How do you save money.....
 

So, I was watching this show... Extreme Couponing on TLC, and got me thinking. So what do you do that saves you money, with raising gas, grocery, power, and lord knows what else. I'm only 22 and spend a fortune on groceries for me and the bf plus Harley and we don't eat all that much fancy food, I'm wondering how I'm ever going to start saving money...

So some of my key things (oh and I'm in Canada which makes some saving things more difficult): I have a PC Mastercard, and try to buy everything on it (and hopefully pay it off right away:rolleyes:) so that I get grocery points. I have an air miles card and when I shop at the other grocery store I buy things that give extra points. I also use sites like save.ca but there really aren't a lot of Canadian coupon sites. Also at school if I use my student ID to pay for things, I get 5% back (you put money on it like a debit card to buy on campus).

Oh and I always gas up somewhere I can get points. Usually the grocery store cause it turns directly into grocery $$

So what can I be doing better.

That show is INSANE! After we watched it, my boyfriend told me I'm not allowed to buy groceries without coupons :rolleyes:

I'm in Canada too! We buy a lot at Costco so we get things in bulk and leave most of it in the storage room, or package huge bulk packages of meat like chicken and pork chops, into smaller meal sized freezer bags and freeze them. Oh, and sometimes we'll buy meat like ground beef if it's on sale because it's getting close to the expiration date. We'll buy the best dates and then immediately put them in the freezer when we get home.

We also stock up when our Co-Op has a 10 for 10 sale! Other than that, we don't do a lot of saving with groceries but I wish we could do more! Fruits and veggies are expensive and you can't just stock up on those :rolleyes:

My boyfriend also puts a lot of our big purchases on his Scotiabank Scene card :) You don't get money back, but you get free movies at Ciniplex Odeon! We renovated our condo before selling it last year, and now we have a bunch of free nights out! It's not much but it does add up!

Have you opened a tax free savings account? I didn't know about them until looking over my banking with my financial person a couple of years ago. I decided to start Tax Free Savings and RRSPs. I have a certain amount that automatically comes off each pay check and goes into those accounts. It's nice because I don't actually see the money and deposit it myself, it's spoken for as soon as it's there. There is a maximum amount of $5,000 you can put into a TFSA each year, but you do make interest on the money and you don't pay taxes on it! So two years after opening mine, voila, I'm going to Europe in a couple of months and didn't even feel like I had to save for it!

P.S. I've always wanted to go to Nova Scotia! One of these days!

It is soooo hard to save money. I try to only use my Visa for emergencies. I will use a store credit card but only if I know I can pay the whole amount that month and not carry a balance with interest. I don't buy alot of junk food which my sons complain about. I snack on fruits but they like cookies, etc. I tell the kids to close the lights, TV etc. when they are not in the room. Every little bit helps.

We buy in bulk and try to buy everything on sale. At the grocery I use coupons but only if its something I needed to buy anyway. For all shopping I make a list and for the most part I only buy things that are on that list. That eliminates unnecessary buying.

I definitely save money when I buy only unprocessed fresh foods. I buy basic things like chicken breasts on the bone when on sale and I remove the bones myself. I buy bags of frozen vegetables, fruits, and veggies when on sale. I have every spice imaginable in my cupboard and some stable items like lite coconut milk, chicken broth, olive oil, coconut oil, and various chinese and asian recipe items (soy sauce, teryiaki sauce, lemongrass, asian fish sauce, etc). I'm italian so when it doubt, sautee whatever it is in olive oil and garlic and you'll have something delicious ;)

Oh and a big money saver this year has been to change all the lightbulbs in my house to the energy saving ones that are sold at home depot.

I make all my own cleaning products from water, vinegar, baking soda, castille soap and essential oils. I do buy dishwashing detergent and laundry detergent. I do not use dryer sheets, I bought those blue dryer balls instead.

I don't do coupons but I do try to find "coupon codes" when I shop online.

Going back to basics and cutting down on processed food items in the house and cleaning products made my monthly budget go way down.

Yes, I've had it for 3 years and haven't been able to fill it yet, thank god it cumulates. I can now put $15,000 tax free, which makes me happy, it'll probably be another 4 years before I can actually get some money in there. lol

I buy in bulk when prices cheaper where possible and wish I were diligent enough to do coupons but I am hopeless that way!!! Fresh foods also. Good luck.

Yes, I haven't been able to fill mine either! I'm glad you can put a lump sum in after a few years though, because when we sold our condo, my boyfriend was able to put all our profits in his tax free savings because he hadn't used it in a few years either :) It's nice to gain the interest on it!

I use reward/loyalty cards where they are offered and use coupons on everything, well almost everything. Sometimes I am lucky and even find coupons for produce and meats. I also do most of my shopping at Homegoods and TJ MAXX.

I look for sales and use coupons where I can.

I stopped stocking up on things that I thought I wanted to make and just buy what I will be making. A lot of the times I wound up throwing what I wanted to make because it sat on the shelf too long, so I didn't save anything after all.

I also just cashed in a bunch of credit card points for cash and bought something instead of ordering it thru the credit cards system. I would have used up all the points if I used the credit card system, now I still have a bunch of points to cash in for something else.

TIP #1:
I round my checks up to the next dollar when I subtract it from my balance. If my check was 21.19 I subtract 22.00. This serves 2 purposes...I save a little with each check and debit and I never have to balance my checkbook :)

TIP #2:
I take a list and try to leave my husband at home when I grocery shop. A list keeps me focused...leaving my husband at home keeps non-essential items from appearing in my cart :)

TIP #3:
Purchase items that make more than one meal. I make a pot roast on one day and use the left over beef for BBQ the next...left over chili can be used over cooked macaroni (chili mac) or over nacho chips with some cheese on top...things like that.

I do clip coupons...but...I always forget to take them to the store :rolleyes:

Yes leaving the bf home definitely helps me save money and time :p I have such a hard time with #3, being a student who has evening classes is really not conducive to producing good meals regularly.

Get a good crock pot...you can throw something in there and have it ready when you get home or when you get up in the morning. I use mine to cook pot roast and also for my chicken breasts...that way they are ready and in the fridge when you want them...just take one out and brown it for a dinner meal or chop one up for chicken salad. Crock pots are a wonderful kitchen tool to have and there are many good crock pot cook books on the market that will help you make great meals with little effort. :)

Bad philosophy to have but one of my favorite sayings is: Ever see a hearse pulling a U-Haul? I don't plan to take anything with me so I use the good china and if I really want it I buy it.
Old age? Catholic guilt and several children. lol
But I feel I save by shopping at one store. I've priced checked several stores and my "regular" store seems to consistently have comparable or better prices. I'm on their rewards program, so I get "points" for each purchase which nets me back about $20 every 3 months. Running from store to store to get a bargain here and a bargain there (unless you're buying cases) doesn't save me money with the price of gas.
Costco: I go there for some things. After pricing out many things (per oz, etc) - Costco isn't always the good buy it seems, compared to the "regular" store. So I think one can save money by knowing what one store consistently sells certain things for and going from there. It's easy (at Costco) to throw in a "deal" on some food item (only to find out it was cheaper at the regular store, which of course they count on you doing that to balance out what they sold for cheaper). I went to a business forum about a year ago and the head of Costco was there telling us exactly that.