Finance Thread - Ideas to save money

rookhawk

rookhawk

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I'm always looking for a way to save money so I can give generously and live well. With that in mind, this is the frugality/finance thread and I'd like to hear ideas from all of you.

I made $83,000 today, payable in ten years and it took me four hours of effort.

Step 1: I changed our cell phones from T-Mobile to Mint, saving $150 a month.
Step 2: I changed garbage/dumpster service to a different vendor and went to bi-weekly, saving $190 a month.
Step 3: I changed our Internet from 8gb to 500mb, saving $50 a month.

That savings put into the S&P 500 over the next ten years earned me $83,000, or one Tanzania safari, or one fully funded year in retirement, however we care to characterize it.

Anyone have other ideas? I've gone to catastrophic insurance with large deductibles backed by a fully funded emergency fund. I've cut AAA and towing from auto policies. I pre-purchase my propane when its on sale seasonally.

Show me the ways to save more money so I can go on more safaris!
 
With the birth of my handicapped daughter and supporting my wife we've had to make a lot of changes. Canadas economy is in the gutter so life is rougher & I still have to pay for PT/Meds. So I swapped my insurance on my car and went from 512 to 420 a month. Swapped my utilities and went from 750 a month in winter to 675. I don't eat during my work day (Only 12 hours + 1 hour drive each way) to save a few bucks as well. I got rid of all of my Netflix and stuff and started exclusively pirating stuff and built a media server (Jellyfin) saving me 80ish a month. I switched from vaping to Swedish snus pouches I make myself ($5 a day to 64 cents a day) On weekends I pick up extra work every second weekend (Only 4 days off a month but oh well)
 
Vehicles are always a money pit but I keep mine in good shape and keep them for several years. I never trade them and I sell them myself. I never buy off the lot. If buying new, I order them exactly how I want them so I don’t pay for options I don’t want or need. I always request by email the best price possible for the vehicle I have built on their website to more than one dealership and then go to the dealership and ask for either the newest salesman or the salesman that’s been there the longest because the sales manager will make deals for them that they won’t for other salesmen. I then build the vehicle with them and compare the price to the internet price. The internet price is usually less! Then it’s time to haggle. I usually walk away and then they almost always call me later and lower the price.
 
Similar topic under different heading a while back. I go by two rules and have for a long time. Don’t spend more than your income and treat debt like the plague to your financial future that it is.
 
Similar here.

A bit more short term, but I figure every time I avoid wasting $10 that I don't have to, that's a box of .22LR ammo or half a pack of primers.
 
Europe has different ways, and my job is different then yours. It is hard to be smart.

One of the biggest investments in life is buying a car.
The car is something the gets you from point A to point B.
But the price differences of cars from lowest to highest are extreme.

So, I save on my choice of car.
I buy car rarely, 2nd hand, and I drive it till total exhaustion, with regular maintenance by the book, to make maximum longevity. (only by buying 2nd hand car, immediate savings are the value of VAT, and its thousands. Generally, best buy cars are 2-3 years old)

Small luxuries - which we do not need. Loose them.
Now, this is a big step in my life, I need to work on it.
Smoking.
One pack of cigarettes per day, is 365 packs per year. it costs.
Quit smoking. (need to)

The older I get, the less I need. And the old men, do not need nothing.
The trick of middle age is to draw the line of what you need and do not need.

While for me this is smoking that I really do not need, make a good look to small luxuries and habits in your life, which cost, but you really do not need. Cut them off.

Make shopping list, wherever you go.
Make shopping list at home for daily things, like groceries.
Shop as per list, only.
Savings are significant. Because shops and shelves are designed to make you buy what you really do not need.
Make a list, buy as per list.

Very important - make it visual:
With savings on small scale, you need to make them visual.
Otherwise, they can slip away and disappear.
For example, if savings is based on quitting smoking, then on the end of month, saved amount of money to be transferred to separate safari account.
It must be visible, and with time, you will watch the account grow, which is very special satisfaction.
 
This summer I cut a bunch of bills back. Switched from AT&T to Spectrum cell service...closed 2 storage units (African taxidermy that went into the new house)...cancelled several TV services...committed to much less taxidermy (had spent a ton on that)...cancelled 2 gun club/range memberships...cancelled some computer software services/tools that I don't really need...got into the new house (twice as big but utilities are 1/2 as much). The house is the only debt but I saved over 12k next year on those cuts alone. Before that, I sold 100 guns to put 20% down on the house build...saving PMI, etc. etc.
 
I thought of something else that is not only money saving but a change in mindset. I love hunting DG...it's my fav thing in Africa. I've taken lots of it but not as much as I want. This year I took a couple of cow buff on some very challenging stalks and was going to chase a 3rd but ran out of time. That 3rd cow would have been the halfway point of paying for ONE bull. So my experience is growing 3x faster but my spend is running at 1/3 the rate. I will be doing more of that in the future. It's also more challenging to pick the right old cow out of a herd than taking out dugga boys on their own or small bachelor groups. The challenge is harder...the excitement is higher...the cost is far lower. How many big bulls can you hang in the house anyway?
 
Burning firewood instead of propane saves me $1000 a year easily and I enjoy cutting and processing the wood on my land. Plenty of log splitters to borrow for the day rather than buying my own too. Choosing the right credit card is basically a discount coupon. I will not pay an annual fee on a card but I have one that’s 4% back on gas and 3% at restaurants then I use a 2% cash back card for everything else. I look back at money I could have saved over years on small things, but it pales in comparison to the money I could have made had I used S&P 500 as a bank account rather than keeping money in the bank. I caught on late to investing present day money unfortunately.

I think the biggest money we all probably should have saved is much less taxidermy on first safaris. I look back now and wish I hadn’t even shipped some home. Pictures would have been enough.
 
Green Chile said:
I thought of something else that is not only money saving but a change in mindset. I love hunting DG...it's my fav thing in Africa. I've taken lots of it but not as much as I want. This year I took a couple of cow buff on some very challenging stalks and was going to chase a 3rd but ran out of time. That 3rd cow would have been the halfway point of paying for ONE bull. So my experience is growing 3x faster but my spend is running at 1/3 the rate. I will be doing more of that in the future. It's also more challenging to pick the right old cow out of a herd than taking out dugga boys on their own or small bachelor groups. The challenge is harder...the excitement is higher...the cost is far lower. How many big bulls can you hang in the house anyway?
Click to expand...

Much the same as you but I decided the only taxidermy I’m interested in is a leopard before I went on my first Safari.

I’ve been giving thought to switching to cow hunts after my first buff bull in Zim; the bang for the buck on cows is extremely high especially in Australia where it seems like you can shoot them at nearly 5:1 for cost of bulls.
 
If I do get to Australia, it will be for culling cows, scrub bulls and management bulls.
 
375Fox said:
Burning firewood instead of propane saves me $1000 a year easily and I enjoy cutting and processing the wood on my land.
Click to expand...
Ugh… the “f” word.

I thought I had those days behind me. Now I’m starting a third career back in the oil fields of ND. The only thing more rare than firewood in ND is a woman that knows how to keep a stove fed during the day. But, I will persevere and find some. Firewood, that is.
 
I continue to burn wood in my outdoor wood boiler. I’m fortunate to have farmers continually buying and clearing land and I benefit by getting logs delivered. I cut them to length and stack in the shed next to the boiler.

It heats the Radient floor heat, the water and the forced air. I walk around in shorts on the coldest days, get a work out and save on propane.
 
I don’t like “overpaying” for anything (who does), however, there are two sides of the coin…
I would rather spend the time on revenue generation than squeezing expenses and simply be expense conscious (CME will bust my balls and laugh at me because he will tell you guys I’m cheap lol)
Lots of creative ways to create revenue opportunities. Perhaps the biggest thief of wealth are taxes….so tax management is extremely important… I can’t switch my cable providers and ride to Glory….
 
Time vs. money.

Your time is a finite resource. There is nothing you can do to change this.

Be aware what an hour of your time is worth.

For every "money-saving-activity" calculate the "money-saved-per-hour-spent-saving-the-money"

Same for "money-earning-activities".

Prioritize your time towards the more profitable activities available to you.

An example: Say you have an item you no longer use. It will take you two hours to sell it but the potential sales price is the equivalent to one hour of your time. In that case it makes better financial sense to discard the item and spend those two hours on your most profitable activity.
 
From exportable trophy hunts, switch to non exportable, non trophy, or own use hunts. Save on shipping and taxidermy. Pay less trophy fees. Take photos, make album, frame the picture for the wall

I am following the shipping of my Zimbabwe hunt trophies, and costs just amount. I just paid shipping from Frankfurt to home, after all is cleared, and that part only is 1400 eur

Once this gets home, taxidermy bills will follow. :E Crying:
I will follow Zim till the end. but that is the last. From now on, only hunt.
 
Green Chile said:
If I do get to Australia, it will be for culling cows, scrub bulls and management bulls.
Click to expand...
@Green Chile - You say “if” but if and when you do, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Travel length - from DFW to Darwin would be around 8hrs less flight time(each way) than the DFW-Doha- Johannesburg- Harare route I took to Zim in 2024.

Arnhem Land - Is just barely larger than the state of Indiana yet only has 16,000 residents.

When it comes to the big stuff and cull hunts, the deals for high volume cull hunts with 10+ bovines are hard to beat and next time you’re at a convention stop by BIG COUNTRY safaris and talk to Alex Jagers who is a sight member or I can get you his WhatsApp.

And if you do come across something exceptional, I think the aboriginal painted skulls are much better looking than the shoulder mounts.
IMG_0451.jpeg
 
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