All these threads about saving money makes me wonder what changes you've all made...

[MomofSeven]

I was at the store the other day for our monthly shopping trip and trying desperately to keep my bill to less than $400. (that doesn't count the in between trips for milk, etc.). Still, in order to do this I had to make some tradeoffs. Such as...

 

-Instead of Tide, I bought Sams brand detergent.

-Didn't buy my dh's favorite italian bread but made my own instead.

-Bought the block of cheese instead of the pre-shredded.

-Didn't buy juice, kids will just be drinking more water.

-I usually allow the kids to choose one frozen prepared food when we go to Sams, but didn't do it this past trip.

-Didn't buy the little carrots, but bought the big one (like mom used to).

-Bought regular peanut butter instead of the organic kind.

-Bought dh store brand turkey breast instead of Boar's Head. (discovered if you get the meat chipped, the difference isn't quite as discernable)

 

Most of these trade offs are probably things many of you already do, but some were new to me. Finally I planted a bed of lettuce last week so that I can stop paying out the wazoo for organic spring mix.

 

Anyone else want to share their tradeoffs.

[Sue G in PA]

We were horrible about that b/c I'm soooo NOT the cook. Dh used to do quite a bit of the cooking but for some reason...he doesn't do it anymore (that often anyway). Such a dilemna...lower stress job, works from home 2x each wk or more...hmmm.... Anyway, less trips to Target (which ALWAYS get me in trouble), I clip and use more coupons, frozen pizzas on sale instead of pizza delivery/pick-up or make our own, fewer car/van trips, etc. Basically, everything is just a bit more "planned" than spontaneous.

[StacyWithFourRugrats]

but so far, we buy less prepackaged items (mostly for health reason). It may seem like it is more expensive but overall, we do spend a little less on food. I am coming out at a little over $800 a month for 7 people. (we will be losing one as she goes back home in 2 months...*sniff*)

 

I buy Whole Foods brand whenever possible. I often find that they are not only cheaper but taste better than regular store brand items.

 

I make my own bread and have for a while. Tastes MUCH better, healthier and cheaper in the end.

 

We often eat breakfast for supper. Cheaper and the kids love it (was a tradition as I was growing up anyways)

 

Really, really working on the impulse buys. I try to go to the "dangerous" sections first and will often rethink that impulse buy before we leave the store.

 

We put away our credit card and will only be using cash (thanks Dave Ramsey!)

 

Not a change really, but I do not let hubby do the shopping as much as possible! :lol:

 

We have switched to Soy Milk and only give milk in the morning. Every other time is water (never been a juice or soft drink family)

 

Probably other things, but that is all I can think of for now.

[ThelmaLou]

I've started entering receipts in Quicken daily for my grocery shopping trips. I find that when I keep tabs on what I'm spending each day/week, I'm much more careful at the grocery store with my individual purchases. Right now, including grocery stores, Walmart, Costco, Whole Foods, and CVS, we're spending between $400-$500/month total for food, paper products, and H&B items. This is for a family of 7 and includes diapers/wipes for baby (but no pets.)

 

As far as saving on various individual products, it's been a long process narrowing down the cheapest prices on each item. I'm a big couponer and only buy most items when there's a fantastic promotion that can be combined with a manufacturers coupon. I never buy produce that costs more than $1.00/lb. We eat lots of beans and rice. I avoid most processed foods. I use my overage from Extra Care Bucks at CVS to buy milk, butter and eggs. Just recently, I started making my own bread.

 

I also used to overbuy on clothing for my kids. I find that being organized with our clothing system prevents me from duplicating items we don't need. I also found that many of the clothes I would buy my kids would hang in the closet unused. I realize now that they don't need but a few outfits for each season. This has simplified my life greatly.

 

And overall, I never pay full price for a-ny-thing. I practice delayed gratification with myself and my kids constantly.

 

One more thing. We almost never eat dinner out. Our families often give us restaraunt gift cards for birthdays, etc... We use these sparingly throughout the year, so it's a real treat.

 

I could go on and on about individual ideas for saving, but I've found the ideas shared at moneysavingmom.com a good springboard for people who ask me how they can save more money.

[Jenny in Florida]

For several years after we first had the kids and then moved to FL, we were on a very tight budget. And I somehow coped, an no one went hungry or naked. Then, over the last three years or so, we've gotten a lot more comfortable, financially, and a lot busier, and I got lazy. I've been buying more prepared and convenience foods and indulging everyone's requests for treats.

 

Now, with one in college and the other costing us more money in dance tuition and other extras every year--not to mention the increased rent and utility costs in this larger house my husband insisted on renting last time we moved--plus my general sense that everything is costing more, I'm determined to whip us back into shape in terms of our discretionary spending.

 

I was already buying store brands and generics most of the time. And we don't eat meat or some of the other typically expensive items. So there's a limit to how much I can cut back on the basics. However, I'm finding some places to cut.

 

So, I've gone back to cooking and freezing my own beans, rather than buying cans.

 

I'm baking a big batch of cookies or something else for my son once a week rather than buying the over-priced health-food aisle packages.

 

I'm getting more intentional about making sure that I plan for and cook real meals on the nights we're home to eat them, rather than making the last-minute run to the grocery store for something quick and easy (and more expensive).

 

I'm making sure that I cook enough of my son's favorites that he can have left-overs for lunch a couple of days that week, rather than relying on processed stuff.

 

I'm checking the store ads and making an actual list before I go grocery shopping, rather than walking the aisles and seeing what looks good.

 

I'm keeping on-hand a few healthy but pre-packaged items my son can grab to make lunches or snacks to take on the road, rather than always giving in and hitting the Wendy's drive-through for fries.

 

I've been comparing prices between Publix and SuperTarget and discovered that Target has much better prices on some items I buy regularly. Unfortunately, there are some regular items on my shopping list that they don't carry at all. So, I've decided to try alternating weeks for a while, buying double of the better-priced or more readily available items at each store.

 

And this is not a grocery item, but it's probably my biggest sacrifice: My son and I are not buying books. We've agreed to add an every-other-week library trip to our routine, instead. We're both big readers, and I figured out recently that doing our pleasure reading from the library instead of buying books--even off the bargain tables--would save us an amount roughly equal to his annual dance tuition. It's a sacrifice for both of us, though, because we truly love to own our books and will both frequently pull an old favorite off the shelf to re-read.

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. As I've said elsewhere, we're not really big consumers to begin with. My husband and I each drive a used, 30-mile-to-the-gallon Saturn, and we buy very few clothes or CDs or DVDs or other, similar goods. We rarely go to the movies anymore since Netflix made it possible to get pretty much anything we want to see less expensively and more conveniently. There are things we "could" give up--cable being my big example--but my husband isn't ready to go there yet. And our other big expenses are kid-related things that I will go to the mat to protect.

[Eleni]

We used to go out to eat several times on weekends...now dh and I have decided that we will eat at home, or have a picnic lunch and on Saturday nights he and I cook dinner together. We did that this weekend, and it was so nice, and we really enjoyed ourselves.

[Mama Anna]

. . . reading Amy Dacyczyn's The Complete Tightwad Gazette. Granted, some suggestions that she has are not practicable for us, but the book is great! I'd say it's worth an inter-library loan.

 

Mama Anna

[OnTheBrink]

Well, our food budget dropped dramatically when EX was no longer in the home, but throwing our your dh isn't something I'd regularly suggest. :D

 

However, despite the fact that I have one less adult male to feed, my money spending did go down a lot because EX bought a LOT of prepared and frozen foods, as well as a lot of snacks, which I don't buy. I take that back; I will get frozen pizzas at Aldi, because they're $2 each and can feed dd and I for lunch. I don't buy sodas or flavored drinks, but on occasion I will buy juice (frozen concentrate). Sodas are a real treat around here. I've cut way down on cheese (too expensive) and we only have milk for cereal. And, dry cereal makes a great snack. I don't buy anything that comes individually wrapped. I use Walmart brand dryer sheets and make my own household cleaners when I can.

 

For the most part, I watch sale ads like a hawk and stock up on great deals (as much as I can in our small house). I also buy a lot of things at Aldi.

 

It's been a challenge to change the mentality from family of 4 to family of 2.5 (ds is rarely home for meals), but I've certainly saved money!

[my2kidsmom]

I make next week's menu based on the sales ads on Wed. I've also started using coupons.

 

I look for freebies when I have extra time and only get stuff that I would actually use. (Here's a good one...it's a coupon for a free starter kit for a toilet scrubber) http://www.3m.com/us/home_leisure/scotchbrite/images/coupons/MSL_DTSCoupon_4-2008.pdf

 

 

I also make my on 100 calorie snack bags. I found the 100 calorie packages to be expensive. I now buy snack size baggies and make my own. You would be surprised how much you can have. If you just go by

the serving size, you can have a lot of Fritos, stick graham

crackers, etc. So it's cheaper and you get a better variety.

 

We limited our eating out to one family meal at a sit down restaurant once a month and fast food twice (including grabbing Little Ceasar's to bring home). I cook at home and we usually cook from scratch.

 

I admit, I cut my dryer sheets in half (it works just the same), and I skimp on the amount of detergent called for (I'm swear our clothes are just as clean).

 

Like someone else said, I never by ANYTHING full price. I am a savvy shopper and can find a deal on most anything. I buy clothes for the kids and myself at garage sale and when they go deep clearance at the stores. Like buying winter clothes in spring/summer.

[Closeacademy]

What we do.

 

1. Limit eating out to special occassions like--date night, a birthday, a major holiday or a once a month treat. We try to keep it to once per month.

 

2. We found a place that takes the food that is cleared off the shelves of an organic grocery store twice a month and gives the expired/due to expire food to people who want it. (Lots of yogurt and granola.)

 

3. I made a price book as outlined in the book the Tightwad Gazette. I have pages for different items that we buy and list the shelf price in pencil which I get from receipts. And then as items go on sale I write down the sale price and I have a column for the "best" price I see it at and try to stock up then.

 

4. In my price book I also have coupons clipped for items and brands that we buy. I have written in pencil in my price book the coupons that we have in their proper place.

 

5. Twice per month I do our big shopping trips which is based upon a list.

 

6. I make the list by first taking into consideration what we got from the food co-op, what is on sale, what we have coupons for and what meals we can make from those items.

 

7. We planted a garden which has veggies and fruits that we normally eat.

 

8. I will be canning and freezing most of the garden. So I will have peas, broccoli, chinese cabbage, green beans, and peppers for stir-fry. Tomatoes for salsa and soups. Different types of berries for jams. And so on and so on.

 

9. We compare prices and most of the times buy organic. I don't buy Walmart meat but buy meat on sale from better stores and I end up spending less money than what I would spend at Walmart.

 

Basically, I have a good system down just like with homeschooling. Once you figure out what works and put a system in place it will all click.:001_smile:

[Antonia]

I'm pretty thrifty about food, but did find we were buying too many expensive clothes for our teen and pre-teen. We have cut way back on trips to the mall, and have started frequenting the local consignment store on a regular basis. My dd finds all kinds of things there for half or less than retail, and we sell our used stuff there, too.

 

We also bought a wood-burning insert for our fireplace in January as our propane bill was up to $500 a month. We cut our bill in half, and although we had a large initial expense for the insert, it should pay for itself by next winter.

[j.griff]

Well- we've had our home phone turned off (we use our cell now, and since minutes are limited I don't spend very much time on the phone at all now), had the cable turned off (Netflix is plenty of entertainment), we cancelled our Culligan Water- and now we use that little machine at the mini-mart to fill the five gallon just for $1.25 each as opposed to paying Culligan approx. $8 per bottle.

Shopping at Sam's I ONLY buy what's on the list (unless there is some legitimate thing we use that I forgot to put on the list)- we do NOT look at the books, movies, etc. in there. Same deal with Wal-Mart- ONLY what's on the list- absolutely NO browsing.

Wax my own eyebrows, LOL- trim the kids bangs myself, dd and I dye our own hair.

[Doran]

I can't say that we've *changed* that much. We've needed to be frugal for most...no, wait...ALL...of our married lives (17 years). When your husband is a self employed furniture builder and you're a work-from-home mom, there just isn't a lot of padding going on in the bank account, kwim?

 

So, here's what I posted in my reply to her thread:

 

 

We just switched our health insurance provider, and upped our deductible. That move will save us roughly $350/mo...at least until the new provider starts with the monthly premium hiking that they all seem to do after the first year or so. Don't get me started.

 

I buy the bulk of our clothing at consignment.

 

I am a member of a food buying cooperative which enables me to buy natural foods such as those I would choose at a smaller, more expensive, health food store, for less money. **Added for this post** We spend more of our income, proportionally, on what we consider good food than do many.

 

We do not have cable or satellite t.v., are not members of Netflix, do not subscribe (yet) to high speed internet, and only just enrolled in a cell phone program this past Christmas.

 

I barter with people when appropriate.

 

I buy used curriculum and "get by" a fair amount in terms of our schooling resources, despite a strong desire to buy the latest and greatest of so much that is recommended here. There have also been several women here who have enabled me to "afford" certain resources by either giving them to me to use for a period of time, or by giving them to me outright. Such a gift!

 

We don't take expensive vacations, go to the movies often, shop at WalMart where the temptation to over buy rules ;), or buy the "latest and greatest" of nearly anything.

I will also add that I comparison shop to a fault. If I need (and I do mean need!) to make a significant purchase of any kind, I read reviews, consult "the Hive", and check prices as well as I can before making the purchase. This really helps the impulse buying and the buyers remorse syndrome that affects many consumers.

 

Our cars are old but paid for.

 

Our thermostats are set fairly low.

 

We moved into town in part to cut down the driving distance to places we frequent.

 

I'm sure that's a-plenty for now! :D

 

HTH ~

[rafiki]

.

[Pretty in Pink]

changes we have made:

 

1. eat poultry/beef/fish only 2-3x a week.

 

2. i learned to cook dry beans!

 

3. breakfast for supper.

 

4. canola instead of olive oil.

 

5. we rarely, almost never, buy juice. we drink water instead and i make tea at supper once or twice a week.

 

5. the kids get two snacks a day. one is fresh fruit, the other is popcorn, dry cereal, or something i got on sale B1G1 like graham crackers.

 

6. *I* pour the milk around here and put it away quickly before anyone can get their mitts on it! lol

 

7. i usually buy skippy natural PB but if something else is on sale B1G1 i will buy that instead :w00t:

 

8. i plan a week's worth of meals, post the list, and stick to it.

[jail warden]

I've been really trying to work on meal plans and make things that aren't as expensive, such as casseroles and meals with more beans. I try to make even more things from scratch and this summer will be adding even more to my garden to hopefully help our grocery bill this summer and next winter. I do a lot of comparison shopping and go to the stores to buy the loss leaders. I do live very close though so I'm able to do that fairly easily since I have no commute to figure in on my grocery day. Still trying to cut, but there does come a time when you're not too sure what else to cut!:tongue_smilie:

[ConnieB]

I use Walmart brand dryer sheets and make my own household cleaners when I can.

 

 

 

 

I have a money saving suggest for you.....instead of buying dryer sheets, make your own. I use old (clean) diapers, but if you don't have those laying around, you can buy a few white washcloths from the dollar store.

 

Then, buy a bottle of softner (I always wait until I can do the coupon doubling and combine with a sale, but since I only have to buy it once every 16-18 months, it's not truly a big cost). Now before you put a load in the dryer, take your cloth and put it over the opening of the softner....tip it upside down to put a small spot of softner on your cloth. Throw that in the dryer with your wet clothes and it will do the same thing as a dryer sheet....a little less strong of a scent, but hey, that scent disappears as clothes hang in the closet. When I wash my husband's flannel shirts/kids flannel PJs, I put three "spots" of softner on the cloth, otherwise, one spot will do (and actually kids have forgotten to re-spot it a few times and we've found that for ordinary clothes one spot cloths will last for two loads.) No static, still soft, faint scent. And a bottle last a year and half!! Even at full price that's cheaper than the same amount of dryer sheets you'll use in a year! If you really need the scent, then put more on your cloth, but it's really wasted as far as anything except scent.

[*anj*]

-Bought dh store brand turkey breast instead of Boar's Head. (discovered if you get the meat chipped, the difference isn't quite as discernable)

 

 

What does it mean to get the meat "chipped?"

I've never heard of this.

:seeya:

[iquilt]

. . . reading Amy Dacyczyn's The Complete Tightwad Gazette. Granted, some suggestions that she has are not practicable for us, but the book is great! I'd say it's worth an inter-library loan.

 

Mama Anna

 

Plus, she is hilarious! We have adopted several of her ideas outright and modified others to fit our family. She made me more aware just how much extra I was paying for regular milk (we make dry milk, now half price in our area) and just on every "convenience". We now make our own granola, a double batch lasts about 2 weeks, we make a lot of muffins and other filling foods from scratch to avoid last minute traps.

 

I agree the most important change for us was that I am much more organized, I aim to shop 2x/month (saving gas) and I keep an inventory of what's hiding in my freezer so that we actually use everything that I buy on sale. :)

[KristineIN]

What does it mean to get the meat "chipped?"

I've never heard of this.

:seeya:

 

 

I think she means the little packages of processed meat....I could be wrong, but this is what I know "chipped" meat as.

 

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-chipped-beef.htm

 

Kristine

[asher]

To cut back on debt and added to savings, I've:

 

1) Secured another job as a nanny, which has helped me consider the amount of hours that go into a purchase (I know it seems basic, but it has helped greatly). This helps significantly in impulse buys. :P

 

2) REALLY worked hard at exploring used curriculum before buying new.

 

3) I fully concentrate on where the best deals for certain items are and reserve purchasing those things, UNLESS I can get them elsewhere for a better price.

 

4) I use coupons religiously. I really do think they make a difference.

 

5) We work on meal plans and limit meat consumption as well.

 

6) We line dry our clothes & turn down the thermo. We've used primarily electric space heaters in exchange for gas, as it's better priced here.

 

7) Trim ds's hair on our own.

[*anj*]

I think she means the little packages of processed meat....I could be wrong, but this is what I know "chipped" meat as.

 

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-chipped-beef.htm

 

Kristine

 

Interesting. Thanks, K!

[riada]

I started doing the grocery game and it has saved a ton. I wasn't savvy on coupons before but this lines it all out for me so I have saved a lot on my grocery bill. I just print and head to the store.

 

Aside from that I try to convince the kids not to put clean, folded clothing into the laundry to be washed a second time, lol. I could save a fortune if I can get them to abide by this! :001_smile:

[Parrothead]

What does it mean to get the meat "chipped?"

I've never heard of this.

:seeya:

Thinly sliced deli meat (beef, ham or turkey, etc.) is what I grew up knowing as chipped. That dryed with gravy stuff from the link is yucky IMHO.

[wide eyes & laughter]

We also bought a wood-burning insert for our fireplace in January as our propane bill was up to $500 a month. We cut our bill in half, and although we had a large initial expense for the insert, it should pay for itself by next winter.

 

I'm glad you posted this! Dh and I have thrown this idea around but weren't sure it would be *that* helpful. (I know it depends on other factors too, but...)

 

Great thread - lots of great ideas here!