How To Save Money – The 1,001 List Of Money Saving Tips And Ideas

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By Pinyo, on May 13, 2009

One of the quickest ways to improve your finances is to reduce your expenses and find more ways to save money. This article is a compilation of various money saving articles that have been published over the years. A few tips are also highlighted from each article. Make sure you follow these links to see the full list or find additional resources.

Lists of General Money Saving Tips and Ideas

75 Painless Money-Saving Tips – The Dough Roller and his readers combined force to come up with 75 great ways to save money. Some ideas include:

  • Combine your cable, internet and telephone service to take advantage of bundled services discount
  • Refinance your mortgage
  • Send away for and follow up on rebates
  • Get a rewards card

15 Ways to Pay Less & Get More – Mrs. Micah offers a small but good list of money saving ideas. Her list includes:

95+ Money Saving Tips – From the readers! – Gather Little By Little shares his money saving tips from his readers. The list includes:

25 Ways to Save Money – Cash Money Life shares a list of 25 things that Patrick and his wife do to save money. The list includes:

30 Money Saving Tips – My Dollar Plan and users share money saving tips, which include:

75 Money Saving Tips For Surviving A Recession – Frugal Dad shares 75 tips to help you survive the recession. His list includes:

50 Frugal Things You Aren’t Doing – The Wisdom Journal share 50 frugal ideas that can help you save a bunch of money. His list includes:

100 Money Saving Tips – Bargaineering offers a few ideas on how to save some extra cash. The list includes:

50 Ways to Save $1,000 a Year – Squawkfox offers ways to help you save on average a $1,000 a year. Sounds good right? Her tips include:

How to Save Money – 25 Ways I Save Money – Million Dollar Journey shares 25 ways he saves money. His tips include:

  • Don’t smoke, do drugs, or drink (too much)
  • Buy with quality in mind in the expectation that it will last a long time
  • Try to separate “needs” and “wants” when buying consumer items
  • Avoid banking fees and use a discount brokerage to minimize trading expenses

97 New Ways to Save Money (from DR Readers) – The Dough Roller offers another set of tips centered around frugal living and saving money. Some tips include:

  • Pay your mortgage payments bi-weekly
  • Check the lint trap and clean it weekly
  • Buy a water filter and take your own water to the gym/sports etc.
  • Use it up, wear it out, make do, do without, can you borrow? can you rent? then consider buying

101 ways to reduce your spending and keep more of your money – Blunt Money offers tips that span 8 categories. Her list includes:

  • Do simple car repairs yourself
  • Kick the coffee habit, or make your own & bring it with you
  • Limit the number of drinks you buy when clubbing, or be the designated driver
  • Exercising at home instead of at a gym can often be either free or very low cost

Smart Money-Saving Tips You Need Now – US News Your Money offers tips that include areas such as food, transportation, energy, budgeting, and entertainment. Specific tips include:

180 Money Saving Tips to Turn Your Financial Life Around 180 Degrees – The Frugal Law Student shares 180 money saving tips that can turn your financial life around 180 degrees. The list includes:

Little Steps: 100 Great Tips For Saving Money For Those Just Getting Started – The Simple Dollar offers 100 money saving tips ranging that includes ideas like:

  • Turn off the television
  • Make a shopping list before you go shopping – and stick to it
  • Instead of throwing out some damaged clothing, repair it instead
  • Exercise more

10 Unconventional Money-Saving Tips – Get Rich Slowly offers 10 saving tips that are geared more toward how you should think as opposed to specific tips. Some tips includes:

  • Pursue short-term saving goals
  • Don’t pay yourself first. Instead, pay yourself last
  • Translate dollars spent into the hours you worked to earn those dollars
  • Include income tax when determining how much it costs to buy things

16 Depression Era Money Saving Tips – Shrinkage Is Good takes us back in time to provide Depression-proof money saving tips. The list includes:

  • Only buy what you truly need
  • Pay yourself first
  • Avoid debt like the Plague
  • Discard catalogs and enticing advertisements

More general money saving tips:

Money Saving Tips For Your Car

car-saving

Money Saving Gas Tips – Drive Smarter Challenge offers specific saving tips for your car. Tips include:

20 ways you waste money on your car – MSN Money lists things that you shouldn’t be doing with your car. The list includes:

  • Use regular gas instead of premium if your car doesn’t need it
  • Don’t follow the 3,000-mile oil changes rule
  • Don’t use a car dealer for major services
  • Don’t let a brake squeal turn into a brake job

34 Ways To Save Money On Your Car Costs – from here!

  • Don’t spend money on paint protection, special coverages, and extended warranties
  • Consider dropping collision and comprehensive coverage on older cars
  • Plan your route and combine your errands to save fuel and time
  • Keep your distance and anticipate changes in traffic patterns

More gas saving ideas:

Money Saving Tips For Your Home

General Money Saving Tips for Your Home

homeDIY Projects To Save Money At Home – Remodeling This Life shares some money saving tips from your home, which include:

20 Inexpensive Ways to Lower Your Utility Bills – The Dough Roller helps his readers lower their utility bills by offering 20 tips. Some of his tips include:

  • Get an energy-use consultation
  • Consider a heated mattress pad
  • Use power strips and stop the power sucking vampire
  • Turn down your water heater

20 Ways to Save Time and Money in the Kitchen – Patrick at Cash Money Life works his money saving magic in the kitchen. His tips include:

  • Plan your menu
  • Buy produce in season
  • Cook larger meals and eat leftovers
  • Clean your kitchen with homemade cleaners

How To Lower Your Telephone and Cell Phone Bills

cell-phone

7 Ways To Save Money On Your Phone Bill – Some of Being Frugal tips include:

  • Cut out caller ID
  • Drop the long distance
  • Use an internet phone service
  • Cut the phone line protection

15 Ways to Save Money On Your Cell Phone Bill – Another set of great tips from Cash Money Life. His tips include:

  • Mind your minutes
  • Consider using a prepaid cell phone
  • Take advantage of employee discounts
  • Double check your invoice!

More ways to save money on your phone bills:

How To Lower Your Heating and Cooling Bills

heating

9 Cheap And Easy Ways To Prepare Your Home For Winter – Caveman sharing home winterizing tips? Yes, and they are good tips too. Here are his tips:

  • Install a door sweep
  • Caulk around doors, windows, and baseboards
  • Fill cracks and holes with spray foam
  • Install weather stripping

7 More Ways To Cool Your House In Warm Weather – Caveman also offers some tips to keep your home cool.

  • Plant a tree (or three)
  • Relocate your air conditioner
  • Give your air conditioner plenty of space
  • Add insulation

10 Ways To Save Money On Heating Bills This Winter – My Two Dollars shares 10 tips to help you save money on heating bills. Here are his tips:

  • Install your storm windows and doors
  • Open the blinds and drapes during the day and close them at night
  • Close heating ducts or rooms that don’t require much heat
  • If you don’t use your fireplace to heat your home, think about sealing it shut for the winter

10 Inexpensive Ways to Slash Your Winter Heating Bills – Patrick at Cash Money Life shares more ways to lower your winter heating bills. His tips include:

  • Change air filters
  • Seal heating ducts
  • Use humidifiers
  • Install plastic window treatments

How To Lower Your Water Bills

water-faucet

6 Ways To Save Money On Your Water Bill – Lynnae at Being Frugal offers some water saving tips, which include:

  • Take showers, not baths
  • Turn off the water when brushing teeth
  • Check for leaks
  • Only run full loads when using dishwasher and laundry machine

More water saving tips:

More Money Saving Tips

Vacation

vacation

50 Ways to Budget Travel and Save Money on Vacations – Money Ning shares 50 ways to save your money on the go. These tips include:

  • Travel Light
  • Avoid Breakfast from the Hotels
  • Fill up that Rental Car
  • Avoid Taxis and Welcome Public Transportation

6 Ways To Enjoy A Romantic Weekend Getaway For Less – Caveman offers these low cost weekend getaway ideas. His list includes:

  • Take a Mid-Week Vacation
  • Negotiate, Haggle, and Barter
  • Picnic in the Park
  • Quiet Music, a Touch of Oil, and a Backrub

5 Ways to Vacation Without Breaking the Bank – Patrick at Cash Money Life offers money saving ideas for a vacation. His list includes:

  • Plan your vacation
  • Search for deals
  • Skip the tourist locations for shopping
  • Budget

More ways to save money on your vacation:

How To Tame Your Health Care Costs

medical-pills

25 Ways To Save Money On Health Care – From here. Some tips from the list includes:

  • Take advantage of perks offered by your health plan
  • Be willing to ask your doctor about the cost and seek less expensive alternatives
  • Wear helmet and protective gears
  • Watch your hygiene. Wash your hands often

More money saving tips for health care:

Miscellaneous Money Saving Ideas

Websites That Save You Money

  • Save money, reduce debt at Billeater.com
  • Free weekly email newsletter features a number of money saving ideas and tips from our readers around the world from The Dollar Stretcher
  • Save money when you shop online at Ebates

eBooks and Books About Saving Money

Things Not To Do When You’re Trying To Save Money

Here some money saving tips that have gone too far…into the realm of stupidity.

Dumb money-saving tips – Wallet Pop shares 8 ideas that are not so good when it comes to saving money. Ideas that made the list include:

  • Stop using toilet paper
  • Buy and re-use old calendars,
  • Make your own clothes

10 Retarded Money Saving Tips (People Are Actually Trying) – Cracked.com made a crack at money saving ideas that include:

  • Sleep in the Airport,
  • Separate the Two Ply
  • Make Dog Hair Sweaters

Do you have more money saving tips and ideas to add to the list above? If so, please leave a comment below.

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Pinyo
Pinyo is the brain behind Moolanomy personal finance blog and a few other web sites. If you like this article, please subscribe for free daily email updates.

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38 Comments

  1. gravatar
    Mike
    May 13, 2009, 22:48

    Wow, what a list – I can’t believe I only came up with 1 measly idea!

    Regardless, I really like the manual lawn mowing concept.

  2. gravatar
    Canadian Finance
    May 13, 2009, 23:09

    Nice job on the list, it’s going to take me a month to get through it all!

    Glad to see my article about accelerated bi-weekly mortgage payments made the list, hopefully more people will follow this simple tip to pay their mortgage off sooner.

  3. gravatar
    Anthony
    May 14, 2009, 0:07

    Great and useful links!

  4. gravatar
    Greg / Wise Bread
    May 14, 2009, 1:10

    Wow Pinyo, this post is an instant classic. Delicious’d. Thanks for putting it together!

    BTW, The Simple Dollar has a great new ebook available for free that would fit nicely in the books section.

    “Everything You Ever Really Needed to Know About Personal Finance On Just One Page”

    http://www.thesimpledollar.com/onepage/

  5. gravatar
    Jeff9
    May 14, 2009, 1:41

    This covers all the bases = saves you money, helps the environment, helps your health, makes you feel better, it’s so easy to do and it costs less than $50.00; Save money and the Earth and be clean at the same time! Add Bathroom Bidet Sprayers to all your bathrooms. I think Dr. Oz on Oprah said it best: “if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn’t wipe it off with paper, would you? You’d wash it off” Available at http://www.bathroomsprayers.com with these you won’t even need toilet paper any more, just a towel to dry off! Don’t worry, you can still leave some out for guests and can even make it the soft stuff without felling guilty. It’s cheap and can be installed without a plumber; and runs off the same water line to your toilet. You’ll probably pay for it in a few months of toilet paper savings. And after using one of these you won’t know how you lasted all those years with wadded up handfuls of toilet paper. As for water use a drought is always a concern and must be dealt with prudently but please remember that in the big picture the industrial water users always far exceed the water use of household users and in the case of toilet paper manufacture it is huge. The pollution and significant power use from that manufacturing process also contributes to global warming so switching to a hand bidet sprayer and lowering your toilet paper use is very green in multiple ways.

  6. gravatar
    BeWaterWise Rep
    May 14, 2009, 1:56

    Great Job! What a list! In fact these tips not only help us save money, but also conserve the natural resources. For instance the section on reducing water bills – how many of us think of water conservation? While in reality, water levels in many parts of the world have dropped significantly. Southern California and many other places are facing water shortages. Hence water conservation is very important. To add to your water Saving Tips, here are some more: http://www.bewaterwise.com/tips01.html These will not only help you cut down your water bill by a significant amount, but also help protect the most precious resource on Earth!

  7. gravatar
    Jackie
    May 14, 2009, 5:39

    Hey I just gave you a blog award! Check it out on my page here http://twinjackienurse.blogspo.....award.html
    OH! You’re my new favorite blogger fyi

  8. gravatar
    DR
    May 14, 2009, 6:59

    Pinyo, this has got to be the biggest list of ways to save money on the internet! I’ll be spending weeks on your site going through all the tips. Thanks for putting it together.

  9. gravatar
    Lulu
    May 14, 2009, 9:46

    I also listed a “25 Ways That I Save Money” post on my blog at http://www.howisavemoney.net/s.....full-list/

    This list is broken down into groups of 5 top ways to save money in separate posts.

  10. gravatar
    Dylan
    May 14, 2009, 15:32

    Pinyo, terrific archive of savings suggestions. I would love to be able to know how much money you’ve saved people in total. To add a savings tip in terms of cell phone costs, I thought I’d mention that there are ways to use the internet to soften the monthly blow of the cell bill that you might want to check out if you haven’t already.

    One blog called fixmycellbill.blogspot.com constantly tracks new ways to cut wireless costs and exposes shady billing practices utilized by the cell phone companies. Also, take a look at the consumer advocacy website where I (admittedly) work, fixmycellbill.com, that slashes the average cell bill by 22 percent. Through the site, which is powered by a company called Validas, we have currently audited over 26,000 cell lines and have saved consumers over $5 million off their wireless bills. You can see Validas in the national news media, most recently on Good Morning America at http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/.....038;page=1.

    Good luck to everyone reading on cutting your expenses in the recession.

    Dylan

  11. gravatar
    DM Smith
    May 14, 2009, 17:08

    My favorite money saving idea on how to be ridiculously cheap…hold the cheese. Yes I said it folks, a slice of cheese at a restaurant is at least .40 cents. Hold the cheese on your meals and (depending if you are a restaurant eating machine) you could save at least $100.00 a year.

  12. gravatar
    FT
    May 15, 2009, 8:28

    Amazing article Pinyo, looks like it took a lot of time and effort to gather all the info. Thanks for the mention!

  13. gravatar
    Mikael @ Retire Early
    May 15, 2009, 8:30

    OMG! That should keep anyone busy for a while. Even though I really like posts that are collecting a lot of valuable information into one single place don’t you feel that the value of the individual posts will be diminished due to information overload?

  14. gravatar
    Life, Cheaper
    May 15, 2009, 11:09

    This is a great list! My favorite is turning off the TV and eliminating the cable.

  15. gravatar
    That One Caveman
    May 15, 2009, 11:42

    Great list! I’ve already learned a few new tricks that I can’t wait to try out.

  16. gravatar
    The Digerati Life
    May 16, 2009, 12:06

    Awesome list! I’m not sure I can turn off the TV but I’d be fine with free TV! :) My household cut down our budget significantly over the last year — around 30%. We’re in much better shape now than we were a few years ago, especially since we’re living on less income these days. But necessity makes us all resourceful!

  17. gravatar
    MoneyEnergy
    May 16, 2009, 18:37

    This is a crazy list! Looks like all the bases are covered here, too. I wonder if it’s even possible to add anything new that wouldn’t be considered silly by someone (like the don’t use TP tip -uugh). One creative idea I’m going to explore for helping my health and wealth is going on a day-long fast/no-spend day periodically. Not only can fasts be good for you sometimes, but couple it with a no-spend day and that can help cut back – of course, it’s only useful if it’s already in your plans to begin with. It won’t be for everyone.

  18. gravatar
    Jeff9
    May 16, 2009, 21:13

    It’s not a tip to not use TP, it’s a tip to use less TP and save money. Uugh? That’s what I say when I think of wiping with only paper and leaving it at that, would you do that with your hands? And it’s amazing how many rolls the average household can go through in a month. Cheers.

  19. gravatar
    Chica Mama
    May 16, 2009, 22:03

    Another money-saver for my family has been renting books instead of buying – my kids are avid readers (which is truly fantastic) but we don’t have the budget to keep buying everything they want and the library isn’t convenient to us, really. Using BookSwim has helped us with our budgeting, and the kids can go on the website and pick them out themselves. Has been awesome!

  20. gravatar
    Missdebtfree
    May 17, 2009, 15:03

    This is a really great list. I have a lot of reading to do! Thanks.

  21. gravatar
    J. Money
    May 17, 2009, 18:50

    “Don’t smoke, do drugs, or drink (too much)” haha….love it. Great list my friend.

  22. gravatar
    ChristianPF
    May 18, 2009, 11:51

    wow Pinyo, now that is a list!!! Stumbled!

  23. gravatar
    Pinyo
    May 18, 2009, 11:54

    Thank you everyone. I definitely invested a lot of time into this one.

  24. gravatar
    Forex
    May 18, 2009, 16:05

    This article should be nominated for blog post of the year, really and should win of course. I don’t have words, just amazing. Great work!!! Congratz!!!

  25. gravatar
    Dealio Shopping Blog
    May 24, 2009, 16:05

    That’s a lot of information. Great..thanks. I’ve manage to pick up on a few tips. What I recently realize is if I shop at the health food market like MOMs for certain food items, I don’t have to restock my pantry as often compared to items from the regular supermarkets. Like for example, their cereals are so filling that I use less of it so it lasts me for a longer time. If I purchase one of the regular cereals, I would finish that in no time.

  26. gravatar
    Taufik
    May 28, 2009, 7:34

    This is a great list !

  27. gravatar
    MoneyNing
    June 8, 2009, 1:49

    Amazing list Pinyo. Good work. Stumble’d!

  28. gravatar
    Cathy Erecre
    June 24, 2009, 4:04

    The ample list of money saving tips avoid would surely help me buy a jaguar if consistently followed for 5 years.

    In fact, I able to devise my new strategy out of the ideas above.

    My article recently wrote is entitle “How To Save Money In Smarter Way”.

    See at http://makemoneyfastatonline.b.....r-way.html

  29. gravatar
    Martin
    July 7, 2009, 10:06

    A number of web sites are springing up which highlight goods for sale at five or ten cents, like the old nickel and dime stores. It is worth checking these out, it’s really surprising what you can find! An example is DimeBidder.com

  30. gravatar
    Satish
    July 29, 2009, 12:27

    The ample list of money saving tips avoid would surely help me buy a jaguar if consistently followed for 5 years.In fact, I able to devise my new strategy out of the ideas above.

  31. gravatar
    Gladwyn
    August 30, 2009, 4:59

    75 painless money saving tips has been my favourite. Thanks for posting that and even the Smart money saving tips is a good article. Money saved is money earned, had heard some time back. It is applicable to all walks of life.

    Nice blog. Would come to be check more things in future.
    Have tweeted to my followers.

  32. gravatar
    sam
    September 9, 2009, 23:16

    I’ve never seen such a huge list or long blog post! Wow. How long did it take to write this post???

    I love the “10 retarded tips”, including:
    * Sleep in the Airport,
    * Separate the Two Ply
    * Make Dog Hair Sweaters

    LOL.

  33. gravatar
    nike
    September 24, 2009, 12:55

    http://www.saving-money.net

  34. gravatar
    Save Money Hound
    September 27, 2009, 3:28

    Thanks for an excellent list of resources.

  35. gravatar
    Mark Tyrol
    September 27, 2009, 9:50

    How To Reduce Your Energy Bills / Energy Conservation Begins at Home

    Imagine leaving a window open all winter long — the heat loss, cold drafts and wasted energy! If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan or AC Return, a fireplace or a clothes dryer, that may be just what is occurring in your home every day. These often overlooked sources of energy loss and air leakage can cause heat and AC to pour out and the outside air to rush in — costing you higher energy bills. But what can you do about the four largest “holes” in your home — the folding attic stair, the whole house fan or AC return, the fireplace, and the clothes dryer?

  36. gravatar
    vadim
    November 27, 2009, 20:47

    WOW !!! what should come next: Shit in the lawn and save the price of manure?

  37. gravatar
    Sue Ryan
    January 30, 2010, 14:45

    Nice blog, like your sense of humour, saving money can be no fun!

  38. gravatar
    Lex
    February 7, 2010, 19:30

    Whoa, epic list-of-lists.

    Here’s 50 more for you:

    http://www.money-while-you-sle.....money.html

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