by Beks
I was reading an article by Jennifer Mulrean about ‘7 radical ways to save money’. Her suggestions were:
1. Hold the mother of all garage sales.
The only thing left to sell in our garage is the actual garage… and I tried.
2. Quit smoking.
Easy. Well… only because I never started.
3. Tame your driving addiction.
Sure it triples my commute time, but I leave my car at home on a regular basis.
4. Buy used.
From clothes to books to cars, I haven’t been the first owner of much since we went on our debt diet.
5. Become a homebody. Consider the library for books, music and movies.
I can’t believe she shared the library tip!! That was MY secret!
6. Cut your housing expenses. Consider renting out a room.
We’ve had roommates for…ever.
7. Cut up your credit cards. Build an emergency fund first to handle most unexpected expenses.
Done. Well… again.
Radical? I don’t think so. Have you discovered a REAL radical way to save cash?
Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep. She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years. In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free. When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.
Radical ways to save cash, no I can’t say that I’ve discovered anything radical on that front. But I have thought of and implemented radical ways to earn cash. I poop scoop at a friends ranch every other weekend when her normal crew has the day off. Horses are glamorous sure, but they poop a lot and having to use a wheelbarrow to dispose of it all…I consider that Radical! 😀
We left our apartment in the city and moved to the country to live in a house built in the 1800’s and very tiny. (Very.Tiny.) We started a garden and made friends with neighbors who grew things we didn’t. We hope to get chickens this summer.
I had to turn down offers by friends to pay for a psych evaluation when I told them.
My ‘save money’ tip (but not a lot, but every bit counts right?). If you buy produce by the bag – 5# bag of apples, onions, potatoes, etc – weigh the bag. Not every bag will weigh exactly that amount, right? It’s impossible. Some weigh a bit more, some a bit less. Get a bit more for your money.
April, I’d do the job in a heartbeat for the extra cash. I think the biggest problem in today’s society is that people are afraid to get their hand’s dirty. 🙂
I put ALL my money in a savings account and leave practically nothing in my checking account. If I can, I lock money away in CD’s. I do this purposely because for some dang reason, I tend to spend money if I make it too easily accessible to me.
Go Figure.
Yeah that list is NOTHING like radical. 🙂 I make my own shampoo (baking soda + water), conditioner (apple cider vinegar + water), hair gel (more complicated! water+ flax seeds + lavender + grapefruit extract), and laundry detergent (water + washing soda + fels naptha + borax). I used to make my own dishwasher detergent, but that wasn’t working so well, so I’m back to buying that again. I also make homemade pasta sauce, which doesn’t seem that radical until you start telling people that you do it and they get all incredulous. I can lots of tomatoes and salsas, too.
Well, I’m not sure if what I do is radical or if I just have too much time on my hands, but I try to make all foods we like myself. On top of regular meals I make:
Greek yogurt (1/2 gallon for $3.50!)
granola
creme fraiche
sourdough bread
chicken, turkey and beef stock
vanilla (I bake all the time)
granola bars
energy bars
vinegar
pasta sauce
cookies, cakes, cupcakes, etc.
caramels
chocolates
Some of my recent efforts for the kids
-cocoa mix
-taco seasoning mix
-home made oreos
-taffy (it was a snow day!)
I think my favorite thing right now is the stock. I have found that I can get Bell&Evans chicken parts (backs, necks, etc.) and beef bones for about $.30/lb at my local store. My husband and I eat soup nearly every day for lunch or dinner.
Oh, and don’t forget turkey! It’s really inexpensive if you find a good deal. A 12 pound turkey that I made recently fed us for a week: dinners, sandwiches, tostadas, and a big pot of turkey barley soup. We are a family of 5 with 2 teenagers, so that’s quite inexpensive. Well, particularly so, as the turkey was free, but that’s another story.
The best part is it’s all so much healthier, and greener. I love not having much trash at the end of the week.
Hi –
I’ve just recently come across your blog and enjoyed reading many different posts. Radical savings list – I got excited at the title only to get to the end and say I already do those things. We have made major changes to our spending habits and saving habits. It’s astonishing what you discover when you put your mind to it. The absolute first step is putting down on paper (or spreadsheets)exactly where the funds are going. I just tallied up our 2nd full year of tracking everything and it’s exciting to campare the two years. Reducing utilities – moved from large house to smaller house. Dining out was cut almost 50%. One of the things we have done is ‘rescue’ various furniture from peoples garbage and sell it on craigslist. It’s shocking people throw out stuff that is in great shape! It’s fun making 15-20 bucks or something like that and also seeing another person absolutely happy to get something so good for so cheap. Another little thing – when payday arrives – transfer every penny you have left in your checking from the previous check. It’s suprising how that builds up so quickly.
Kari
Eat less. In this value age, that is the most radical thing I can think of because most people won’t do it. The homemade movement is old news–the next wave is less consumption of food.
I agree, Starr. When a recipe says it serves 4, it should serve 4! I’ve always doubled recipes because I never wanted anyone to miss out on second helpings……which probably explains our expanding waistlines and our shrinking wallets!
Oh crap! You mean two other people besides me know about the Library?
Kidding aside though, seems like every time I get some sort of “radical” idea for saving money, a little digging on the Internet reveals someone somewhere had already thought of it.
I don’t care if you go to YOUR library. Just don’t check stuff I want out of MY library! 😛
I don’t think there are really radical ways to save cash aside from starving yourself or not getting necessary medical care. And those aren’t good ways to save, just radical ones.
I have thought about donating plasma, though, since they pay you for it. And my boyfriend does consumer research things sometimes (like tasting coffee drinks for cash).
I had a bunch of friends in college who would pretty much donate their bodies to science. One medical study required them to have a tube down their nose and they were in the hospital under observation for a few days. They ended up getting almost $1000 for it.
I don’t know about radical, but it was pretty radical for us. Around the same time my son was born, we re-evaluated our budget and our eating. (I’m completely responsible for what another person eats and shaping how he views food for the rest of his life?!)
The main thing we did was ease our way to where we now cook almost everything ourselves at home. I don’t can or garden, though I might like to try, but in general, all our meals are cooked from whole ingredients, even things like crackers and granola. We started shopping a really cool Amish farmer’s markety type store and our grocery bill is now half of what it used to be. Eating out isn’t good for our diet or our budget, and we’re finding that “convenience foods” aren’t either.
It took a little more time when I was getting started, and as I developed a routine for menu planning, but now cooking dinner is a relaxing way to transition into evening and my toddler loves to help. We spend much less time cooking, eating and cleaning up than we did getting bundled up, driving somewhere, ordering our food, waiting, eating and driving home.
At the time, these things felt radical but no longer do. I got rid of my car in 2004 because I’ve only lived in large cities and definitely don’t need one – and still don’t. My husband also got rid of his car in 2004, the year before we even met. We are members of a car share program and use those as needed, for $6-$8/hour and no insurance or fuel costs. I know this is only an option for us based on where we live, but we have taken advantage of it for nearly seven years now.
When a CD we had $10,000 savings in was about to expire, interest rates were about as bad (low) as they are now. We loaned the $10,000 to a local farm instead and are paid 7% interest… in vegetables and fruit. They’re delivered to our house every other Tuesday and cover the majority of our grocery bill. We can have the money back in 10 days if we need it. I didn’t understand how this helped the farm, but the farmer showed us how having a substantial cash balance in the bank, even if they don’t use it for anything, helps them secure better loan terms for farm equipment and the like. It’s working really well for us and we’re going into our third year with it.
I should point out that we were very, very careful about this loan program. This small farm has a small shop front at a local farmer’s market building and is very well established (in its third generation and well known in our area). We met a few other people who had given loans, spoke with the farmer’s credit union, and worked with them, not the farmer, to do the loan.
We also buy whole animals (butchered) from other local farmers. They are pasture-raised and fed, and are humanely slaughtered (often by the farmer him-or-herself on the farm where they’ve lived). We get organic meat for $4-$5/lb. instead of the crazy $8+/lb. prices you’ll see at Whole Paycheck.
Everyone we know thinks we’re insane and calls us Urban Hippies… until they have amazing dinners at our place! We’ve saved a LOT of money by doing these things and it’s all working well.
Besides cutting up your credit cards, you can also use the Ice method: Place your credit cards in a jar of water and place that jar in the freezer. If you have the urge to buy something on credit, you have to wait until the ice melts. By then, whatever emotional buying urge you had would of gone away.