Money Saving Tips
The monthly bill you can control the most is your grocery bill. One way you can save money on food is by joining a supper swab club. I spend $100-$120 a month on 12 meals, swap with the group and come home with 12 new dishes. Not only is it a huge money saver (that is $8.33-$10 per a meal for 4 people) but it also takes a lot of stress out of getting a meal on the table quick. Set guidelines and swap with people you trust and have similar eating habits. We all use
hormone free and lean meat and accommodate to certain allergies. I will be posting a tutorial on this soon, so stay tuned :)
Coupons. Coupons. Coupons. Ladies if you want to save money, take a few minutes and get yo coups! Now a days it's easy to find coupons and codes etc. There are apps you can download, websites you can go to print them off, emails you can sign up for. No reason not to use them! Sign up on mailing lists at your local grocery, most have baby clubs or something of that nature that you can sign up for to get great deals! There are tons of great websites and apps, find your fav and utilize it!
Be active with your kids in inexpensive ways. Find out what is offered in your local community. Locally we have a story time at Starbucks put on by a local church, we have reading hour/story time at 2 local libraries. We have coffee dates at "the coffee house" - aka dunkin, aka my favorite coffee place of all time. My kids are obsessed with donuts, so although we generally are pretty granola with our eating habits, I let them indulge in that is a super special treat that they love and cost less them $3 for the 3 of us. To make that even less expensive you can
sign up for dunkin donuts mailing list and get coupons and even ask for gift cards for little holidays, ie Valentines Day :) Do a little research to see what free stuff is going down in your community, something cool going down right now is our local Theater is doing free movie Saturday for kiddos every weekend during the day for the next 2 months, this usually happens during the summer too. My girls love the movies, so this completely makes their day! Be on the lookout for freebies, they are out there!
Playdates! For stay at home moms and working moms! Parks are free peeps, so meet up with other moms at a park, pack a lunch or some snacks and meet 'em up! Do this on a Saturday or a weekday, either way it's free entertainment for the money-saver in you ;)
Shop off season: I do this for everything. For clothes, gifts, decorations, pretty much everything. Yes mom, I already bought your Christmas present for next year... I'm going into my 4th year of motherhood so I've kind of got an idea of my children's growth chart, so I shop for clothes a year ahead. i.e., winter is coming to a close so I will be looking for winter clothes for the girls for next winter and I know Wyn is small for her age and Pais is big and I have a good
idea of what brands run small and large on-- something to note if you haven't before.
Turn your hobby into a part-time job! I've always been financially minded, even as a child, so this is easy for me to say... I love making stuff and selling it, coming up with business plans, etc. But if there is something you love, figure out how you can make money doing it, you know, the whole "American Dream" type thing... Example, I LOVE photography and have a huge desire to stay home with my girls, so over the past year I have been ramping up to take the leap. And
here I go, i'm leaving my job March 1st to be a full time mommy by day and full time photographer on the weekends, it is all started with turning my hobby into a money maker ;) {more to come on this subject later...}
Diapers - I swear by Pampers. They are the most comfy, the most absorbent, and the most leak-proof; they are also the most expensive. So, I put my babies in Pampers at night time and for their naps, but use good ol' Target brand during the day when I am changing them more
often. The savings add up.
Diaper Genie - If you use one, you know the refills are expensive. So, I only put poopy diapers in the diaper genie. The whole point is to trap odor, and pee-pee diapers aren't so stinky. Pee-pee diapers = regular trash / poopy diapers = diaper genie
In interest of full disclosure I sourced some of this information from some other rock your socks off mommas. Diaper tips are from Celess. Shopping off season & controlling your grocery bill are from my amazing Mother in Law :)
