Let's Share Our Best Savings Ideas

Thanks some really good ideas and tips

Shop second hand as much as possible–yard sales, estate sales, thrifts, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc. It's a lot cheaper, and you can often find unique and better quality items that that will last longer.

Use vinegar and baking soda to clean almost everything instead of expensive, toxic chemicals.

Create a meal plan each week and stick to it. Make a list of your family's favorite meals, then figure out approximately how much each costs to make. Go through your grocery store's weekly sale ad, plus Ibotta, Fetch, Coupons.com, etc., and choose from your menu, taking into account which recipes' ingredients are on sale/rebate that week. Also make sure to include some easy recipes for days you'll be crunched for time, otherwise you'll be tempted to splurge on expensive takeout food.

Download the Shopkick app on your phone. It's like a scavenger hunt where you scan items at different stores and earn points. They also offer rebates on a lot of products, which you can sometimes combine w/sales, coupons, and other rebate apps to get things extremely cheap or free. I shop at Walmart about once a week and take an extra 30-60 minutes to scan SK items there. I can usually earn a $5 Amazon gift card each week. I've gotten $110 in Amazon GCs in about 5 months. If you can't use Amazon, you can pick from 45 other stores, including PayPal.

Run videos from Swagbucks, MyPoints, Inbox Dollars, etc., when you're just watching TV or working around the house. You don't have to actually watch them, just click once in a while, and you can earn a few dollars/week.

If you're old enough, join AARP. It costs $12/year, and Swagbucks usually has a deal where you get paid $12 to $15 to join, so it's free. You can earn points by watching videos and taking quizzes on their website and use them to purchase gift cards or sweepstakes entries. You can also get discounts locally. They also have discounted gift cards you can purchase. For example, a $20 Home Depot card for $18 or a $20 Barnes & Noble GC for $14. I usually get at least $15/month in free gift cards, but I've gotten as much as $65. Last month, for example, I got a free $25 Hulu gift card, which paid for 6 months of my subscription.

Stock up on things when there's a good sale. As long as you know you can use it up, it's a good investment. If you can save 25% or more, that's a much better return than you can get from interest on your savings account or even the stock market.

Meal prep and freeze. Figure out some meals that you can make ahead and freeze for days when you're too busy or tired to cook from scratch and might be tempted to splurge on dinner at a restaurant or take-out. It's also good for work lunches, so you don't spend a lot at a cafeteria or fast-food restaurant. If there's a good sale on fruit, buy a bunch and freeze it for smoothies or make freezer jam. My kids always loved frozen grapes as a snack, especially in summer. You can even freeze ripe avocados and use them for guacamole later. I always end up with extra spaghetti and pizza sauce, which I used to throw away until I realized I could freeze that, too.

Shop at discount grocery stores–the ones where they sell closeouts and products that are close to the "best buy" date. Daily Deals is an example. I've been shopping there for years, never had a bad experience, and some of the prices are unbelievably low.

See if any stores in your area participate with the Flash Food app. If stores have produce or other products they want to clear out quickly, they'll post it in Flash Food for a huge discount, and you order it and go pick it up at the store. Meijer often has large boxes of produce for just $5.

Find ways to reuse or repair what you already have. For example, we have a lot of pets and we love to feed wild birds, which means we have lots of big, empty pet food and birdseed bags. We use them instead of trash bags, and I haven't had to use a regular trash bag in years. I cut up old t-shirts and use them as rags instead of paper towels. We use washable cloth napkins instead of paper. Cardboard can be used to keep the weeds down in your garden. Just look for little things you can do to reduce waste, and the chances are that you'll save money, too.

Grow some of your own food. If you can’t, see if any of your neighbors have gardens and let them know you’d be interested in buying any excess veg they might have. If you live in the country, watch for roadside produce stands. Lots of people around me set out tables with their extra tomatoes, cukes, zucchini, squash, etc., and they usually just ask for a quarter or even give them away for free.

If you're looking for a higher interest savings account, CDs, etc., take a look at SaveBetter.com. You can open an account with them and invest in products from many banks all over the country, instead of having to open an account with each bank individually. For example, you could get .51% interest on a money market account from Ponce Bank and a .70% CD from Continental.

Look for free giveaway groups on Facebook. I found a "Plant It Forward" group in my area where people give away unwanted plants, like if they have too many tomato seedlings. If you need a specific plant, like a succulent, you can also ask if anyone has one they don't need. I joined another local group that's just for giving away anything that you don't want, so if you have clothes, toys, appliances that you're thinking of throwing away or donating, you can post them in the group for someone who needs them. We mostly do porch pickups, so there's no contact. People can also ask for items that they need, which is nice because there are some needy families with kids that have really benefitted from the group. A Goodwill employee told me that they have so many donations right now, that they're actually throwing a lot of stuff away without even looking at it, so I prefer to give my unwanted stuff to people I know can use it.

Donate plasma. Some of the clinics around here are paying a $1000 bonus after 5 donations on top of what they already pay.

Heating water accounts for almost 20% of the average electric bill, and if you don't have your own well, you probably have to pay a municipal water bill on top of that. You can cut the cost dramatically by showering every other day instead of daily, if you're not sweaty or dirty. You can also economize by only running the dishwasher when it's full, washing all your laundry in cold water and only with large loads, and turning down the thermostat on your water heater.

SAVE, SAVE AND SAVE!

Buy gift cards for yourself on sites like Raise or CardCash where they offer them at a discount, as long as it's for something that you actually need or were going to buy anyway, like groceries or something from a home improvement store. You can get anywhere from 1%-15% off, depending on the store, and sometimes you can find a promo code for another $10 off a $100 card. I grocery shop at Walmart a lot, so I bought a $100 GC on Raise for $98.13, which isn't a huge discount, but I also had a $10 off promo code, got an additional 88 cent reward from Swagbucks, and a 2% reward from my Credit Card. In the end, I'll save about $14.50, and it only took a minute to order the GC. You can also sell GCs that you can't use, though you'll lose a couple dollars.

Put a very absorbent dry towel in the dryer with your wet clothes. Take it out 15 minutes into the cycle and hang it to dry. It will absorb a lot of the moisture and reduce the time it takes to dry a load of laundry. If you leave it in for the full cycle, though, it just redistributes the moisture in the dryer and doesn't really help.

Alternatively, use a clothesline outside or a drying rack inside to cut your gas or electric bill.

Sell unwanted stuff in a garage sale or on FB Marketplace, Craigslist, or eBay.

Save, save and save and then Save some more.

Our electric company just announced they're increasing the cost of electricity by 50% during peak hours between 2pm and 7pm until September. So it's a big savings to avoid using electricity during that time.

Having trouble with medical bills? Check with local healthcare systems to see if they offer discounts for people with low income. I just found out one near me is offering 100% discounts for people who are at or below the 250% Federal Poverty Level, which is $65,500 for a family of 4! You just have to fill out a short financial assistance form. They also have a financial assistance department, and if you don't qualify for discounts, they can at least set you up with a no-interest payment plan.

If you're a student, senior citizen, teacher, or a veteran, ask if there's a discount. Some restaurants, movie theaters, retail and even thrift stores offer a percentage off.