General Money Saving Tips

Great thread, getting my eyes opened quite a bit.

mickmac76 wrote: »

Regarding magazines. My library has a website that I can use for reading many magazines free of charge for library members. Membership of your local library is free and no fines has also been brought in from this year on so it's well worth joining. I canceled my subscription to new scientist magazine last year when I realized that the library has the electronic version online every week free of charge. There's a large selection of magazines covering areas like science and nature, fitness, mens and womens interest and current affairs. You can also get dvds and computer games from some libraries and order ones you'd like from other locations around the country. My library also has a selection of ebooks which isn't huge but I always check it before I buy a book on my kindle.

I must look this up in the library's Im signed up for, when you say oline, can you access content through their website from home using your account with them? or do you mean you have to go to the library yourself to access it from their computers?

niallers1 wrote: »

If you are interested in getting out of debt and never borrowing again for anything except maybe a house then listen to a guy called Dave Ramsey.

Follow his baby step rules and you will be debt free. Needs will power and discipline:)

Listen to a few podcasts before passing judgement on it.

Interesting, there is a guy from the UK, just cant think of his name right now, he gives great advice on money management, the stuff he talks about should be the basics for everyone, mainly I paid attention to what he said about paying down the expensive debt and not drip feeding it (Im aware of it, but its astonishing that many just drip feed any credit card debt paying thousands in interest when they could use that to pay down debts or even go on a holiday), and not constantly hitting your finances for expensive small costs like lunches and coffees regularily which add up, sometimes they are essential and in the case of deals, a meal can be quick, convenient and necessary, but generally eating out is more expensive. I used to think buying a cooked chicken was an expensive luxury, but now I get them the odd time €6 and got sandwiches, dinner so far today and tomorrows dinner already made out of it with some rice and stir fried veg, plus enough left over for lunch sandwiches tomorrow.

I think buying to some extent in bulk for food from a supermarket rather than do too many trips to shopping where you increase the chances of picking up unintended luxuries and definitely try avoid frequent small purchases from convenience stores as they really can add up (although bargains can be available), and watch your change, thats a great money saving tip, been hit frequently with prices not being correct in one place or bargains not marked down and sold as normal price by as much as 20-25% of the total cost, I still rather buy quality rather than cheap for food.


Likewise for footwear, Ive loads, a pair for each use, safety boots for work saves me wearing out my own, plus a requirement, in particular Ive a pair of clarkes low cut boot, leather upper, says gortex, waterproof going on 10 years whcih I wear all the time and the sole is getting a bit worn out only now, like slippers and they dont seem like they will ever wear out, Im not too convinced about glueing an additional sole on to save on wear as a good pair will last anyway, it may take away from the comfort and safety if the sole peels away ad it may not suit the sole tread pattern. I may try get these done though as the upper part is still so comfortable and nice, quality looks very good. Worn through a pair of old runners and use them for when Im doing cleaning up and keep the new pair for walking/exercise, a quality pair of walking boots and two nice pairs of shoes, I dont think I would really ever need to buy another pair of shoes other than if I liked some, but I just dont need anymore..



Shopping around on car insurance, or even just asking what they can do with their qoute can have them knock off €50, which pays for the credit cost if spreading the cost across the year, or is more money in your pocket if you can pay upfront.


Sensible use of credit cards, use to pay for items upfront (gives protection to the consumer, I rarely use my debit card as it costs per use and not for very large expensive purchases or even for small purchases as its charged per use, plus I prefer take a bit of cash out once as you can see what you're spending and not charged each time for the luxury), make a saving by paying upfront (like with car insurance) then with Avant they offer you to get a reduced rate by taking a loan for 6months, if you had €1000 on CC after Car Ins, take a low interest loan with them, and pay the CC debt with that, then pay half or less the normal interest rate and ensure to pay down that balance as quickly as possible and within their usual timeframe (6months) if not they will charge full interest over the full term, but you can renegotiate a new loan if need be, usually Ive paid down payments (like car insurance) that way as its cheaper than the interest charge by car insurers on installment payments.

McGaggs wrote: »

I bought a FreeSat box a few years ago. No recurring fees and the interface is much better than a sky box. It can record, pause rewind live TV, all the usual, had an app that can be used as a remote, or to set up recordings and has Netflix and YouTube apps.

Gave up the tv subscription years ago to save money as I think it was 75 a month for that alone, got a freesat box but the EPG interface was slow, what box do you have? thinking of getting a replacement FTA, as have been using an android box for a while, although may get IPTV, would like if netflix could be all in one with it. A nice non glitchy interface/EPG that has the features you mention would be good.

1874 wrote: »

I must look this up in the library's Im signed up for, when you say oline, can you access content through their website from home using your account with them? or do you mean you have to go to the library yourself to access it from their computers?

You can login at home and read them. The website

https://lgma.rbdigitalglobal.com/


is a new website and if you register with it it seems to have all the county council libraries in the country as part of it. So any part of the country can access all the magazines including back issues. To find a magazine just click on the explore button on the top right hand corner followed by filter and genre.

I've been using Borrowbox for years, along with the newspaper app called Pressreader which does great magazines, RB digital is also good,


https://www.wexfordcoco.ie/libraries/ebooks-and-eresources/emagazines-rbdigital

This is what I get access to as a member of Wexford Libraries, deep with long into

Heard people mentioning it on the radio and its true, i did it for years before having kids. You need a garage or old wheelie bins.
Dont pay for rubbish collection. Go to your local recycling centre. Its three euros in and recycling free. They weigh the black bins. At most i went once a month probably never spent ten euro.

Kidkinobe wrote: »

You can save a fortune on mouthwash by not spiting it down the sink, spit it right back into the bottle so you can reuse it...I have the same bottle of mouth wash for almost 14 months now...and at 3 Euro a pop, I have at least saved 40 Euros.

I find that hard to swallow..