Laundry Detergent

Your liquid laundry detergent comes with a cap designed for easy measuring the amount needed for each load of laundry you do.  Have you ever noticed though that the lines don’t stand out very well, and the line is never at the top so you are supposed to stop somewhere in the middle of the cap.  The problem is, most people fill the cap up all the way or almost all of the way, thereby using more detergent than is needed.

 It doesn’t seem like much, a few drops  here and there, but upon testing my own usage, I ended up using 1/3 more laundry detergent that the manufacturer recommended.  Many caps come with 3 lines. Each representing either the size of the load or how soiled the clothing is. Even if I calculated the amount needed at the top end of the scale, I still used 1/3 more than I should have.

What I now do, is keep an empty bottle of laundry detergent in my cupboard.  When I go to open a new bottle to use it, I pour 1/3 of the bottle into the empty container and fill up the new bottle with tap water.

The next time I run out, once again, I remove 1/3 of the bottle into the bottle I have the 1/3 from the last bottle into, I then fill up both bottles with water.

The end result is I have watered down the laundry detergent to make up for the extra I use in each load.  For every 2 bottle of laundry detergent I open, I end up with a 3^rd bottle to use.  This has now cut my laundry detergent use by 1/3 while still sticking to the manufacturers recommended amount.  Add up how many bottles of laundry detergent you use in a year and you will be amazed at how much you are now saving.

Fast Food without the Fast Food Prices

 Let’s admit it, fast food can get boring a lot of the time especially if you are eating it on a regular basis.  Not only does it leave a lot to be desired price wise, but it is expensive, and most of it is terrible health wise, full of fat and empty calories.

 We tend to order fast food because it is quick and easy.  Drive to the local drive through or get on the phone and call for home delivery and ½ hour to 1 hour later you are eating.

 So lets look at this from a budget angle.  What if you had a bag of 99cent french fries in the freezer, a package of hamburger buns and a box of frozen hamburger patties.  You have the makings of 8 hamburgers with french fries for the cost of approx $12.00.  Total time to make the burgers and fries would be approximately 20 minutes.  Less time than it would take for delivery and less time than if you went to the burger joint to pick them up.  Now if you were to go to that burger joint and pay on average of $3.00 per burger, so approx $24 for 8 hamburgers, and the bag of fries would cost at least $6 in individual portions.  So that means you could get a burger place meal for $30 or have burgers and fries at home in as little as 20 minutes for only $12.  That is a savings of $18.  If your family does a burger night once per week and switched it to home cooked burgers, the annual savings would be $936.  

Now what I like to do is put that $936 in real terms so that my mind understands the value of it, so I come up with ideas of what we could do with that $936. That amount could pay for the rental of a cottage and the gas and other expenses for a wonderful vacation.  It could mean 1 week vacations if you choose to camp.  It could buy you a huge brand new freezer to allow you to stock up on sale items and freeze meals ahead of time saving you far more in the future.  It could also mean carpet in a room, tiling a floor...paying off a credit card.

 I find that doing the above scenario over and over in my head with different things really helps me understand what I could have if I just put in that little bit of effort to save money.  Pretty soon not only is money not as tight as it once was, you are purchasing items you never thought you could afford and doing more recreational activities that used to be nothing more than a dream before.

 Whether you hate cooking or you love it, what goes on in that room (or doesn’t) plays a large role in how much available cash you have in your budget.  Meals do not have to be boring, or time consuming, make the entire family get involved and put each in charge of part of the meal.  They will learn valuable skills for later on in their life and they will also help you get out of the kitchen faster and save money.

Garage Sales

There is a reason garage sales are so popular and if you are not in the habit of going to them, it’s about time you did.  With the economy the way it is, I think you will see more garage sales as people look to get rid of things they no longer use to get some extra cash.

Buyers will be looking for bargains and people that are anxious to sell will be willing to lower their prices.  If you have small children, you can save a lot of money buying toys, strollers, cribs and things of that nature.  You can also find clothing for a mere fraction of the price you would pay at retail stores.  Often times you can find brand new items that people purchased but never used for one reason or another.

Remember that you are on a budget, so decide the amount of money you are going to spend, bring it in small denomination bills and change.  Make a list of the items you are looking for and stick to the list and the budget.

Try to arrive just prior to the starting time of the sale to get the best selections.  Some people like to hit the garage sales in the best neighborhoods first, but others believe that those individuals have an unrealistic idea of what the value of their items are and feel the middle class neighborhoods are the best places to start.  Try both and see what works out best in your city.

Never buy anything you do not need, you are there to save money, not to spend it on things that are not necessities.

Rewards Cards

I am simply astounded by the number of people that do not use rewards cards.  They are one of the easiest ways to get something for nothing.  Most people give the excuse that they are too bulky to carry around or too many of them.  As far as I am concerned, that is a pretty stupid excuse.  First of all, the only ones you do need to carry with you are the ones you use on a regular basis, the rest can go in a one of the large credit card holders available at purse and luggage stores.

Keep the 2 or 3 you always use in your wallet and keep the rest handy for when you are going out shopping.  Handy means grab and run, which means always keep it in the same place so you can retreive it quickly and not give the excuse of "i don't have time to look for it"

So what kind of savings cards are there?  Well, it seems every store/service is coming out with them.  Typically if I am shopping at a store I like that I have never been to before, I generally ask if they have any sort of rewards program and most do.  For some of the cards, you have to pay a small fee for the card, but it usually entitles you to a discount at the store.  Your job is to figure out if you will ever buy enough from that store in a year for the card to pay for itself.

For example, we have an Indigo book store that I pay to get their card.  The card costs about $20 a year.  That $20 gets me a coupon book for the store that I actually use as well I get 10% discount on all books, 25% off New Releases and $5% off online purchases.  This particular company sends you a renewal notice every year and you get the total amount you saved to date.  I saved over $89 last year.  Since the card cost me $20, that gives me s savings of $69 a year.  One store, one card, $69 in a year, not bad at all.

I also collect airmiles with an airmiles reward card which is totally free.  This card can be used at a host of places and each retailer that accepts it sets their rates, but most have it set at 1 airmile for every $20 spent.  It isn't much and seems likie a whole lot of work for nothing but it is far easier than it might seem.  Save up your points for a well deserved vacation, buy one of the gifts in their online rewards store, or do what I do and save them up for retiremen t.  My plan is to use them on  somethin grand, like several vacations.  Just make sure you keep track of stores.services that have expiring points.

The cards are stores way of building brand loyalty, so they intice you to shop with them.  What is offered varies but can include a point system you can save for some type of reward (travel / gifts), a percentage off program (such as 10% off purchases) or saver cards.  Saver cards are just basically cards they stamp.  Once you fill up the card you get one of that product for free.

Another bonus to all of this is you are put on their mailing or email list.  I often get emails letting me know of special sales coming up, many open only to card holders, as well as coupons for my next purchase.  Some even send y0ou product samples in the mail.

I was a slow starter in this area of home finance, but I have to tell you, I am hooked.  There have been so many times that we have needed or wanted something that was not in the budget, but we were still able to get it because I had bonus bucks, points or a combination of things to purchase it without spending a cent.

Our family saves thousands of dollars every year with savings and points cards.  If you are not using them, start now.  When you shop, pay attention.  There is usually information about a stores savings/rewards cards at the cash register.  If you don't see anything, be sure to ask.  If you don't you are just throwing your money away.

Know Your Prices

The Internet has put then entire world marketplace at your fingertips. Never in history has it been so easy to both save and spend money. This is where we need to hone our self restraint skills and prevent ourselves from overspending. Remember the greatest bargain in the world is not a bargain if you do not need it or do not use it.

Learning in life never stops so if you don't know what items cost it is about time you started to learn. One way to do this is to make a master grocery list. You can make the list as elaborate or as simple as you like but what I like to do is instead of crossing off the item on my list once I put it in my cart I like to write down the price that I am paying for it. This allows you to get to know your prices and also helps at the check-out to make sure the price they are charging you is the price that is displayed (see article (Inaccurate Pricing for more on this subject). Once home you can even track how much you are paying for the products you buy so that you will know when you are3 getting a good deal and when to stock up on items that are a bargain.

For larger items, where the savings can be much bigger do your homework before going to the store. Scan newspaper ads and surf the Internet for the best pricing. If buying online, always remember to include shipping into the cost when deciding who has the best bargain. For many things like TV's etc make sure you compare by model number. When you go into the store to buy make sure and come armed with competitor ads as well as pricing for several models in case you deviated from what you originally intended to buy.

At one time there was really no way to negotiate prices at places like Best Buy but things are changing. Recently while shopping the staff member discounted a couple of items that I had wanted to purchase, which is always nice, but keep in mind that some stores may decide to inflate their price in order for their staff to bargain with customers.
For some, it is perceived value that wins them over rather than actual value. It is like the $100 dress marked up to be $200 and allowing the staff to give you 50% off. The customer walks out happy but still paid full price.

With careful planning and a little bit of patience you may never have to pay full price again, but knowing WHAT full price actually is combined with what a product is worth in terms of value is the starting point. The more you educate yourself the more opportunities will present themselves for saving more. Just make sure you are buying things because you really want and need them and not just because they are on sale. Buying a $200 dress for $100 is a waste of money if you will never wear it, or it does not fit properly and you bought it just because it was a good deal.

TIP: Everyone gets excited about success so for a full year, try and keep a running total of all the money you saved. Sure it will take a bit of work, but at the end of the year you will not only be stunned at how much you saved, you will also be surprised that at the end of the year, you have learned more about saving money and hence save more per month now than when you first started. The list can be simple, mine is just a 4 column spread sheet. First column is the date, second is the item name, next column amount saved and the last one is a running total.

Know Your Measurements

Pay attention to all manufacturers recommended amounts and keep in mind they are only a recommendation. We have become a society where more is better and we seem to think if X amount then XX will work even better. When you start and follow our guidelines you will find that in the vast majority of cases not only does XX not work twice as good it might not even work as well as X would. Furthermore you will find through your own experimentation that the optimum amount for your needs might be even 1/2 of the recommended amount.

Many manufacturers set guidelines based on criteria that differs from what you may use the product for. Take for example laundry detergent' The amount of clothing you put into the washer as well as how soiled they are may vary drastically from your use. Your loads might be smaller and less soiled so after testing various amounts you may find that you may be able to use a significant amount less than the manufacturer recommends.

Have you noticed how big those cups are on your dishwasher? Well most people have the idea that they should be filled otherwise why would they be there? Well my sister, the ultimate saver has never put in more than half and she never runs it until it is a completely full load. Her dishes always sparkle and after 25 years no one has become sick or died because of this practice so she has her amounts figured out perfectly for her.

What does all this nit picking over a few cents mean? Well, in the case of my sister, if she saved $5 a month on soap for her dishwasher 25 years later she has $1,500.00 more than she would have had. This is just one product though, what about changing your life one product, one decision at a time. In a nutshell that is what Ready To Save.com is all about. It is about giving you back control over your finances so that you can live within your means and live a better life style.

So what you have to do is to start paying attention to how much you use of each product. Compare it to what the manufacturer recommends and then play with that amount and see if you can use LESS than the recommeded amount. Keep in mind what the manufacturer recommends is ONLY a recommendation and they are not going to skimp on quantities because the more you use of their product the more often they will buy it and the more money they make.