I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread about deals and other things that come up that you can share. My wife's last day of work is tomorrow as she is getting ready to start chiropractic school and we are cutting down to 1 income for the next 4 years. So, I am going to be finding all the ways I can to save money. Anyone have any good sites to share for coupons or other ways to save money to pass along? Good deals that come up? I am going to be doing a lot of searching on this topic and will be posting what I find.
If you drink soda, stop, seriously, it cuts so much out of the budget if you drink more than occasionally. I was drinking 3 12 packs of Mountain Dew a week, possibly even more on all nighter binges back during my MLG qualifying days. Quit drinking, save so much money, plus I feel better overall.
I know of one tremendous deal on chimay $4 a 4 pack but I will take that one to my grave. It is a pricing mistake that hasn't been fixed in 2 months. I buy them out everytime it happens. call me selfish but that is 75% off.
I just bought a Foodsaver machine. You can stock up on meat and other fresh foods in bulk when it's on sale then use their vacuum bags/canisters to freeze or store what you don't use right away. The initial cost is $80-$150 on the machine itself (depending on which model you get), but is worth the investment in money saved on wasted food. The bags and canisters are available at several retail stores like Walmart, Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Amazon.com. You can buy rolls and make your own bags in the size you need or you can buy pre-made bags of different sizes. Or......if you don't want to spend that much, you can also get a Ziploc hand pump vac system that does the same thing, though I found they don't work quite as well, plus you only have two sizes of bags available and no canisters. Either way, find some kind of system where you vacuum seal your food to store. It will save you money in the long run.
Price Chopper has a big meat sale today and tomorrow. Not sure if its one of their storied "Huge Meat Sales".
Dont go out to eat and plan your meals. Make only enough for that meal and your lunch the next day. Shop only for that week and its easy to track how much you are spending. This will also cut done on the useless snacks and such you buy and then consume, its good for both the wallet and body. I dont know if you have a pasta maker, but you can literally make meals for dimes if you are smart about the topping. I really enjoy cooking and would be happy to post or PM you some of my favorite and low price meals. Free entertainment for your entire life is avalible at the library. Go on a spending fast for a month, like that show "30 days", it will save you money during that time and the month is enough time for your mind/lifestyle/etc to adjust to a new way of "living". A couple we are friends with did this right when they got out of law school and it really helped them out, their marriage is even better now. Shelter, clothing, and food only, and I assume you already have sufficient clothing.
We dont really drink pop at our house. We usually keep a 12 pack of Sprite Zero around for stomach aches but that will last us a month or more.
I've actually been looking into getting one those. I want one for storage too. One that will vacuum seal clothes to save space. We buy half a cow each summer and we store the meat but some of it gets freezer burnt and I imagine that this could help out with that.
+1 on this. The JoCo Library has a system on-line where you can reserve books or movies from any of their branches and have them put on hold at the closest branch to your house. Not sure if KCMO library has that or not, but it's a great deal if they do. 100% free....can't beat that.
Pretty much all the KC libraries have that system. I have a library card at the KCMO library, JoCo library, and Mid-Continent. I use all three and they all do that. In fact, their websites use the same software.
I'll dump the links from my "Cheap Cheap" favorites folder. Most repost what they find from other deal sites but whatever, you ultimately find good stuff in the end. Deals Digger and Slick Deals are about the best two of the bunch. Add these to your favorites and never buy anything online with checking a few of your favorites here. Whatever you're looking for in disposable items, tech, tools, entertainment etc... I guarantee show up within a 5 week cycle on one of these pages somewhere with significant savings due to people finding ways to stack coupons, find pricing errors, or in Dell's case a while back get free shipping and 30% off by creating a shopping cart of over $1000 and then removing items back down to what you need and that page/logic never adjusted. http://dealsdigger.com/superdeals/home.aspx http://slickdeals.net/ http://www.hot-deals.org/ http://www.dealchecker.com/ http://www.dealcatcher.com/ http://www.dealhunting.com/ http://www.fatwallet.com/ http://www.dealdude.com/index.php http://www.anycoupons.com/ http://www.jumpondeals.com/ http://www.techbargains.com/?r1=1 Happy daily browsing. Beech
"Bubba, just how much is a shitload?!?" I think of doing this every single time I throw out a roast that has lived in my freezer for a year or so or the bi-weekly cleaning of the no-longer fresh vegis from the crisper drawer in the 'fridge. It is. Bargains abound. Most every price will show up at some point in the future also, but their sales are all at once on everything. I find I sometimes buy too much because of the deal available and I have to work at using everything in good time, even with a freezer. Certainly deals can be had on the internet. Often percentage off for buying on-line is availble. Conversely, web pages also rarely if ever have lower in-store prices on anything. If the store is on-route to somewhere or a close drive, take the time to see if it may be cheaper in the store, sometimes it will be. My tip would be to still use the old fashioned method of using the yellow pages for items purchased infrequently. Often those items will be on clearance somewhere at smaller retail mom & pop stores. I'm talking about household things like sheets and bedding, etc. Car parts, yard things,a dn most all seasonal goods can normally be found cheaper as well. Off seasons provide a good opportunity to buy things cheap if the things are not perishable and you can plan on the need and most importantly to do without the cash flow currently. Certain clothing like athletic wear, etc. and other seasonal things can always be had for at least 50% off at he end of seasons. For things purchased frequently, know the prices well enough to know if a deal is worth your limited cash flow. Buy in bulk.
