I feel so empowered now that I am more focused on saving money. We found there are lots of simple ways to save money. Here are some of the easy ways we've saved in a top ten list.
Top Ten Ways to Save in the New Year
10. Eye Brow Shaper. This product was actually given to me a while back to try out. It is basically a razor on a stick. I have several free samples. It is great for shaping up your eye brows at a moments notice without having to worry about the puffiness of a wax or the pink skin from tweezers. I am saving $20 each month from not getting an eye brow wax at the spa.
9. Redbox. We have a Redbox right down the street at the Walgreens. For $1 you can rent a video including new releases. You can't beat that! Pay per view is now $4.99 and its been too long since I've been in a video store I'm not sure what renting costs are but I'm guessing $3.99. We don't buy DVD's anymore nor do we rent from PPV. I am saving anywhere from 2.99 - 18.99 each time I watch a movie. I won't even mention the $15+ it costs two people to see a movie in the theater.
8. Pediegg. The Pediegg scraps the dry skin off your feet. It is similar to a cheese grater in texture. I bought it back in the summer for 9.99. Using the pediegg, a nail file, and nail polishes I can give myself a pedicure saving $30 each month from avoiding the spa. All items I currently have in my bathroom cabinet so I didn't need to purchase anything.
7. Gas. Randy sold his truck and purchased a less expensive car with better gas mileage. We estimate we will save about $40 per month. This is in addition to the money we made from the sale and purchase. This also gets us closer to a more Green way of living.
6. Phone. We use our cells phones primarily and Randy has a land line phone for his job in our house so we don't need the extra land line that we are using as a home number. I will be canceling my extra land line phone in Feb. which will save us $60 but since I'm now paying for my own cell phone and a data plan it will end up saving us about $30.
5. To dine or not to dine. We've spent about $70 dining out in the last five weeks. I dug out all the kids free meal coupons we received at their past award ceremonies plus my sweet friend Kim sent me a couple meal gift certificates. We've actually only gone out to eat twice as a family in the last five weeks and spent a total of $25. The other $40 or so was from us stopping through the drive through, ordering a pizza, or meeting a friend for lunch. I am estimating we saved (brace yourself) $700 in the last five weeks from not dining out. We haven't really missed it either. My cooking must actually be getting better.
4. Weeding out the excess. Since we are downsizing, we identified a few items from our house that we could sell. These are items we don't use enough to justify moving to a new, smaller house. We have sold $400 worth of stuff so far. Unfortunately, we are spending $500 on home repairs necessary to sell our house. If that wasn't the case we would have made out great. We have a few other pieces of furniture that we will end up selling once we have sold our house so more to come in the future.
3. Cleaning my own house. I am saving $130 each month just by cleaning my own house.
2. Using what I already have: Toiletries. I have went through all my drawers and cabinets finding items that I haven't been using. Before buying cleaning supplies I am working my way through all the cleaning solutions I have had buried in the cabinets. I will end up making my own cleaning solutions when I have made my way through all the solutions. I'm going Green this year the best I can. Since I don't know the cost of cleaning solutions I am assuming I will save on average $10 per month. I am also using up all the shampoos, soaps, etc. I found buried in my bathroom cabinets. I traveled a lot so I had tons of travel sizes or free samples of toiletries I have collected over the years. I'm guessing I will save another $10 per month on average making my way through the items I already own.
Food. Eating up the pantry. I am also working through our pantry and freezer getting creative with eating what we already have. In addition my parents gave me meat from a cow they raised and butchered. Our friends Jamie and Joe had also given us some meat from Tyson. My grocery bill went down quite a bit in the last month. I am estimating we saved $200 in groceries over the last five weeks. Our grocery bill still went down even though we aren't dining out.
The number one way to save money.
1. Just don't spend it! We've stayed out of the mall stores and haven't bought anything if we didn't need it.
About four weeks into our saving agenda I saw an article on Yahoo about ways to save money in the new year if your resolution was to do so. We had already been doing everything the article said so I was encouraged.
What are your money saving tips?
January 30, 2010
Since I don't have a large salary while working at a school setting, I work hard at knowing where every penny is used for. We use the cash method. I've set a budget and figured up our costs of what are essential: gas, clothes, groceries, etc.. Twice a month, I take the cash out of the bank and put it in an envelope with dividers. When the money is gone, then we know we need to sit at home until next payday. Sometimes we don't spend it all so then I move it into carryover and save for special family outings (like weekend in St. Louis). Love your ideas too...