How are you saving money?

Re: How are you saving money?

Hum...well I am saving money by Moving in with my parents.

Our rent alone is 1150 plus all the other utilities. With me moving back in with the parents we will be saving over 1700 a month ( that is without his extra pay from being over there). We plan on paying off my bad debt with is like 5k and his debt with is also 5k then we will start saving the money.

It's gonna suck because I gotta get rid of my pets but it is to hard to take care of all of them and give them the attention they all need, so I guess it will be the best for all of us.

Re: How are you saving money?

gosh, GW is my main source of BTS clothing for the girls! I can get TONS of Limited Too clothes for them as well as boutique brands when I hunt enough. Luckily we have 5 GW's within 30min of my house in all directions so when I put my mind to it I can really get em some great stuff!
To cut costs we also don't have cable or high speed internet (dial up sux but you get used to it-lol). I grocery shop at Aldi's a couple of times a month and do all my running of errands on one day if possible to save gas. I also try to get the kids to shut off lights when they leave a room etc. Otherwise, we just don't do much entertainment wise which sux but whatcha gonna do?

Re: How are you saving money?

I do most of my food shopping at Marc's. Like Elaine I don't make trips to Walmart like I use to. Furthermore, I dont' eat out ever! Luckily this year as well it's not been as hot and the airconditioning is not running all the time. I pack my lunch for work everyday including beverage. I only purchase pop when it's on sale, I make ice tea for the kids at home. The kids love the Arizona Sweet Tea, I will splurge and buy that for them.

Re: How are you saving money?

We got rid of our storage shed in Weston. We still have the one here in town, but we are planning on cutting back what's in it as well.

I don't know what we did right this month, but our electric bill went down from over $120 to $54 this month. It's been a cool month for July, so maybe that explains it.

We haven't been doing anything special to save. We have saved loads of money by being too darn sick to do anything for most of the last six months! I would rather spend than be sick! Of course, we have loads of medical bills now, too.

Re: How are you saving money?

I shop at Save A Lot instead of the other bigger grocery stores now. Also, next month I'm getting rid of my cell phone (on contract with TMobile..contract is up next month) and am going to a pay as you go phone. I stopped buying soda and other things we don't need a long time ago (well, since earlier this year). We tried to reduce our satellite payments because they had a special going on but our credit is not that good right now (which is stupid if they are going to REDUCE our monthly bill...it isn't like we asked for an upgrade!!!) So we can't reduce our satellite monthly bill. When I get the time and energy I might have to call them on that and tell them how idiotic it is for them to refuse to reduce our monthly payments because of our credit!! They are the ones that offered to reduce our monthly payments but then when they checked our credit they wouldn't do it.

I haven't bought any new clothes in quite a while.

Re: How are you saving money?

We took money out of Rick's retirement and paid off our car to try to free up money (almost $500 a month) about a year ago. But that has been eaten up by my grocery bill (which has almost doubled in the last year. From $250 a month to almost $400. Damn that boy can eat!). Plus, our medical bills have increased. Drew sees a psychiatrist every month and a therapist once a week (she's free). Then there is the extra cost of his meds and trying to pay off his medical bills from his hospitalization last November.

Sooooooo, we rarely eat out. As a treat, once a month, we order pizza or we will find something really cheap. Sometimes we just take the kids and we eat later at home. No going to movies and we aren't renting them much, either. NO WALMART! I went Friday after someone posted about the school supply sale. I've only been twice in the last 6 weeks (probably a record for me!). In fact, I'm hardly driving at all. Before it got so hot, I managed to make 1 tank of gas last almost 6 weeks! Now it goes 2-3 weeks since it's summer (HOT) and the kids are out of school. But still lots better than it used to be.

I am back to using coupons BIG TIME and combining them with sales. Since I don't really have any money to spend, it's slow going. We lived of my stock pile of food for almost 8 months. I am now out of EVERYTHING! LOL! but it saved us a ton of money there for a while. I still have tons of health and beauty stuff. I won't have to buy toothpaste, body wash or shampoo/conditioner for at least a year!

I am getting all my books at GW or the local Christian resale shop (99 cents). I've been scouring for clothes for the kids. Good for Ally, not so good for Drew (he wears men's). But what I have found is great! Practically new condition and about 1/3 the cost.

I am buying more generic stuff when I don't have coupons or we just go without. I ALWAYS check the discount racks of every store we go to before I do anything else. I am shopping by myself. For some reason I spend more if Rick or the kid are with me.

We HAVE to run the Ac here - no option. The electric bill jumped from $360 last month to $565 this month and we never moved the thermostat. But we had almost 2 1/2 weeks of 100+ temps. Now it's set on 83 instead of 80. Trying not to cook with the stove. Using the grill, crockpot, and foreman grill to cook - puts less heat in the house.

I'm sure there are tons of other things, but that's all I can think of right now.

Re: How are you saving money?

Weve also cut down in our family. We cut off our digital cable and downsized our internet.. that saved us about 80.00 right there. Did not understand why we payed so much even though we only watch the primary channels on top of disney and nick. I do miss the dvr but im sure i can catch the eposides online.

COUPONS!! ive been using them like crazy.. its a good feeling to walk out of there spending 60.00 and saving over 100.00 worth of groceries. Love it! Vegetables and Milk has gone down alot, im pleased with that. Omaha Steaks, had a coupon for all this different variety of meat for 40.00, that would take care of us for 2wks. So coupons help =)

We only go out to eat once a week.. usually on a Saturday night. We normally spend about 30.00 for the 4 of us. Applebees, mexican food..etc Destiny usually shares with all of us so it works out good.

Not driving as much, its way too HOT here! 115 degree heat cannot make it possiblity fun to drive anywhere. So for our family enjoyment, i bought them a pool and we hanged out in the backyard, keeping cool.

As for BTS.. Ive started mine in May.. just buying alil bit here and there.. it finally piled up this month and Im done. I went shopping at California Cabezone Outlets and walked out of there getting 2 pairs of Vans for 30.00, Air Jordans for 20.00.. etc. Good, good deals! Ive also gone to Savers and found some Hurley Sweatshirts and Tees for .99 for my son and the comic superheros worn out look tees for .99.. so that is good. His grandparents also took him shopping while vacationing with them.

Im getting ready to list a BTS lot for 6/7 yrs old this week, if anyone is interested =)

Re: How are you saving money?

Some great tips here, I have also found shopping on the internet to be a good way to save money - many online merchants offer rebates and discounts galore. So, if I see something I like in a shop, I’ll typically shop around online to see if I can get it at a better shopping deals on the internet.

Re: How are you saving money?

We don't eat out much--if we do it is Pizza hut or Little Ceasars with the 5.00 pizzas.

I don't travel all over the place. Which is good because I upgraded from my little car to a Jeep Commander this year and it eats gas. Bad me, but I love the car so I'm dealing!

I run the dishwasher and washer/dryer at night. Doesn't heat the house and it isn't during peak hours.

I bought Christian & Kel tons of name brand clothes from yard sales and the goodwill. Half the stuff I buy still has tags on it and she gets her Limited too clothes. She LOVES that store and I can't afford everything she wants.

Oh and I'm actually having a yard sale. Shocking I know. But I have so much to get rid of. I normally dump it at the goodwill but decided to see if I could make some cash first.

Re: How are you saving money?

For us there has been many changes
I do not rent movies local we use netflix and this has saved us ALOT a month we love movies.
We only eat out twice a month.
I have started on quicken and setup a budget and can see my checking account and reconcile it. This REALLY keeps me accountable.
We only grocery shop 2x a month and its mainly at Sam's Club. Its so much cheaper on some things but you have to watch. On the bread and milk run we go to the gas station and the bread store I cut my grocery bill from $583 last month to $420 this month. You can customize it and it is amazing to really see where your money is going.

I have learned how to make cream of mushroom soup from scratch, muffins from scratch etc. And when we make a meatloaf or some other meal that can be frozen I freeze some for a quick meal.
Pop is a NO NO at our house we drink Sweet Tea, Water and Kool-Aid
Russ dropped down to a lower internet plan on his cell and I totally dropped mine and save $50 a month.
We called our Satellite company and told them we were switching to another company and they dropped our bill $30 a month.
We shopped around for our highspeed internet and saved $20 through a local company.
Also for the first time EVER I am going to make laundry soap this month

Re: How are you saving money?

I keep saying I am going to make laundry saop, but I can never find the stuff!

Re: How are you saving money?

Things are good for us right now.