Hello Everyone!
Frank and Fern Frugal here.
We’ve been hunting around the blog, searching for the best tips, techniques and stories coming from your first Challenge.
As we uncovered your nuggets of wisdom, we copied them to display here.
Have a look below and check out the best of the best!
A few years ago I was ready to buy a new car…or so I thought. I went to the car dealership on a Friday night…starving and cranky. I had never purchased a new car before and didn’t think it could be that difficult – you go in, pick out the one you want and leave, right? In my world, that was correct. In the real world, that was entirely incorrect. I didn’t negotiate and ended up paying MSRP on a Honda Civic – more than $21,000, standard with no features. All I cared about was getting the payments as low as possible. The car dealer had no problem with that either. He signed me up for a 72 month loan – that will definitely get your payments low. Now 3 years down and 3 years to go. Every month I make that payment I think about how I should have purchased a MUCH cheaper car with a much smaller term.
July 1, 2009 7:12 PM
My Mother told me a long time ago that I needed to put 20% of each paycheck in savings. I couldn’t afford to at the time, so I started with 5%. All I can say is WOW, saving is addictive! I am now saving 20% of each check and it is kind of like a game. I love watching my savings grow. This has process has really helped me to pay closer attention to how I am spending my hard earned money.
July 2, 2009 10:09 AM
I joined the grocery game and each week I spend very little on a large amount of groceries. Teri (the person who owns the site) tells us each week which item is on sale and which coupon to use to get that item at it’s “ROCK BOTTOM” price. I joined a few months ago, but it took about a month to get a coupon stash before I could really see the savings!4 weeks ago I saved $66 off of my $200 grocery shop. 3 weeks ago I saved $94 off of my $200 grocery shop. 2 weeks ago I saved $112 off of my $200 grocery shop.This week I saved $219.35 off of my $286 grocery shop a 76% savings. I did choose to purchase high ticket items, razor blades for my husband. Normally these shavers and the refills are $12.99 each, but this week (sale ended Tuesday) they were on sale for $5.99 each. I had 11 coupons to save $4.00. So I got 6 of the razor blade with the handle and 5 refills (4 ct cartridges) for $0.99 cents each. If you do your math right there alone was my biggest savings! $142.89 was the original price and I got them for $10.89.
If you are looking to make your dollar stretch at the grocery store and perhaps you are sick of only buying generic brands. Our shelves are full, and my freezer is stocked with name brand quality foods, and even a few splurges here and there (a few weeks ago I got 2 FREE pints of Starbuck’s ice cream), then give the grocery game a chance and see what you can do for your wallet and your family.Also this week I was able to donate 4 large paper sacks of extra food and personal hygiene items to the local food shelter. Being able to give back to our community is always a good thing.
July 7, 2009 10:33 PM
I have “bundled” my home phone, cable, internet and cell phone into one bill. It has saved me over $150 per month. I went paperless so it saves a few tree’s as well 
July 8, 2009 11:13 AM
I changed the outside sprinklers to run at night as opposed to the middle of the day and cut the time down that they run and I found the lawn did just as well and our water bill went down $15.
July 8, 2009 11:15 AM
The kids love bringing bottled water to school and when they go out. We were spending $40 per week buying cases of water. I did the math and found out the same water in a five gallon container turned out to be $5 per week and now they can fill up the containers as often as they want. There is also less trash and we are not adding unnecessary plastic bottles to the landfills. We went Green and are saving money.
July 16, 2009 7:10 AM
Here is an idea. . . Rather than spending money how about NOT SPENDING money at all. You can go to www.freecycle.org. You will be placed in a group in your surrounding area and get postings from people who are giving things away for FREE!!! You do have to fill out a questionnaire in regards to your intention. I have gotten a number of things from people. Some had been used, others haven’t. I have seen some many thing; from lead for lead pencils to washers and dryers to tickets to events. GREAT concept . . . Try it out it costs nothing!!!
July 29, 2009 5:34 AM
I believe that every dollar saved will get me closer to being debt free. I have started eating my breakfast home and/or bring it to work. Saves me a few dollars per day. I have also stop buying snacks after work. These two steps will save me about $20.00 to $35.00 per week.
Comments on this entry are closed.