Sharing ideas to save money in 2017

**TheFrugal** · 12-16-2016, 12:39 PM

I am always looking for new ways to cut my expenses and save money. And hopefully without impacting my lifestyle. Because I may be cheap, I love my luxuries.

So here goes my attempt to harness the power of the internet to help me in my task ... and help my fellow frugal-arians (not a real thing)!

I'll start things off with my newest money saving tip:

Harness the power of your alumni association!

You may find this hard to believe, but your alumni association probably arranged all sorts of great discounts for you on things like auto, home, and life insurance.

Right now, I am using it to save money on dental insurance. In fact, I got a plan that was less money than any offered on e-healthinsurance. And it has way better benefits.

What are you going to do to spend less in 2017?

**Tina** · 12-16-2016, 03:42 PM

Shop your auto insurance every year.

**IndianaJ** · 12-16-2016, 08:49 PM

Learn to do your own handy man work around the house. If I can install a three-way light switch, anyone can.

**Frugal Mom** · 12-17-2016, 10:39 AM

I like the idea behind this thread.

Here is what we like to do: budget in advance, and buy as much as we can only when on sale. This is especially true if we know we'll need big budget items.

**sbtdmr** · 12-18-2016, 07:19 PM

The most obvious one is to cut the cord!

**happypenguin** · 12-19-2016, 08:12 AM

Negotiate and shop around.

For example: cars. The first salesman always says its a good deal. Ha!

Get that offer in writing. And then you can shop it without leaving your home. Just call other dealers and email it to them. Get them negotiating against each other.

At the end of the day, they want to move cars.

**Mrs Jones** · 12-20-2016, 11:21 AM

We use meal planning to save money on dining out. Every Thursday evening we set up a plan for dinners for the following week. Yes, it can include restaurants. But then it is never a surprise. And we are able to buy groceries for the next week over the weekend. So this also saves us on trips to the store.

**TheFrugal** · 12-20-2016, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by Mrs Jones

We use meal planning to save money on dining out. Every Thursday evening we set up a plan for dinners for the following week. Yes, it can include restaurants. But then it is never a surprise. And we are able to buy groceries for the next week over the weekend. So this also saves us on trips to the store.

Planning goes a long way to saving money. But this tip is super actionable.

You can even take it a step further: plan for leftovers to eat for lunch.

**MovieFan** · 12-21-2016, 09:11 AM

Don't be afraid to buy used. We purchase books, movies and tons of clothes second hand. There are plenty of treasures out there for much less than new.

**TerryS** · 12-22-2016, 07:11 AM

Thanks to HDHPs, we often pay doctors join cash. Less than the negotiated rate in almost all instances. And its not like we're hitting the deductible anyway.

Sharing ideas to save money in 2017

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