What small habit changes have saved you the most money over time?

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Sometimes, the smallest changes can have the biggest impact—especially when it comes to saving money. From tweaking daily routines to adopting smarter spending habits, these small shifts can add up to significant savings over time. In this discussion, we want to hear about the small habit changes that have made a big difference in your budget. Have you mastered meal planning, embraced DIY repairs, or discovered a creative way to cut costs?

Share your tips and inspire others to make their own money-saving breakthroughs!

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R2elk

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Sometimes, the smallest changes can have the biggest impact—especially when it comes to saving money. From tweaking daily routines to adopting smarter spending habits, these small shifts can add up to significant savings over time. In this discussion, we want to hear about the small habit changes that have made a big difference in your budget. Have you mastered meal planning, embraced DIY repairs, or discovered a creative way to cut costs?

Share your tips and inspire others to make their own money-saving breakthroughs!

money-2696219_1280-jpg.27518
Gave up chasing women. Staying home is much cheaper.
 

FarmerJamie

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Scaling down recipes since there is just the two of us. The wife is not a real fan of leftovers and after 3 meals of the same dish, I am done. No waste of food and plenty of variety.

Keeping an eye on fresh veggies. Freeze stuff for later use (baking, soups, etc) that is at risk of spoiling, or use them in a creative way.
 

flowerbug

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Gave up chasing women. Staying home is much cheaper.

i was going to say something similar. but to be honest, after my last go-round i didn't need to make many changes at all, i'm still a hermit and a gardener more than anything else. so what it became was a reversion to the mean (mean old codger at 9 & 1/2, haven't changed much since then other than getting a lot more vocabulary and experience :) ). ok, ok, i do have a rather good sense of humor, but perhaps that is Mom just laughing at my dumb jokes...

and then the p.s. is that not getting married to begin with and avoiding complications has been important to me. simple living really. i just don't do drama that well....
 

Mini Horses

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@FarmerJamie ... Agree, cook smaller OR cook with plans to can/freeze extra. Also, can more pints than qts. This can be challenging if you've always cooked for several people.

I rarely use paper towels, opting for washables instead.

Water down the liquid soaps & shampoos. They're thick and we never need as much as squirts out!
 

Simpleterrier

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We tracked not shopping at Walmart for a year and saved about $100 a month most of the items the we needed we found elsewhere cheeper and the wants we found elsewhere more expensive but a better quality and waited to make a lifetime purchase versus a fast grap decision for a less quality item. My personal record was around the 2 yr mark.and my wife made it 18 months before she went to Walmart. I forget now what the item was that we needed but Walmart was the only place that had it.

The most we have saved is when raising animals u look at themas u have to break even or make a profit. If they don't do either then they are gone.
 

flowerbug

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sadly most options around here are more expensive or same quality and more expensive so... the few things that we can find locally that are cheaper and still decent quality are the meats, but i have no idea why buying meat for a more expensive price at another place makes sense but that is what Mom does.
 

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