AARP Rewards Online Community Smart Saver Contest

Save coins in a jar, get free citrus from neighbors, utilize grocery store coupons, as a treat = eat out during happy hour, buy from thrift stores. 

I use "GasBuddy.com" to find the lowest priced gasoline. COSTCO is one of the cheapest, BUT the lines are a mile long.

File this under frugal. We started cutting in half tubes of toothpaste, hair cream, sunscreen, moisturizer etc. when they seemed empty. To our surprise, these often still contained several days worth of product inside the tubes, even though we'd squeezed those tubes to the point we were (mistakingly) certain they were empty. Given the cost of some of these products, getting three to seven more days of use out of them starts to save some serious money if you do this over a year. We realized we needed one or two fewer tubes of toothpaste, two fewer tubes of expensive hair cream, three fewer tubes of sunscreen, etc. While this isn't going to save anyone hundreds of dollars a year, it will save several tens of dollars a year (or more if you happen to use a lot of products packaged in tubes or expensive product). 

Once cut, we first scrape out the product from the bottom. If there is more there than we need to immediately use, we use a knife to "squeegee" it out and put in the top. Then, we slide the top inside the now clean bottom to keep the product from drying out. As we use the product in the top, we may cut another inch off to make it easier to access the remaining product inside. 

As a side benefit, given these plastic tubes are not really recyclable, using every bit of product inside slows its move into the waste stream. If you can then buy even one less tube of that product a year, you have prevented one less plastic tube from going to a landfill. So, its also a semi-green tip!

Dollar General often have gift cards on sale 15-20% off. Especially around Christmas. I purchase the cards throughout the year for Christmas gifts. This is a way for me to have a readily available gift at anytime for birthdays, graduations, travel, etc. and for myself! 

iI was one of those "crazy" coupon ladies years ago.  In the past several years, there are few paper coupons.  Some companies use emails to send coupons you can print out and use.  A few include frozen pizza companies, some chicken companies and an occasional butter/margarine company.

I shop to sales offered to loyalty card holders, and only buy what I need. For instance, every Wednesday when Albertson's new ad drops I go through and see if anything I use is on sale and clip the coupon. I make a list with the sales prices (so I can verify) and only get what's on it. This saves me between 40-70% each time I shop for food. I also occasionally find a great deal at Smith's with my loyalty card. 

I also joined Circle K's inner circle. About once a month, they offer 40 cents a gallon off gas so I fill up on those days. I joined AAA and use their repair shops so save 10% on all repairs and I know they are completed with premium parts at a fair price.

I sign up for various restaurant loyalty offers and the month of your birthday most of them offer free food.

I rarely if ever buy new clothes. You can find amazing, sometimes designer clothes, at thrift stores. Plus buying used helps the environment.

I shop the Dollar Store for reading glasses, greeting cards (some still 50 cents!) and shampoos, etc. I always price-check against Walmart. For instance, rubbing alcohol at Walmart, $3.68 for 32 oz. I can get two 16 oz bottles at Dollar Tree for $1.25 each or $2.50.

And I use Great Clips for my haircuts. They send coupons out in the weekly flyers or by email once a month or so that offer haircuts for $10.99 so I watch for those.

I inherited frugality from my parents (they were kids during the Depression). I clip coupons, both paper and digital. I join every reward program that I will use (restaurants, grocery stores, Walmart, Amazon - occasionally, not continually, movie theaters, travel companies, etc.) and game the rewards programs to gather points without spending too much money (or ever spending on stuff I DON'T need!). I plan my driving to cut my mileage as much as possible (group errands by location), so I am a VERY LOW mileage driver, which gets me a huge discount on my insurance. Helps that I am retired, so I don't have to commute anymore. I keep things as long as possible - car, clothing, furniture, etc. - I am NOT a person who has to have the latest thing as soon as it comes out. As others have mentioned, I take advantage of ALL the birthday freebies I can and, being a Veteran, I enjoy all the freebies on Veterans Day! I answer ALL service surveys sent by restaurants and stores afte a purchase - that very often leads to MORE discounts or freebies as thanks for doing the surveys! I plan for deals on streaming services (mostly the biggies arrive around Black Friday) and never pay full price for any streaming. I don't have cable (don't need more incentive to sit like a couch potato, watching tv all the time). I'm lucky, as I live in a high floor apartment that faces towards the tv antenna towers in Denver, so I can get lots of free channels with a $20 antenna plugged into my old tv. My friends and I always go to LUNCH istead of dinner at restaurants - less expensive at lunch! Same with matinees of movies during the week - much cheaper than night time showings. I buy gift cards for all places I patronize - this not only gets me loads of rewards points at Safeway and KIng Soopers, it also keeps me from having to spread my credit card info all over the place! If a company has a security breach, all the thieves get from me is the gift card info!

Saving money and working the system is like a game for me - once you get the hang of it, it really doesn't take a lot of extra time to do all these things.

I have just recently discovered the AARP Rewards Program and I am still learning to navigate around.  I am enjoying reading others comments for saving money.  What a good way to learn, and save, more money!

I save half of my meals when dinning out for the next day. I turn leftovers into different meal options for the next day. I also cook extra pasta so it becomes dinner for the next couple of days. I use sauces from takeout as marinades for meats. I’m saving to pay bills.

   For 2026, the IRS may be bringing back the charitable deduction for filers that do not itemize. If you take the standard deduction, save your receipts for cash given to charity- it may help reduce your tax burden.