What do you do to save on spending $$

[Yoder]

On the house, I completely remodeled my kitchen and bathroom, replaced my front deck, finished my basement, installed vinyl plank flooring upstairs and downstairs, I did all the electrical and plumbing work. I fixed my dryer, refrigerator and replaced my water heater. Installed a pellet stove. Most work on my vehicles, brakes, rotors, calipers, starters, alternators. I also do most of the work on my firearms and bow. Replacing trigger parts, springs installing new strings and cables. I really hate paying people to do things I'm capable of doing.

 

[ColoradoV]

2 best things I have done is to own businesses and I will never buy anything I can’t pay cash for.

Or never pay interest = ever ~ for anything if you can’t afford it save up or don’t buy it… Saved me more than all the car maintenance, home improvements, haircuts, or eggs I could buy in 2 lifetimes.

No fancy house and will never ever have a new truck but I live in a paradise, travel internationally every year, hunt 60+, backcountry ski more than that, surf the same, or fair to those 2 things have gotten me 10,000 good days…

 

[Haggin]

Daughter shows horses, so for me its minimizing the losses.

We feed out a couple of pigs over the summer, letting have the "old" garden space and rotate back to in two years after, basically need three garden spaces since hog manure is pretty hot the following year. Free fertilizer and low cost pork.

We feed a steer every two or three years depending on how much we eat and get from hunting. We have a friend that is a cow/calf guy and gets us a feeder at a decent price.

We have chickens for the eggs and have a batch of fryers every year. We have plenty of eggs and sell some to friends and family (TBH - its pretty much a wash on eggs, especially in colder climates). Chickens are good at breaking up manure (if you feed grain), eating bugs, and keeping weeds down in the garden.

We don't butcher, so have to pay for that, but in the end its significantly lower cost than store bought, and you know where its from. We haven't bought meat at a store in a very long time, and if we do, its something very specific (turkey, lamb, etc). Gotta have space though. You can always add another pig or steer in the pen and sell that one to help offset the cost.

 

[Rich M]

Do most home projects DIY, can do fences, bushes, lawns, and trees - last tree quote we got was $10K...I've taken down 2 that size in past 5-6 yrs.
Eat in more than out.
I love to fish so I keep fish and we eat those - also run a modest boat with lower fuel bill.
We buy a cow from farmer and self butcher for meat. A cow will last a year or more.
Garden & can or freeze.
mow my own lawn.
Wife does cut my hair.
Do modest vacations - my wife has a requirement for a week every year but I usually hunt or fish on my days off. Do plan for bigger trips and save for them.

Buy stuff on sale.
If I want something, say a new scope - I wait for some kind of price reduction whether it be black friday sale, closeout sale, some kind of 10-25-20% off coupon. I once bought a scope that was on sale and had a $100 gift card with it. So, saved $200-$300 or so. Then used the gift card to buy mounts and rings...

Take good care of your car/house - earlier repairs are typically cheaper than waiting for stuff to break.
I pay folks to work on my vehicles and boat motor these days - my time off is worth more than an auto or outboard repair. Plus if it breaks after, they get the headache and not me.

Figure out what you want to spend money on - you need a new car... used might be more cost effective or not. For an additional $100/month I'd rather have a new car over used one with 60K miles. Don't max out your purchase power if you can avoid it - an extra "$500"/month doesn't get that much more house but if you put in 401K with some kind of match, in 20 yrs, you'll have a nice pile.

We bought a "modest" home - the kind folks buy to rent - instead of a bigger place. Did that after I had been laid off few times over a 10 yr period - didn't want a maxed payment, wanted to be able to afford it on wife's salary... We also refinanced as rates went down - started at 8.25, then 6 then stopped at 3.75%.

But really, if you find you need more money then something has to change - either get additional skills and better job, work more hours, figure out a way to reduce the big expenses (auto/home mortgage, rent, medical insurance, stuff like that), and such.

If you have debt, you can restructure the debt - HELOC or other type of loan can consolidate debt into 1 smaller payment and change your cash flow, allowing you to save more.

The absolute best way to save money is to make more... The nickels and dimes do add up but they don't beat being able to put a $5-$10 bill in the jar every day or two.

 

[hunterjmj]

Same as most on here. Vehicle maintenance and repair, plumbing, hvac, yard stuff, etc. Dropped cable years ago and only have YouTube premium (ad free) and Disney plus (free with Verizon). Groceries are expensive and one area where you can spend a ton or be careful and not spend as much. All our vehicles and toys are paid off. Built a shop last year and did it all myself and saved a ton going that route. Of course certain things I can't do so we hire out but doing as much as you can will save tons.

I've built up a nice tool collection over the years and I'll price out things before renting because many times it's cheaper to buy vs rent if you'll use the tool more than 1 or 2 weekends. For example, I bought a plate compactor vs renting because I'll be using it on several projects over the next couple years so it didn't pencil out to rent.

 

[Wellsdw]

Stay off rokslide classifieds

 

[svivian]

I’ve gone the opposite. Some things are not worth my time when someone that does it for a living can do it faster, and in some cases better.

I have better things to do with my time.


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Like spend more money on rokslide lol

 

[EastHumboldt]

When money gets tight, I just stay off of this forum for a couple months. Generally saves me about $4-8 k….

 

[roadrunner]

...after I had been laid off few times over a 10 yr period - didn't want a maxed payment, wanted to be able to afford it on wife's salary...

That'll get your attention in the morning, won't it! Same here. Laid off once and never looked at spending the same way again.

 

[Rich M]

That'll get your attention in the morning, won't it! Same here. Laid off once and never looked at spending the same way again.

Yessir! It sure changes someone's perspective.

Thankfully, these things only "last for a season" as they say.

 

[grfox92]

Don't have any car payments. Haven't since 2006.

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[Hunt eat repeat]

Ask my wife if I should spend however much money on whatever piece of hunting gear I’m wanting to buy. The answer is almost always no which saves me a bunch of money.

I have spend many years crafting the art of justifying every thing I buy to my wife.

 

[txjustin]

I hire out most things. My personal time is worth ~$100/hour so it’s usually easier to hire out. Plus owning rental properties makes it easy to write off most house related items.


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[EZduzIT]

2 best things I have done is to own businesses and I will never buy anything I can’t pay cash for.

Or never pay interest = ever ~ for anything if you can’t afford it save up or don’t buy it… Saved me more than all the car maintenance, home improvements, haircuts, or eggs I could buy in 2 lifetimes.

No fancy house and will never ever have a new truck but I live in a paradise, travel internationally every year, hunt 60+, backcountry ski more than that, surf the same, or fair to those 2 things have gotten me 10,000 good days…

What’s your business?

 

[JRay]

I do a lot of the things already mentioned. Not buying redundant stuff in the off-season really helps

 

[Blacktocomm]

We still drive clapped out old vehicles even though we could afford new. (wife has had about enough of this one)

We only have one car and my wife is the one in the relationship that wants to keep driving our 7 year old CRV. We buy all our cars in cash and it's depressing to splash the cost it takes for a nice new vehicle right now.

We just agreed to buy a new (certified Pre-owned) rig this coming year so life is good! Now just to figure out what to get that won't stress me out spending too much cash in one go.

 

[mgray]

“Way too easy to spend $10 on breakfast food off of a hotplate every morning, $14 at the taco truck for lunch. And if I'm feeling lazy I'll hit the taco truck on my way home at night too. Toss in a few drinks and thats $50/day to feed one person”

This is my biggest dumb expense. I’ll stop for a Kwik Trip breakfast almost every day. It’s a convenience thing for me, working crazy hours, it’s a lot easier than making breakfast at home.

 

[roosiebull]

Hunt


Hahahaha

I fish too

 

[go_deep]

“Way too easy to spend $10 on breakfast food off of a hotplate every morning, $14 at the taco truck for lunch. And if I'm feeling lazy I'll hit the taco truck on my way home at night too. Toss in a few drinks and thats $50/day to feed one person”

This is my biggest dumb expense. I’ll stop for a Kwik Trip breakfast almost every day. It’s a convenience thing for me, working crazy hours, it’s a lot easier than making breakfast at home.

Premake several breakfast burritos or sandwiches, microwave and out the door.

 

[grfox92]

I picked up a set of brand new Hankook AT2 for my work truck on Facebook for $100. Guy bought a truck and immediately put a lift and rims and tires on and just wanted to sell the Hankooks.

It got me thinking and I've been keeping an eye and seeing lots of new if not close to new full sets if truck tires on Facebook for a fraction of the price of new. I'm on the lookout for a set for my wife's truck. She doesn't need tires yet, but if I score a similar deal for her rig, it would save close to $2k between both our vehicles.

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