How to save 50% off everything you buy!

[Lynx]

Hi K8k8,

Yup. When I was a kid you could collect whole sheets of them to redeem for 'valuable prizes.' One was green (S & H) one yellow. You got so many with your grocery purchases 'for free.'

Remember pasting them into books. Best was a whole sheet that you pasted down at once. Fifty stamps to a sheet, 1200 to a book. Worst was the last sheets where you had short strings and singles to get in place. Never could align them all just right.

Related to VOIP: found a post I wrote in 2012 where I calculated it would save us $300/yr.

viewtopic.php?p=248690#p248690

Then a few days later, I posted that our local phone company boosted our rates because we no longer had a land line. Back to even. How did they get to set all the rules?

Sigh.

L

[Tituba]

I tried to cut the cord and only pay for internet. What I found was not only did the cable company slow down my speed so the TV shows kept buffering, but they kept raising the minimum charge for just internet until it was very close to one of their packages. I ended up going back to them.

[inspiresuccess]

I tried to cut the cord and only pay for internet. What I found was not only did the cable company slow down my speed so the TV shows kept buffering, but they kept raising the minimum charge for just internet until it was very close to one of their packages. I ended up going back to them.

I did "cut the cord" but I didn't have cable so there wasn't a problem with the cable company (since I didn't have cable). I just continued to pay for the internet connection I had.

I have been frustrated with understanding how to get certain things on the TV. That's probably me being a non-tech person. Sometimes I get frustrated and think I should just get cable. Then I think I should just keep working on learning how to get what I want on the TV. Supposedly, I'm supposed to be able to get apps for ABC, CBS, etc. but haven't figured that out.

[Zenxara]

Question: how much is considered a stockpile? three things of toothpaste? 5? more??

also, what do you think of Costco? That is where we do most of our bulk non-food purchases. We usually go once every three months since it packs like 4 toothpaste for 1.

[Lynx]

Hi Zenzara,

Welcome. I think each person and situation has it's own ideal stockpile. With toothpaste you get from Costco, enough to carry you through till your next trip to the store.

If the game is to avoid paying full retail, enough stockpile will carry one till the next sale offer. This varies by product and the season of the sales, how much space it takes, and if there's a shelf-life concern (say for food). We just bought a new jar of ghee at Grocery Outlet (think T J Maxx for groceries). We have five little jars given to us as a gift many years ago. Bit concerned to test them ... so the stockpile failed in this case. Success would have been to have used us the jars and scored other sales along the way.

L

[inspiresuccess]

A stockpile is anything you decide it to be. I like to aim for 6 months to a year depending on the item and the expiration date.

[SquarePeg]

Enough for a week: not a stockpile.
Enough for a month: little stockpile.
Enough for 6 months or more: stockpile.

Also it depends on the item. I always like to have at least one unopened toothpaste tube. But for toilet paper, I'll start looking for the 18 count "mega-roll" packs when we get down to four unused rolls.

I would also consider the bulkier items to be more of a stockpile since they take up so much room. Plus, textiles are vulnerable to flooding and cat pee, so I tend to avoid keeping a lot of that stuff around. And therefore a 1 month supply of toilet paper tends to be a stockpile, unless we binge on tacos and chili .