Money Saving Tips

Here are a few tips of things we do to save money. Right now we are doing the Dave Ramsey program and we are on baby step 1. Creating a baby emergency fund.

- we use the interlibrary loan system profusely for movies and books. so we don't go to blockbuster anymore.

- we cut the childrens' hair and my husband uses the clippers on his.

- we buy the bulk of the kids' seasonal wardrobes at a local st. vincent's. many designer names for 1.09 a piece! also we like to utilize freecycle for clothes.

- i only use 1/2 the detergent cup of soap in my dishwasher and there is no difference in how clean the dishes are

- we get our gas at bj's and it pays many times over, the cost for membership

- shopping only once a week helps to not spend extra on gas and time running around... forces me to make lists, clip coupons and plan the trip

- we've signed up with my local freecycler groups and participate in that program. go to http://www.freecycle.org/ to see how it works. it's saved us TONS! we recently received free diapers and formula that people were giving away. but there are many items posted that people no longer want. from building supplies to furniture, clothes, toys, you name it.

- i am a member now of http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ every week, this program goes through the circulars and tells me the best deals and how to get them using the coupons. they have a trial membership of $1 for a month to see if you like it. you can cancel anytime. so i signed up for a month and saw how the program works. my local markets are stop and shop, walgreens and cvs. i have found some great deals with this website's help. some things i have missed completely when i tried shopping all the circulars on my own. so this was an eye opener. they have made it more of a science than i did. they have a database where they cross reference the sale trends so that you can trust you are getting the "rock bottom" price of that store. i'm going to stick with it until the end of the year and see how it goes. after the trial membership, it's $10 every 8 weeks for one store, and $5/8 weeks each additional store after that.

- a big money saver for me is planning meals in a crockpot, to make the most of cheaper cuts of meat and also because of my busy schedule. so i signed up for a yahoo group that gives great recipes! slowcooker@yahoogroups.com

- i'm trying to lay off the processed foods and make healthier meals for the entire family. it costs more to eat prepackaged things than to cook from scratch. so i shop mostly the outer aisles of the market where the fresh ingredients are and don't really spend much time in the middle anymore.

- in the past, i used to buy our whole grain breads from a discount shop in town, but we've since moved from that area. it's no longer worth the gas to shop there. but we would get name brand whole grain breads for at least half off, if not more, and i would freeze the loaves for when we needed them.

- i buy my dairy products and canned food items at a low cost market in the area. they are consistently lower than all the big name markets around me. it's worth the trip! i save from .50 to an entire dollar on each dairy item. they have rules such as they don't take certain coupons, whereas the big stores do, but i'm still over time making out better with them.

- then there is batch cooking... making double or triple a meal and freeze the leftovers. it's a cook once and eat another night option that is handy. saves us from eating out.

- we don't buy tonic, we drink things we can mix with our filtered tap water at home. the kids drink milk and watered down apple juice. the adults drink a generic version of crystal light and sometimes we water that down, too. it can be super sweet.

- also, i don't get all the flyers for my area. so i've bookmarked the online circulars of every store around me and visit them once a week when i make the shopping list. this includes pharmacies because they carry food items as well. i tend to shop the loss leaders on the circulars and stock up. our well stocked pantry has helped us in many lean times.