Money Saving Tips - What's yours?

[Dream Weaver]

Here are some money saving tips I found on the www. Does anyone have any to add to these?

Buy most of your food when in major towns. Small towns are expensive. Go to Wal-Mart supercenters, or WinCo (by far the best and cheapest) in the north west of the USA in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Northern California. If there is no Wal-Mart or WinCo, look for independent supermarkets, often cheaper than Albertson's or Safeway, who are usually, except for specials relatively expensive. Join supermarket discount card clubs, or ask the check out operator to use their courtesy card to ensure you get all available discounts.

Use a Safely supermarket membership card for 3 to 6 cents a gallon off at Safeway gas stations, only at larger stores. Buy gas at Wal-Mart gas stations using a Wal-Mart gift card for an extra 3 cents a gallon off the already very competitive price, only at larger stores.

Buy a $50 National Parks pass at the first US National Park you visit, and you won't have to pay any more. Individual part admissions for 7 days are $10 to $20 for the popular parks. Don't bother with the $15 extra hologram, only buy if you need it later.

Outfit your camper from thrift shops, charity secondhand shops, or Goodwill shops.
If you want to buy extra warm clothing consider the thrift shops. Almost new condition items are a small fraction of what you'd pay for new.

Don't buy special RV toilet paper. It costs 4 times as much and you don't need it. Ordinary toilet paper completely dissolves in your tanks as it sloshes around as you drive along.

Learn how to "boondock" that is park free overnight almost all the time. Seldom pay camping fees.

Don't pay to dump RV tanks, you can almost always find a free dumpsite if you ask around. Check rest stops on highways, some have free RV dumps and water. National Parks usually have an RV dump you can use without having to stay in the NP campground.

[Dream Weaver]

Here are some money saving tips I found on the www. Does anyone have any to add to these?

Buy most of your food when in major towns. Small towns are expensive. Go to Wal-Mart supercenters, or WinCo (by far the best and cheapest) in the north west of the USA in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Northern California. If there is no Wal-Mart or WinCo, look for independent supermarkets, often cheaper than Albertson's or Safeway, who are usually, except for specials relatively expensive. Join supermarket discount card clubs, or ask the check out operator to use their courtesy card to ensure you get all available discounts.

Use a Safely supermarket membership card for 3 to 6 cents a gallon off at Safeway gas stations, only at larger stores. Buy gas at Wal-Mart gas stations using a Wal-Mart gift card for an extra 3 cents a gallon off the already very competitive price, only at larger stores.

Buy a $50 National Parks pass at the first US National Park you visit, and you won't have to pay any more. Individual part admissions for 7 days are $10 to $20 for the popular parks. Don't bother with the $15 extra hologram, only buy if you need it later.

Outfit your camper from thrift shops, charity secondhand shops, or Goodwill shops.
If you want to buy extra warm clothing consider the thrift shops. Almost new condition items are a small fraction of what you'd pay for new.

Don't buy special RV toilet paper. It costs 4 times as much and you don't need it. Ordinary toilet paper completely dissolves in your tanks as it sloshes around as you drive along.

Learn how to "boondock" that is park free overnight almost all the time. Seldom pay camping fees.

Don't pay to dump RV tanks, you can almost always find a free dumpsite if you ask around. Check rest stops on highways, some have free RV dumps and water. National Parks usually have an RV dump you can use without having to stay in the NP campground.

[Spirit Deer]

Along with thrift stores, shop garage sales to outfit your camper.

Pack food from your pantry for trips instead of making a special trip to the grocery store, where you're more likely to grab high-cost snack foods.

Don't eat out much.

Avoid buying overpriced items made specifically for RVing as much as possible. Adapt generally available items from discount stores wherever possible. For example, a sinktop cutting board from a discount store or garage sale will work just as well as the higher priced one from the RV store, as will small spice racks for inside the cabinets and many other items.

Dollar stores can be a great resource for a wide variety of items.

Rae
Fred
Susie, Steger, Sheba, Sassy, Sparky, and Sugar (Siberian huskies)
Louis (large-eyed gray kitty)
1983 Itasca Sunflyer (Arvie)
1986 GMC Safari
1995 Palomino Filly
http://community.webshots.com/user/thedoggies
Saving one pet won't change the world, but surely the world will change for that one pet... Author unknown

[Lorna]

www.kitchenmixes.com

From Bisquick clone to Softscrub clone and most everything in between.

How about those chain restaurant foods? Try www.topsecretrecipes.com online list (new recipe every monday up for 1 week only then gone!). Lots more recipes in the Top Secret books (like the Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole...I must get that book!).

Lorna
1972 Eagle 05 Bus Conversion (Self Conversion)
"The goal of life is living in agreement with Nature" Zeno (335BC-264BC)
<a href="http://www.wunderground.com/US/TN/Chattanooga.html">
<img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/banner/bigwx_both_cond/language/www/US/TN/Chattanooga.gif"

[Bob Th.]

Finding free dump stations is a big money saver especially if you pay $10, $15, $20 or more to dump. You might want to add this site to your favorites: http://www.fulltiming-america.com/rvdump/index.html

[Spirit Deer]

What a great recipe website!

I forgot about using mixes. One of our favorites is the creamed soup mix because it tastes better, has no fat, and lower sodium. It's also lightweight and takes up less space in the camper than cans of soup. We also like the taco seasoning mix, onion soup mix, and a few others we use all the time, in particular the Bisquick clone and some of the seasoning mixes like seasoned salt, which I make with almost no salt. Commercial mixes are just too expensive and have waaaaayyyyy too much salt. We prefer to taste the spices instead of just salt.

These sites also have some great mix recipes:
www.recipegoldmine.com
www.recipesource.com

We use empty plastic peanut butter jars to store the smaller batches of mixes in. They hold a nice amount, are lightweight and unbreakable, and you can see through them. I write the name of the mix and the mix instructions on the top of the lid with a Sharpie marker.

Rae
Fred
Susie, Steger, Sheba, Sassy, Sparky, and Sugar (Siberian huskies)
Louis (large-eyed gray kitty)
1983 Itasca Sunflyer (Arvie)
1986 GMC Safari
1995 Palomino Filly
http://community.webshots.com/user/thedoggies
Saving one pet won't change the world, but surely the world will change for that one pet... Author unknown

[Lynnvt]

Lorna,
That's a great website. I have high blood pressure so I am always looking for low sodium recipes. Can't use most commercial mixes or really any prepared foods. They are all loaded with sodium. And I am so glad to find the recipe for 15 bean soup. I could never figure out what all those beans were!
Thanks.

Lynnvt
2002 Cardinal 33LX by Forest River
2002 Chevy Silverado 3500 extended cab dually

[Spirit Deer]

Lynnvt, I think the only thing that really matters when selecting beans for multi-bean soup is the cooking time. If they all have similar times, then you should be able to use whatever you want for the variety.

Rae
Fred
Susie, Steger, Sheba, Sassy, Sparky, and Sugar (Siberian huskies)
Louis (large-eyed gray kitty)
1983 Itasca Sunflyer (Arvie)
1986 GMC Safari
1995 Palomino Filly
http://community.webshots.com/user/thedoggies
Saving one pet won't change the world, but surely the world will change for that one pet... Author unknown

[Lynnvt]

Rae,
That certainly makes sense and is true. However I don't know the cooking time of most beans without looking it up. The website just meant I didn't need to look up the cooking time of 15 different beans.
Have a great day!

Lynnvt
2002 Cardinal 33LX by Forest River
2002 Chevy Silverado 3500 extended cab dually

[Spirit Deer]

Yep, a good recipe sure does simplify things! Gotta love those mixes.

Rae
Fred
Susie, Steger, Sheba, Sassy, Sparky, and Sugar (Siberian huskies)
Louis (large-eyed gray kitty)
1983 Itasca Sunflyer (Arvie)
1986 GMC Safari
1995 Palomino Filly
http://community.webshots.com/user/thedoggies
Saving one pet won't change the world, but surely the world will change for that one pet... Author unknown

[KZX11]

Well I hate to say it but I'm a smoker and I just started rolling my own Not really rolling but injecting. It is a lot easier and faster than rolling and is kind of fun A whole lot cheaper about $8.00 a carton Plus I find I smoke less, Which is a good thing.

www.yes.irv2.com

[John Harrelson]

A few years ago I found a way to cut my living cost over 2/3's . I simply got divorced..
The key is to make her ask for the divorce, it then cost you nothing and your living expenses drop off immediately.
Heck, I save over $20 a month just in toilet paper and the phone bill went from over a hundred dollars per month down to eleven dollars per month.

WOW... if I had only known this thirty years ago..

Got rid of the wife, the mortgage and the dawg ... Free at last, thank the Lawd, I is free at last !!!
I kinda miss the dawg tho ..

[Spirit Deer]

Sierra, I usually pick up my spice racks at garage sales, but I think you can get them at dollar stores or discount stores like Wal-Mart. I'm talking about the white, rubber-coated wire ones. I also bought a wooden spice carousel for the moho at a garage sale. I think it holds 2 dozen jars of spices and I paid $3 for it. It takes a lot of space, but I can afford to waste space in there. For the pop up, I use a rustic wood box I got at a garage sale for 50 cents. It stores on the floor of the camper under the galley during travel and sits on a hanging shelf when camped. It's pictured on my Webshots (see below) in the Filly album. I use the white wire racks inside cabinet doors for stuff like dish soap.

Rae and Fred
Five Siberian huskies and two kitties
1983 Itasca Sunflyer (Arvie)
1986 GMC Safari
1995 Palomino Filly
http://community.webshots.com/user/thedoggies
Saving one pet won't change the world, but surely the world will change for that one pet... Author unknown

[Candace]

I go to garage sales to outfit the kids with extra clothes for the camper...and the dollar stores are my best friends! I find all kinds of things for the RV, from replacement shower liners, to flatware and dishes.