Ways I Save Money

All money blogs seem to have a similar list; I'll do mine by category:

Cars:

• Dave Ramsey says don't buy a car that costs more than 50% of your annual salary. I bought a good used car that cost about 28% of mine.
• Put my homeowner's insurance on with my car insurance company. My car insurance went down by about $30/month, pretty much paying for the homeowner's insurance!
• Stopped getting oil changes at Jiffy Lube and now go to the guy on the corner who charges $16.95.
• Drive 55-60 mph on the freeway.
• Regular maintenance, regular maintenance, regular maintenance!
• Only use the air conditioner in the middle of summer! I'm always so cold I would probably win the award for Texan Who Uses AC the Least.
• Pled poverty to the guy at NTB when I had a flat last summer and negotiated a discount on tires.

Home:

• Most financial gurus say you can afford a house that costs no more than 3X your annual salary. S and I bought a house that only cost about $19,000 more than our annual salaries. (And actually, now that I'm working 2 jobs, it now costs only $10,000 more than our incomes!)
• Bought a townhouse/condo-type thing. Saves on lawnwork and insurance! (Yeah, the HOA fee is a bitch, but we're still coming out ahead.)
• HOA fee covers basic cable, water, landscaping, trash pickup, and exterior insurance. So we do not have to worry about turning off the water when we shower like other penny-pinching bloggers I hear about!
• We are located behind several gates, making us pretty hard to get to! Security-wise, I feel in a better position than folks who live in houses and have just a flimsy door and window between them and the bad guys.

Work:

• Best thing I ever did: get a Master's Degree! Sure I went into debt to the tune of $25K-ish for it but those student loans were paid off IN FULL last summer right before we bought the house. So the Master's means I make a decent wage (although much less than most industries that require a Master's Degree!!!).
• Got a 2nd, part-time job that pays over $18/hour thanks to the Master's Degree.
• Worked my ass off to get a Texas Peace Officer's license meaning I have a secure, well-paying 2nd career should I ever need one.
• Learned how to teach skin care so I have yet another source of occasional income, which I do for teen programs at the local public libraries.
• Final source of income: occasional bass player when needed, although that hasn't happened much lately. But it used to provide all my walking around money when I gigged several times/month!

Entertainment:

• Use coupons as much as is humanly possible for groceries, eating out, shopping, movies, etc. My mom gives me all the coupons from her Sunday paper and recently I was lucky enough to get one of those Entertainment Coupon Books free from a friend!
  
• Joined email clubs for restaurants, movie theaters, etc. so they send you coupons and special deals.
• When seeing movies, catch matinees. When eating out, make sure it's usually lunch.
• Since S absolutely needs his movies (he really does medicate with video therapy), joined both Blockbuster online and Netflix, but only at the lower levels.
• For the baby, got memberships to the zoo and the children's museum. They have paid for themselves many, many times over!
• Use the public library. I rarely ever buy books and the few ones I do buy are from Half Price Books.
• Cut out drinking alcohol almost completely. Also smoking my little tasty vanilla cigars.
  
• Stopped going out to see live music all the time (well, getting married and becoming a mom will do that to you).

Taxes:

• Never, ever get a refund thereby using my own money throughout the year, thank you very much, to pay down high-interest credit card bills.
• Participate in a Flexible Spending Account for medical expenses.
• Put more away for retirement every year consistently. Still trying to get to David Bach's magic number of 12.5%! I'll be there soon!

Miscellaneous:

• Had a wedding that cost under $2,500 total. For everything, including the dress!
• Speaking of which, registered for quality items we really needed for the house, such as sheets, bakeware, crockpot, and toaster oven. And received them. No frivelous things like ice cream machines or cupcake stands for us.
  
• Only get my hair cut 2-3 times/year.
• Don't ever go into any stores besides grocery, dollar stores, and Target only occasionally. Why even tempt myself?
• Grocery shop at HEB instead of Kroger or, God forbid, Randalls! For one example, Kroger likes to advertise that their brand-name chocolate milk is "on sale" for $3.19 when it's ALWAYS only $2.99 at HEB! What kind of fool they take me for???
• Do my own nails and hair color.
• Buy (and sell) used items off Craigslist (especially stuff for the baby).
• Never pay full price for anything.
• Never use vending machines. (I've noticed where I work--both jobs--it's always the lower-paid employees who use them. Coincidence?)
  
• Changed cell phone plans to a cheaper one.
  
• Usually buy generic although some items you just have to get the name brand such as: Fritos, Nestle Chocolate Milk, and Raisin Bran. Also a certain topical medicine that the generic version of gave me a bad allergic reaction!
  
• Stay healthy: no drinking or smoking, exercising by running for free in the park, and getting lots of sleep no matter what.