Friday, June 15, 2007

Saving Money

I find myself thinking about saving money today. I saved us $7 a month by signing up for the power company's plan, where they can shut off our AC if there's a brown out. I saved us another $4 a month by calling the cable company and getting them to stop charging us for a cable box we don't have (and it was way out of date, the one they thought we had, so they might refund us the amount we've been paying since it became obsolete - I'll keep you posted on that one!). I'm going to submit a $250 rebate to the gas company because we now have a high efficiency furnace. I also need to call them about getting on the "budget bill" plan they offer.

I'm in the process of developing a system for coupons. Apparently the real money is in rebates and refunds. I'm looking into this. I make pretty good use of my grocery store loyalty cards, though.

I get books for (nearly) free from www.paperbackswap.com. I mail out my books, and when they're received I earn a credit, which I can use to get a new book from someone else. All it costs is postage. Wish someone would start something like this for kids' clothes!! Paper Back Swap has a Swap a CD site, too. I've saved hundreds of dollars, not buying books at retail (I still buy books at retail, but I always check PBS first, so I'm at least saving some money... With the speed I go through books, it's totally worth it).

Anyway, what are your best money saving tips and strategies? Leave them in the comments!

2 comments:

Jen said...

The best way I have found to save money is to stay home. Even if I just run out for a (insert item here), I come home with that plus $30 in garbage we don't really need. Make a list and stick to it.
Love,
Jen

Brandon Stenger said...

Best money saving tip I've ever found: use $5 bills to start fires instead of twenties. That's a 75% savings every time I start a fire.