Gas prices may have come down a bit, but other prices haven’t. Using some of these simple money saving ideas will help you put more money in the bank to protect your family against the uncertain times ahead.
GROCERIES
- Don’t buy lunch meat at the deli counter.Save up to $4 per pound by buying chubs of ham or turkey ham in the meat department and have the deli slice it.
- Grind your own beef.We buy chuck roast or steak for $1.50 per pound and grind it at home. It is equivalent to the $5 per pound leanest ground beef (saves you $3.50 per pound).
- Use your freezer as a bank.When frozen foods or meat are at their lowest prices, stock up. We will often buy 20 to 30 pounds of on-sale beef and are able to eat that inexpensive meat for several months.
- Don’t let expiration dates scare you.Meat, milk or other products that are close to their expiration date are usually discounted. The USDA does not require meat packers to put an expiration date on the product, but the stores or manufacturers do it anyway. Consequently, millions of pounds of perfectly good products are thrown away each year. We regularly find meat and dairy products marked down 25 to 50 percent.
- GradeB Eggs. Eggs from broken dozens are often discounted. Kroger repackages them and sells complete dozens at many stores nationwide at a 35 to 50 percent discount.
CLOTHES
- Have a shopping arsenal.We purchase most of our clothes at a select group of thrift and consignment stores. We make a list of specific items that we need and head to the stores. If we don’t find what we want at the first, smaller thrift store, we head to Savers (a large national chain), and if we don’t find what we need there, we head to our favorite consignment store (with dated tags that reduce the price 25 percent every month). We get brand names for a small fraction of the retail price. On a recent photo shoot for an ABC News story, we purchased 25 items (including a tuxedo and a couple of ball or cocktail gowns) for $100.
- Return it.If you’ve got clothes in your closet with tags still on them (and still have the original receipt), don’t be bashful — return them. Get cash or store credit and buy something you’ll really wear.
- Ignore the trends.Trendy fashions can be costly and may not even look good on you. Make sure you know what colors look best on you and what styles flatter your figure most.
- Make your kids pay.Keep your kids from spending you into oblivion. Let them earn an allowance and require them to buy their clothes with a portion of that money. It teaches them financial limits and prepares them for real life.
- Shop in your garage.We have a system for storing kids’ clothes by size … in boxes … in our garage. When a younger child grows into a new size, we pull out the box of carefully stored clothes and have their “new” wardrobe ready to go. We may have to purchase a couple of additional items, but it won’t be a spending trip of epic proportions.
RECREATION
- Bowl without big bucks.If you live near a university with a bowling alley, bowl there. Arizona State University charges $1.50 per game and $1.50 for shoes versus $4.50 for games and $4.50 for shoes at Brunswick or AMF.
- Take lunch to work and save $1,750 per year.Steve did this for years; taking lasagna, beef stroganoff or some of Annette’s other great meals. Yes, they were “leftovers,” but Steve was the envy of the lunch-room. Eventually, out of 70 employees, more than 20 of them regularly sat down to eat homemade or brown-bagged lunches together. It saved money and built camaraderie.
- Feel free to attend concerts.Most universities and colleges offer free concerts throughout the year. Attending a senior recital at a university’s music department is a great treat. One of our subscribers went to a solo tuba concert — it was a hoot.
- Libraries aren’t just for books.We regularly check out DVDs, videos,and audiobooks. Steve used to check out 10 audiobooks at a time (3-week return policy) and listen to them on the drive to and from work.
- Get a National Parks pass.If you’re taking the family on vacation to visit some of our National Parks, buy the annual pass and you’ll save all admission fees. It costs $80 for a family, but the best bargain is the Lifetime Pass for $10 for anyone over 62 years old. It’s called “America the Beautiful — National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass.”
- Take factory tours.Some of our most interesting, fun times have been taking tours of local businesses and factories: candy factories, small airports, dairies, farms, ice factories and more. These tours are usually free but do need to be arranged in advance.
