Today’s Guest Post comes from reader Ken B. who wrote Ways You Can Save Money Online, That You Don’t Already Know About . Ken recently found this blog and has been using the tips he learned here to save money in his own life, and has decided to share his experiences here with you .
I loved reading the article “25 ways I save money” on HowIsaveMoney.net and I thought that given the year just ended, I should reflect on how I was able to save money this past year. After spending some time, I was amazed to realize that by doing these 10 things, I was able to save $4700 last year. I hope you enjoy reading this and it helps you as it has helped me.
Saved $100 in late fees that I earned in 2008: I set up an ING account and I automated it to pay off my credit cards every month on January 3rd. (Thanks to HowIsavemoney.net for teaching me this).
Saved $500 on textbooks: Started renting books at BookRenter.com instead of purchasing books at the University Bookstore (If you are out of college and like to read, I recommend using the Public Library or getting a Borders Card, which is free, for a lot of discounts)
Saved $2000: Limited eating out to 1 night a week. Now I have learnt to cook and I not only save money, but I also eat healthier.
Saved $150: Starting using Zappos.com to buy Asics shoes. I already know my shoe size so this was an easy purchase.
Saved $1000: I limited myself to buying 1 drink when I went out. With each drink costing around $5, this helped me save a lot.
Saved $200: Started using the airline JetBlue to fly home from California to the East Coast. I began purchasing tickets on Tuesday and Thursday and my average flight cost each way was $109. My flights used to cost around $180 each way.
Saved $200: I began reading more blogs and finding free books online rather than spend $20 per book at Barnes and Nobles. There are a lot of websites, like www.Scribd.com for example, where you can read books for free.
Saved $200: I created a “Change Jar” at home and put all of my empty change there. At the end of the year I had close to $200!
Saved $150 a year on purchasing glasses online (I wrote about this is another guest post, but purchasing glasses at www.Eyeglasses.com saved me over $150 per pair)
Saved $200: Began purchasing my contacts online at www.1800contacts.com. I save $20 on each contact case.
I hope this list helps you as it has helped me. Cheers to a great year.
Great point made here! Yes- there are some simple things that we can do to save a lot of money but it may take time but, hey at least you’re saving yourself an abundance of money! Another thing that I’ve seen with airlines is that around the time of holidays, if you had already booked your flight in advance, you usually will get better discounts as well! Cheers to saving money!
Glad to hear you saved so much at Bookrenter.com! It is always great to hear that people are happy with what we are doing.
Wow well done for being able to save this much money, it is amazing how little changes can save you so much in the long term – well done 🙂
Good ways to save money. Good amount of saving of eating.
I loveee reading about your ways to save money! I have my own hint of advice. I was paying over 100 bucks on my cell phone bills for unlimited service ( which I completely needed). Now I went to Walmart and switched to Straight Talk which is on the Verizon Network which has the Best coverage in the world and I AM PAYING 45 dollars!! Its unreal. The service and phone is great and finding a way to save money is just soo ijmportant. Each year I’ll save 600 dollars and I cannot even begin to tell you the things I will do with that money.
Thanks for sharing that advice…I am sure it will come in handy for readers here.
You mentioned a “change jar”, I am a firm believer of this. My change jar helped pay for part of our wedding and also paid for half a down payment on my wifes car. When I would go to the laundry mat, I would take $40.00 every week. What wasn’t used was put in the jar, when I cashed my check from my part time job I would put the change in there as well. I have even been know to throw singles in the jar as well. Today my jar doesn’t get filled up as fast since we are home owners but I still have one and swear buy it.