Ways to save money most people don't know about

a reply to: scraedtosleep

Wisdom

a reply to: JAGStorm

One of the biggest ways to save money is on food. Watch your local grocery adds, and buy on sale. Freeze meats. Make your meals at home and skip buying breakfast and lunch out, and make simple meals for dinner. Leave eating out to once or twice a month. Also growing a garden to supplement your food supply and learn how to preserve via canning. I take my soda to work so there is no buying out of a vending machine. I also buy new household items from Goodwill for practically nothing, like rugs or spoons or plates. DVD's are about $3 and that's a whole lot less than movie tix. There are a lot of ways to cut back.

Eye Care/ Eyeglasses
Wide variety of options in ordering frames online. Some are cheaper than discount frames in shops.

Non brand name products
Some being the same, equal or even better, depending on what you're looking for in the item.

Local Grocer Sales
That often match discount stores.

The above ties into...
Local Shopping
Sometimes it's much cheaper to buuy local or if not cheaper it equals to above the drive in case to shop elsewhere.

Laundry
Correct on the soap concentrates.

Other uses for concentrates, such as peppermint-mice and rats shy from the smell when cabinets are wipes down, saving money repelling them rather than on traps, more. Got to be kitten me? Well, felines are still number one for that.

Ebay Clothes Shopping
While you may have to order up on sizes, look for reviews and or where the garment is made for that, you can save a bunch even compared to Amazon. For example: I've founder better deals than in the rising thrift store prices of gently used items.

"Dollar Stores" Aren't Always Cheaper
Can find certain items elsewhere for 20 or more cents cheaper, especially if in bulk.

Cable/Net Companies-mentioned already but will give my take-
Unfortunately it seems like you have to keep the upper hand on their tricky rising prices. Call them, letting them know of a recent or even past deal, which may lower the price that keeps climbing up.

The cheapest way to go at it is ditch the higher end cable bundles, find online shows( I didn't think I'd care much for them either but hey worth a try), as there are plenty of people making the vids that you may enjoy but overlook because they are independent YouTube broadcasters(such as comedy, movie reviews, etc), free minus some ad interruptions.

Hair Coloring and Even Some Hair Trims and Cuts
There's plenty of online instructions to study from if new at it, saves a lot compared to going to a professional especially if it's something you think yuo can handle yourself, and are sick of not looking or just plain going to barbers/salons.

The above DIY can be for countless needs, wants and services trade wise. IE I always fix my own computer and upgrade on it. Family and I have always opted for our own car maintenance.

I use a real simple diy antenna to pickup HDTV signals...

You trim the end of a coaxial cable, and then plug it into the input on your television. You can run the cable long before trimming it, in order to find a good spot to find the signal.(Like on top of your entertainment unit or near a window.)

Here's a video with the basic idea...


I find it easier to use pliers and cut the antenna out of cables that already have the ends attached.

The range varies with weather conditions and humidity, etc. I can often recieve signals from 70km or so. If you live in a suburb or downtown, give it a try. I enjoy my local news, and programming, HD too.

Once you're ready to go, run the autoprogram in your TV to find channels.

www.tvfool.com...

Use an old school compass so you get an accurate North.

It's cheap, usually people have old cables around, and fun to experiment. For example, once you have the direction you like for the channels you enjoy; slide a potato over the end to boost the signal, lol!

a reply to: JAGStorm

As someone who can go down a list of "200 ways to save money" and have already been doing those for years, I really appreciated your post and would like to add that you bring out some ideas I have never heard or thought of! Thanks!

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: lordcomac

I tried homemade laundry soap and didn't like. We do too much gardening and didn't find that it cleaned well enough for our liking.

I did find the ingredients for Charlies; Contains: Sodium carbonate (washing soda), C12-15 pareth-2 (detergent), sodium metasilicate (drying agent)

Interesting.
A quick search of this C12-15 pareth-2 shows that I didn't try hard enough to find the ingredients, but it also reveals several blogs talking about how terrible charlies soap is.
Tempted to order some and see for myself.

a reply to: lordcomac

I've stopped reading reviews a while ago when I tried to post an honest review about something and it never showed up. When I contacted the site they gave me some lame excuse. A lot of reviews now are paid, filtered and downright fake. I also suspect that a lot of competitors are writing bad reviews too.

I say try one pkg and see for yourself, I hope you do. It seems expensive for a little pkg but it lasts such a long time.
I have used tide for a long long time (let's just say longer than most people on here have been alive) and for me to switch it really has to be something. This stuff is great, it does not have perfumes or water or any of the "fancy" frilly stuff but it really does clean very well.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I may order some. Seems silly to order less than 30 loads worth at the prices they're asking.

I'm not sure I want to switch detergents again so soon (only been a month since I went back to commercial) - mostly because just last night I found out the agitator in my washing machine wasn't agitating the clothes, and instead was agitating me. $4 in parts on order should sort that out- but I have *no* idea how many years that hasn't worked, which means I have to start trying detergents all over again.

originally posted by: rickymouse
Sometimes it is good, we bought fifteen natural ahmish chickens for eighty nine cents a pound,

Yeah, but those Amish chickens are so judgmental! They can damn well raise a chicken coop in a day, but then they scold you for using electricity.

originally posted by: dffrntkndfnml
I use a real simple diy antenna to pickup HDTV signals...

It's fun to play with such things, isn't it? Where I found you get in trouble are the stations pushing 20 miles, or more, away, if your goal is a consistent signal. For somebody looking for a solution you don't need to keep the tip of in the frig (i.e. the tater amp), I've had really good results with this indoor one:

ClearStream Micron-XG Amplified Indoor HDTV Antenna (CSM1-XG)

By the way, the ClearStream works better where I live, without the amp. Sometimes that amp can perhaps overdrive a signal, I don't know, but I get better results with this antenna, using no amp. Some other amped don't work for squat, without the amp. Different manufacturers do make different animals, and some better than others.

I forget, but I snagged one on eBay for, I think, less than $30. It's a bit less directional. Note that I've never found any antenna non-directional, despite their claims: the non-directional ones will work better, on some channels, placed differently. In any event, considered what you're saving, cutting the cord, one month's savings can buy a nice antenna, if cable hasn't been a problem to afford, a good antenna isn't.

Can any potato work? Or do you need a big Yukon Gold?

By the way, folks, just for kicks I looked up the price of the ClearStream antenna, as it was over $30, maybe closer to $50, when I bought mine, the one I bought an open box from eBay or something like that. But I just found a clearance on the antenna for $24.99. (Wow! Less than $25!) I don't have anything to do with this company and thought I'd share this, as it's a really good antenna I'm surprised to see so cheap. Notice the MSRP is around $100. Such an antenna has never been this cheap, before, I've seen.

www.antennasdirect.com...

Cheers!

Take your lunch with you to work, avoid eating out.
Most Americans spend the majority of their disposable income buying fast food.

a reply to: Scrutinizing

Lol, I use large Russet potatoes.

The length of the cable can be adjusted depending on the particular wavelength your looking for. After finding the best position for you're local viewing needs. Slide the potato over then end and scan for channels again. The potato will then allow you to pick up the signal in the transverse direction.

I've experimented with Grapefruit, lemons, and salt water.

I'm about 30km outside of Vancouver (Aim towards the North Shore mountains) and can recieve about 14 channels on good days, including ones from Bellingham. Maybe I'll build an amp and take my vegetables to the next level, lol.

Circling back to the topic, there may be many apps that you can use to save money on dining and services. Ask around.

In my neck of the woods, Groupon, and Mobile Bandit come to mind. Lots of savings to be had, great for cheap date ideas and family outings. Services are often discounted too.

Check out Redflagdeals also if you're in the C-a-n-a-d-a. Doing customer service surveys at fast food places makes eating on the fly cheaper. I get the impression our elders (retirees for example, could really take advantage of this)

originally posted by: dffrntkndfnml

Lol, I use large Russet potatoes.

The length of the cable can be adjusted depending on the particular wavelength your looking for. After finding the best position for you're local viewing needs. Slide the potato over then end and scan for channels again. The potato will then allow you to pick up the signal in the transverse direction.

I've experimented with Grapefruit, lemons, and salt water.

Grapefruit and lemons, too? You should keep working on your antenna, perfect it and see if you could sell the idea to a manufacturer. Who knows, Best Buy could someday have a produce section, "Hot Sale! Channel 14.1 Naval Oranges! Transverse Purple Cabbage - 49 Cents a Pound!" I would hate to see what your home would look like, if you went into ham radio, or home made satellite dishes, can see the watermelon on your roof already. Come to think of it, I think I'll stick to my ClearStream, as there's no chance you'll need to use insecticides on it. Hey! Maybe a motor and remote control, a directional watermelon? Or a big old, directional baking potato?

I was just thinking. Could it be your grocery bill could cancel out your cable savings, though? Of course, if you could get a cantloupe to do a WiFi hot spot, you could probably justify going vegetable, if you got both TV and internet out of it.