Keeping the Cost Down

How many of us like saving money? I do! I almost laugh at the saying, "saving money" though, because my family and I have faced our own set of horrible financial setbacks and over time, I think we've only had 2-3 months that we actually "saved."

But recently, after some personal, private issues, we have found a way to buy a house and own it out right. I prefer to not talk about how this came about, because it is personal and came through an unexpected blessing. So I am now going through ways to save money, now that we won't be paying rent or a mortgage every month. Well, silly me, I realized all the ways I wanted to save money before still apply, but will actually save this time! Here are a few of my ideas.

1. During the mornings/late afternoons in the Fall/Spring, turn the AC off, and open the windows. If it gets kind of warm, turn the fan on. It uses less electricity than the AC unit.

2. Only run the dishwasher every other day and wash most things by hand.

3. Shop at thrift stores. You can get some really nice things there. Even decorations for the house and tons of kids clothes that look like new or almost new.

4. Shop at half priced goods stores, like Aldi or Big Lots, or even dollar stores. They're great for good food, cheaper prices and also, dollar stores are good for trash bags, canned goods, cleaning supplies, birthday party stuff and decorations! I've even gotten good frozen food there.

5. Buy in bulk. Having a Sam's Membership or Costco might be "expensive" up front, because you have to pay for the membership, but save up and get one. You can get a bag of rice (brown rice too!) for around $15 and it'll last for two-three months! Buy a box of canned tomatoes for $4.78. There are typically 6-8 cans per box. Pasta boxes there are cheaper. Sugar, flour, spices, meat even! I find their bags of frozen fruit and veggies are typically a tiny bit cheaper. I don't suggest buying their diapers much, unless they're having a sale.

6. Set a budget and stick with it. But...here's the thing. Always plan for glitches and weird things. For instance, our electricity is typically $80-120 a month. So I always plan for the max of $120. But the past couple of months, our meter has been off and our bill has skyrocketed to over $300 a month! They're sending someone out to fix it, but we still had to pay the bill. So plan for things like that. Expect companies to extort money out of you and give "cut off dates" if you don't pay. So plan for it. We didn't. We nearly drowned in charges like this a couple of different times.

7. You're getting out to run errands and the kids are always begging to get something to drink or eat? Go to Walmart (or discount stores have this too) and buy those bags of chips that are little. You can typically get a huge bag of 18 variety chips for about $6. Then get juice boxes that have those little straws. Those are normally about $4 and have 10-12 per box. Buy pre-wrapped crackers and cookies. Those are around $2.50 each. Then you have snacks. Not healthy, per se, but cheap. You won't be spending $15 stopping at McDonalds for snack wraps, juice boxes and cookies each time. Instead, your kids can have a snack for around $1.25 a piece each time! Worth it. And if you're really into healthy, go shopping at Whole Foods and buy Fruit and Veggies bars (split them in half and share them with the kids) and get organic juice boxes...around $10 for 6. Buy baby carrots and chop up bell peppers into steps. My kids love that! That is cheap as well. Bag them ahead of time and have them ready to go.

8. Leave lights off! If you don't need that room lit up, or not so bright, buy light bulbs that are less watts (we've learned to enjoy our 65 watt light bulbs, even in the living room). Teach your kids to turn the lights off when they leave the bathroom or their room.  Open the blinds, and enjoy natural light!

9. Teach your kids to enjoy the simple things of life. We buy the $1 crayons, and the huge pads of colored construction paper for around $2.50 (it has about 50 pages). have "color time." Buy the dollar books from the dollar store. They love them. Teach them that having things isn't what's important. Family, love and fun is. The toys bought at the thrift store are just as good as the ones bought brand new. We've even dug toys we've seen out of the trash that others have thrown away. Nothing wrong with second hand stuff!

10. Make meals that don't require all these intricate spices that cost a lot, or exotic veggies or meats. Or at least don't do that often. Make special meals for special occasions. Try to plan meals that use similar ingredients so you're not buying tons of stuff that will only be half used. If you like variety (which we do, you can still plan pasta meals with the same veggies you might steam later on as a side for a Mexican meal, or things of that sort).


All of this sounds overwhelming but I have found that you can get into the groove after a month or two of working at applying all this. I'm nowhere near perfect, but when it comes to saving money, I will strive my hardest.

Even if you're only setting aside $5 a paycheck for savings, that helps. Every little dollar builds up. Don't look at those little dollars as something that can be spent...look at it Christmas gifts, birthday's, a vacation, safety fund (very important) and things of that sort! And if you have extra money after paying your bills, and buying food, then put it aside in savings. Every penny counts! Then when you have a flat tire, you can change it and not be panicked. When the AC unit goes out, you have money set aside to buy a new one or get it fixed. Etc, etc, etc. It just continues on with things like this. Add in the comments your own money saving ideas!