Could we have a "Money Matters" sub-forum added to the board? Since I'm "self-pay" and suddenly have this $17,000 Cheerio around my stomach, I'm trying to find some frugal ways to make this work.

I think it'd be nice to have a forum where we can throw ideas on:

• Money saving food tips
  
• Online coupons
  
• Money-Making ideas (spam-free of course...)
  
• Just better fiscal responsibility ideas

Here are 2 I'm willing to throw into the hat.

My dietitian at our grocery store started suggesting 8th Continent Soy Milk to keep up my Protein. There's an online $1 coupon on their website:

8th Continent Soymilk - Light Soymilks

(Click the $1 icon at the top)

Also, I've been liquidating many of the things I've collected over the years that aren't as important as my lap band. One of them, has been my collection of over 1,000 CD's and DVD's. Rather than sell them individually at a garage sale or on eBay, I found two places that you can just put the UPC codes in and they'll buy them from you - as long as they're in relatively good shape. Those sites are:

• www.mx123.com - They do DVD's only
  
• Newtownvideo.com - Buy & Sell Your Used CDs, DVDs, and Games For Cash - They do DVD's, CD's and Video Games

I've used them both and have made almost $300 just selling crap that was clogging up the corner of my office!

Hope this helps some of you. What are YOUR suggestions for raising a little scratch while you're losing a little weight!?????

Wow ! This is great! I don't have any suggestions yet, but I'll see if I can't think of something. Thanks for the link to the coupon. I use the light vanilla in that brand of soy milk for my protein drinks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!

:clap2:

The topic is a little outside the scope of LBT for its own forum, but here are some tips that I've learned:

• If you can commit to paying it off every month, get a Discover card. Charge everything you would have to buy anyway - groceries, gas, clothing, etc. If you're on a budget, the money for those items will be set aside anyway, and now you're getting the cash back bonus. We did this during a year we knew we would have some very large purchases. We had the cash, but used the card, then promptly paid it off. At the end of the year we got a LOT of money back, "free." But don't do this if you can't or won't pay the full balance every month. The minute you start accruing interest or late charges, it's no longer "free."

• Consolidate down your phones. We had a standard land line, plus ell phone, plus long distance carrier. Total for this was about $85 (land line) + $100 average long distance per month + $80 (unlimited mins cell phone plan) = $265. We fired the long distance provider, cancelled our regular land line service and added digital phone to our digital package, which costs about $40/month and has free local long distance and VERY cheap international rates. Then cut the cell phone to a rollover plan @ $43. So we went from $265 to about $85. That's like -- two new pairs of shoes EVERY month! :whoo:

• I have a hard time saving money. The money is there, but if I have it, I will spend it. So I have about 50 - 60% of my salary automatically deposited into a liquid savings account. Since I never "see" the money (e.g. it doesn't hit my checking account), I don't miss it, and every few months when I check the account balance, WOW, it's amazing how fast it adds up. The amount you can save doesn't matter, it's the process -- kick it over automatically so you never have it, in a manner of speaking. When we hit a certain amount, I will rol it over into one of my retirement plans. If we need something expensive (major purchases, vacations, etc.) this is where the money comes from.

• I pretty much quit carrying cash, minus $20 or so in case I want a drink, need to pay a toll, etc. If I have cash I spend it, and have a hard time accounting for where it went.

• People tend to focus on large savings accounts, even when they have credit debt. What good does 10k sitting there at maybe .25% do you, when you have 5k in credit debt at 25%? Pay that sucker off.

Wheetsin's suggestions are good ones. Other ways of saving money are to bring your own lunch to work and to make your own coffee/tea while you are at work. Avoid buying your lunches or anything out of vending machines. Trading down to a smaller, cheaper, more fuel-efficient vehicle will save you money, too. You will save on gas and on insurance premiums. If you live, as I do, in a city with great public transit, give up on the vehicle and you will save yourself a whack of cash. You will also find yourself walking more and that is good for weight loss. Shop sales for clothing and buy your underwear at discount stores. When grocery shopping check out the cost per unit price - bigger is not always cheaper. Always pay cash - never, ever run up credit card debt!!!! And remember, you can save money by shopping in second-hand stores.