Becoming Cheap

Becoming Cheap was an assignment given to me in my Family Financial Management class. The task was to find ways to cut back & save money.
The assignment was challenging and competetive. The person who saved the most money got to skip the final. I did not want to take that final.
The easiest way we've found to meet our needs and be cheap is to purchase some items from the classifieds and Craigslist. Cheap and environmentally friendly. Here are some of the items we saved money on.

Oh - this one isn't on the classifieds! But it is good. Visit to the Student Health Center versus visit to our regular physician. The Student Health Center at UVU only charges $10 per visit. My physician charges $150. I saved $140 by taking advantage of my status as a student and going to the student health center when I had a nasty sinus infection.

Ok, the rest of these are deals I found on the classifieds. Woops. Nope. I lie. Just one more non-classifieds cheapie. Great Clips. I needed a haircut to trim off the dead ends. I've been burned by beauty schools. And recently, my preferred professional salon. I got a coupon delivered to my door for a $5 cut from Great Clips. Not the Ritz of hair care, but it'll do. I saved $30 by going to get my hair cut there.

Ok, here are the items we saved on in buying through the classifeds. For reals.

TI-83 Plus Calculator. My husband and I both have one. They both died. He needed one for school. These babies run $100 retail. We found one for $40. $60 under retail and it had hardly ever been used. Sweet!

Netbook. Yes, I said netbook. Remember, we are being cheap and the awesomeness of the iPad is just not something we are willing to afford right now. But we needed a second computer at home. So we bought an Asus netbook for $150 from someone in Salt Lake. That saved us a few hundred dollars. And it came with a case and wireless mouse. Bonus!

Dining room table. We bought one of these from the classifieds when we got married. But it was tiny. There was hardly enough room on it for two plates. We dished up buffet style at the counter before sitting down to eat our meals. And we only had two chairs. The table was not a recipe for successful entertaining. My parents were coming into town and I wanted to be able to host them properly. I found an awesome table at Target...but it was about $450 for the complete set. Bummer. So I looked in the classifieds and found the exact same table, used, for $60. Score!

Other things we've bought on the cheap include an armoir for the computer I'm composing this post on - $40. The cute little desk that I use for my sewing and supplies - $10.

What ways have you found to be cheap?