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{image via here}
A couple weeks ago a friend asked me what we do to save money. I started thinking about some of the things we do and wanted to document them for journaling purposes, and to see what other people do to save a little here and there.
-We limit eating out- probably only once or twice a month
-Brennen is a stickler on turning lights off, water off, and keeping the heat/air turned down
-We have 1 credit card but only use it for large purchases to earn miles and then pay it off immediately
-I have been couponing for the last year or so. I haven't been too hard core about it since we move so often it's hard to take a big "stockpile" with us. But I haven't paid for toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, floss, & body wash in the last year... it has all been FREE!
My favorite coupon website is Hip2Save
-Buy second hand.
I would say 80% of Avalynn's clothes have been second hand and you wouldn't even know it. I have bought many things at consignment sales and you would have thought they were brand new. Some things have even had tags on them still, BRAND NEW! This dress Avalynn is wearing is from The Children's Place and still had the tags on it, and was $7 at a consignment sale.
Craigslist is another awesome resource for second hand items. I bought a like new Graco highchair on craigslist for $17! Brennen is a Craigslist fanatic, especially when it comes to car parts. Most of the the parts he has bought for his Camaro have been off Craigslist and he restores them to like new condition.
Garage Sales are another one of my favorites! There are so many blogs out there with ideas on how to take some average items and turn them into something fabulous. I got a laundry hamper similar to this for Avalynn at a garage sale for $3 that was hardly even used.
Remember ones man's trash is another man's treasure!
-We have paid cash for all of our cars which saves hundreds a month not having a car payment and a ton in interest too
Some of my favorite money saving websites are:
Money Saving Mom .... they paid CASH for their house!!
Those are some of the main ones I can think of right now. What do YOU do to save money?
4 comments:
That is really good! We also paid off our cars in cash and do the same with our credit card. I love DI but other than what you put that is about it!
Love Craigslist & KSL! It takes some searching but you can buy all your furniture off there that is cute!
We pay cash for our cars too. When we were 1st married we would find a good deal on an inexpensive car, be able to drive it for a year and sell it for the same price or even for a profit. Slowly we've been able to get nicer cars over the years.
Kids Clothes & Toys: Kid-to-Kid, awesome store with great stuff and great prices. My 2 year old loves going there too because it has a play room for him to play in.
Goal setting- it's amazing how much you can accomplish by setting some goals.
Eating Right/Working Out- When we are eating healthy we don't go out to eat as much, and our date nights are spent doing free, active things like biking, hiking, etc instead of going to dinner/movie.
We live by the motto of
"Use it up, wear it out, fix it up or do without"
Splenda has an American Express card that we use for purchases, but it has to be paid in full month and then we earn money back.
Other than that, we pay cash for most purchases. Stay out of debt. If we don't have the means to pay for it right now. We don't buy it. Plain and simple.
I owe it all to Splenda really.
Good tips Cassie. Since we are pretty much eternal students we do A LOT of things to save money. In addition to all the things you said (which we use on a daily basis) I also plan out all my weekly meals so that I don't waste ANY food...then I make a detailed shopping list. It really does save me a lot of money because I don't buy anything I don't need.
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