Money Saving Tip of the Day

Funds are tight for most people I know. I am doing everything I can to cut back where possible. If I don't have the cash for something, I don't buy it. No more credit cards for me. I quit drinking Starbucks lattes a couple years ago, and brew my own coffee at home. Better to spend pennies for my caffeine fix than to shell out $4 or $5 per pop.

For most people, their biggest expenses outside of food and shelter is probably their automobiles. Like a lot of families, we have two vehicles. I have a Saturn sedan with over 120k miles on it that I drive to work and to deliver my pizzas. Mrs. Dickster drives a Saturn Vue. Fortunately, we do not have a car payment for either vehicle, but we still have maintenance expenses.

The Vue was badly in need of a couple of tires. It has over 50k miles on it and was still on the original tires. Since this is the vehicle the wife uses to take our son to school, it was time to replace the two front tires. I started shopping around on line for some new tires. The best price I found was at NTB for $94. Of course that was just the price for one tire, before all the extra fees that they add to the final price.

I had previously had a conversation with a financial advisor about budgeting and cutting expenses. One of the suggestions was to look into buying used tires instead of new tires. I had been searching the local listings of Craigslist for new tires, nobody had anything to fit our Vue. I finally found a place close by when I searched google for used tires in Maryland.

This morning, I went to the Tire Depot in Millersville, MD and purchased two tires with a good bit of tread on them. The total cost of two used tires, balanced and mounted, $80. Less than the price of one new tire, and a far cry from $200 for a pair of new tires. I should also mention that when I got there, they were working on one car, so I had a short wait. All told, I was in and out in about twenty minutes. Whenever I have gone to a chain like NTB, I have always had to wait at least an hour for the work to be done. So not only did I save money, I save a good bit of time.