Below is a list of various things one can do to save a little money here and there. Some of this stuff may be hazardous to your health, I will let you be the judge of that. Additionally you will have to ride a fine line to degree in which you implement any one or more of these without risking war of the roses with your significant other.
- Shelter
- Hang paper towels (if you want to go extreme)
- Dry your clothes on a clothesline.
- Lower thermostat in winter and raise it during the summer. If you have a programmable thermostat, use it.
- Replace incandescent with CFL or LED bulbs
- Raise your home insurance deductible
- Grab floor space in someone's hotel and split with the extra soap and shampoo. I traveled a ton for work a couple of years ago and every time I would take home the soap, shampoo, condition and anything else that wasn't glued down. I can say I haven't paid for a bar of soap or shampoo for about 5 years.
- Gettin' Around
- Own a fuel efficient car - better yet, if you can handle an electric car, go for it. This is certainly in my future, just want the range per charge to get a little better. <soapbox> I would love to never purchase another gallon of gas. Mainly because it would be good for America to significantly reduce its dependence on foreign oil. </soapbox>
- WARNING Dangerous Tip - Draft semis. Come on we do it to conserve energy on the bike. Why not increase your MPG's. But please use caution, when they start veering off into the break down lane and turning on their flashers, it is time to back off and find another truck. Trust me on this one. I will tell you that story over a beer sometime.
- Carpool to races.
- Ride instead of drive - great for training but make sure you shower, people at work don't want to smell you rotting in chamois creme.
- Raise your auto insurance deductible.
- Table Scraps
- Make your own meals. Especially dinner but even make sandwiches instead of eating at McD's during race weekends. I do break this rule from time to time because it is good to support the communities that host events
- Take your lunch to work - my great wife always makes enough food at dinner time for a family twice our size. I always bring the leftovers in to work instead of dropping 7 bucks at the nearest Taco Smell.
- Let someone else keep starbucks in business and stop buying the venti double bubble caramel machimottos
- Shopping
- Sell your old stuff on eBay or craigslist
- Buy stuff on ebay/craigslist but watch out sometimes you can find items cheaper at places like Amazon
- Get on a great team (Bike Doctor rocks) that hooks you up with low prices on bike stuff! Unfortunately for me this doesn't lower my overall bike cost because I end up buying more cool things.
- Buy generic and buy in bulk - you will eventually eat all 5 gallons of peanut butter.
- Use fatwallet.com to find deals, coupons and get cash back on online purchases. I have probably received a couple hundred bucks in cash back from this site over the years. This is in addition to a cash back credit card that you can use to make the purchase.
- Entertainment
- Cancel cable - Who needs it anymore (aside from major league sports) with the internets. You can go to a local sports bar if you really got to watch the BoSox's tromp over the Yanks!
- Completely turn off DVD players, TV's, game consoles. Can save 100's a year if you own a bunch of stuff that lies around waiting for you to turn it on. Either connect these devices to a power strip with an on/off switch or connect them to a wall outlet that has a wall switch.
- Misc
- Cancel telephone land line
If you got any more good ones, I would love to hear them. Add a comment.
Nice post!!! And I remember the drafting lesson, Louie was driving if I remember correctly. Oh, and be careful, your staring to kinda sound like a democrat. Ha!
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