It’s been nearly three months since my “Life On Less” post so we figured it was worth doing a quick update (and collecting more great ideas from you guys on how we can all save a buck here and there). You might remember that four months ago we learned I’d be bringing home four fewer benjamins each month, and we’re pleased to report – thanks to many of your suggestions – that we’ve been able to stick to all but one of the money saving tactics I outlined in the previous post: stop buying music on iTunes, cancel my gym membership, watch movies at home and cash in some credit card points. Here’s how it all went down:
1. iTunes out, Pandora in: Several of you mentioned Pandora.com in your comments and boy am I grateful. I love it! You just input some of your favorite artists or songs and it builds a custom radio station filled with similar tunes. You can even thumbs-up or thumb-down songs to help Pandora learn your musical tastes over time. It’s completely free, though – if you’re like me – you might hit your 40 hour monthly limit pretty quickly. But the good news is that it’s only $0.99 to get unlimited access (which is a heckova lot cheaper than my old iTunes habit). I’m totally addicted, and I have you guys to blame/thank.
2. Sayonara Netflix, Konnichiwa Redbox: Again, at your recommendation we realized there was a less expensive option than our $15 per month Netflix bill. With Redbox, you can rent movies for a $1/night meaning even two movies per weekend only costs you $8 per month. And we’re not even usually that movie crazy. I think we’ve probably spent $6 total on movie rentals all summer thanks to Redbox. Sure, the movie selection is a bit narrower (note: do NOT rent “Knowing” with Nicholas Cage) but it still gets new releases and keeps us plenty entertained. Plus, we saved so much moolah with Red Box that we splurged on one trip to the theatre. I let Sherry drag me to The Proposal. Does that mean good husband bonus points for life?
3. Credit Card Points = Cash… and Magazines!: When we cashed in our stored up credit card points back in May for an awesome chunk of change, we suddenly found Bank of America offering us some free magazine subscriptions too. Usually we brush those off, but when the list showed several that Sherry and I routinely peruse at Barnes & Noble we said “sign me up.” So while this isn’t saving us any money directly, it has meant fewer trips to chill at B&N, which means avoiding the temptation to buy books… and cookies from the cafe. Plus we drop off all of our magazines at a local book store when we’re done with them (they offer them for free to their customers) so it’s a great way for us to read them without feeling wasteful.
4. Tapping the Brakes on My Gym Membership: Ok, so this is the one I didn’t follow through on. After a few weeks off I realized how much a midday workout did for stress release so I caved and kept my membership to the YMCA going. Though my workload has kept lunchtime trips to the gym at a minimum, unfortunately, I guess I’m not strong enough to let this one go. So instead…
5. Restaurant.com Is Our New BFF: Since we’re still amateurs in the kitchen, it’s tough for us to give up eating out entirely. But befriending Restaurant.com has certainly made dining out every once in a while much easier on our wallets. They sell a bunch of $25 gift cards for only $10 which means (with a usual minimum purchase of $35) we can save $15 on a meal out. Not bad, but we happened to snag a handful of coupons during a 80% off sale they were having, meaning those precious coupons were only $2! That equals a $23 savings each time we use one! And I recently learned they’re doing that promotion again through Aug 13th. Just enter “PORTION” upon checkout to score a $25 restaurant gift card for just two bucks! And there’s no waiting for the gift certificates to ship or worrying about them getting lost in the mail- just pay and print them right from your computer. Genius.
So that’s our update. What about you all? Did you uncover any new money saving tricks that you can teach the rest of us? Have you been able to stick to your money saving schemes or are you still being a tiny bit “flexible” like me with my gym membership? Our wallets thank you in advance for all the great ideas!
Pssst: To learn more about how we pinch pennies here at Casa Petersik (ex: Sherry gives me haircuts, we brown bag our lunches, we share one car, etc) check out our Save It series (read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here).
Lisa says
Hi Guys,
I think you’re doing great to be so young! I’m sending a link of this post to both my kiddos {ages 21 and 23}.
I have a new rule, which happens to not be so hard for me to follow since I love all things vintage, all my new furniture pieces for my “Cottage In The Woods” are either from Craigslist, garage sales, ebay, thrift stores or antique shops…ie…re-use, re-purpose, re-do! It saves a ton of money and it’s my little part in helping to save our planet. I do still splurge on some accessories, however I keep the cost under budget.
Kasey at Thirfty Little Blog says
I’m all about saving where I can! With a new home purchase coming later this month, I’ve tried extra hard to cut back. I’ve tackled some of the same money saving areas that you have:
1. ITunes out: yep. I love Pandora and if I have a song that’s bugging me, I head over to YouTube.
2. I use my dvr to record movies/shows since I had signed up for a 2 year cable contract that I’m stuck in.
3.I never use my credit card, but I need to get on board with some rewards while paying off the balance!
4. Instead of a gym membership, I: ride my bike, swim in public pools, run, and lift free weights. Also, I use my dvr to record workouts off of FitTV
5. I save on eating out by going to the restaurants that have half priced happy hour specials. Can’t beat sushi for two at $10!
Kevin M says
We have a few money rules of our own –
1) we eat out only 1 time per week – usually a “fast casual” place like Panera or Qdoba.
2) + one coffee splurge per week, otherwise we make iced coffees at home – saves time and money
3) DIY most home projects – about the only thing I won’t do is roofing. The internet is full of good info to go along with my basic knowledge of tools and home maintenance.
4) no magazine, newspaper or other subscriptions – the internet strikes again – almost everything in print is free online and is usually available in a more timely manner
5) considering canceling our DirecTV in December (after contract is up) – the $80/month price tag could be put to better use
6) reward credit card (paid in full monthly of course) – this gets us about $500 annually in cash just by charging our normal expenses – groceries, diapers, household stuff, etc
7) clean with natural products – vinegar and baking soda are cheaper, eco-friendly and less toxic than pricey manufactured chemicals
Rebecca says
How do you find the discounted price at Restaurant.com? It sounds like a great deal, but when I go to the site, it has $25 gift cards for $10, not $2!
Amy says
I got a part-time (4 hours a week!) job at Pottery Barn to save money on home furnishings. Not only do I make a little extra money, I get 40% off of everything at Pottery Barn, West Elm, and Williams Sonoma. I wait until something goes to 50% off, then I get 40% off that! My best score? An 8-piece Calphalon cookware set at 80% off. I would never be able to afford any of that stuff otherwise!
Rebecca says
I just realized that I missed the part about entering “portion” at checkout. That fixed the problem!
Meredith says
This may not interest you, but I didn’t want to pay the $50/month for a Y membership…so I started *working* for the Y. It’s low pay, but a) it gets me to the gym b)I like doing it and c)even if you only work a few hours a week/month, if you’re on the payroll the membership is free. I teach swim lessons, but obviously there are lots of jobs. You might be too busy, but it really hasn’t cramped my style too much and I love saving that money (and even making a little extra!).
Kim says
My husband and I are regular Red Box customers. Funny you should mention “Knowing”. We rented it last weekend… talk about a let down!
Tiki says
Thanks for the headsup on restaurant.com, sounds awesome!
Ashley says
I love the tips you guys have listed! I’m totally stealing some for myself. My husband may not be overly thrilled by the “eat everything we have in the house before grocery shopping” line I’m going to pull out tonight!
Tiki says
ps – What I really like about it is that they don’t appear to be big chain restaurants, rather, smaller locally owned places.
patti says
we are huge fans of restaurant.com. love it!
speaking of food…
we are pulling the ropes in on our spending too. one thing i’ve done that has made a HUGE difference:
find some good recipe sites (i like tastykitchen.com – brought to you by the amazing Pioneer Woman – but there are literally thousands out there that have awesome recipes.) and then i use myrecipes.com to organize recipes and you can even do a weekly “menu” and the site will put your shopping list together that you can print out and take to the store, how awesome is that?! total money-saving – i noticed a big difference in just one week. i wasn’t buying stuff for a “potential meal” that i might make eventually. less mess in my pantry and more money in my pocket – it’s a win-win!
Michele Daggar says
Great heads up about Pandora & RedBox. itunes and Netflix are our major sources of entertainment, since we do not have cable or a satellite dish. Pandora is terrific.
My husband was notified last month that his salary would be reduced by 20% every month. Not exactly news we wanted to get. Sorry you guys are in the same boat.
Your tips have been helpful, although your site is so inspiring I want to re-decorate and go shopping a lot more than I should.
Great job Youngsters!
Kim @ Yellow Brick Home says
John, thank you so much for this follow up. I just spent $6 at restaurant.com for $75 worth of gift certificates! That promo code can’t be beat. Thanks again!
Kendi says
Ok, so I just hopped on restaurant.com to check out their situation and I happened to find one of my favorite restaurants! I have ordered 2 $25 gift certificates for only $4! This sounds too good to be true! And those were my husband’s exact words when I forwarded him the order confirmation!
Thanks so much for the suggestions!
alisa says
I was SO into Pandora when it was first launched. But it’s only available to U.S. subscribers now. Sigh … Bummer.
Melissa says
I like slacker.com instead of pandora. Very similar and no limit on hours of listening!
Jeannine @ Small and Chic says
I’ve been selling things left over from projects on Craigslist and giving everything else to our SPCA Rummage Sale store to sell. There’s a budding minimalist inside me and reducing the amount of “stuff” I own is making me more methodical about accumulating more.
Oh! Just a heads up…I used Pandora back when it started, but at the time, it was pretty repetitive. I used Last.FM along with it for a while. The montherloads of free music: the Live Music Archive and Nugs.net’s “Free Stash” section. It’s all live, which is a fun change when you’re sick of hearing the same studio versions of songs over and over again.
I read something on a Cville blog about a year ago about getting rentals from the redbox for free. If you sign up for their updates, they will text or email you codes for free rentals. People share their codes online and according to one blogger, this is above board because they include a “Forward to Friends” function on those texts/emails.
Melissa says
I signed up for e-mails at couponmom.com, and they regularly include a promotional code for 80% off at Restaurant.com. Once in a while we’ll take our kids out to eat super early on a Sunday evening so they can practice their restaurant manners and we can skip the dinner prep and clean up!
Christin says
You guys are awesome! Way to go on cutting out the non-necessities. My husband and I try to live below our means so we can save more. One thing we do is have a certain amount of money automatically go to a specified account per pay check. That way, we’re never tempted to spend the money we should be saving. We also set up an auto payment for tithing to our church. That is a really important ministry to us, and this way it’s automatic and not an after thought. We don’t have internet or cable in our home. We are both grad students, so we use the internet at school to get internet stuff done. I realize as full-time bloggers you can’t give up the at home internet, but you might be able to shop around to make sure you’re getting the best deal for your dollar. I used to cut coupons, but I found that the store brand is usually cheaper than the name brand even with the coupon. We buy store brand whenever we can (like canned veggies, cereal, and stuff like that). We also do our best to plan meals ahead of time so keep from buying what we don’t need and we keep buying coffee and food out to a minimum. We LOVE movies and actually own a LOT. So we rarely rent movies. Also, the theatre near us has a 5 buck club, that’s totally free to be a part of. Every week we get emails that list the movies that are on the 5 dollar list (usually takes a movie to be in the theatre for a week or 2 to make the list). So if we want to go see a movie, we always wait for it to be on the 5 dollar list.
Keep up the great work!
Liz says
How do you get unlimited pandora access for $.99? When I go to upgrade, it wants me to pay $36 for the year!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Liz,
The $36 is if you want to update and remove advertising. The $.99 messages seems to just pop up once you’ve used your 40 hours for the month. Pandora has more info here: http://blog.pandora.com/faq/#1494.
Hope that helps!
-John
Kate says
If you sign up for Redbox’s SMS alerts, they text you a code for a free movie the first Monday of every month.
http://www.insideredbox.com/redbox-codes/ also tracks the free rental codes.
Tamisha says
For those of you cooking at home more, I have one word:
Tastespotting LOVE IT. No need to follow just one food blog, follow them all! Great recipes too.
http://www.tastespotting.com/
Erin says
Echoing all the love for restaurant.com. I took advantage of one of their 80% off promotions last December to get a bunch of $25 gift certificates for $2 each. One thing to also keep in mind is to think of the site if you have a trip planned. If you’re like me and do research on restaurants to try prior to hitting a new city, restaurant.com would be a great resource to use to help save some travel pennies as well.
Liz says
I just answered my own question! I had no idea you could pay $.99 for the REST of the month! That’s a much better deal than $36 for the year!
This Girl @ This Girl & That Guy says
We canceled cable!! And try to eat in 4-5 nights a week but it’s HARD! We love going out!
Frugal Bon Vivant says
a lot of the Restaurant.com $25 coupons require a $50 purchase, which is kind of a bummer, but can still be a good deal for some.
I’m on the job hunt, so I’m definitely living lean. Cooking vs going out helps a lot, as does finding free (or cheap) things to do like: hiking, cooking, window-shopping etc. But when I do buy stuff, I get it on the cheap. I actually started a frugal living blog to post all the deals I find. :)
maureen says
my husband & i watched “knowing” yesterday. boo!!! i really wish i could get the time back i wasted watching that baloney…
but anyways! check out yelp.com it*s a great website that offers user reviews for local listings of almost any business imaginable. i love it.
m of SecretlyCrafty says
For music check out blip.fm which I’m lalaloving right now. I’m also a huge fan of the older last.fm, too.
Blip is my new obsession though and has eaten away a lot of my productive time lately!
<3.
Alli says
Great tips, I’ll have to check out restaurant.com
I love redbox, but hate standing in line waiting for everyone to flip through the entire menu to find a movie. You can go online and find a local redbox and look through its inventory and then reserve your movie, that way you won’t waste your time flipping through everything to decide or be let down that there isn’t anything there. We absolutely love being able to do that! I think it makes some people amazed when we just walk up to it, slide our card, and grab a movie! it’s like magic! :)
Cathryn says
We are HUGE fans of the Restaurant.com deals.
FYI: They run this $10/$5/$2 sale right before and after Christmas every year, too. We include these, in their gift certificate version, to each family member’s favorite restaurant at Christmas. They are stocking-stuffer-friendly and allow our Christmas dollars to go further.
Tip: Read the fine print on the certificates! Some restaurants have special rules about using the coupons: before 5pm, in the restaurant only (not the bar – even for food service), or on weeknights only. You can see these restrictions before you buy the coupon online. Hope this helps!
Lydia says
I recently signed up for daily emails from http://www.groupon.com/. I get a deal-a-day offer for businesses, restaurants and services local to Chicago, and it looks like it covers a number of other cities as well. Although it does take will power not to purchase something “just because it’s on sale,” I’ve already gotten a 64% discount off of a year membership to the Art Institute (which pays for itself after going twice AND you get to bring a guest for free) and a $40 gift card for $20 for a downtown restaurant we like!
Shannon says
Sweet, thanks for the heads up on restaurant.com! Just scored 2 $25 gift certs for $4!
Gracia says
I hope we get something like restaurant.com in Spain! We don’t even get coupons for the supermarket, so I guess this is in the really distant future.
Keep updating! It’s great to see all the ideas working. Might have to check pandora…
Heather says
Too funny – this is exactly what I posted about as well today :D And I totally snagged your Restaurant.com tip – It’s AWESOME!!
Carmen says
I don’t buy books or movies anymore. I check them out of our local library for free. If my library doesn’t have what I’m looking for, they’ll locate it for me from various libraries in the county and have it delivered to my library.
elle ar says
John you mentioned that you drop off your old magazines to a local bookstore where their customers can browse through them for free. I normally end up throwing mine in the recycling (or collecting them and complaining about my lack of bookcase space!) but what you and Sherry do sounds so much better.
I’m a local Richmonder (a Fan girl) and am wondering what local bookstore you use for this?
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Elle,
They’re called Tumble Weeds here on the Southside in Bon Air (on Buford Rd near the CVS and Jersey MIke’s Subs- which is delish by the way). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Kelly says
COUPONS!!!! I cannot stress how much money I’ve saved on groceries and toiletries just in the last few months by spending a bit of time online and clipping through Sunday’s paper before hitting the store! Target offers some great coupons on their site (just google “target printable coupons”) that update every week or so, and if you shop there enough you’ll start getting great high value coupons in the mail as well. I took my $62 total down to $33 with coupons in one recent trip! When I get annoyed with the time it takes clipping them all out I just remind myself of how exciting it is to save that much money in the end.
Also, one of my new favorite sites is http://www.groupon.com, which offers a great deal at a MAJOR discount every day. I’ve grabbed some great finds off the Chicago site, but it’s available in quite a few other cities as well! Another great one for Chicago area folks is http://www.twobuckduck.com, which offers a great deal for just two bucks each day.
Finally, I always make sure to check out http://www.slickdeals.net for coupons and discount codes before buying pretty much ANYTHING besides groceries. I’ve scored some great deals on Christmas presents and electronics by scouring the site.
Vee says
One way to pinch some pennies & maximize full benefits of your Netflix account is getting a cord (pref. HDMI cord) to plug in your laptop to the good ol telly. Netflix offers a decent selection of “watch instantly” movies and tv shows.
This way you don’t need to pay 15 bucks for 2 or 3 at a time. but 9 bucks for one at a time unlimited where you can watch those new releases/stuff they don’t offer on “watch instantly”.
Also this handy HDMI cable has saved us a lot of money bc we do not have cable or satellite tv so we watch our tv shows through Netflix or through the channels website. (A lot of websites offer HD quality, and there are less commercials)
We only use Redbox when we have free promo codes. Every first Monday of the month they text you a promo code. WOOT
BOOM! how’s that for squeezing every drop of life out of my pennies.
LizzieBeth says
I used to get my nails done every other week. I figured I worked hard and I deserved it. When I was let go from my job in August of 2007, suddenly just trying to pay the bills became a huge problem. I figured at $30 a pop I was spending over $700 a year on my nails! I started doing my own manicures, and realized I enjoyed it just as much. I have since gotten another job (that pays more), but I still do my own nails. If I have to pay $7 for a bottle of new polish every once in a while, that’s fine by me. My friends and I even trade colors to save us all money.
Also, LOOOVE the Redbox. Our apartment complex has one in the main office and the boyfriend and I have made much use of it.
Thanks for the tips!
LB
Jenny says
You guys have totally inspired me to post some of my money saving tips. I didn’t even realize it, but I’ve saved over $600 just this summer on things for my home!!
As thrifty as I am, even I’m surprised I managed to save that much money! My tips are shared here: http://diynewlyweds.blogspot.com/
Angela says
haha, I don’t know why there’s so much Knowing hate lately! I liked that movie, it’s so rare a movie follows through with a plot to destroy the world and kill Nicolas Cage! :)
p.s. if you google redbox, a blog will come up that posts free movie codes. I think it’s called redboxinsider. You can get a free movie every Monday and Wednesday!
Loren says
I’m not a good cook either but one thing I can suggest is the Bulk food section in the Whole Foods or a health food store. You can get organic popcorn for about a dollar a pound to cook on the stove top. That’s about 5 or 6(unpopped) cups, it tastes awesome and it isn’t covered in butter and salt like the stuff you buy at the store. The same goes for organic beans and wild rice, the per pound price is sometimes about half as much as buying in a bag at the grocery.
I’m also a big fan of Junk Day in our neighborhood. When people can put everything out on the sidewalk for the garbage men to haul away. I’ve gotten a bookcase, a couple mismatched kitchen chairs, end table, set of dinner plates just buy dragging them home and cleaning them off. I usually draw the line at anything upholstered, but there is still a mildly embarrassing number of thing in my apartment I’ve gotten for free from the garbage. And the only really ‘new’ pieces of furniture in my house are electronic.
kelly says
thanks so much for the restaurant.com tip! there were TONS of good restaurants in our area (ventura, ca), places we go to a lot and some new places i’ve wanted to try. paying 44 for 560 worth of anything feels awesome!
Hilary says
John:
I haven’t read the previous comments to see if anyone has already mentioned this, but, RE: Pandora…there’s another website, slacker.com, that is similar, though without the thumbs up/down option. With Pandora’s 40-hour monthly listening limit, I alternate between the two sites to extend the free listening and for some more variety.
Happy listening.
Hilary
kelly says
Holy crap! Thanks for the restaurant.com coupon code tip!! I was able to get $50 worth of gift certificates to a local restaurant for $4, sweeet! :)
Rebecca says
My husband and I will surf the free movies available on Comcast. There are some fun oldies that are fun to re-watch and it saves you a trip to Blockbuster or Redbox!
Rachel H. says
You can get restaurant.com and magazine subscriptions on eBay for a lot less. You can pay about .99 cents with free shipping to get restaurant.com coupons at a lot of places.
We’re also going to look into buying a window unit fan so we can keep our bedroom cool without keeping the rest of our 2800 sq. ft. turn of the century home cool. Our $300 bill from last month almost made us faint!
Meredith says
No time to read all the comments, so sorry if I repeat anything:
1. If you can’t get a job at the YMCA, you can also get a free membership by volunteering. You have to apply just like for a job, though, and you have to do a minimum number of hours per month to qualify for the free membership. At least, that’s how it works at the YMCA in my area.
2. I’ve been meaning to try out Pandora, I keep hearing about it from various people who all love it.
3. Re: the Restaurant.com gift certificate thing, I think it’s important to warn everyone that even if you buy multiple gift certs to one restaurant, you can only use one of them per visit, even if you and whoever you go with pay separately. So they’re great for restaurants you go to often, but you can’t buy 4 certificates to one expensive restaurant and expect to use them all for a romantic dinner. I made this mistake because I couldn’t find anything on the website saying that I wouldn’t be able to use more than one at once to a famous restaurant in my area, so I spent $8 on four $25 certificates, only to find out after I read the fine print on the certificate itself that I could only use one per visit. This restaurant is too expensive to visit more than once, so that means I have four I can’t use! I don’t mind too much since I spent less on all four than I would have usually spent on one ($8 for four versus $10 for one like usual), but it’s still annoying. That said, I’ll definitely be heading back there when we want to go out – don’t even have to wait for shipping or anything! Just pay and print. So last-minute is OK! I just think the one-at-a-time limitation is a very important point that isn’t made clear on the website.
Kathryn Fitz-Gerald says
My husband and I “rent” movies from the library. It’s free and they have a great collection. We put the movies we want to watch on our wish list and when they come in, the library emails us. It’s great! Just the other day we got “Confessions of a Shopoholic” and the “The International”. we haven’t paid for a movie in years.