Who doesn’t want to save $100? I’m not sure America ever got out of the recession in the first place, so I find it perplexing to hear people in 2011 anxious about a “double dip.” Aren’t we still dipped pretty far down?
More than 44 million people living in America have no health insurance. There’s a homeless woman begging in Ashland with a puppy and a hugely pregnant belly.
My daughter’s friend’s mom confided her family gets most of their meals from a food bank in order not to foreclose on their house.
My son’s friend’s dad, who has two masters degrees, is waiting tables because work is so scarce.
We may not be as bad off as Greece but economically things suck in this country. “Suck” is a relative term, of course. America is not Niger, where people are rail thin because they don’t have enough to eat and being fat is a sign of prosperity and beauty. Ashland is not Kauai, where locals keep the deer population in check by hunting them for food.
But even in our prosperous town in the mountains in Oregon people are having a really hard time.
A friend’s friend confided he is going to move his family to Portland in search of better services for his troubled and violent son and more lucrative employment.
After seven years working at a hotel in Ashland it’s all he can do to pay the rent.
Compared to many, our family is lucky.
We own our own house.
We don’t owe money on student loans.
My mom helps us pay for one of our children to go to private school.
But James and I don’t have health insurance. We can’t drive anywhere all together unless it’s within biking distance without renting a car since ours is a compact that seats five and there are six of us now.
And we have credit card balances we can’t pay off. The savings we once had are tied up in our house, the value of which has steadily declined since we bought it.
I feel so grateful for what we have (and for Mr Visa for financing us when the first installment of my book advance runs out), but I also find it hard not to obsessively worry about finances, especially at 4:00 a.m.
During a recent bout of insomnia I started thinking about how our family has been cutting back. We’ve found many ways to save $100.
Here are 30 ways to save $100:
1. Cancel your gym membership
Savings $80/month
Pros: You workout more outside, and learn how to be your own gym
Cons: No more Zumba classes
2. Give recycled gifts
Savings: $50/month
Pros: The book you read once, the candle from Aunt Esther, one of the 400 stuffies on your daughter’s bed bring joy to someone else
Cons: Some friends expect packaged new stuff, made in China, off-gassing a bonus
3. Borrow books from the library
Savings: $60/month if you read a lot
Pros: Trees saved
Cons: Small town libraries may not own the book you want, long waiting lists, a prescribed time to finish the book
4. Don’t use disposable diapers
Savings: $1000/year plus cost of gas to get to the store
Pros: Cloth or diaper free is healthier for baby
Cons: More laundry
5. Return deposit bottles (and bring back your neighbors’ if they are putting them in the trash or recycling)
Savings: $2/week
Pros: Bonding time with your 7-year-old collecting bottles together
Cons: Being mistaken for a hobo when you show up with a wagon full of returnables
6. Ride your bike to work
Savings: $50/week
Pros: Built-in exercise! Ability to weave in traffic! More outside time!
Cons: Sweat on your work clothes.
7. Breastfeed
Savings: At least $1,000/year (see a sample calculation here)
Pros: Better for the baby and the mom
Cons: Dad can’t do it (but he can feed the baby pumped breast milk)
8. Use maps, calendars, or newspaper to wrap gifts
Savings: $5/month
Pros: It’s artistic!
Cons: Lumpy
9. Make a digital copy of all your CDs and then sell them
Savings: $3-$5/CD
Pros: Less stuff in your house
Cons: Time-consuming at first to set up an eBay account
10. Cancel your cell phone
Savings: $60/month
Pros: No brain cancer
Cons: No phone chats at the supermarket or to call 911 when there’s a flasher on the bike path (yes, this happened and yes, they caught the guy)
11. Reuse birthday candles
Savings: $1.50/birthday (x 6 birthdays = $9/year)
Pros: You won’t have to remember to buy candles for months
Cons: They get shorter each time you use them.
12. No café coffee
Savings: $3/day, $21/week, $1092/year
Pros: No more cups in the landfill, bonding with your husband as you drink home brewed coffee together
Cons: Severe longing for Noble Coffee
13. Don’t shower every day
Savings: 45 gallons of water per 15 minute shower, savings vary by state and region
Pros: Better for your skin
Cons: You smell more … Human.
14. Brush your teeth with baking soda
Savings: $3.00/tube of toothpaste
Pros: No carcinogen exposure or packaging
Cons: salty!
15. Eat less
Savings: $10/week
Pros: You live longer, feel healthier, and lose weight
Cons: Stomach rumbling
16. Buy drugstore candy to sneak into the movies
Savings: $2.50/movie
Pros: The thrill of being sneaky
Cons: Having to plan ahead
17. Don’t buy a crib for the baby
Savings: $300
Pros: Snuggling in your bed, easier to breastfeed, baby sleeps better and feels safer
Cons: Need to use the guest bed or couch for adult horizontal playtime
18. Swap clothes with friends instead of buying new stuff
Savings: $100/two months
Pros: Pesticide residues already washed off, pre-loved clothes are softer
Cons: Harder to find a power suit in your size
19. Clean your own house
Savings: $240/ month
Pros: Um?
Cons: The toilet bowl
20. Hire teens to do yard work and babysitting
Savings: $10/hour
Pros: Easier to be directive with someone less experienced
Cons: He mows down your blueberry bush
21. Read your medical bills for errors
Savings: $100-$1,000/bill
Pros: Up to 80 percent have them
Cons: It’s no fun to fight with the hospital or insurance company
22. Take your own family photos
Savings: $200/year
Pros: You’re a photographer!
Cons: Kids behave better with strangers and it’s hard to get yourself in the photo on time without mussing up your hair
23. Hire a research assistant from the local college in exchange for course credit
Savings: $90/week
Pros: They get valuable life experience, you don’t pay $110/audio hour for transcriptions
Cons: Time-consuming training
24. Don’t use paper towels
Savings: $1.50/meal if you clean like my MIL used to
Pros: Less trash
Cons: Need to find a dishrag to wipe your hands
25. Have your 4 kids share a room so you can have a home office
Savings: $300/month
Pros: They learn to get along
Cons: Friends and family criticize you because “kids need their privacy”
26. Borrow a friend’s dress to wear to a cocktail-attire award ceremony
Savings: $100
Pros: No time wasted shopping
Cons: It looks better on her (she’s almost six feet tall and blond and everything looks better on her)
27. Use sharing sites on the Internet to access movies you want to see
Savings: $4/movie
Pros: Many movies aren’t available
Cons: They take forever to download plus you may be committing a Federal offense
28. Have home dates
Savings: a small fortune ($20+ for the sitter + the $ for the activity)
Pros: You don’t have to wear heels
Cons: You fall asleep putting the baby to bed by mistake and there goes your date
29. Find a goal buddy instead of paying for a professional coach
Savings: $100/hour
Pros: You help motivate someone else as much as she helps motivate you
Cons: Finding the right match
30. Spend time outside instead of taking vitamin D supplements
Savings: $13.95/bottle
Pros: Sunlight makes you happier
Cons: Harder in the wintertime
Readers, I’d like to hear from you! Are you feeling the pinch of this endless recession? What are your best tips about how to save money in our down economy?
Published: July 21, 2011
Updated: January 15, 2020
Make your own Laundry Detergent. At a cost of pennies per load, you’ll love the savings AND it is eco-friendly, sensitive skin friendly and unscented. Recipe at http://frugalkiwi.co.nz/2009/09/clean-green-diy-liquid-laundry-detergent/
1. Cloth baby wipes, cloth nursing pads, cloth menstrual pads
2. Reusable/cloth snack bags and other resuable lunch containers- we are perfecting the no waste lunch over at our place
3. Garbage can size – our garbage company gives lower rates for either using a smaller can or picking up every other week. We use a 20 gallon can instead of a 32 gallon or larger can.
4. I don’t regret buying cribs. We didn’t pay 300 dollars for ours. Our older girl slept for the first half of the night in her crib until age 2, and though our 8 month old sleeps in our bed all night long, I still use her crib as a place to set her when I need to do something baby free for a minute (put in a load of cloth diapers, for example!). We made sure to buy cribs that convert to toddler beds. Our older daughter is still sleeping in her “crib” – same mattress, same sheets – and won’t grow out of it for a few years (I think). If you can buy furniture that has multiple purposes that always helps.
5. Meat as a “flavoring agent” – We often make dishes with a bit of sausage or bacon instead of buying a big slab of expensive meat.
Cook with dried beans, rather than canned (this recipe for refried bans that rival Rosarita is our fave: http://bit.ly/if06mo).
Hang laundry to dry.
Use the library (and get your books/movies back on time).
Kris beat me to the “hang laundry out to dry.” I recently mentioned on my blog about downloading my CDs to my computer and iPod and then selling them. I was promptly informed by two readers that this is copyright violation. If you no longer own the music you bought on the CD, then you’ve pirated the music, they tell me. I haven’t checked it out, but you might be wary of this one.
Kris,
your readers are correct. it is a matter of respect for the law, yes, and also for those who create the work .
Jennifer, you have many great suggestions here, but I hope you will reconsider this one.
Our town has a swap shop at the dump. I know a family that furnished their whole house with stuff found there. We also have a free shop for clothing. People donate nice, even fashionable, old clothes. (It started out just kids’ clothes but rapidly expanded.)
About the recession, totally agree that it is still going on.
Jennifer, this is such a great post. Pros of cleaning your own house? Lots of exercise and stretching when you have to reach the cobwebs in the upper ceiling corners. (can you tell I’m a health writer?).
Choose a hairstyle that does not require monthly cuts. I get mine cut every 3 months. My son does the same (gets a buzz then lets it grow out).
Bring your own food to the movies? We don’t even GO to the movies anymore (except for Harry Potter, which I have faithfully seen in the theater each time). The couch is so much comfier for movie-watching, and I can pause the film to check on my laundry. 🙂
I wondered if someone would call me on that one, Casey. We don’t go to the movies very often because it’s too expensive. Though I love going to the movies–watching on a big screen. Especially when it’s hot out and they’re air conditioned. But the kids have been to them movies a couple times with friends from out of town and for birthday parties.
Great list. I save on babysitting by having my oldest daughter do it. But I do contribute to her college fund each time she does.
Well, I only drive into town (down off the mtn) once a week or so. That means I only buy gas like every 4-6 weeks.
I too hang out my clothes to dry (even in winter). We have lines in the basement, but clothes really do dry, even in the cold … as long as it isn’t snowing.
We almost NEVER eat out, buy coffee, go to the movies, etc.
I also believe that a lot of younger people have ditched expensive cable/satellite TV for a monthly online subscription to places like Netflix or Hulu … or they watch clips on network websites and such.
I think what’s been interesting about this recession is that I see lots of budget cutting advice that might make sense if you do any of those things, but often they are things I gave up long ago or never did in the first place. Like once, I saw someone raving about grating your own cheese instead of buying it already shredded. *sigh*
The trick (for many of us) is finding cuts in budgets that are already bare bones. Or finding ways to get by when more credit isn’t an option.
So far, we’re doing “ok” too, but it isn’t easy.
I agree! The thing that bums me out about budgeting tips (and I write some of these types of articles myself as a personal finance writer) is if you don’t buy cafe coffee to begin with, you can’t save money by cutting it out. Also., do people still buy CDs these days?
But I did find a few ideas here, so thanks for that.
Get old enough to get Senior discounts when you can’t take advantage of the baby-dollar-saving hints. 🙂
Awesome ideas! I think just staying open to all the money-saving possibilities and not throwing money at a situation (my go-to thing) is important. Thanks for all these great tips and for nudging me to do better.
I have to agree with Roxanne on this one – many of the ways to save were never things we have had the luxury of doing anyway…. go out? Haven’t done that for years! Never mind buying candy to sneak into a movie… don’t GO to the movie! and my goodness…. you can get your hair cut every month? Sounds like you have simply had a reality check, not real savings. This is life for most people… stop the cleaner? and a few illegal suggestions here too…. so, not thoroughly impressed. At least here in NZ most people never use a dryer, already stretch the ground beef out to feed their families, don’t eat out, grow their own veggies, don’t have health insurance, cleaners, or a minivan for all their kids.
OK, this one depends on availability, and I understand that some people do not have the option, because of not having public transportation. However, since I live in a town with good public transportation, I gave up owning a car years ago, and I have no intention of ever owning one again. I did this as a deliberate choice – I am diabetic and need to walk. This makes sure that I do.
I also do not watch TV, or play rental video games.
I admit, this is a tough one, and again, some people need A/C for health reasons, but we do not use A/C, just fans. And yes, this heatwave is challenging. But we’re getting through it, so far. A frozen bottle of water to hold is a lot cheaper than A/C.
Regards, Peg
Oof, I dunno about #14. Baking soda can be really abrasive to tooth enamel, depending on how hard or soft your enamel is, and repairing it could end up costing far more than a couple tubes of toothpaste.
Gym: I’m negotiating with our local to see if they’ll hang a sign on our fence in return for membership 🙂
Food: Grow veg! Cook large quantities and freeze! (also v handy for quick dinners when you both work) Also… Homebrew beer and wine 🙂
Well, I know it sounds frivolous to have a cleaner, but I’ve always looked at it as a way to help someone else. My gal’s husband was just laid off. This is how she helps pay THEIR bills. Yes, I can clean my own home and save $80 every two weeks, but it will be among the last things to go because it affects someone else’s livelihood so strongly. I’d rather make a more personal sacrifice to save her.
Re the cleaners – it takes me way longer to clean our house than my skillful cleaning person. I can make more money in the time I’d spend cleaning than if I just paid her to do it. When we’re short on cash, we do go without the cleaning person, but if we have the cash and want a clean house – and peace of mind that comes with it – I’ll happily pay her to do it.
Great article, Jennifer. Good suggestions. Here’s another suggestion: For those of us who live where there is a Time Bank, join it. The Southern Oregon Time Bank (www.sotb.org) allows people to trade their services with each other in a way that is more flexible than bartering. No money is exchanged. I got an hour-long hair-cut in exchange for cleaning someone’s apartment for an hour; an hour of small business consultation in exchange for an hour of pruning another person’s shrubs. Having valuable skills to offer is going to be more and more critical in the days ahead. I’m still waiting for someone to take me up on my offer to lead an art project, like making pop-up cards, with children at a birthday party. Maybe mine is an out-dated skill. Perhaps I should re-train to be a clown or balloon-lady or robot?
We are currently on the “don’t buy anything except food” budget!
It is amazing how much you can save when you just say no. We do lots of window shopping at the fancy shops. We like to play a game called “if you had to buy something in the window”, where we all pick what we would buy if we had too, even if it’s something hideous or that we would never buy. It is really fun.
Number 15 made me laugh! Especially the con! Great list of ideas there.
We ditched our home telephone line, saving around $60 per month.
We got rid of cable/TV all together, saving around $60 per month.
I buy whole chickens instead of parts, roast them for one meal, use leftovers for a couple more meals, and then boil the bones up to make chicken stock for another few meals.
Clothes swap parties with friends are a great way to get new clothes and accessories without spending any money. You need to invite quite a few people so you get a good range of sizes. Anything leftover gets donated to charity.
We grow most of our own vegetables, which has saved us bulk this year as the price of veges has sky-rocketed in New Zealand.
Great tips. I could save a few buck by following your advice.
Never buy plastic bags for Anything!
I line my trash bin with newspaper or use a mailer that I received. Plastic Sucks for the environment and it takes 1,000 + years for a plastic bag to break down
I’ve tried to make a full list of reusable alternatives to disposable items at http://landempty.org
Growing your own food, even if it’s just herbs, can offer great savings.