37 Ideas for Spending Less Money

Sunday, June 29. 2008

Over the past few weeks I've sat down and thought-up a list of all the ways I either have or have wanted to spend less money. The following is a list of ideas for spending less money in the categories of home, technology, driving, health, entertainment, shopping, finance and business.

Continue reading for great ideas to spend less money...

Home

Install a programmable thermostat
Invest a little money and time into one of these and you'll find the AC and heat can be used more efficiently. Setting a little higher temperature in the summer and a little lower temperature in the winter (especially when you are away from home at work) can save you a lot in the long run.

Turn off lights
If you aren't in the habit, you're wasting a lot of energy and money by leaving lights on when you leave a room.

Replace your light bulbs with CFLs
For the time when you legitimately need the lights on you should be using light bulbs that don't waste the majority of their energy on heat instead of light. Compact Fluorescent Lights, or CFLs, use an electrical charge and gas to produce light instead of a heating element like incandescent lights.

Use less laundry detergent
Chances are the detergent you're using is very concentrated and you don't need the full recommended amount listed on the back of the bottle or box (especially if it isn't a full load).

Technology

Enable power saving features on your computer
If you leave your computer on all the time, make sure to enable power saving features to turn off your monitor, hard drives, and other parts of the system when it's not in use.

Replace your monitor with an LCD
If you find yourself in need of a new monitor, make sure you buy an LCD monitor. These use a lot less power than traditional CRTs. Chances are you might not even find CRTs in the store these days, though.

Use Linux
Chances are you don't need to spend money on a Microsoft or Macintosh operating system if you find yourself doing simple things like web browsing, word processing, and listening to music. Check-out Ubuntu linux. It's helped bring linux closer to the average computer user in it's ease of use, clean looking user interface, and ease of installation and configuration.

Share an Internet connection
Without permission, this is technically illegal in many places, but there's no reason not to go in 50/50 with someone living nearby. Why pay the phone or cable company twice as much when neither you nor your neighbor are using all your bandwidth.

Use a free virus scanning software
Try-out a program like AVG instead of paid-subscription based virus scanners.

Use rechargeable batteries
These are great for things like digital cameras, XBOX controllers, and mp3 players especially.

Driving

Open windows during city driving instead of A/C
When you're driving at slower speeds it makes sense to open your windows instead of using your A/C which puts extra work on your engine and thus uses more gas. However, at a certain speed, it's actually more fuel and energy efficient to use your A/C for aerodynamic reasons. On the highway, for example, you'll probably be better off closing the windows and turning on the air in many cars.

Check your tires for correct inflation
Again, you'll use more gas and put yourself in less control if your tires are improperly inflated. The extra friction and heat caused by low tires require greater work from your engine and will require you to buy more tires more frequently.

Keep your oil changed
Better fuel economy and a car that lasts a longer time will result from this.

Replace your air filter
Also produces better fuel economy. You might even want to try something like a K&N air filter that can be rinsed-out and reused. I really need to clean mine, too, now that I think about it...

Health

Buy less food
Do you really need all the food you buy and ingest? Chances are you don't, and that excess of calories means more stress on your body, less money in your wallet after the grocery store / restaurant, and not to mention more money on products and memberships to loss your weight and maintain your physical health!

Walk instead of driving
Free exercise; better for the environment; relaxing; different.

Visit the doctor
Some health insurance plans encourage preventive treatment since it can save them from more costly repairs to your health in the future.

Stop smokingAs I'm writing this outside at a cafe I'm sitting next to a couple young gentlemen who probably spend half their hourly wage on the pack of cigarettes in their pocket. They'll need the other half to pay for their future medical treatment.

Exercise regularly
You know this is important. Stop putting it off and get working-out NOW.

Entertainment

Have a game night at home
A night out on the town really adds up. Try inviting some people over to your place. Mix in some games, food, booze, and you've got a good time for less of a price.

Drop premium movie channels
How many of the movies on your premium movie channels do you actually watch? On Demand technologies might make more sense.

Drop subscription TV altogether
Replace it with an HDTV antenna or watch online at ABC, Fox, ESPN360, and other sites that offer the same and even extra content online.

Go out for matinee movies
I couldn't believe it when I took my parents to the movies a month ago and found the price to be $10. Go to the movies at lower priced times or watch them at home.

Dine at home on your next date
Hit the store, bond while making pasta, get a bottle of wine, and put on some great music.

Shopping

Get the cheap toothpaste
I'm not convinced that my brand or type of toothpaste makes any difference, are you? I buy the cheapest tube of Crest I can find and my teeth are doing great.

Buy store brands without accepting lower quality
Alright, so the store brands are made with the same stuff, but aren't always the same. Sometimes, I like the name brand cereal, canned fruit, and grape jelly better. It doesn't always make a difference, though, and you can save money with the store brand on those products that are exactly the same.

Buy clothes at the end of the season
Pants are cheaper at the end of winter, shorts are cheaper at the end of summer. Offset when you buy what.

Buy quality goods that require replacing less frequently
A quality pair of shoes may cost twice as much, but could last five times as long as the cheap pair. Think about this with everything you buy. Just because you bought the more expensive option doesn't mean you should necessarily feel guilty-- it might make sense in the big picture.

Drink office coffee
If you load it up with cream and sugar anyway, it might not make any difference at all what kind of coffe you're drinking. Drinking it black? Well... might not want that office coffee.

Filter water instead of buying bottled water
Depending on the filter you buy, it might save you money.

Finance

Pay bills online instead of using a stamp for snail mail
The price of a stamp keeps going up. Pay online and make sure you don't get hit with late fees either.

Pay student loans over a longer period of time
Unless you make in the top 5 percentile of people in the world, chances are you can write your student loan interest off on your taxes. Instead of paying them off quickly, take your extra money to build up an emergency fund and long term savings.

Revise your insurance policies
Things like keeping a fire extinguisher in your home, a blinking light on your car dash, and a safe driving record can save you money on your insurance policies, but only if you let your insurer know!

Avoid careless fees
Overdraft fees at banks, ATM fees for out-of-network withdrawals, late bill payments, no trading fees, etc. all add up and take a large bite out of your bottom line over time.

Business

Trade your skill or service for someone else's
The tax man can't hit you up for sales or income tax if money isn't changing hands.

Partner for ventures without financing
If you don't have an angel investor to help your company, it might make sense to spread your risk across someone else's bottom line.

Find friends to hook you up
It's great to get discounts and free stuff when you use services of companies your friends work at.

It's important to remember that it does not always pay to be a cheap b*stard, but there are many times it most definitely pays to spend less!

Posted by Alex Fisher in Spending Less at 11:55 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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#1 trav (Homepage) on 2008-06-29 15:48 (Reply)

In response to #35, barter income is technically taxable. Check out the IRS's regulations at http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc420.html.

#2 Christy on 2008-06-29 21:13 (Reply)

Good call, Christy, and thanks for the heads-up. I have to admit, I kind of thought I remembered seeing something about this on my taxes last year, but I had already tried to block out those memories like I do every year.

#2.1 Alex (Homepage) on 2008-06-29 23:15 (Reply)

great post, nice one thank. Busby SEO Challenge

#2.2 Jet Spyke (Homepage) on 2008-07-01 11:33 (Reply)

As far as using less energy, I have my receiver, tv, PS3, and other items on a powerstrip that I turn off when not in use. I have no idea how much 'stand by' really uses, but I'm happy to not find out!

#3 Mark Stanislav on 2008-07-01 08:32 (Reply)

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This is a personal finance blog for young professionals learning to manage money, to become financially independent, and to give back to the world. (more)