Experts offer simple ways to save money every month
Michelle McKay likens herself to a hunter, only what she stalks, tracks and brings home are free or nearly free home furnishings and appliances. Washing machine, NordicTrack, antique armoire: free, free, free.
McKay threw her arms open wide in the middle of her Phoenix home and said: “This stuff is my horns on the wall.”
| Champions of frugal living• Pinch a Penny Till It Screams, by Madeline Clive (Lucerna Publishing, 2006, $12.50).
•Frugal Living for Dummies, by Deborah Taylor-Hough (For Dummies, 2003, $16.99). • America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money, by Steve and Annette Economides • A comprehensive frugal site with free resources: Stretcher.com. • About.com’s Guide to Frugal Living, by Erin Huffstetler, offers simple cost-cutting tips: FrugalLiving.about .com. |
McKay is a modern-day deal huntress, trading, bartering and swooping up for free or at deep discounts about 90 percent of her home’s contents. Her kitchen shelves, too, are so stocked with items snatched up during killer sales or at bargain stores that it resembles a soup kitchen.
“It’s limitless,” said McKay, 39, of Phoenix. “You could almost put retailers out of business for what you could get for free.”
Gas prices remain high, mortgage-foreclosure rates are at record levels with foreclosures in Arizona nearly tripling since last year, and food prices are rising faster than they have in 17 years. Valley residents are feeling the pinch and are trying to make cuts, even if it’s just to save a dollar here and there.
Frugal living is a way of life McKay has perfected through a divorce, job loss and other financial ups and downs. But she said that people need not make major lifestyle changes to save $100 on monthly expenses.
McKay joins the Valley’s other king and queen of frugal, Steve and Annette Economides, and a frugal expert from About.com to weigh in on a three-step plan to follow to cut monthly expenses – and possibly save thousands yearly – without clipping coupons. Here’s the program:
Start with planning
• Make a meal plan. Anyone who touts the frugal lifestyle will talk about meal planning first. It’s a primary way to save gas, time and money by preventing emergency dashes to fast-food restaurants. Steve and Annette Economides, authors of America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money (Three Rivers Press, 2007, $12.95), plan their meals and then shop once a month. This prevents running to the store for a jar of spaghetti sauce and walking out having spent $50 on impulse buys.
“We quote a survey in our book that was done in 1998 that shows that 60 percent of items people picked up in the store were impulse items,” Steve Economides said. “Our observations and discussions with store managers tell us that if anything has changed, we as a society are more impulsive now than before.”
• Plan to use leftovers. After a meal plan is in place, there’s likely to be leftovers. Use them and eke out a few more meals. Michelle McKay’s husband won’t eat leftovers. So she plans her meals with this mind. If it’s meatloaf one night, the leftover meatloaf becomes meat for the spaghetti sauce. Leftover spaghetti sauce gets thrown into chili.”
And if you aren’t able to start there, just freeze it for another week,” McKay said. “That’s one more meal you don’t have to make. And now you have time you can spend with your family.”
• Review grocery ads and prepare to price-match. Circle the items on sale that your family normally eats or uses. Then take those ads to a Wal-Mart or another store that matches competitors’ prices and do all your shopping at one store. The Economideses’ food bill is $350 a month and has been for years. The primary reason is because of price matching. Try it for a month and see if it doesn’t at a minimum cut 20 percent off your grocery bill, the family said.
“It’s the easiest way to save money with the least amount of effort,” Annette Economides said. The Economideses offer yearly workshops for as little as $10 on how to cut grocery bills.
• Keep a list of wants. “If my husband said he wanted brand-new boots tomorrow, it isn’t going to happen,” McKay said. “But if he tells me early, I can start watching the sales. If I have my list, I’m going to keep my eye out for things we need.” Likewise, Annette Economides said: “The key is to be patient; don’t just run out and buy something.”
• Set aside time to review before you renew. Erin Huffstetler, frugal-living expert at About.com, said one of the easiest ways to put $100 or more back in your pocket by the end of the month is to look into switching phone, cellphone, cable and Internet service to cheaper providers. “That can turn into real big savings because someone else is bound to have a better offer,” she said.
Also, know when your home insurance and auto policies come up for renewal. Then call different companies to comparison-shop or try InsWeb.com, which will check 20 companies for free for lower rates. Steve Economides said that through InsWeb.com he switched auto-insurance policies and began saving $66.66 per month.
Look for freebie, discount sites
• Familiarize yourself with discount and auction Web sites. The Economideses of Scottsdale have two kids in college. They paid $412 for textbooks (new and used) at a campus bookstore. After they bought the books, the family searched such sites as eBay
and found the books 35 to 50 percent cheaper. They returned the textbooks and bought them online.
“We’re still educating our kids; we’re just not paying full price to do it,” Steve Economides said. Another example: The family needed three faucets, $62 each at Home Depot. They bought one faucet there and then found two matching faucets on eBay for less than $30 each.
• Check online for sites offering free items. People post items on freecycle.org they no longer want. All you do is pick them up. Search Freecycle by city and post what you want or what you want to give away. Sales are prohibited.
Thanks to Freecycle, Michelle McKay of Phoenix has found an end table, two wooden dining chairs, closet shelves, an exercise bike and a treadmill.
The Web is a valuable resource to find free items and services.
When McKay couldn’t afford several hundred dollars for ballet and hip-hop lessons for her daughter, she sought the advice of online frugal groups and discovered that the city of Phoenix offers free dance lessons at Eastlake Park Community Center. The classes are open to all Phoenix residents.
About.com’s Erin Huffstetler likes freebies.about.com, a roundup of free items.
She also suggested checking out walmart.com and clicking on “In Stores Now,” which lists free samples. On a recent search of the site, teeth-whitening strips, diapers and hair-care products were listed.
“My other tip is to think about the products you regularly use and go to their Web site,” she said. “For example, Procter & Gamble always has a handful of samples on their Web site.”
• Post a free want ad on Craigslist. Visitors to Craigslist post ads to buy, sell or barter, among other things. McKay offered to trade haircuts for parts and labor needed to fix her washing machine. Instead, someone offered a washer for free. Just make sure anyone you meet on Craigslist is reputable.
• Hit Goodwill and other used clothing and furniture shops during sales. “People at my church want to know how I dress my daughter so beautifully,” McKay said. Many of her clothes come from thrift stores. On days when merchandise is 50 percent off, McKay has her daughter dress in a bodysuit and they try on clothes right from the rack.
• Take advantage of dollar stores. McKay stocks her pantry with name-brand items found at the discount stores, such as the enchilada sauce for her casserole. “The 99¢ Only Store now has produce, and it’s really good produce,” she added.
Barter or trade
• Ask sellers if they will take less. While shopping at yard sales, dealing with people on Craigslist or in any other person-to-person exchanges, Michelle McKay will ask if the person will take 15 percent less.
“Worst-case scenario, they say no, but mostly they say yes,” she said.
When shopping for a wedding photographer, McKay found a Valley photographer just starting out. She offered him $100 less than his going rate and said in exchange she would be a spokeswoman for his services at a bridal expo. He took the offer.
• Think about what you have to offer. McKay swaps haircuts with a friend who fixes her computer and markets her side businesses.
By Sonja Haller