living on a budget: ways to make the $'s last

[Lemon Cheesecake]

A thread to share your helpful hints on how to make those dollars (or pennies last). How do you manage to balance your budget or even save a bit with out having to just survive on top ramen noodles or the mercy of others inviting you over for dinner or running up your credit card (an endless pit which you should never do!)?

Our costs of living includes more then just food...there's rent/mortgage, transportation, fuel,vehicle maintenance, insurance (health, vehicle, home), dr's co-pays, basic essentials (toilet paper, deodorant, toothbrush),phone (electronics),utilities (gas, electric,water, trash), laundry, education, for some gym costs (or do you save money by jogging or walking, or?)...never mind if you add in the costs of having pets or wanting to travel or having enough to gift people...

...even if you still live at home and don't have any costs other then saving to buy something you want...how do you go about getting the best bargain or "bang for your buck" ?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

saving for "check this out" articles:

5 Foolish things People do when they're broke:
http://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/ ... roke.html/

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Here's some ideas I have found to work and that are listed on Cheat sheet's article Fix your grocery list: 10 ways you are wasting money on food.
http://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/ ... /2/?ref=OB

1. Make a list centered on what you actually need and what is on sale in the grocery flyer or advertised on the grocery stores website. Shop different stores for sales, plan to pick up the items when you are doing something else in that same area and save on gas.

2. Use coupons. Most stores have digital coupons, sign up for the store rewards program which allow you discounts not only on food but Ralphs (Krogers) and Vons give you 10-20 cents discount on gas at select stations.

[+] SPOILER

"Time your shopping to coincide with your store’s weekly sales. Often, these kick off on Wednesday and sometimes will overlap with the previous week’s deals, so you can double-up on bargains. Shopping on the day the sales starts ensures you can snag any bargains before products sell out. If an item you really want is out of stock, ask for a rain check, Perez advised."

3. Only go down the aisle's that have the products you need.

[+] SPOILER

"Instead of swinging through every section, review your shopping list, then bypass any part of the supermarket that doesn’t have items you need. You’re less likely to fill your cart with chips or expensive frozen meals if you don’t walk past them in the first place".

4.Don't shop on an empty stomach & shop later in the day for manager's extra discounts or early in the morning for bakery day of sales.

[+] SPOILER

“If you go at the end of the day, you can oftentimes find manager’s specials on meats — buy one get one free, 50% off, etcetera,” Durkin said. Fill your freezer with the discounted meats and you can eat well for a fraction of what you’d normally pay."

5.Shop the sales cycles, I have found the foods I buy are on sale about every 3 weeks.

[+] SPOILER

"Stores also mark down items every 6 to 12 weeks as they restock the shelves, Thomas explained. Every item has its own cycle, and by tracking the prices of the items you buy most frequently, you can identify the weeks when your favorite foods will be on sale and plan to stock up then"

6.Keep an eye on the register as products are rung up and check your receipt before you leave the store in case you have to get a price check/refund. If an item still has the sales sign up you can still get it for that price if it rings up differently because it is no longer on sale.

[+] SPOILER

“Watch as your items are rung up,” Novak said. “Overly sensitive pricing guns can inadvertently scan an item twice. A cashier can accidentally charge you for expensive curly parsley when what’s really in the bag is the less expensive flat leaf parsley. Mistakes can happen when cashiers scan the items in your cart, and these may cost you money. Big-box store Target was recently ordered to pay a $4 million fine after an investigation revealed that items sometimes rang up at higher-than-advertised prices.
”

7. Try buying bulk but splitting the purchases with others so that you all get the discount and food is not thrown out and wasted because you couldn't consume it before it expires. (Think Costco or Smart and Final sizes).

[Kitalpha Hart]

Tops likes to have this thing where you buy this big thing of meat and all the other stuff offered with it is free. It's several meals for ~$20
And they set it up so it's three different meals with the meat
If it's nearing the end and they're missing parts (say, it's missing ice cream and skewers for that specific deal), it still accepts it as part of the deal, and you pay the $20

[Mousy]

At my old school district, we got paid once a month. ONCE.
We had to make it last.

We found that by making a menu a month in advance and going grocery shopping for that, it cut our grocery budget to a third of what it was.

We also bought in bulk. So for instance if I knew I was making 10 meals that month with chicken as the main protein, I would buy the bigger pack of chicken, section it out and freeze it for the meals I needed it for.

We froze a lot of food!

It even gave us the opportunities for more dates because the date nights were planned and paid for in advance.

[Mousy]

double post because why not....

I REFUSE to pay full price for clothes. Ever. I really like to search online for some of my favorite styles and looks and you can easily recreate or make something similar at a thrift store for a fraction of the cost.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

thrift stores can have some really unique and cool stuff, especially if you visit ones in the high end areas.

I love doing the "Chopped" style menus you mentioned, Mousy. In fact, that's my favorite home made left over soup - mix it altogether and have some toppings, like grated cheese, chopped up green onions or toast the day old bread, to add on top.

If I make some hamburger I will cook it up with the onion and garlic and then separate it into separate pots and make it into chili or spaghetti sauce or hamburger stew, save it for a hamburger casserole - they all taste better second day when the spices have permeated the sauce anyway.In a quick pinch hamburger and rice is good too. You can do quite a bit with hamburger. What are your favorites?

[Bassy]

Another way to save money is learn to be interested in DIY. It is also much cheaper. Doesn't mean you have to go all out Hippie haha. This is more for storage space and decorations if you cant afford them.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

ok, other then coffee being a dollar for a large at McDonald;'s... if you want to earn the rewards points for Starbuck's but not spend the bucks then get a fresh brew have them leave room for milk and ask then to add your favorite flavoring. Sometimes they charge 50 cents a shot and sometimes they don't, but you end up with a pretty close latte for half the price!!!

[MeatVegetable]

One thing that costs a lot that most people don't realise is food, finding an easily sustainable diet utilizing the minimum you require, having all sorts of different food for taste is completely unnecessary mind you the odd treat is always nice. I personally do pizza every 2 weeks.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Pizza is good ( but lots of carbohydrates if you are trying to watch those) you can get medium size pizza's here for $5.00 and it definitely lasts for a couple meals - that's cheaper then the same size ones in the frozen section of the grocery store!

[Of the Stars]

I think it might depend on the store because my mom was able to get 3 mid-sized pizzas for cheaper then the pizza chains at the grocery store she went to. Only thing was it took up at lot of space.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Dominos and Little Cesar offer $5 pizza's and I love that it is cooked for you so no electrical bill costs (plus I don't have to make it)

[Gingerale]

If you join Starbuck's reward program and buy a cup of coffee you can get free refills if you sit there, so I know people who buy a cup and work on their laptops at the local Starbuck's and drink there coffee there. The inside is usually warm in the winter and cool in the summer so that helps their electrical bill and free wi-fi savings too.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

I also love the restaurant coupons that come in the weekly grocery flyers - often they have buy one get one free

Carl's Jr has a hamburger/chicken sandwich and fries and a drink for $4 right now.