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Thread: How do you save money?

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    Auburn, Maine
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    318

    Default How do you save money?

    I'd like to do an episode on cheapskate caching. What do you do to save money? What are some good strategies if you don't want to be a Premium member at gc.com? You can answer in this post, leave voicemail at 333-8651, email me an MP3 file, or let me interview you!
    ~*There's Tupperware in thum thar hills!*~

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
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    abbot me
    Posts
    754

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    Geocaching is becoming a very expensive sport simply because of price of gas. Other then getting together and carpooling to caches I don't know of any other way of saving money. I could do caches on my bike, especially in the cities. But you still have to get to the city and that's where most of the mileage would be. If I take my bike to Portland it's a 300 hundred mile trip there and back. How much would I save by riding around the city on a bike? Once the caches in your immediate area are done, it becomes very hard to walk or bike to any others.

    My answer so far has been not doing other things that cost me money.I don't snowmobile or fourwheel. Don't own a boat, go fishing or hunting any more. I ride my bike, hike and kayak locally. Save my money for gas on the weekends. How long I can justify this in my mind, is only a guess. We all know we shouldn't be spending any money to support the corporate greed that is going on in this world we live in. But when we stop enjoying ourselves altogether...who wins?

    I know this was a little off topic Kacky ....sorry about that.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    Auburn, Maine
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    Good stuff!
    ~*There's Tupperware in thum thar hills!*~

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Bangor, ME
    Posts
    6,343

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    For active cachers, not spending money on a Geocaching.com membership is like driving across town to save a penny a gallon on gas.
    DNFTT! DNFTT! DNFTT!

    "The funniest thing about this particular signature is that by the time you realize it doesn't say anything it's to late to stop reading it..."

  5. #5
    d’76 Guest

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    One way that we save money sometimes is bring a lunch for the day with drinks so that you arent stopping to buy it all the time. And sometime head for the largest cache density so to elimate much of the driving.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
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    abbot me
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    Default cache density

    Quote Originally Posted by dave1976 View Post
    And sometime head for the largest cache density so to elimate much of the driving.
    No matter the reason, be it the numbers, the sense of getting more for the buck, or whatever, this is todays trend in our sport. I've talked to a number of cachers lately, and have witness this myself, who put out caches in an area without other caches around and after the FTF no one comes. I know that when I leave Abbot on a caching trip I'm looking for density or at least caches on a route or loop. Will we one day be doing only LPC's and GRC's in Wallyworlds across the country? Maybe virtual caching on google earth, zoom in, rotate, tilt, write a log entry and send it into cyber space.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    Auburn, Maine
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by brdad View Post
    For active cachers, not spending money on a Geocaching.com membership is like driving across town to save a penny a gallon on gas.
    Whatever the reason. The vast majority do see the wisdom in it, but it takes a few months for some.
    ~*There's Tupperware in thum thar hills!*~

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Solon, Maine
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    5,965

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    Quote Originally Posted by brdad View Post
    For active cachers, not spending money on a Geocaching.com membership is like driving across town to save a penny a gallon on gas.
    How you pay for gas makes a difference, too. We use a credit card that pays us 5% back on all purchases at gas stations, drug stores and supermarkets. As long as you pay the balance on your credit card each month, that can add up to REAL savings.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Bangor, ME
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    6,343

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by WhereRWe? View Post
    How you pay for gas makes a difference, too. We use a credit card that pays us 5% back on all purchases at gas stations, drug stores and supermarkets. As long as you pay the balance on your credit card each month, that can add up to REAL savings.
    True. And One thing I point out to people is as the price of gas gets higher - generally the percentage of difference between regular and mid-grade and super gets smaller and smaller, making it more of a possibility that using a higher grade of gasoline might be more economical. For example, If you are currently running regular gas in a vehicle that gets 22 MPG, and lets say the price of gas is $3.40 reg; $3.50 mid; $3.60 super. You would only have to get 22.7 MPG on mid grade to make it worth your money, or 23.3 MPG on super. Not all vehicles will show an improvement in mileage with different grades of gasoline, but many do. We have an '93 Dodge Dakota which does not seem to benefit from the different grades. We also have an '04 Ford Escape that gets 2 MPG more on mid-grade than regular, making it well worth the extra price. Super does not make as big a difference in this vehicle. Something to consider, nonetheless.

    If you want to calculate how many MPG you would have to get to benefit this is the simple formula:

    Current MPG X Price of gas for the better grade / Price of your current grade

    So for a current MPG of 18 MPG on regular gas at $3.45 a gallon compared to mid-grade at $3.55 a gallon:

    18 X 3.55 / 3.45 = 18.5

    So, for this example, you would only have to gain .5 MPG to make the mid-grade pay for itself.
    DNFTT! DNFTT! DNFTT!

    "The funniest thing about this particular signature is that by the time you realize it doesn't say anything it's to late to stop reading it..."

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Biddeford, Maine
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    313

    Default

    This is probably relatively minor in comparison some other suggestions, and I'm guessing that some people are already doing this, but I build a little extra time into my morning commute for a quick search along the route to work (I live in Biddeford and work in South Portland). The same with returning home from work (I get out of work late, and my wife is usually asleep at that time, so showing up at home fifteen minutes later than usual doesn't elicit a response ).

    Yesterday (May 25th) was our 6th anniversary. We dropped the girls off with my mother so that we could have an evening alone. Along the trip back home (between Waterboro and Biddeford), I searched for three caches, found two. I have such a loving and understanding wife.

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