If you are like a lot of families, hamburgers are often on the menu especially in nicer weather. You fire up that BBQ and then run to the freezer to get a box of 10 burgers you paid about $10 for and throw them on the grill. Sometimes you may go to the fridge and get out the premade fresh burgers you picked up at the grocery store. Now you might think that $1 a burger is a great deal, and in reality $1 for a burger isn’t bad at all. That is unless you compare the price to burgers you make yourself, which is what we do in our house.
When hamburger goes on sale, I make sure and buy enough to last us until the next good sale. I then make a meatloaves and meatballs for the freezer but I also make a lot of hamburgers. I simply put the burgers between pieces of wax paper to make them easy to separate just like they do premade burgers you buy. You can usually save a bare minimum of 25 cents per burger. Yes I know it doesn’t seem like a great deal, but this is about taking care of the pennies and in doing so, the dollars take care of themselves.
I understand the resistance. For so many years, people who wasted money were seen as the most successful people. Success meant you did not have to worry about 25 cents here and a dollar there. That kind of thinking created a society in which people are so in debt, that they will probably die in debt and never be able to afford to retire. Ready To Save is all about teaching you to watch your pennies, and then using the savings to attack those outstanding debts and then start saving. It is not about becoming a miser and living on cat food in a box on the street. It is about living within your means and paying off your debt. Once that debt is paid off, you only buy something when you can pay cash for it. While you might think it will take you longer to get what you want, at the end of the day, without paying high interest rates, you will eventually get things far quicker than you do now.
So when hamburger is on sale, grab a lot of it, make a ton of burgers, put them in ziplock freezer bags and skip the ready made ones. Without buying the box the burgers come in you save trees, and you get the ability to customize your burgers specifically to your taste. Spice them up before freezing and not only will your burgers be OK, they will be the hit of the next BBQ. Make sure to keep some hamburger buns in the freezer, or if space is short, do what we do and use English muffins. English muffins keep great in the freezer and we can use them for a variety of purposes unlike the buns.
Typically when a bottle of shampoo or conditioner is empty, it still has at least a couple of uses still left in it. We now make a habit of making sure to use it all up. When the bottle appear pretty well empty, we add some water and shake it up. The water mixes with the remainder of the product and because it is now a thinner consistency it comes out of the bottle easily. Generally you can get at least one or two shampoos or conditioning treatments out of bottles normally disposed of. The cost savings over your lifetime is actually significant and can’t be ignored.
Doing things like this also has an environmental impact. If everyone did this and even saved 20 bottles of shampoo over their lifetime, that is 20 less plastic bottles per person that is not going into a landfill. If your city recycles, then they usually expect you to rinse out the containers, so since you have to rinse it out, you might as well give yourself a shampoo during the process. Another cost savings, win/win situation.
So many people go into a store, or shop online and believe that the price they see is the price they must pay. That is simply not the case. For someone not used to negotiating a deal, it might be a bit uncomfortable testing it out, but over time it will become just part of the shopping experience.
You can often get deals on the Internet by simply contacting the company and giving them a reason why they should give you a discount or free shipping or free products. If you are buying several products let them know the quantity you are purchasing and ask them if they can cut you a deal and give you a percentage off. If that doesn’t go over well, then ask them if they can ship it for free. You might also ask for free product, such as free grout if you are purchasing tile.
Always remember to be polite. Never ask for ridiculous discounts and never be too pushy. Let the company know you would like to make a deal to benefit both parties. You are happier with the price and the company makes a sale.
Manufacturers learned long ago that packaging can sell a product that isn’t all that good, and sell it at a premium price. When you are at the grocery store look at price, pay attention to acceptable quality, but never fall for something just because you really like the package. Often times people will buy over priced margarine because it comes in a *free* Tupperware container, but never consider it would be cheaper to buy them separately. Not only that, but exactly how many Tupperware containers do you need? They can sure take up a lot of space over time and lead to disorganized and less room to store food that you can actually eat.
That fancy, ornate Olive Oil container is not indicative of the quality of the product inside and besides, and packaging doesn’t make the oil taste any better. So when you are choosing the brand you use, don’t over pay for the fancy packaging.
There are many brands of green garbage bags and while most people do not give their selection a second thought, people that are Ready To Save consider what their use will be and let that determine what brand they choose.
I grew accustomed to a No Name brand at my local grocery store. They were pretty thick and sturdy, but what I liked most was the fact they had a drawstring and were easy to close. I also felt that since the drawstring closed the bag at the very top, you could put more in it than a traditional tie style.
One day though, while shopping at Costco I noticed they too had drawstring bags at a price significantly cheaper than what I was paying. I decided to give them a try.
The Costco brand looked noticeably thinner but they held up to use and didn’t break apart so they are just fine for normal use. I still buy the old brand, but only use them when I know the bag is going to be heavier than normal. Having two different kinds on hand allows me to save money but is also good for the environment. Using thinner bags means less plastic in the landfills and more money in my pocket. That’s a winning combination.
This is just another example about thinking about the product choices you make and understanding you don’t need to choose just one brand. Different brands for different purposes is an option.
At one time if a package of individually frozen chicken breasts contained 8 portions and I only needed 6, I would cook the extra 2 because I didn’t want to bother having just 2 chicken breasts in a package. Most of the time those chicken breasts went to waste and ended up in the garbage.
My outlook has obviously changed and I am now paying more attention to servings needed and following it. Now if I only need 6 chicken breasts that is all I use. When I need 6 more I use up the 2 from the previous package. The savings varies depending on the cost of the products, but I calculate exactly what is needed and only cook that much and if that leaves 4 lonely perogies in a package in the freezer then that is fine. The will be used up, I will waste less and if anyone is still hungry at dinner, they can always have extra potatoes, vegetables or bread.
First, the warning. It is very easy to be swindled on the Internet, so make sure to follow safety guidelines when doing surveys etc. First and foremost, do NOT give out your credit card or banking information to any survey company. Make no exceptions. Now on to the good stuff.
There are a number of companies that do market research for a number of large companies. Many of these market research companies offer some type of reward for participation. For example e-rewards gives you rewards dollars that can be used to get rewards points for Delta, Hilton Honors and Priority Club. If you are “Ready to Save” fan then you know that rewards points are a vital part of your overall financial plan.
Delta Skyline miles etc. will expire if you do not have some account activity during a certain period of time. Often times people can’t travel as often as required to keep their points so getting air miles through this type of activity not only adds to your points balance, it prevents you from losing the points you already have.
Doing surveys does not cost you anything. Do them while you are watching TV, are bored or have a few minutes to spare. Then reap the benefits over time and get free nights in hotels, extra air miles etc. This is a no loose situation as long as you deal with reputable companies.
There is no doubt about it, gas is expensive, and so is having a second car. While you may decide that a second car is an absolute must, it does not mean that you have to use it all of the time. Don’t fall into the habit of becoming a taxi driver for your kids, their friends or your relatives. Plan ahead and group as many errands together as possible. If you must drive your son to soccer practice, take a moment to think if there are any errands you can do along the way to save a trip at another time. You might also consider sharing the driving with another parent with a child on the same team. If you want to be there and watch your son practice every time, that doesn’t mean you have to do all of the driving. Share it with another mom and cut the cost of soccer travel in half.
Consider where you are driving your children too. Do you find you are driving them 2 blocks away to a friends house? If so, then it is time you remind your child that there are more modes of travel than your car to get where you are going. Encourage them to walk, bike or roller blade there. It teaches them self sufficiency, it teaches them about budgeting and cutting unnecessary costs and it is also much healthier.
The same can go for family members you help out with. If you need to run errands for them or take them places always combine the trips to save time, money and wear and tear on your car.
A lot of people hate to grocery shop so their goal is to get in and get out as quickly as possible. This often leads to us throwing things in our cart that is on our list without paying much attention to the packaging and this can be a costly mistake.
A recent trip the grocery store proved this point. I had Hamburger Helper on my list because not only was it on sale that week but they were also offering 5 bonus air miles for every 3 purchased. I went to the aisle the product was in, filled my cart with the quantity desired and went to the next aisle to get something else on my list.
On my way I happen to notice that they also had more of the product on the isle End where many sale items are put. Something caught my eye though, the box was slightly different so I went over to see what it was. All of these boxes had a coupon on the box that gave you a free bag of Green Giant frozen vegetables with your next Hamburger Helper purchase.
I switched them out and bought the boxes that contained the coupon. These coupons will be saved until the next time Hamburger Helper goes on sale (since that is the only time I buy it). The free bags of vegetables will help keep my freezer stocked up.
There are many instances where there are coupons and special offers on packages, however, many times people ignore them. People will even throw the boxes out with the coupons still attached.
If you owe money, then you can’t afford to throw away money or coupons. It’s as simple as that. So the next time you are in the grocery store keep your eyes open for coupons on boxes, in-store specials that are not listed in the stores fliers and manufacturers coupons that may be attached to the shelves themselves.
I am sure you have seen the Swiffer commercials for Swiffer. They try to convince you that using your current mop is just spreading the dirt around. They then take a grossly dirty pad that has been used all over the kitchen floor into the garbage. So ask yourself this. Is spreading a dirty pad around the floor a lot better than using a mop that you can rinse off throughout the cleaning process? I believe the mop is a better idea. In fact, I find the old fashioned mop that you twist the water out of in a special pail not only gives superior cleaning, but they also leave a streak free shine.
I also found that I usually used more than one pad while cleaning my floor as it is a rather large area. With the cleaning solution costing up to $10 per liter and the pads up to $1 each using the Swiffer can get extremely expensive. Add up how often you wash your floor and the overall cost of using this product over the next year and next five years and ask yourself “Is it worth it”. It certainly isn’t.
Mind you, some people use diapers instead of the Swiffer pads which lowers the cost, but I think if you look at things in a realistic manner you will see that either way, it is a waste of money.
