Your biggest money saver?
Nov. 15th, 2005 08:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
What one-time purchase has saved you the most money over the years? For me, it's my Krups El Primo espresso maker. Instead of wasting $3.50 for a cafe Mocha at a coffee shop, I can whip one up in the morning for a fraction of the cost. I have saved hundreds of dollars, perhaps thousands, with that one $50 purchase.
And you?
Cross posted to
poor_skills.
And you?
Cross posted to
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-15 02:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-15 02:38 pm (UTC)With the Food Saver I can buy the cheaper mondo meat packages then seal up the meat individually or in pairs for later. When I cook a big meal, I can seal up the leftovers in single-serving packages for lunches.
With the Slow Cooker I can make one or two big dinners, then save the leftovers for lunches and dinner-on-the-go.
Two other big choices we made, but they weren't one-time purchases, was getting rid of our second car and switching from regular to pre-paid cellular phones. Technically the minutes are more expensive on pre-paid, but we also limited our cell usage and paid about $10-15/month for cell phones instead of upwards of $45/month.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-15 02:59 pm (UTC)My bicycle cost $200 in 1990, one of the early hybrids (part mountain bike, part road bike, part clunker.) It let me go anywhere in town. It let me shop anywhere in town, with a backpack and two big wire baskets. I finally sold it for $60 when I realized handlebars were never going to be good for my hand again.
My electric space heater cost $20. When I was renting cheap apartments with inadequate insulation, I could turn the heat down to a level I could afford and wear heavy clothing...but that meant not being able to *sleep*. It meant being too miserable to take my clothes off and relax if I wanted to take a hot bath, or my sweetie came over for the evening. The space heater let me close the bedroom door and be warm enough for a few hours. I don't use it now, because heat is included with my rent. But it's in the closet, just in case I need it later.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-15 03:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-15 03:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-15 03:34 pm (UTC)In fact, I just drove from LA to Nevada this past weekend (almost to Vegas) on less than half a tank of gas.
I love my car. I've had it 3-1/2 years and wouldn't trade her for anything.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-15 04:03 pm (UTC)Seriously, it would be a basic toolkit. Tim can repair just about anything with a few simple tools.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-15 04:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-15 04:45 pm (UTC)The house was both cheaper and more secure than paying rent, more so with every year that passed.
On the smaller side, the pictures I've taken with my digital camera in the last two years would have cost over $3500 in film and developing if I'd taken them with the camera I had. That's 10 times the cost of the digital camera. But I wouldn't have taken the pictures, 'cause I simply don't have that kind of money to spend on photography. And the benefits from the joy experienced from having taken those pictures is worth even more to me.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-15 06:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-17 01:15 am (UTC)A ball of yarn (one of the huge jumbo ones of cotton yarn that I can knit for a solid MONTH or more out of and not run out - I'm about half way through one and I've done about 8 washcloths out of it) costs the same as a pack of cigarettes. It's healthier and at the end, I have something productive (plus they make great presents so everyone in my life is getting hand knitted washcloths for Christmas).