Groceries!!! It is one of those chores that no one likes to do, go grocery shopping. For us, a family of 3 and 1/2 (my daughter is learning to eat solids), we can easily spend $180 a WEEK on groceries. This is somewhere I see a huge potenial for saving, but there are some habits I had to break first and some lessons to be learned.
Extreme couponing is the latest thing. I am amazed every time I hear examples of people getting $1000's for less than $100!! Cudos to them, but who really has the room (or the need) for 50 boxes of tissues or 20 bottles of ketchup?? I know many extreme couponers say they keep what they want and donate the rest, and that is great. What a great way to give back to a community. Maybe someday I will get to that level of savings, for now, I will just borrow some of their techniques.
I like the idea of having a binder for all your coupons. If I can see things all laid out and organized for me, then I will remember I have the coupon to begin with. I've only started couponing in the last month, and I still have a lot to learn. But for those of you who think it is silly to waste time looking for and cutting coupons only to save $1 on three boxes of cereal, think about this...I can buy 3 ears of fresh corn for $1, so that $1 I just saved means my family will have corn with dinner tonight for FREE. In a month, I have probably saved close to $10. It is not much, but it is only the first month.
I also think everyone should have a price comparison notebook. I took a spiral notebook, divided up catagories like dairy, fruits and veggies, and meat with page marker tape, and then wrote down some prices at the three stores I shop the most. The hardest part is paying attention to the size of the item. Boxes of cereal can come in three different sizes, so write down a price per ounce. Once you have a decent comparison notebook going, then start paying attention to those grocery adds that come with all the junk mail. Based on my grocery needs for the week, I'll shop where I think the best prices are for the things I need. Maybe someday, I will actually shop at multiple locations. Right now, I found trying to shop at different stores just made me forget things or when I thought I would get a better price at the other store, I didn't. It was frustrating!
When it comes to groceries, look at WHAT you are buying. I LOVE sweets!! I crave something sweet after I finish a meal. Take a close look at your grocery receipt and see how much is spent on just snack foods. Or better yet, the next time you go to the grocery store, try to spend under $100 for a weeks worth of meals, and I'm not talking about mac'n'cheese dinners. Buy what you need first, and if you have anything left, then spend it on snacks. Granted I could save much more if I would give up soda, but it is an addiction I cannot break. The last shopping trip we made, we didn't buy any snack foods, i.e. candy, but it actually forced me to get creative and bake something. (Okay, so Rice Krispy Treats techincally don't require baking, but you get the idea) Better yet, we are eating the food we have, making meals out of ingredients we have, and getting creative when we are missing an ingredient.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Lower your interest rates
The next monthly bills we looked at were our loans. With interest rates so low, my husband and I looked at what we could get refinanced. Our auto loan was at 7% interest, but recently we got it lowered to 3.9%. Saved us $185 a month!! However, we did extend our loan another 5 years.
We are currently trying to get our house refinanced, but it is proving a little harder. There is a potenial $100 a month savings, we just have to work on lowing our debt to income ratio.
As for credit cards, well honestly I don't know where things are at with those. A couple years ago, my huband and I transfered the balances on our higher rate cards to some lower rate ones. Credit cards are a little harder to deal with than they used to be. It would be nice to call them up and ask for a lower rate, but I'm not sure they do that anymore.
We are currently trying to get our house refinanced, but it is proving a little harder. There is a potenial $100 a month savings, we just have to work on lowing our debt to income ratio.
As for credit cards, well honestly I don't know where things are at with those. A couple years ago, my huband and I transfered the balances on our higher rate cards to some lower rate ones. Credit cards are a little harder to deal with than they used to be. It would be nice to call them up and ask for a lower rate, but I'm not sure they do that anymore.
Cable/internet/phone
The best place to start is by evaluating your bills. A year or so ago, my husband and I sat down and looked at our monthly bills. We decided that paying close to $100 a month for cable/internet/phone "bundle" was not something we could afford to do. We both had cell phones, so we didn't NEED a home phone.
Cable was hard to give up at first. It wasn't that I missed all those channels, because a few months prior I had lowered our package to include only family channels. My son loves cartoons. The hard part was giving up my "TIVO" box. I actually have to watch commercials again!! I was surprised at how many channels I can get with just plain ol' rabbit ears. PBS kids is, of course, my son's favorite. I must confess, we did sign up for "Netflix". Actually it started as a gift, and then we just kept it. It comes in handy when we are out to dinner and my son gets bored. He can watch a show on our phone. Man I wish I had something like that when I was a kid!!
Internet, well that was something we decided we couldn't live without, at least for now. We did change carriers and got our bill lowered for three months. So with all the changes we made, we saved around $70 for three months. Even after the three months, we are still saving $50 a month. That is half a week's worth of groceries!!
Cable was hard to give up at first. It wasn't that I missed all those channels, because a few months prior I had lowered our package to include only family channels. My son loves cartoons. The hard part was giving up my "TIVO" box. I actually have to watch commercials again!! I was surprised at how many channels I can get with just plain ol' rabbit ears. PBS kids is, of course, my son's favorite. I must confess, we did sign up for "Netflix". Actually it started as a gift, and then we just kept it. It comes in handy when we are out to dinner and my son gets bored. He can watch a show on our phone. Man I wish I had something like that when I was a kid!!
Internet, well that was something we decided we couldn't live without, at least for now. We did change carriers and got our bill lowered for three months. So with all the changes we made, we saved around $70 for three months. Even after the three months, we are still saving $50 a month. That is half a week's worth of groceries!!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Saving every penny
When I was little, my dad would save all his pocket change. He would count it, roll it, and when there was enough, he would divide it into two savings accounts that he had for me and my brother. It may not sound like much, but by the time I was old enough to drive it was more than I needed.
Now that I am grown and have children of my own, I try to do the same for them. But who uses cash anymore?? I will admit, this was very easy a couple of years ago when I worked at a casino. Most of my tips were change. In a year, I had saved almost $1000 in JUST change. But now, I'm just a stay-at-home mom, and I'm looking to save every penny I can.
This is not an easy process for me. While I do like to save, I do have my weaknesses, i.e. my kids. Actually, scratch that, my family. My husband can talk me into buying just about anything, even if I know we don't need it. But who doesn't like that feeling of giving someone everything their heart desires?? My family is blessed. We have more than we need and I believe that God will always provide, even when it doesn't seem like enough. The goal here is to learn to live with less and I want to share with you some of the things I'm doing to save every penny.
Now that I am grown and have children of my own, I try to do the same for them. But who uses cash anymore?? I will admit, this was very easy a couple of years ago when I worked at a casino. Most of my tips were change. In a year, I had saved almost $1000 in JUST change. But now, I'm just a stay-at-home mom, and I'm looking to save every penny I can.
This is not an easy process for me. While I do like to save, I do have my weaknesses, i.e. my kids. Actually, scratch that, my family. My husband can talk me into buying just about anything, even if I know we don't need it. But who doesn't like that feeling of giving someone everything their heart desires?? My family is blessed. We have more than we need and I believe that God will always provide, even when it doesn't seem like enough. The goal here is to learn to live with less and I want to share with you some of the things I'm doing to save every penny.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)