Are you thrifty?

[bullmama]

I was wondering how thrifty everyone is. I for example, will always look on ebay to see if the item I want is on there first before I buy it at the store. This can save me $10 or more on a video game, or even a hundred when making a large purchase.

I also don't mind saying that I will often buy the cheapest can of soup, veggies, ect. at the grocery store- I don't mind getting the "generic" brand (for some things) as well.

I do, after all, have 4 kids to feed and 5 bulldogs who get the not-so-thrifty food. LOL

My mother was always like this so I guess it rubbed off. So how thrifty are you, and do you have any thrifty tips to share to be even more thrifty?

 

[sheshistory]

I enjoy being thrifty too!

I still get the Sunday paper so I can clip coupons and plan my shopping list accordingly. I usually go shopping once every three weeks and save around $50 with coupons from the paper.

I do shop on eBay for a lot of stuff too. One of the things I noticed you can get much cheaper are higher priced beauty items. For example, I use Biosilk silk therapy and it's normally $24 a bottle but I can get two or three bottles on eBay for the same price.

I like going to sporting events, like hockey and baseball, and I've started using Stub Hub and probably save, on average, 50% off the box office prices and usually get better seats than I'd normally be able to afford.

I also follow @slickdeals on Twitter. They have some exceptional "one time only" deals - including a subscription to ESPN magazine I got for one year for $3 - but they have big deals too found all kind of places on the internet, from electronics to camping gear to food!

One thing I'd be interested to get tips on is buying generic...some stuff is great, some stuff is not so if anyone has any great generic recommendations or any to stay away from, I'm all ears!

 

[bulldog family]

I always look for coupons online and use those before I go to the store. I NEVER (ok, rarely ever) buy anything that is not on sale. Generic works for me too. I soooo love sales racks...

 

[cali~jenn]

Try to be as thrifty as possible cuz well why not?!?! I love the mark down rack at my grocery store although if I dont get there early the good stuff is usually gone. Coupons are also a plus! Not sure if all stores are the same but stater bros. here lets you use their store coupon in conjunction with manufacturers coupons so I wait till things go on sale and have a great store coupon, then add in the reg coupon I already had to get an even better deal. As for generic, I do use store brand items for many things. Some things cannot be replaced, or I am unwilling to but there are aso many that are great! Oatmeal packets for example is so much cheaper and tastes the same to me. (vitamin content is a bit less but if money is tight oh well) Veggies, frozen or canned. Sour cream and cottage cheese, cant tell the diff at all. Cant think of what else off hand.

I am an online shopper for sure cuz you can save SO much money online over going to the store usually to buy. For example I just ordered something for my hubby for xmas and online shopping thru shopathome.com I was able to find what I wanted at sears which gave 5%cash back for using this site to order thru, on top of having a good price and with free shipping at that. How can you not love that deal?!?!

I used to use ebay all the time but had 1 bad experience where the seller who had a great rep. stole my $100. The time had lapsed that i didnt realize so I couldnt file a complaint or anything. I stopped using cuz I figure in this economy there are a lot of new found crooks out there. Sad! I do love amazon tho and always just shop he diff stores online to see who has the best deals and compare them to walmart and target to make sure.

 

[cali~jenn]

Oh and also the 99 cent store here has produce and a fridge/freezer section. The produce is SO much cheaper and has just as good or sometimes even better picks than my store. For example mushrooms... If I plan on making something where I need a lot of mushrooms (soup or something) I go there and they have them in 6 oz containers for 99 cents each. Compared to my store who puts them on sale at 1.99, huge savings! Especially when I make a big batch of potato soup or sroganoff and use a LOT of mushrooms at a time. I say if you can find a 99 cent store that has a section like this in it you will save a lot there. Plus they have great canned goods and spices even.

Also biglots has a lot in their food sections also. Their prices arent as low as the 99 cent store but they are usually as low as sale prices at the reg store and a lot of times better.

 

[lexterwayne]

i shop online at ebay and amazon.com i found 4 blu ray dvds for girls bday presents i got them for 60 bucks and they where all new releases too man i love that place!!!

groupon.com is really a great place also "if it covers your area" the buisness will put something up thats $80.00 and they will mark it down 40, 50,60% off its great!!

and of course sams you buy bigger quanities but lasts twice as long. even sams.com has great deals and bundles.. we fill my car up at sams which is usually 3 to 4 cents cheaper

 

[Libra926]

I love to be thrifty also. I love shopping for halloween costumes AFTER halloween is over. I found 4 new costumes to torture O with....there is nothing like buying a costume for 1.00. But I tend to overdue it. I had 7 different costumes in the cart....and I put back 3. I'm still kicking myself for it.....3 costumes for $3. I always look for good deals and free shipping........then I go blow a bunch of money on stupid stuff. So it evens out. I love Winco....canned goods for the kids stew! Cheap cheap cheap.

 

[kazzy220]

I do my grocery shopping at Aldi's ......... save a bundle of money on my weekly shop which with two teenage kids at home who eat and eat and eat is a great help!!

I spent about an hour online going through every online supplier of FROMM to find the best deal for the bullies food ... (that's how I discovered the Petflow website). I've spent about the same time getting the best supplier of the Grizzly salmon oil too.

I too am an addict of ebay!! I sold all the kids baby clothes on there, and everything else that I think I can sell. When I got married for the second time I bought my wedding dress online for 200 british pounds .... the tag said 1500 british pounds. My daughter was my bridesmaid and I got her bridesmaid dress from ebay too for 50 pounds! Now, I get a lot of my workout shoes from ebay for approx half the price I would pay in any store.

So I too am a bargain hunter!!

 

[Lacey28]

Until I had my 2 baby I didnt even know what a coupon was. After my husband got laid off and money was tight and the debt got bigger, I realized that it probably would be better to start some money saving routines. I have a weekly budget and thats all the money we get to spend. No more credit cards!! I stopped going to ToysRus and buying stuff just because. I usually always buy no name groceries (some things no) and ALWAYS clip coupons and look for deals, I shop once a week for groceries but usually go to 3-4 different stores to get the deals...they are all close by. Lately I have been making trips to Michigan for deals it is amazing for just about anything from clothes to gas to groceries. Like right now gas in the US is about 75 cents and here it is $1.04. My mom went over today and got a turkey for xmas at Meijer it is 22 lbs and cost $11 here it would of cost $55! I am also an Ebay queen, not only is it cheaper but sometimes I cant find what I want in Windsor so I have to order it from the US! I definately am more money wise now!

 

[lexterwayne]

[MENTION=1217]Lacey28[/MENTION] is gas really .75??!!? we pay 2.64 and diesel is about 3 dollars a gallon!!!

 

[sheshistory]

[MENTION=1217]Lacey28[/MENTION] is gas really .75??!!? we pay 2.64 and diesel is about 3 dollars a gallon!!!

Gas in Canada is by the liter, not gallon.

 

[Libra926]

So it's 3.8 liters per gallon right? So gas is cheaper here? According to my calculations...but they are probably

 

[Lacey28]

@Libra926, @jillh10 and [MENTION=1041]lexterwayne[/MENTION] Yes in Canada we pay by the litre but the conversion is always posted when you cross the border! (From gallon to litre) My mom was in Michigan yesterday and gas is $2.90 a gallon so that is equal to 76 cents per litre and in Windsor right now it is $1.01 per litre! So we save like 25 cents a litre by getting gas in the US and that is actually high, my Uncle was in Michigan last week and gas was $2.60 a gallon!

 

[lexterwayne]

the conversion never even crossed my mind... wow i thought we paid alot in gas i feel for yall!!

 

[NikkiSchoolcraft]

I think its just silly to pay more than you have to...for anything. Im proud to be thrifty.