re: Getting Lean with my finances

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-use newspaper or ripped up brown grocery bags in place of toilet paper

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We live in America, not Sierra Leone

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Get rid of your gym membership -Tan outside instead of the tanning salon -put the a/c on 85 -eat cheap filler foods like white rice, noodles, lard, and beer instead of more expensive healthy foods -bike or run to work -turn off all the lights in the house when you are there. Better yet turn off all the breakers. -keep all your food in ice chests and unplug the fridge -take baths instead of showers. Make them cold if you can stand it, and reuse the water to take more baths, or for something else like cooking/watering plants -brush teeth 1x/day instead of 2 -wear clothes several times before washing -use newspaper or ripped up brown grocery bags in place of toilet paper -wash your hands without soap or just don't wash them period to save water -when you grocery shop ask the butcher if he has any old meat or fish that he's about to throw away/just threw away that you can have

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There are tons of suggestions in this thread, on this board, and throughout the internet.

But one thing I will try to add is to suggest documenting what you're saving and where you're saving from.

Putting the a/c on 80 during the day? Have a history of power bills? Document what you're saving. If your electric bill the last five Junes has been $150 and this June it's $140, document that you saved $10 from changing the thermostat.

Eat out for lunch with work buddies? Try bringing a sack lunch - and a cheap one - once a week. That cuts $10/week from your eating out budget? Document the $40/month.

This helped me see where I was saving money. Simply trying to cut a bunch of areas and see where I was at at the end of the month wasn't helping too much. Sure, I was able to save some money by making better decisions, but I didn't really get into saving money until I truly quantified my results.

Since starting this two years ago, I'm saving $440/month. That includes some big decisions like cutting the cord and changing internet providers and cell phone providers, but lots of small changes as well such as PB&J family lunch day, learning to love the temperature outside, and being mindful of what I order going out to eat.

I am going to repeat what has been said but cut cable and get Netflix if you don't already have it. Invest in AppleTV and you are good to go.

Eating out is our biggest expense. It really adds up quickly. Force yourself to go grocery shopping every week and plan meals out. I am still trying to work on this one, a lot of times I get the groceries but then don't feel like cooking them. So now I try to buy frozen chicken breasts, salmon filets, etc so if I don't end up cooking then at least the meat won't go bad.

Also, after using the toilet, remember this easy rhyme: "if it's yellow, leave that fellow, if it's brown, flush it down."

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Bottled water is $3-4 for a 24 pack. This has almost no impact on someone's budget.

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That kind of thinking usually leads people to having to the ask the same question as OP.

"Oh it's just a couple bucks" then they start saying that about multiple things and it ends up piling up and you're spending a bunch of money on shite you don't need.

Also cutting data isn't that extreme. Most people have it and it's nice to have but it's far from necessary.

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No one in this thread would accept cable as a reasonable expense though

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But the premise of this thread is that OP is looking to cut expenses. If you accept that premise, cutting premium cable is a good place to start. If you have no interest in cutting expenses, then this thread isn't really relevant to you.

Same with the cell data plan. I dropped unlimited data, which apparently means I'll be downvoted into oblivion as a tightwad. But here's why - when I actually went back and checked my historical usage, I wasn't hitting the cap. I wasn't even coming close. So I was paying an extra $15 or so a month for no reason whatsoever. Does that make me "extreme?"