help your pocketbook but your waistline, your skin, your energy level. You’ll feel better, look better and have more money. And you’ll help the environment because you won’t be filling landfills with all f your plastic bottles and Styrofoam cups. That’s it. Drink water.

As for the book thing, I too have turned to the library to try and save a little. The only problem I have with it is that I deeply believe in supporting other writers. So if it is a writer I really love, I think it is important to buy their books.

For me, the biggest thing was physically writing down all of my expenses and totaling them up in each category. Yes, it’s not fun. Yes, you have to force yourself to do it. But, it really is an eye opener to do it for just a month or two. You may think you know how much you spend in different categories, but you will be surprised how much you really don’t know after you actually record the truth for a month or two! It very quickly allowed me to see where I was being dumb with my money and buying unnecessary stuff.

When we started seriously looking to buy a house we figured what sort of mortgage payment we’d be comfortable paying each month. After we’d decided on a number I started putting that much into savings monthly while we were still looking (this was on top of our existing monthly rent payments) to see if we could still live. Turns out we could. After we got our house we’ve just been putting the former rent payment into savings instead.

Packing lunch and making coffee at home.

Assuming I spent between $5 and $10 on lunch and $1-$2 on coffee each working day, and building in 10 days of vacation, that’s savings of $1500 to $3000 per year.

Two easy ways to save.
1. Stop looking at the Sunday ads. If you dont know its on sale, you dont know what you are missing, unless you really need it. I stopped looking at the ads years ago becuase I was rushing to Target or where ever to get this ‘must have’ item.

2. Pay cash for groceries. I saved 30% on my food bill by making this switch, even as prices were going up. Before I leave home I estimate what each item on my list will cost. I put that + $10 in my pocket. If I find a truly incredible unadvertised item while at the store I have a little extra to cover it. If my estimates are wrong at home, I still have that little buffer in the store. Just compare what you are putting into your cart with the estimate on your list as each item goes in. As long as you are ‘under’ or ‘over’ just a little on each item you will have just the right amount at the check out. It really keeps the impulse buys WAY down.

Stop looking at the ads unless there is something you need. I stopped and now I stopped thinking of all the “great buys” and “deals” and just buy what I actually need.

1. Be a one car family
2. Ditch the cell phones
3. No cable TV

In order of how much they save us a month!

Also with a third kid on the way I’ve had so many people tell us we NEED a minivan. Our camry can fit 3 carseats across (yes we’ve done it already) so why do I need a minivan? I got that a lot when I was pregnant with our 2nd but people tell me all the time I’m harming my children by “cramming” them into a car. I think its funny. The only problems we really incur are the irritations to my back problems but I find it saves us money as we stay home more. I think people are just afraid that if they see me not needing a minivan then they can’t justify their “need” that they couldn’t afford. I don’t know anyone else with this many kids and no minivan. And I refuse to stop being a SAHM just so I can pay the car payment.

To me the very best action to start saving money is to first account for it. This brings awareness to all aspects of your financial state, income/expenses/liabilities/assets.

With this awareness, then making sound financial decisions, such as cutting costs, become much easier and measurable.

There are lots of free software packages these days to do this with. I use gnu cash … as it handles my multi currency needs well.

Love your site, thanks for all the great articles.

For me, it was “pay yourself first”. We never had any money left for saving after our expenses were paid, until I made it a priority to reserve even a small amount each month that I transfer to an online savings account with FNBO Direct before paying the other bills (which seem to expand to use the money available). I began with a small opening deposit just a few weeks ago, and have been consistently adding to it. It is very gratifying to watch the account balance grow.

Cutting out fast food.

Making my own lunches during the work week saves me *at least* 100$ a month, and I feel a lot better eating healthier food as well.

Utilizing the envelope system and packing lunches for work. Huge difference in our monthly outflow…

Stop carrying cash. The only time I will make a purchase is with my debit card. If the store where I’m shopping does not take debit cards, then I will not shop there. I spend so much more if I carry cash, it’s ridiculous.

Best idea - direct deposit. Set up your savings account, investment accounts, etc. with no checking or ATM card privileges allowed. Cause your employer to send money directly to it from each paycheck. Or, set up automatic transfers from your main deposit account to the savings/investment account. If you don’t see it or have easy access to it, you won’t spend it.

If by “saving” you mean piling up cash, I’d have to answer “automatic transfers”. I’ve always had a problem with cash in my checking account. I sometimes call it the negative 10% interest problem. Once I see over a trigger amount in checking, I start to nibble on it. Having discretionary income direct deposited to savings or automatically transferred has done wonders for me.

If you use a broader definition of “saving” that includes paying down debt, I’d have to answer “the library”. I’ve never been much of a book-buyer, so it wasn’t the expense-trimming that benefited me. It was the personal finance section. Discovering a whole shelf of well-read books that all postulated that money mattered was a life-changing experience. I took them home by the arm-load and studied them in private. I quickly discovered that some of them were unreadable and that others needed to be read with a lot of skepticism, but I tended to learn something from each. (Sometimes it was simply never to read anything by that author ever again.) Without the public library, I would never have been able to expose myself to so many different ideas and cobble together a debt reduction system that worked for me.

In those early days, I was hyper-sensitive to any perceived slight and quite angry. I was not good company for anyone and pretty much immune to good advice that came via two-way communication. I needed books that didn’t know me and books that I could throw aside in disgust. It was several months before I could benefit from online financial advice, blogs, and message boards. Books put me over the hump and I found them at the library.

I agree with Trent. The library is one of the goldmines in the community and which I am happy to devote a part of my property tax towards sustaining.

My current big money saver is looking around my house to see what I have before shopping. the most influential book I’ve read in the last year, in terms of a money mindset is “Not Buying It” by Judith Levine. I’ve checked it out twice from the library.

I “shop” in my closet for a new outfit. I create dinner from what’s on the shelves rather than find recipes and go out and buy all the ingredients to make the dish. I get perennials from my neighbors who is thinning hers. I walk if something is within a mile from home. I garden and can. My home, and what and who are in it, bring me the greatest satisfaction in life. I don’t have to look outside to find peace and contentment.

The library has been my biggest saver, for sure. Not buying books or renting movies is huge!

I quit eating out once or twice a day and started cooking. I also cook large batches of food and freeze meals so that when I have had a long day, I just pull something out of the freezer instead of hitting up the drive thru. I have limited myself to eating out once a week or only when I have guests in town. I’m single so it’s really easy for me to cook enough at one time to have a meal and then freeze three meals from the same batch.

I have a weakness for Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks and last year I found myself giving into the temptation several times a week. I have limited myself to one latte per week as well. At just under $5 each, those really added up last year.

The biggest change has been my mindset. I used to spend everything I made and then some. When I staretd paying down the debt, I was still living from paycheck to paycheck. Over the past few months, I have really evaluated my habits and now every purchase involves a lot of thought and nine times out of ten, I decide not to make the purchase. It feels great to see my emergency fund growing and not to worry about how I’m going to pay for Christmas.

I started using my French Press coffee maker at work rather than purchasing coffee everyday.

Even at a modest cost of $1.75 per cup I was spending $861.00 per year (246 work days). Currently I purchase a $7.00 can of coffee about every 6 weeks and a $2.00 liter of milk every week.

For a single year this saves $691.00.

Bringing my lunch to work 3 days a week. I’m saving about $1500 a year!

(Granted that’s starting from a wasteful $10-a-day habit, but improvement is improvement!)

Someone famous said the best way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket! Seriously, buying older vehicles and paying cash has saved us a ton of money, no new car prices, no interest, and lower insurance rates.

@ Amanda.
I too had a twice weekly Target addiction. I cut it out for one entire month which showed me I didn’t really need to go so often. Now I only go when I “really” need to which is 1-2 times a month. I cried a little inside when I added up how much I wasted on nothingness and home decor for so many months and years.

The library has always been a treasure trove for me, being introduced to it as a child was one of the top five things my mother ever did for me.

Paying into savings first is a huge savings thing for us, we are halfway toward our honeymoon fund and it came from savings being part of the budget.

I just quit smoking so that is going to help immensely.

But the greatest savings has probably come from putting on a sweater. We keep our house at 60 to 65 24/7 in the winter. We live in Colorado so it takes a little getting used to. We take advantage of diverting the dryer heat, the oven heat, etc..

I used to give in to whims all the time. I haven’t put any charges on credit cards in two years. If I don’t have the cash then I can’t buy it and my cards will be ALL paid off by April 2009.

First - It is mentioned already, but it deserves saying again - automated deposits into savings and investment accounts. I set these up to deposit on the same day that our paychecks are credited. We increase the amounts to reflect raises, bills we have paid off, etc.

Secondly, I went to catalogchoice.org and discontinued a number of catalogs I was receiving. The ones I still receive, I throw in the recycling bin in our mudroom. I have been known to dig some out, but most stay in there and go to the curb (maybe it is time to visit catalogchoice.org again!). I do the same thing with weekly ads in the paper. Now, I shop only when we need something.

My family stopped drinking bottled water! I got an aluminum bottle for each member of the family and they go everywhere with us. We don’t spend the money on the bottles anymore, we have less garbage, and we drink soda and juice less. I guess that means less dentist and doctor bills in the future too!

packing my lunch!

No doubt my old standby phrase I ask before purchasing anything..use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without…

Don’t go “shopping” if you don’t need something specific. Going to a store just to go, for something to do, for entertainment, is a sure fire way to spend money on something you don’t need and often don’t really want. This includes surfing sites like Amazon just to look.

The single best thing I’ve done to help save money is borrow a copy of my mother’s FPU CDs and conveniently played them while my husband was around. Listening to Dave Ramsey motivated my husband to do something about our debt and helped him take some action to help get us out of it. As anyone in a long term relationship knows, having your partner on board with your financial decisions is easily the most helpful thing you have happen.

Planning menus is probably my #1 thing. It saves me money at the grocery store, and more importantly, it keeps us from eating out(and that saves us thousands of dollars each year!).

My biggie was learning to accept help.

I have always been a “go it on my own” type of person, but this all changed with kids.

I have learned to accept secondhand clothes and toys to loosen up our finances for other areas. My hubby is very good at sharing- and as a result, we have an elaborate system of recycling clothes and kid stuff through our friends and family.

I have learned to accept the stipend we get from the state on our adopted kids- and use this as their college funding accounts.

I am okay with accepting the WIC they are elgible for- to offset our overall food costs.

I have learned to stop worrying about what the Joneses are up to and what they “have”- I instead have good sleep knowing my family has a good handle on things financially.

I used to eat out 2 times a day (breakfast and lunch) and also went out with my husband for dinner 2 or 3 nights a week. No more! I eat out one breakfast a week, and usually 1 lunch (I work full time, so I usally end up meeting for lunch with someone!). And my husband and I go out maybe once a week (to our favorite diner). That’s 3 times a week, not 16 or 17! Wow, have I saved money.
I also brew my own coffee instead of picking it up; I just do more for myself and rely less on someone else to do it for me (in exchange for inflated costs!)

Going to grad school!

More properly, leaving a job I hated in order to go to grad school, where I found good friends, intellectual stimulation, and the motivation to live on less money now in order to have more money for the future. Grad school also helped me get a great job, which is paying off in so many more ways than simply monetarily.

Trent,
I’m really glad that at the end of the post you asked readers what saves them money. I think that was an excellent way to open up the post for comments, and I think it should be something you do regularly.

I agree with the library suggestion in your post, and that does save me money also. But, for me, the single thing that has saved me more money than anything else has been ditching the cable. I have had nothing but amplified rabbit ears (they plug into the wall and get you a great signal) for several years now and I will NEVER go back. One day my wife asked me why we were paying for cable when all we ever watch are the local channels. I didn’t have an answer but since my cable company didn’t charge a termination fee, I decided to go ahead and cancel the cable. I figured I could always have it re-connected if we found we couldn’t live without it. That was somewhere between 3 and 4 years ago, and I’ve never looked back.

A very close second money saver for me has been having a pre-paid cellphone. My bill used to be well over $100/mth. Now I spend $30 ever 2 or 3 months. Just be careful who you give your number to.

The single best thing I ever did to save money was become a conservationist. I worry about my waste output. That means I’m helping the environment as much as possible. I travel by car as little as possible, I try not to waste food. I don’t buy things that I’ll likely throw away into a landfill. I turn out the lights and use powerstrips, I even stopped using a dryer and switched to using drying racks. The long and short of it is that “going green” works not only makes for a healthier planet but also a healthier bank account.

Cutting out breakfast and lunch.

Losing my college scholarship during my sophomore year. I was too ashamed to tell my parents, and made up the difference from my own funds — it taught me frugality very, very quickly.

Fortunately I got the scholarship back after improving my grades during my probation semester. Made me appreciate the scholarship more, too.

Nowadays, the single thing that has saved me the most money is enjoying cooking at home. Dining out can get pretty darn expensive.

i chose to go off-grid instead of buying into the housing bubble, thus eliminating monthly mortgage and utility costs.

Direct deposit and automatic savings transfers. Before we had an automatic transfer to our online savings account, it was all too easy to consider all the money in our checking account as available. Now we have an set amount leave our checking account once a month and go to savings.

I was thinking of saying packing lunch and making coffee at home, using the library (we have a good online system too), or buying used cars, but the most impact is:

Automate savings - after a few months, you never know it’s gone.

I read you blog daily, but have never been moved to comment - until you asked this question. When I was 35, I decided to quit reading all women’s magazines, especially fashion magazines, after I noticed I would go directly from reading them to the mall to blow a couple hundred dollars. Naturally, I was heavily in debt.

I got out of debt, started a 401K, and completely turned my financial life around. I am WAY too easily swayed by glossy advertising to subject myself to it.

Keep up the GREAT work, and great success to you.

Starting to make a budget, so I have a plan for spending and saving every month, and I know where every penny goes. I didn’t start making real inroads into my debts (school and car) until I had a budget allocation for them and was tracking them on Excel. I can’t imagine trying to operate without a budget now.

Mine is making a budget and knowing where all my money’s going. You really do feel like you got a raise, when you’re AWARE of where every penny is going.

Cutting back smoking. I went from 2 packs a day during summer 07, now I am at less than half a pack a day and I expect to be fully quit by Jan 1

at $5 a pack it adds up fast

I believe it is to start the habit of saving to begin with. Putting away 10% of the money I earn before doing anything else.

packing lunch - not only do you save immediately but as Trent’s always pointing out, if you do it healthy style, you save longer term by being healthier.

Aside from that, I must stop not filing things - I’m currently losing lots of income earning time looking for a contact I wrote somewhere and now can’t find - being self employed, that’s my, WAY the worst money waster.

i actually moved - from living in the city to living in the ‘burbs. It was a tough lifestyle change for me (and still is) - but w/ that I save almost 1k a month

For me it was putting the money to pay my bills in the checking account and paying online, then keeping the money for other spending out in cash. When its gone, its gone and I can look and see exactly what’s left. No overdraft fees for accidental overspending, and all bills paid ontime! We’ve even managed to save a little bit, for us that’s awesome!

Developing the habit of drinking water. My water at home is excellent, so free. My kids drink it, we don’t spend money on drinks when going out or on wine or beer. Not only does it cost nothing it has saved on dentist bills and other health issues as water is so good for you.

My biggest money saver is to keep track of every single purchase, whether it’s our mortgage or the $5 run to the grocery store. This lets me really SEE how much I’m spending and helps me to keep it under control better. My biggest downfall before was all the little trips to Target or the grocery store, but now that I’ve learned that (by tracking my spending) I make sure that they don’t happen anymore.

Definitely eating at home (or coffee from home) vs. purchasing at a restaurant.

Trent–your figures treat the cost of the books as an expense. Really, they are an asset–they have a long(ish) useful life and residual value. If you can sell them on to the next reader (or PaperBackSwap them, as you do now), you recoup some of the cost. Contrast this to food, coffee, or my favorite–beer–which we just rent.

Apparently, the library is the new “it” place; there have been countless blog posts and articles about going to the library these days. I have to agree, libraries aren’t the first place I want to go for a book, but they are pretty well stocked with popular and rare books alike.

Stop carrying credit cards with me. If I want to buy it, it has to come directly from the checking account. I think a lot more about purchases when I have to pay for them immediately.

Although I don’t use the Library as much as I should, I do have to agree that the library is GREAT, I actually voted yesterday in FAVOR of Library improvements, as well as funds for purchasing more books etc… I think it’s WELL worth the investment.

Definitely budgeting for gift giving throughout the entire year. So if I find something in February for my brother-in-law for Christmas and it’s within my budget for him, I buy it then because I already have money in the account for Christmas. This makes me look for gifts throughout the entire year so I can really find the deals! I also add in wedding, graduation, and shower money into the gift giving fund. This helps for those summer months where it seems we have a function every weekend!

I think there’s a difference between “helps you not spend money” and “helps you save money”. If you save $30 a month by not going to Starbucks, but don’t actively save it, it’s somewhat less effective.

For me, I find it helpful to total up how much I “saved” over the week (for example - if I bring lunch one extra day per week, I saved $8) and then move that into my ING account on the weekend. It encourages me to keep saving, because I see the actual fruits of those sacrifices.

eat beans!

becoming (practically) vegan has really trimmed the food bill!

Not buying crap that I don’t need. By just thinking about every purchase a little longer, I’m able to make better decisions about what I buy.

Keeping a budget helped too.

Get rid of the tv! (kinda). We have basic cable so PBS comes in ok, but we primarily use the tv to watch dvds from netflix (I heart netflix). That way we all avoid the commercials and me the shopping channels.
Get rid of the catalogs. Be aware some magazines are practically catalogs in diguise.
Shop at the fun stores ala Target only when you have accumulated a list of needed items.
I still am prone to impulse buys off the list, so I do the game take one away at the checkout counter. Of my impulse items I ask which item do I like the least/am ambivelant about? I then give that one to the cashier to not ring up. Rarely do I regret or even remember what the item is later on.

My single biggest savings hint is to stay out of the stores. I only shop if I need a particular item (other than food). I go in and get that item and bring it to the cash register. Then I am out. If I have nothing in particular to get, I don’t go to a store.

This saved me lots of cash last winter and spring.

A big vote for ‘making my own lunches’ here, combined with not buying those super-expensive coffees (I buy cheap staff restaurant coffee, or take a flask). Probably more than £100/month, just from that.

Honourable mention to ’stopping going shopping for fun’. That’s saved a packet, too.

Google Notebook

This allows me to search for stuff I feel I need, then save the page in GNb, rather than taking the decision to buy at that moment.

Once a month, I look through the stuff I would have bought before, and purge 99% of the links.

I have only got 5 buyer feedbacks from eBay in the past 3 months doing this!!!

It also helps if I’m searching for presents for peeps, I save all of the ‘great deals’ avaliable, for an item, and then buy from the cheapest.

It works for stuff for me aswell. The ammount of times, I’ve been happy with a purchase, and then 2 or 3 days later found it cheaper or a better version elsewhere.

It provides that neccasary buffer.

I think of my dream, of being financially independent.

Then I take the amount in question and compound that amount (based on my potential portfolio performance) out until the date I retire. From that number I calculate how long purchase will delay me from my goal after income taxes.

Example: $8 beers -> $30 away from goal [in X number of years] = push back financial independence by a couple hours.
Or $20,000 car -> $75,000 away from goal = push back financial independence by a couple years.

Putting things in terms of the time left in my life is somehow more real than dollars to me.

Reading instead of watching TV.

By far the best for our family:

1) ELIMINATE ALL CREDIT CARDS. Cut them up. Light them on fire. Never play that game again. Ever. Save $3-4K per year

2)PAY CASH FOR CARS. No car payments ever. Saves 6-7K per year

I would say that not caring about peer pressure anymore.

My parents left me financially dependent from the age of 13 so I started working. Since the income wasn’t enough I ended up borrowing sums of money from my mother. Then I realised that I felt bad that her wages were going (eventhough I was paying her back) towards things that other people cared about. I began to realise that fashions change and peoples attitudes change so you can never win, if you give in.

I have just read your article on The Millionaire Next Door and I wholeheartedly agree that the way to learn is to be cut off financially from your parents as soon as possible. It’s the only way you see value in money.

* I meant to say financially independent not dependent. Afterall why would I be here in the first place?

I completely agree with making your own lunch to take to work!
Also, take a coffee plunger to work and don’t buy coffees.
My work discretionary spending when it is bad can cost $50-$80 a week!

The biggest physical action that I have done has been to use Dave Ramsey’s envelope plan, combined with Robert Kiyosaki’s pay yourself first plan. I have a savings envelope along with all my other bill envelopes. So on payday I make sure I put my set percentage for savings into the “savings” envelope before I put any money anywhere else. Once I reach a thousand dollars in the envelope I put it into my savings account. Since everything I do is paid throughout the month, I can stick to the envelope plan pretty good without touching the money in the envelopes. It’s active budgeting and sticking to it.

The single thing it was writing down a monthly budget at the start of every month. Just doing that brought a level of consciousness in how I was spending my money and on what I was spending it on. That awareness was what defined or shaped my spending and saving behavior.

For me, it’s been a few things that all are like one thing in my mind:

1) I quit smoking on days I don’t work (I work at a bar), and now I only smoke at work when I can get a cigarette from a customer.
2) I stopped buying books.
3) I started putting ALL my change in a jar. It’s my unobtrusive “savings account.” Once a month I roll all the coins that can be and put them in a cooler. Even when I’m broke enough to dip into my normal savings, I never dip into this.
4) I started doing my own laundry at the laundromat instead of paying someone to do my laundry. This is saving me ~50/month.
5) I don’t eat out most of the time anymore.
6) I use Blockbuster online (like Netflix) instead of going to movies, buying DVDs and TV seasons, and using iTunes to download shows.
7) I take my lunch to school with me, and to work.

Setting up automatic transfers to ING.

I got an email from my boss congratulating me on my one year anniversary with the company that happened to coincide with a payday. As I checked the deposit it hit me that I had made $45,000 (my starting salary) yet my checking account still had the same balance it carried as when I was in college. That realization REALLY kicked my butt into gear, and now (1.5 years later) I’ve worked my way up to sending 20% of my net pay directly into savings. It truly is painless when you ease into it and treat savings like a bill.

for me it was moving to a new apartment where I can take the bus to school. Especially since fuel prices have gone up and because campus parking is up to $20-$40 a month, I save a lot, and only drive to the grocery store and church.

Using my FSA this year saved me roughly $700, and the only “cost” was spreading out the contributions over the course of the year. Of course, the amount saved will depend on your marginal tax rate, but who wouldn’t benefit from even a 15% reduction in cost on health care?

I hope everyone who is singing the praises of their local library realizes that the public library is an example of a service provided by the evil government and paid for by those confiscatory taxes!

@ Marie: too funny, your story about 3 kids in the Camry! Good for you! Talk about not caving in to peer pressure. When I was a small child, my parents had 3 kids and a 60’s VW Beetle. Ok, they did trade up to a station wagon when the fourth child came along, but still, it can be done. No car seats way back then, though.

The library savings are a great idea, I used to spend a fortune on books as well. Now I stay out of bookstores.

Automatic deduction of pretax pay that goes directly into my 401K-type retirement account. I don’t even notice it and I don’t have to decide paycheck to paycheck to make this payment. Plus, I get a small employer match.

I agree with the library thing, although I can’t say it’s helped me cut back on spending, because I’ve used it all my life. I love books, and I still can’t get over the fact that I can walk into a huge room of books any time I like and walk out the door with an armful of them without paying anything - FREE BOOKS!

Our library website has a great online reservation system, and also a feature that lets you recommend books for purchase (and then automatically puts you on the waiting list for them).

As for the thing that’s saved me the most money? I think it’s got to be working from home - no transport costs, no need to buy fancy clothes and makeup, more time to prepare cheaper, healthier meals, and fewer people I feel the need to impress. Plus I’m naturally going out less, so there’s less of a temptation to stop in at the shops and buy things I don’t need.

My single best was to pay off the mortgage on our house and then deposit the same amount monthly into savings that we had been paying on the mortgage. We lost the tax advantage but gained that extra amount each month in savings. We try to avoid anything that we would have to pay interest on and focus instead on things that will pay us interest.

I look at total cost of ownership and avoid signing up for anything involving a recurring fee: no cellphone, no magazine subscriptions, no newspaper subscriptions, no cable, no satellite, no guru, no health club, and no movie rentals.

Yes, we have a fast internet service, which replaces a lot of the above items. Yes, we have a yard & neighborhood that we get out & about in. Yes, we buy DVDs because we may move waaaay out in the country and we’re prone to watching the same things over & over anyway (a pair of DVD changers each holding 300 disks gives you an idea of how much TV we’re capable of watching, but it has proven to be cheaper than cable TV for the past decade).

Buying things when they are a good deal. I’m the guy who buys 10 of whatever item is on sale and saving it for later.

The biggest money-saver I’ve had was making weekly menus, carefully planning my grocery list around them, and sticking to my list when I go to the grocery store. I used to blow a lot of unnecessary money buying impulse items because I didn’t have a clear idea of what I actually needed.

Although it’s risky, the single best way to save money for me has been to get married. My life has calmed down, we’ve got two incomes, and somehow our life attracts so much more abundance.

For several reasons, planning weekly menus. It cut down on the number of times we go out to eat per week, cut down the number of trips to the grocery store and the accompanying impulse purchases, ensured that we had lunches, and eliminated the purchase of items that had no planned purpose (like buying five pounds of potatoes at a time).

Without menus we were going out to eat for three meals a week, at somewhere around $35 a meal. We were also spending nearly the same amount every time we went to the grocery store. Weekly food costs for two people were somewhere around $210 per week. With menus we’ve basically cut that in half. It could be cut further if we planned the menus around what is on sale, but we’re happy with where it is for now.

planning a menu, cooking at home, and stop eating lunches out and only drinking alcohol at home. Saves on overpriced drinks and taxi rides home. Sometimes when I am grocery shopping I cant believe how expensive certain things are, $6 for a small bit of cheese, $5 for a bunch of grapes? Then I remind myself that if I was in a restaurant right now I would be saying only $6 for a margarita, what a bargain! So it really shows me how my thoughts of what is expensive changes depending on the setting even if the items are the exact same price. This is why I try to stay out of restaturants.

@Marie #14: you said “I think people are just afraid that if they see me not needing a minivan then they can’t justify their “need” that they couldn’t afford.”

You have made a very wise statement, which applies to a whole lot more than minivans.

My money-saver was giving up eating lunches at work almost every weekday. I was always too busy (or lazy) to pack a lunch to take with me each day - and I still am. So now, every few business days, I spend a lunch hour at the nearby grocery store, stocking up on things I can keep in my desk drawer or in the office fridge. Then when lunch time rolls around each day, I can put my lunch together based on my little work pantry - it’s like making my brown bag lunch right at work! My second-biggest money-saver was investing in some decent cycling gear that will enable me to keep riding my bike to work through the winter months - I previously biked only in the summer.

Meal planning. It’s saved us TONS in grocery bills.

We’re a single income family and get paid bi-weekly and the middle of every payday week I go through the cupboards and check the freezer to see what we have on hand abd go through the grocery store ads and coupons. With that information in hand, I mark up a calendar page with what we’re having for supper every day for the next two weeks (there are lots of free calendar sites online, btw, so you don’t even have to buy a calendar) and make a list of needed stuff that I do my darndest to stick to - I’m not perfect, but I’m working on it. Meal planning has just about cut our grocery bill in half and my family really seems to like knowing what’s for supper. Woohoo! Tacos Tonight!

Cooking from scratch has been our single best action for saving money. It has become a wonderful hobby & has opened doors for new passions (cheesemaking and gardening)It also influences our other spending choices as well - we’re now looking at moving to a cohousing situation.

1. Packing lunch.
2. Paying bills online (no stamps!)
3. Cut off my landline and use just the cellphone (Get a plan with free incoming calls, then have people call you back)
4. Reduced my energy consumption by 2/3 with a few simple things:
A) Use the clothesline. It cost me about $30 in supplies to make mine, and the clothes smell better. Once you bring them in, throw them in the dryer for about 15 mins to fluff them up.
B) Stopped using my AC and bought a few fans. You sweat a bit more, but the savings are fantastic.
C) Turn off my hot water heater except for an hour each night, enough to heat up a tank of water for the next day’s shower. (I do dishes and laundry on the weekends) Even then, I have the temp as low as the heater will allow.
D) Turned the temp in my fridge down as low as it would go without cutting off.

Not having a mortgage.

Learning to cook and having a plan for WHAT to cook each night.

For me, the library can be quite expensive. I have a bad habit of returning things late and end up paying quite a bit of fines.

But there are two things that have made the biggest things for us:

1. Cooking from Scratch and eating (primarily) food we cook.

2. Turning down the Thermostat

We have saved ~$150/month on our Electric bill. We have cut out ~$700/month on food related expenses ($300/month dining out and $400/month grocery shopping).

So those two changes put an extra $850/month into our budget (which we needed to pay for pre-school!)

For me, starting to seriously pay attention to where my money went made a huge difference, much like your realization of how much you spent on books (me too). Being aware of where my money is spent has made me re-think a lot of small purchases throughout each week.

A note about cutting the cable and PBS. Cutting basic cable actually got my parents a better signal (still working that one out) and more channels after we got their new digital converter box set up. PBS stations seem to be leading the charge in multiple digital channels.

I guess my biggest one has been to actively fight against lifestyle inflation. I lived on $12k/yr in grad school so I’ve been trying to find a good balance between comfort (I like not living on ramen anymore) and necessity.

I love Marie’s Camry story! The one in my life lately is the iphone. I don’t need one. After calculating the real costs, I don’t even want one. But everyone who owns one seems to really need to talk about theirs. A lot.

Sticking to a monthly budget religiously, always, no matter what happens. (Well, 28 of the past 30 months isn’t bad ..)

Tracking every cent that I spent…Awareness is a powerful choice!

The most valuable “tip” in my life has been to have as much control over my food as possible.

For me that means many things, such as being able to cook very, very well. Thus I’m almost never tempted to dine out or by convenience foods. I know I can make better food at home.

It also means gardening extensively, which saves me money on the grocery bill and with less gas spent on running to the store.

It means having four hens who supply me with more eggs than I can eat. So I sell a dozen per week to a family member. That $3 per week covers ALL my costs of keeping the hens; so our eggs are “free.”

It also means canning foods, baking all our bread, owning a chest freezer, and keeping a price comparison book so that I know a good deal when I see it. When I do, dozens of said sale item may end up in the chest freezer.

On top of saving a *lot* of money, I eat really, really well, and healthfully too.

I posted about my experiments at spending no more than $50 per month for two adults. I came close several times.

http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com/2008/09/50-monthly-grocery-challenge-how-it.html

Most public libraries will have access to thousands of magazines and journals online through their databases. You never have to buy another magazine or newspaper! Many reference sources are now online, many specialized encyclopedias, etc. You can access these from home and email articles to other people as well. So many people do not realize how many resources are available in local public and academic libraries for them to use. (Besides the books and dvds, etc.) These are paid for by local taxes, but the library may also receive state and federal grants as well. Also, ask for guidance from librarians about searching for specific topics. Some libraries have extensive digital collections for you to access online and each library offers lists of useful trusted website links on many subjects. Just take a look at Librarian’s Index to the Internet http://www.lii.org and the Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org for a few examples.

Only Mary, Sarah, Josh, and Carolyn hinted at “Your Single Best Action For Saving Money”.

Everyone else missed the boat! :-) Everyone else’s thinking is backwards… they put the cart before the horse.

“Your Single Best Action For Saving Money” is:

1) PAY YOURSELF FIRST!

If you pay someone else first, your are saying that person, company, etc is more important than you.

Whatever your income, set aside 10%, 20%, 30% or more. Your savings % rate is YOUR CHOICE … NOT based on your bills and what is left over.

This becomes your working “capital”.

2) PUT YOUR CAPITAL TO WORK!

Not in a savings account; not in a CD, where the bank is making the profits.

Invest it and/or start a business (without a loan) so you will earn the profits, not your boss or a bank.

This is what the rich do. Do what the rich do.

PS: NEVER borrow to pay for anything (houses, cars, boats, TVs, ipods, etc.)

DEBT = SLAVERY… ALWAYS!

Maybe this is too much of a “mindset” thing, but I’d say my best money-saving action is a waiting period for almost all purchases. I don’t really have a specific number of days, but rarely do I buy something on a whim. If I see something I want, I make a note of it, add it to my wish list, and start looking for a good deal on it. Whenever I am about to buy something, I ask myself, “Why do I need this? I have lived without it for this long.” Most of the time, I talk myself out of buying things, and when I do buy something, it’s because I have made a thoughtful decision that it really is worth buying.

My other one is Virgin Mobile. I pay $5/month for my cell phone (which is my only phone, as I don’t have a landline), and I get free minutes from Sugar Mama. Most people I know pay upwards of $50/month for a cell phone and/or landline.

I sold my car.

I moved from a rural area to Chicago after graduating from college. In looking for a place to live, I made sure my apartment was near public transit for both work and fun. I’ve been here 6 months now and the only time I miss the car is when I want to go buy used furniture for my place!

Besides cutting back on used furniture purchases, I don’t have to worry about paying for insurance, gas, repairs, or parking. Probably totals $200/month in savings, plus the $2500 I got for the car.

Hands down: automatic, transfer of pre-tax pay into 401K-like retirement plan at work, with a small employer match. Don’t even notice it because I don’t have to make the decision every pay period to move the money. It adds up really fast. Even though it’s taken a huge hit from the economy, I consider myself fortunate to finally have this and it’ll come back up.

My visa card is frozen in a block of ice in the freezer…also say no to fancy coffee that puts ya back 5 bones each!

I almost forgot to tell you….sold the car last January…it has almost been a year!! Woot!Woot!

Buying VERY few pieces of brand-new furniture to furnish our house. DH and I combined two apartments when we moved in together, so between us we had most of the basics already (kitchen table, loveseat, couch, easy chair, dressers, two beds, etc.) All of these items, with the exception of one of the beds, were hand-me-downs from family members.

In the eight years since, we’ve acquired additional pieces from flea markets, estate sales, assemble-it-yourself furniture catalogs, and overstock stores. I stick to the same wood stain colors and basic styles/lines so that it all doesn’t look too mis-matchy. This means I’ve sometimes gone months (or years, in the case of our bedroom nightstands) before I find a piece I need at a price I’m willing to pay … with cash, not credit.

Back in 2003 we took a week-long vacation to Hawaii that cost us $3500 in total. Shortly after we returned home, I was thumbing through a “lifestyle magazine” and spotted a new leather armchair that was priced at $3500. My immediate thought was, “You can keep the new chair — I’ll take another vacation to Hawaii for that kind of money!”

Ppack my and the kids’ lunch everyday. At nearly $6 a meal for their school it saves a ton of money.
Plan my meals carefully, cook from scratch, shop loss leaders for meat and fruit, and use coupons - but for only items I use to cook from scratch with.
Order water for the family when eating out once in a blue moon and use a coupon from the Entertainment book.
Track grocery items with a log book to see if it really is “on Sale”
Work clothes are quality items with classic styles. I can wear them for yrs and still look professional and not trendy. Same goes for shoes. I hold out for Nordstrom’s sale in July and inventory my closet months ahead of time.
I drive a 10 yr old car while my coworker physicians make fun of me and anyone who has close to 100K miles on the car. Oh well.

Sitting down with my youngest (age 20) and point blank telling him that our “bank is closed”. No more saving him from late bills, spotting him for gas, nothing. His debts to us probably won’t ever be paid, but at least I don’t front him any more money and he has to live in reality. He needed that conversation. His older siblings were too proud to live off of us, but he needed that nudge to grow up.

I can’t believe how much more money I have in the bank now!

Mine was getting rid of my car too. Unheard of in Southern California. One of my aunts even bought me a car because she didn’t like the idea of me bike commuting. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Not owning a car for the past 4 1/2 years has helped me pay off all $35K of my debt, start an emergency fund and savings accounts, contribute 5% more to my 401K, AND build up a one month buffer so that I’m no longer living paycheck to paycheck. Woo!

Definitely not watching tv!

This wasn’t a purposeful thing for us, we just didn’t want to pay for cable, we’re too cheap. We seem to be in a valley in our neighborhood, because bunny ears just gets us about 2 very snowy channels. Net result? We don’t watch tv at all. No tv = no commercials = less gimmee’s :)

1. Buying a cheap, older model, fuel efficient car…paid for in cash. No car payment, lower insurance, good gas mileage. It’s not flashy but it’s comfortable, drives well and gets me where I need to go. I bought one that was well maintained with low mileage (considering it was 10 years old) and I haven’t had problems with it. When I hear my friends saying they fork over $200-400 a month on their LEASED car, I’m shocked.

2. When my promotional rate on “family” cable ended and my bill went from $50 to $75 a month, I got rid of all except the basics (basement apartment so rabbit ears didn’t work so well here) and got a netflix subscription. Both of them together cost less than $30 per month and I enjoy it a lot more than whatever was on cable when I actually had time to watch it! Plus I can rent all the great TV series’ that were on the expensive channels I never wanted to pay for like Showtime and HBO, and I don’t even have to stay up late!

3. Using reusable things whenever possible instead of disposable. Using rags or washable cloths instead of paper towels, wipes or swiffer cloths. Using tupperware instead of plastic bags. Using a reusable and washable water bottle I fill at home instead of buying bottled water. It help saves the planet too! Disposable stuff is literally throwing money away.

4. Make it yourself instead of getting the “convenience” version. Homemade soup is much cheaper than canned. I learned how to make “skillet” type meals like you can buy in a box or frozen-those are just frozen veggies or pasta with a sauce! Why pay $2 for a half pound of pasta when you can pay $1 for a full pound? I bought an iced tea maker ($20) and now make iced tea at home for about 75 cents per 3 liters, a lot cheaper - and healthier since I use much less sugar - than store bought mix or ready made. If I used cheaper tea bags it would be less, but what can I say, everyone has some indulgence right? ;o)

Not drinking alcohol with dinner unless it’s a special occasion or an upscale dinner has saved us a ton. The spouse and I both like red wine, and while there are plenty of excellent cheap/er wines, the costs add up.

Driving our cars into the ground (250k+ miles) has also been fab for the budget.

“Going green” with a vengeance. It’s certainly possible to spend an astounding amount of money on green technology if that’s your bent, but a philosophical shift that has me using less of just about everything from gasoline to diet soda and seeking to reuse whenever possible (my own stuff or something preowned by someone else) has had a truly significant impact on my budget.

For me, the biggest money saver has been cooking at home. I now pack my lunch everyday instead of going out to lunch.

The next biggest is not buying books unless I find them important enough to keep as a reference. Other than that, I use the library.

Cheers!

Left a bad relationship with girlfriend, she was only happy after a couple of drinks among other problems. So far saved about $2k, not buying her dinner and drinks.

I haven’t been this happy for a couple of years.

As a librarian, I have to agree with you on the library! It is a fabulous resource. It addition to saving money on books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, etc., check out the programs at your library. There are programs for every age.

For us, planning our shopping trips and couponing has been a great tool for saving money. I also think meal-planning goes along with this.

Driving a used BMW. My 1998 740i will turn 270,000 trouble-free miles tomorrow.

Like many people, cooking is a HUGE money saver for me.

So is hanging my clothes to dry instead of using the dryer, or similarly, air drying my hair.

The library is also a good one!

I would also include, ONLY buying clothing that’s on sale or very cheaply from outlets.

And because I travel a lot, researching flights online and comparing that with my travel agent.

I know you said just one but I couldn’t help myself! Great post, great blog!

Thanks for the excellent library tip. I not a heavy reader, but I go through a few novels a month. I guess I assumed that the library wouldn’t have much for me since I read mostly obscure fantasy. However, you post inspired me to see if my area library had an online site. It turned out that they do and their entire catalog is internet searchable. I now know that they not only have books that interest me, but they have the one I’m reading right now and the next two in the series. Looks like I’m going to be heading down for a library card later this week.

I instituted a No Starbucks September. My rules where that I would not buy Starbucks for the month. Other people could buy it for me, but I would not buy it to break my twice a day habit. It was really hard at first, but I made it really public what I was doing. My boss thought it was amusing, but he encouraged me and gave me pats on the back when I stuck to my guns.

I stumbled a few times, but determined not to let that stop the whole effort.

I am proud to say that I have not resumed my former habit. Although my current status is probably more than most SD readers would approve of, for me I am proud to have broken my habit.

I had planned to do a No Shop November, refusing to purchase anything but gasoline and groceries for a month, but I didn’t plan well for it, and have decided that I need to push this out to January or February to get a handle on all unnecessary shopping. I forgot to plan for things like birthdays, and dealing with family expectations (and my own emotional shopping.)

Once I deal with that I need to start my month of eating in. One thing at a time.

I made saving automatic. My paycheck, after deductions, always looked like “mine’ and mine meant mine to spend. At my parents advice, I signed up for payroll savings bonds at my first job. I cashed those bonds for the down payment on our first house.

When i was 30, i went to work for a company that offered a 403(b) plan (like a 401(k)). They matched the first 5% of my contribution to the plan. I reasoned that they would be getting away without paying me that 5%, unless i signed up. Every so often, whenever i got a 5% or greater raise, i added 1% to my contribution & kept 4%.

When I was suddenly disabled at age 59, i had enough money to live on. That single decision - not to let my employer hire me for less than they were willing to pay- was the single most important financial decision of my life.

The first answer that popped into my head was similar to “spend less than you earn”, it was “to maximize the gap between your earnings and expenses”. Even though this in itself is an action, I believe the actual prime mover for me was reading “Your Money or Your Life”. Thanks for the recommendation Trent — and for all of your great posts.

Two big things:

1- We automatically transfer money into accounts that keep us honest: down payment fund, Roth-IRA, “Independence Fund” (The first 5K is considered emergency, everything after that is more like the saving we do to build our wealth, and luxury/travel fund (gifts, trips, special treats come out of here). Our primary account is called “In-and-Out” and that is where we pay all of our bills/receive all of our paychecks. My husband and I each have a separate “fun money” account where we can do whatever we want with our month’s allowance.

2-We put gas/medical copays on our credit card (always paid in full) and pay cash for groceries/petty expenses/entertainment. We give ourselves a low amount to spend (about $420 on all three), and although we sometimes go over by a bit, we are spending about $1300 less a month than when we didn’t set such a challenging limit.

1. We don’t eat meat or dairy products.

2. We shop in thrift stores as a first choice place to look for something “new”.

3. My kids have not been rewarded or bribed with treats to make them good when we’re shopping. By eliminating impulse junk purchases to make a kid happy, I think I saved a ton of money over the years.

When saving up for a deposit on a flat, I sold the car and my wife and I started making our own lunches. We save upwards of GBP500 / month after having saved nothing for years.

I’ve been car free ever since and won’t consider working somewhere that I can’t get too either on my bicycle or by public transport.

Paying off debt on the double step. The savings alone in interest brings a smile to my face every time I think about how much interest charge would have went to someone else had I not paid off a large amount of debt by doubling and eventually tripling payments to cut interest down to the bone.

many of the above, like lunch box, don’t own a car. But the single most effective is the 30 day rule. Don’t purchase before you sit down and think

Some things come to mind, on the saving money side:
-not having children
-library & Netflix & fast internet
-no land-line
-no car payment
-no junk food
-no credit card debt
And then on the income side:
-working hard and sacrificing happiness for many years to have a moderately high paying occupation; this can’t be underestimated since what I save by avoiding gross consumerism is much smaller than the increase in earnings. A middle class life, even without overconsumption, has become quite expensive in the population dense areas of the USA. Not looking forward to the coming tax increases, though.

Great Ideas - for me the most effective way is to not walk into a shop. Except to buy food of course, and with a list, and cash only.

Mine is having 15% taken out of my paycheck to fund my retirement. Money is out of my hands before I can even get to it.

Cycling to work instead of driving.
Its saved me on petrol money, gym fees, and car insurance. If I had been able to sell my car, it would have saved even more. Ideally I think it is best to rent a vehicle for those rare, long distance journeys. I say vehicle because if you are renting, you can choose the best mode of transport.

Alright, can I add mine- thinking.

My best story illustrating this as a money saving tip is to pick on my wife (but I admit to this habit as well). Each year, she has to make a special treat for Christmas, and each year she pulls out a list to buy the ingredients. About of the third of the items she buys are not used, so she hides them away for next year. Sometimes, we make purchases because we are not sure that we have something, or it is easier to buy than find it in the storage shed, or because we do not make it ourselves. By stopping to think, we could save much.

Our biggest money-saving decision was the one we made 25 years ago not to have children.

Trent, I have been reading your blog religiously for the past couple of months. This is my first time posting. Keep up the excellent work, Trent!

A few big things have really helped me save $:

1-Eight months ago I quit drinking. That may seem extreme because I am only 25y/o, and no, I didn’t have a drinking problem. :) (I do miss beer from time to time, but I have a strong will!) This has saved me a tremendous amount of what little cash flow I have. Quitting drinking has also kept a lot of people I know (mostly coworkers) from asking me to hang out. Because we all know that sober people are no fun. (nooooooo, that’s not sarcasm :) )

2-In the past two years or so I have cut out the people in my life who are *no good* for me. This includes people who claim to be a friend but are truly selfish in nature, people who dislike themselves so much that they badmouth everyone around them, and people who are frankly just not good people. This has saved me $$ because now I don’t go out with these people who for the most part only wanted to go out to-you guessed it-drink. And speak badly of others, etc. Taking out the bad in my life has left me so much more time to cultivate the relationships with people who are truly important to me. Why would I want to spend what little time I have with people who aren’t good for me? Now I feel like I am making the most of my time. And it feels good!

3-I only watch TV when I visit my parents. I use Netflix and my local library. I do my best to stay away from any kind of commercial advertisements because I am the type of person who, when I see something and I really want it, I am going to get it, no matter what. I used to be so bad that I didn’t care if I overdrew in my checking account. Eek! But no more temptation! No commercials, no magazine ads, minimal media influence.

My single tip for overspending for books is
http://www.bookfinder.com
I use it a lot for purchasing rare and sold ot books. My copy of Your money or your life came to me also from bookfinder.
I live in eastern europe and I found my english writen american sold out book about rammed earth houses in south germany second hand book store.
Bookfinder is Great.

to kim
Childern are not a money thing question.
If you consider not having childern as money saving tip, then you probably did well not having them.

For me, it was setting up an automatic withdraw from my checking account into my high-yield online savings account every payday. So every payday, there are 2 transactions in my household checking account; 2 paycheck deposits (my wife’s and mine) and a $100 transfer. It’s automatic and we never miss the money. It was a one-time set up. “Fix it and forget it.”

Another way I save money is by making my own cleaning supplies. I use white vinegar, baking soda, borax and dishwashing liquid (for hand washing dishes) to mix my own cleaning solutions, and they work better than any of the pricey commercial ones as well as being better for the environment.

For me, the old adage “A stitch in time saves nine” is the best way to save money. We have a small farm, and have spent more time and money replacing items we can’t find and need right now, and fixing big problems we should have fixed when they were tiny, etc. Repair something when it needs to be repaired. Put things away where they should go so you can find it. Store items properly so they last. That’s the “stitch in time.” The corollary for saving money is “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Think wasted leftovers!

For me it was eating at home rather than restaurants. During our dating and early marriage days, my husband and I were typical DINKs (Double Income No Kids). We both worked hard and most nights did not feel like cooking. As a result, we ate out some 5-6 nights per week. Nothing fancy, usually a diner or takeout, but it really added up. Now that we have two small children, going out to eat is a chore rather than a luxury and we typically eat home cooked dinners every night. Even though my husband now works part time and we have some $1350 per month in day care expenses, we are actually saving more money per month by eating at home and generally being more frugal.

Great post Trent!

Stay home!
Really, stay home.
We are making less money and having more because I stopped working outside the home and my needs are few!

My best recommendation is not only to cook at home, but to host parties (each person in a group gets their turn, or everyone splits the bill) at home instead (suppers, after work reunions…)
Plus, everyone could cook togheter and have fun.
Try it: open a wine bottle over various cheeses, and snack while cooking!
Cooking, and doing every chores in the house ourselves saves money on a maid and restaurants AND uses up time we have that we would use to entertain ourselves costly.

On the other hand, I have a hard time to understand comments like:
- Don’t have children
- Have a high paying job that you hate
To save money

Might as well Hate your whole live! Why live?
For me, any job I don’t like is costing me more because I will spend on entertainment to survive and try avoiding the life I dislike (roughly 1/4 of your life working, more than 1/3 of you awake life) thrue altering my reality thrue drugs, alcool, and other addictions (costly addiction).

Plus, having a family helps staying at home, cooking for the whole family, spending quality time with people, and caring for what is important in life.

Of course, this means that family is important to someone… Often, people that don’t want kids have a hard time taking care of themselves in the first place, and can’t imagine taking care of others.

If anyone start being honest from a Johneses to another, they will realise that they have emprisoned themselves into a lifestyle they can’t control and can’t see how they can overcome anymore, so they keep running from paycheck to paycheck indefinately, and, hopefully, when retirement arrives, the will have saved up enough to live on to have AT LEAST their working salary, because that kind of lifestyle don’t slowdown anywhere, except if undertaken with discipline. Retirement is only more free time to spend around!

I suppose the latest big step for us has been cutting out restaurants. File that under meal planning and grocery planning so that there is always something quick