10 ways to save $10 a Week!

If you do all of them, you'll save 100$ a week. 5200$ a year.

If you do half of them, 50$ a week. 2600$ a year.

A half assed job at all of them, also 2600$ a year.

A half assed job at half of them...still 1300$ a year.

These aren't in any order and are because I'm doing a frugal touch-up and rereading The Tightwad Gazette. I don't know how many of these I can do but I'm going to try.

1) Make 2 homemade coffees instead of buying 2 fancy coffees per week.

Assuming $5.25 and a tip per fancy coffee, you could even use those spendy pod or cup thingies for the coffee.

I am already using my thrift purchased travel french press stainless steel mugs and a thrift purchased thermos of hot water (heated upon the butane burner I found for free in a former apartment like 3 years ago and using the cheapest butane I can get my hands on)

To cut that EVEN MORE, I asked for coffee for my birthday and my favorite Aunt...well, one of my favorite aunts...sent not the 1 lb I asked for, but 2 full lbs AND several little fancy roast samplers that I can get 3-5 cups from. Nice. I figure that's 3 months of coffee. After that I still have an lb of chicory blend coffee I bought for 6$ in Louisiana (I was there for work) as a gift for someone but ended up not needing. So there is a few more weeks of coffee.

AND I need to cut back to just one cup per day. More than that gives me hot flashes anyway. I do make a 2^nd cup from the same grounds. It's not good, but I don't want to waste the last of the caffeine.

2) Cut out 1 restaurant work-lunch per week. 

 It's hard to get a restaurant lunch with a beverage for under 10$. In the past few weeks I've been invited to work lunches repeatedly.  I go because people expect me to be minimally social.  The trouble is, it costs $$.  The other trouble is, I eat too much and get fat and salty and tired and have hot flashes. I guess that's several troubles.

I am retrenching personally on this one.  I texted the colleague who most likes to do lunch, and knows the VERY best lunch spots.   I suggested that since I need to save $$ AND the delicious food was undermining my health goals and making me sweaty...we should meet up in the conference room with salads or whatever. Perhaps we could share lunch preparation.  We've tried to help each other in the past with cutting sugar content in the diets so this is someone sympathetic to at least the health part of the equation.   It's much cheaper to even buy bag of salad and some fancy tuna than to go out.

3) Cut 100 miles of driving.  

For reals.  At the current price of gas, a 50 mile round trip is costing me about 5$.   Actually a bit more. I drive 25 miles each way to work.   That's not very cuttable. I use my car for work during the week and am “on call” from the office to field sites so can't really share rides with people unless they want to not know what time they will be home at night. I could cut one trip to town (25 miles each way) and try to consolidate work trips each week. I can also walk more once I get to town for errands. This one is a challenge in the summer when I'm called out more. But, worth a try.

4) Cut food waste by eating what I have and eating all of what I buy.

Food waste….On the “Dollar Stretcher” website there has been a forum called Food Waste Friday where those who choose to participate can post what they wasted each week. Despite my efforts, I still chuck some of the fresh food I buy. Convenience foods tend to get fully consumed, but cost more. Buying fresh or at least not convenience and eating all of it would save the most money. Making the effort! It doesn't take much waste to add up to 10$. Since I try to spend 200$ a month on groceries, 40$ (4 weeks at 10$) is 20% of the budget! That's worth the effort and will more than offset any extra groceries needed by not going out to lunch.

5) Shop in my stuff before I shop at the store. 

 I have more often than I wish to admit bought a duplicate of an item that I already own, just because I forgot I had it. So, before I buy a clothing item, I will go through the clothing back stock and really see if I need the exact item or if something will work just as well. E.g. today I say a nice raincoat at thrift (5$), but thinking through it, I have a rubber rain coat (also from thrift) that works fine. Just doesn't look fabulous. Ultimately, not worth another 5$ to me to have a nicer looking less rubbery raincoat that might not be all that waterproof.

I've also bought medical supplies when I already HAD that medical supply (bandaids, elastic wraps, creams, etc). So, a few weeks ago I went through the box in storage marked “meds” and got out the aspirin I'd forgotten I had. I was out of aspiring at the homestead. I also went through the first aid kits at home and in the vehicles and made sure the stock was evenly distributed instead of all the bandages in one case and none in the other. This way, hopefully, everything will get used up at a fairly steady rate.

I periodically go through my clothes to see what really isn't getting used and can be donated, chucked, recycled, or in several instances...put back into circulation. E.g. I have too many pairs of lovely knee high wool skiing sox. I can't store them all in the homestead. So some are in storage. When the ones in full rotation get tatty, I try to remember to go through the stored winter clothes before buying new socks. In trying on all my pants to see what did/didn't work I found that one pair that I hadn't worn in a while, was actually presentable and fit reasonably well. They aren't my favorite pants, but no reason not to wear them. An old pair of work pants is just too big, but also pretty tattered so may be turned into a set of pouches with the waist band and belt loops still attached so I can use it when gardening to carry pin flags, seeds, tools, etc.

6) Cut back on entertainment expenses. 

 Mine are pretty well cut, but there is always more to be done!

I used to do a movie a week at 5$ (2^nd run theater...1st run theaters are too expensive to even be considered). This year, I bought a 10 movie pass for 50$, which is a better deal than it sounds since their basic movie rate went up to 7$. I was also buying the 1$ popcorn. I can skip the popcorn. The 10 prepaid movies means I can see how many movies I want to spend on this year, it's already spent, and prioritize which ones I go to.

I get most movies from the library. I rent a few from the local video co-op. I will be cutting back on co-op movie rentals.

I also rarely spend on books anymore (says the woman who spent 20$ on a plant guide this morning….more on that anon). I get them from the library. Even audio books. Library. With interlibrary loan I can get pretty much anything. Today I asked about a book I wanted but could not find in the system. The librarian put in a “purchase request” for the book. If they don't buy it, they will look further afield to interlibrary loan it. If I find I check a book out over and over, I put it on the list for things to find used, at thrift, or ask for when it's gift time (holidays, birthdays). Just this year I got multiple books I'd been coveting (including a different plant guide than the one I bought) as gifts.

I don't go out to clubs or bars so that saves but that means it's also a spot I can't cut from the entertainment budget...already cut to 0.

Radio: don't under estimate it. I listen most days to get the weather and news. I don't have internet at my place or a smart phone. The radio is the basic info stream. No TV on the premises (movies watched on the laptop). One day I couldn't get the weather I wanted on the radio so I called information...that's a thing we used to use all the time and DOES cost a buck or so, and got the number for the local national weather service office. Sure enough they have a phone line where you can get the weather forecast for your area. NICE!! No need for a TV and cable to watch the weather channel. I programmed the number in the phone so it's a one-time cost for information.

7) Review car insurance coverages.

I recently did this and saved over 400$ per year. I had full coverage on one vehicle, including rental car. This made sense when I had one vehicle given how dependent I am on it (life choice that costs $$ but one I made with my eyes open). I would need a rental vehicle. NOW that vehicle is worth much less and I have a 2^nd vehicle. I don't need the rental. Should I decide to make a long distance road trip, I will look into adding the rental coverage back in. You can do that. You can also suspend the insurance on the vehicle you aren't driving at the moment. I don't have the attention span to turn the insurance on and off depending on which rig I'm driving on a day, and often drive both in one day for different tasks. So, cutting insurance made sense. See what you can personally tolerate and see if you can cut back. Also, compare companies. That's my next step.

8) Use the discounts or coupons that you have AND that you need. 

 I won't use a coupon for an item I wasn't buying anyway. I won't go somewhere or buy something just to get the discount. I keep a list of what I need or choose to buy, then watch for a coupon or discount that will apply to that.

Today, I knew I had a 10$ off customer appreciation coupon for a local hardware store. It was good yesterday and today only. Yesterday I wasn't going to be in town and gas to town and back is about 5$ so ...not worth a specific drive to use the coupon. TODAY I was in town for multiple errands and tasks. I took my list to the hardware store. It included the above mentioned plant guide (it is specific to local native species and I am trying to restore native species on my property). I also needed a ground tamper and had compared prices during other trips to hardware stores. This store had one in stock and at the same price as elsewhere. So, the cost of the book and the tool met the minimum amount to use the 10$ coupon which maximized the value of the coupon. I went in, spun the wheel for a free gift (which turned out to be a free sample of dog treats...I don't have a dog but I can use them as bait in traps), grabbed the two items I had already identified as the best things to buy there with the coupon, and hit the check out. Then it was off to the next errand.

9) Keep a list and keep it on you. 

 I have a master list of things I need or want and have chosen to buy. I don't go to stores without it. This morning I had to get out of the car and go back up the hill to the homestead on foot (no driveway up there...too expensive) to get the list. No point in going to town to do errands without the list.

With the list, I can go to thrift stores and yard sales I may pass, and see if things on the list are available for cheap. Just yesterday I stopped by a yardsale and found a ground squirrel trap! That was on the list. I have a ground squirrel problem and have chosen not to poison them. The trap was 5$ at the yard sale. In full working condition. I looked online and new it would be 56$. I would never spend that much. I'd suffer with squirrels. For 5$ I will try it and if it doesn't work the way I like, I can resell it or trade it for something else.

At the farmers market and grocery stores today (walking from one to the other to save on the gas noted above) I carried the list and got things at the best price without duplicating or having to go back and return something when I found it cheaper elsewhere. TP at the co-op. There is cheaper TP but the co-op TP is one roll in paper, not 4 or 36 in plastic. I have limited storage and store things in tins. I can store 3 or 4 rolls, not 36. I also don't like to buy things in plastic if I can avoid it. I wanted stevia sodas this week as I get off the sweet restaurant food. Those are cheaper at a grocery store. As was mint tea. There was a 3^rd grocery store. That one has the best “discontinued” or “discounted” food rack and the cheapest allergy stuff that was on my list. It is also near the recycling center with the free book bin. I got a free book and next time I'm through I will drop off a free book I'm done with.

10) Free stuff! 

 I love those little free libraries and the free book bin at the recycling center. I use them. A few times I year I actually find books on my list. That's always a treat. Sometimes I find awesome antique books like the vest pocket dictionary from the early 1900s that I have now been using for more than a year. It's tiny and handy and antique and free. I've found a few books from a home designer that I admire and have used ideas from them in designing my next home. The free book bin also yielded a honey cookbook that I've been using and may pass on if I ever stop using it. Today, I got a multi-cassette audio book about how to be a winner...I can't wait to find out how I can be a winner. The brand new used pickup has a cassette player.

At the community garden, in exchange for helping them while I learn new things, I am given greens and a few eggs. That's a win-win-win. They get help. I get educated. I get food.

Next to the community garden is a 2^nd harvest food distribution center. The manager there is happy if we take pallets. Many pallets. I do take pallets when I need them. I try to remember to drive that brand new used pick up that day and load up on the pallets I can use.

At work, people open lots of boxes of stuff. Big boxes. When I'm setting up new garden beds or smothering thistle thickets, I take boxes. Leave them in the rain a day or two and the tape and other plastic peels right off. Then they go down where needed, often held in place with pallets that haven't been used on their assigned project yet.

Beware of free stuff with strings. If it's new and free, you may be the product. I don't sign up for free stuff on the internet if it requires my contact info. That means someone is selling my contact info and/or trying to sell me crap for NOT free. I hate that.

I don't take free things I don't also need.

Today at the library I used the free seed exchange. I took 6 asparagus seeds. I could have taken enough seed to grow a market garden feeding dozens of people, but I don't need that much. I want to see if I can start asparagus in a newly tilled up garden bed. 6 seeds should give me an idea about that.