What About Your Lifestyle/Habits Saves You Big $$$ ?

[WaltsMartini]

Hello Disers - I’m always looking for ways to improve my frugal habits. When I joined Disboards 17 years ago I learned about Dave Ramsey, “no buy” months, the coupon train, etc. I’m happy to say that, while not perfect, our family’s finances are in a steady place - but there’s always room for improvement!

Tell me - what are your lifestyle habits that save you big money? Some examples for us:

• 15 year mortgage
• Never buy a new car!
• Shopping at Aldi/ discount grocers
• Put money in savings right away when getting paid
• Consignment sales for kids clothes
• Straight Talk cell service and keeping the same phone for 3-4 years
• Cooking at home (for the most part - sometimes mom needs a break!)
• Cutting the cable cord

The pandemic has also created some new habits. Thanks to the Target drive up service and going to Costco once a month instead of every payday, I do a lot less impulse buying!

Now you - what are some things about your habits and lifestyle that save you money??

 

[Tygerlilly]

Bulk meal prepping and menu planning.
Shopping the sales to stock the freezer and pantry.
Clothes shopping at the end of seasons for next year for basic clothing items (and also Christmas buying an extra pack of socks/underwear, shampoo, etc while it's so cheap!).
We homeschool, so I wait until the back to school sale stuff goes 90% off clearance to stock up.
Our biggest one? We cloth diaper. Between my older two and this one I'm due with in a couple months, we're estimated saving thousands on just diapers.

 

[DLgal]

We don't go to movies. Our kids don't play sports or have extracurriculars that cost money. We don't buy coffee out (we brew at home and use travel mugs). We drive old cars. I'm a SAHM so I hardly buy gas, don't need expensive work clothes, etc. I mostly shop for clothes for our family at Costco, Target and Old Navy. I don't get my nails done. I cut my boys hair at home (always have) and I only get 4 haircuts a year or so. I don't color my hair. Letting it go grey naturally., even though I am only in my early 40s. We buy a lot in bulk at Costco. We use discounts on anything we can (like using a military discount plan for pur cell phones). We don't finance things like cell phones into the monthly bill. We buy those separately and wait for sales, but pay cash for them. Then we pass our old phones down to our teens when it is time for new ones.

 

[easyas123]

We direct deposit savings from each of our paychecks each pay period.

 

[supersnoop]

You'll never save your way to prosperity. While looking for ways to save money certainly helps, and avoiding dumb money decisions is important, you're better off focusing on how to earn more, rather than how to spend less.

 

[RamblingMad]

I mainly go camping and hiking. The biggest cost here is replacing my trail runners every 6 months. I'll usually buy a couple of pairs when they go on sale when the new version comes out. I'm still using my original sleeping bag. My inflatable pad is still good. I have warrantied my tent fly once, so I'll probably have to replace it soon. I'm looking at new tents. Camping equipment lasts a long time.

I go to Disney parks when new rides come out. Disneyland was on my list for last year, but I had to cancel. I don't go every year.

I typically own my vehicles for ten years. The last one lasted me 12. I usually go with a 4 year note at the lowest interest rate.

We cohabitate to keep our taxes down. My significant other received stimulus. I did not. We both can itemize when filing single. Together we would be cap out at the $25k standard deduction. Instead, we end up claiming close to double that in deductions. She is also in a lower tax bracket. Once we marry, we'll lose about $15k in deductions, and she will jump a tax bracket. We plan to get married soon, so that we can knock out the 10 years required for survivor benefits with social security. We saw even more benefits cohabitating before the last tax cut. By maxing my HSA and my 401k, I can also lower my self a full tax bracket with my current itemized deductions, which is a big deal since I move from the 32% bracket to the 24% bracket.

We don't tithe.

We don't get oil changes every 3000 thousand miles. We follow vehicle recommendations. I also get conventional oil. I see no benefit paying up for synthetic.

We get our gas at Costco.

We don't own bonds that pay less than our mortgage rate.

We tax loss harvest during equity downturns.

We use the camelizer app to see price watches for items we want to buy at Amazon.

 

[dez1978]

I used to buy my kids clothes at the end of season for next year until it bit me in the butt a couple times. Growth spurts that hit mid season and having to buy pants in November and January bc they got too short, or they just would grow thru 2 sizes between the end of winter and the start of fall. Luckily we have 2 nephews 12&6 and my boys are 10&7 so at least 60% of clothes go thru all 4 boys.
I use a combination of apps and credit cards cash back and save about 12% on Disney trips.
Those apps also add up to pay for things like an Apple Watch.
I never buy anything that’s full price. I follow several boards where I’ve been able to get under armor shoes and stuff for my kids cheaper than I’d pay for Walmart shoes.

 

[cvjw]

We have always lived beneath our means. When you do that, there is money left over to put into savings. Then you don’t touch it and just let it grow. I know others think you can’t save your way to prosperity, but you can. We did and we are still saving. And our money is continuing to grow. Alot.

 

[WaltsMartini]

I never buy anything that’s full price. I follow several boards where I’ve been able to get under armor shoes and stuff for my kids cheaper than I’d pay for Walmart shoes.

Ooooh what boards are these? Please share!!

 

[dez1978]

We have always lived beneath our means. When you do that, there is money left over to put into savings. Then you don’t touch it and just let it grow. I know others think you can’t save your way to prosperity, but you can. We did and we are still saving. And our money is continuing to grow. Alot.

I mean, when your “means” don’t even cover the bare necessities it’s hard to live much lower or find any left to save.

 

[dez1978]

Ooooh what boards are these? Please share!!

Am I allowed to mention other sites?

 

[2TxAgs]

You'll never save your way to prosperity. While looking for ways to save money certainly helps, and avoiding dumb money decisions is important, you're better off focusing on how to earn more, rather than how to spend less.

supersnoop....it's interesting that you say this, because one of the 'mantras' of the early retiree groups is that it's not how much you make, but rather, how much you save. So there are definitely folks out there who DO save their way to prosperity. Absolutely it helps to have a great income to start with, but we've all heard the occasional stories about the janitor who left $xM to some charity upon their death. It can be done...not easily, not without sacrifice, but living beneath your means and saving can leave you in a very comfortable position later in life.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Our latest big savings was convincing DD17 to accept her offer from the local State U, versus her dream school Pricey Private U. This will save us roughly $35k per year, despite splurging for her to live on campus (it's literally 2 miles from home, but we want her to have the full on-campus experience). Doing this will allow us to help her pay for law school eventually. Interestingly, the local U gave her a small "Love Where You Live" scholarship, $1500 a year, to live on campus, which covers a nice chunk of her on-campus costs.

We will have a very comfortable retirement, and I echo what 2TxAgs said above. We always, always saved, even when we were broke. Through the miracle of compound interest, we've amassed a nice sum.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

supersnoop....it's interesting that you say this, because one of the 'mantras' of the early retiree groups is that it's not how much you make, but rather, how much you save. So there are definitely folks out there who DO save their way to prosperity. Absolutely it helps to have a great income to start with, but we've all heard the occasional stories about the janitor who left $xM to some charity upon their death. It can be done...not easily, not without sacrifice, but living beneath your means and saving can leave you in a very comfortable position later in life.

This is a great point because my parents are immigrants from Hong Kong and they worked extremely hard once they came here. They lived beneath their means while working at their family restaurant 6-7 days a week and saved every penny they could. Obviously they do not have a 401k or a pension to fall back on but they were able to sell their successful business in their 50s. Since then, my parents have gone back to work part time because they found retirement boring and wanted something to keep them active in body/mind.

 

[elaine amj]

You'll never save your way to prosperity. While looking for ways to save money certainly helps, and avoiding dumb money decisions is important, you're better off focusing on how to earn more, rather than how to spend less.

No matter how much you earn, there's always ways to spend more.

I mean, when your “means” don’t even cover the bare necessities it’s hard to live much lower or find any left to save.

OF COURSE its easier to save more if you earn more. But finding creative ways to spend less is even more important when you have limited means.

Our household income (for the 4 of us) mostly ranged between 60k-100k/yr. More than enough to help us live a pretty luxurious life (IMO anyway) while saving a large chunk of our income. As our income increased we saved a greater % of it.

We were able to retire when I was just 39. I remember meeting with an Edward Jones financial planner when I was in my thirties and feeling super discouraged. Even though we'd always saved 20+% and were naturally frugal, we fell far short of of the retirement projections the software said we needed.

Shortly afterwards, we discovered the concept of FIRE and focused on reducing our spending. Less than 10 years later, we reached our savings goal and were able to retire. Reducing spending is a double whammy - leaves you more to save AND requires less savings.

Back to OPs question - we figured out what we really cared about, found creative (cheaper) ways to do what we did like, and carefully considered every purchase. It had the nice side benefit of reducing waste too.

I never liked the idea of deprivation so we made sure we created a life filled with all the things we really cared about. And found ways to make it as cheap as possible.

 

[platamama]

If you're disciplined, have excellent credit, and if you pay off your credit card balances in full each month, then signing up for credit card bonuses is nice extra income. Works out to thousands each year for my family. Interested people can come check out the I Love Credit Cards thread.

 

[happiestpoe]

My parents gave me the good advice to save up for what I want/need, rather than relying on credit. Not to say don’t use credit cards, but to have the cash to pay it off immediately.
When I started working, I was paid hourly. If I was thinking about treating myself, I’d figure out how many hours I’d need to work to afford it. Usually, it wasn’t worth it.

 

[cvjw]

I mean, when your “means” don’t even cover the bare necessities it’s hard to live much lower or find any left to save.

It can be done. One of my grandfathers left school in the third grade, was drafted into WW2 and was a carpenter when he came home. Never made hardly anything. Never spent anything. Raised 3 children and saved every penny. Died a millionaire from saving.

Other grandfather finished the 6th grade and was a farmer. Started with less than nothing. Every penny he made he used to buy land. Raised 5 children and left over 600 acres to his kids when he died.

So yes, you can make barely anything, work hard, save and amass wealth. But, you have to make choices. Choices most people wouldn‘t like. No travel. No new cars. Live in a cheap house. Both my grandfathers built their own houses. Themselves with family and friends helping. Literally spending no money. That isn’t how people chose to live today.

 

[Kestryl]

My car is 14 years old. I will drive it to the ground, resurrect it, and drive it to the ground again before I buy a new car.

 

[dez1978]

It can be done. One of my grandfathers left school in the third grade, was drafted into WW2 and was a carpenter when he came home. Never made hardly anything. Never spent anything. Raised 3 children and saved every penny. Died a millionaire from saving.

Other grandfather finished the 6th grade and was a farmer. Started with less than nothing. Every penny he made he used to buy land. Raised 5 children and left over 600 acres to his kids when he died.

So yes, you can make barely anything, work hard, save and amass wealth. But, you have to make choices. Choices most people wouldn‘t like. No travel. No new cars. Live in a cheap house. Both my grandfathers built their own houses. Themselves with family and friends helping. Literally spending no money. That isn’t how people chose to live today.

I was talking about the people who make min wage, live in govt housing, no phone, no internet/cable etc. beater car to get to their crappy job. Getting gov assistance and still struggling to eat ramen noodles kind of broke. The kind of broke where you buy a gallon of gas at a time and hope it gets you to work till payday. I’ve been lucky to not be there but I def have known ppl who have been. They don’t have any extra to save bc they don’t even have enough to get by. Today we don’t have the communities like your grandparents had where neighbors help each other out. I’m not saying you are wrong in general. But there are ppl out there who literally cannot save bc there is nothing left to cut back on.