30 Ways We Are Stretching/Saving Our $$
2) Make and stick to a budget like nobody's business! We used to meet monthly about our budget and have found we don't have to meet quite as often now, but we definitely see wisdom in knowing where our money is going and how we are using it. Some months I like to challenge myself to spend only half of a certain category if I can. Not always successful, but it makes me mindful of being able to live with even less.
3) Sell a product you believe in. I started selling Jamberry and it has paid off already in just over a month!! I'm loving it and finding so many others do, too! More to come on that later. : )
4) Buy Walmart giftcards to pay for gas for our vehicles, saving us 10 cents per gallon at certain times of the year. We recognize some stations have credit card rewards, but we only use debit or cash. Kroger also has fuel perks if you shop there much.
5) Replace showerhead from 2.5gpm flow to
1.5gpm flow, saving an average of 70 cents/shower. Times 2, that is $1.40/day. At 365 days/year that is $511!!! Now we're working on shorter showers, but there is nothing like hot water on a cold fall/winter day!
6) Lowered our gift budget, giving meaningful, thoughtful and often homemade gifts. We spend $10-$20 depending on the occasion, and we cut sibling Christmas gifts last year as we all talked about it and realized we're adults and can buy what we want if we really need it.
7) Eat leftovers! Even if it isn't our favorite new recipe we still eat them or find a way to make them better.
8) Limit our 'out to eat' budget. We do fast food occasionally. I always get water, my drink of choice. Some months we take a bit from our grocery budget and go to a nicer restaurant for a date (As important as being frugal is, I never want it to come at the expense of my relationship with Nick).
9) No cable/satellite/Netflix/etc. We didn't even have a TV until this summer and were actually given an antennae to use for the local channels. We frequent the library for movies and TV series. This has to save us at least $20/month.
10) Run our dishwasher at 2 a.m. when usage is cheapest. I set it to run on a 6 hour delay around 8 p.m.
12) Isty-bitsy teeny-tiny... monthly clothing budget! It's true. It's so small I'm not even going to tell you what it is. But let's just say I've learned to be creative with mixing and matching and content with less and I like it this way.
13) Sell things at Half-Price! I still have books from teaching that I weed through every so often and take, or we'll go through the movies/music we had before we were married and decide we don't really need it anymore.
14) $5 savings plan (anytime we have a five dollar bill,we put it in a jar and are creating a stash of cash, slowly). I am not an only cash Dave Ramsey follower, but I do try to use it for groceries and a few other things. So, when I get a $5 bill it goes in a special place and gets put in our adoption bank account later. I was really surprised the first month at how many 5 dollar bills I ended up with. (I tend to do this every few months, challenging myself to see if I can save more than I did the last time).
15) Adjust thermostat accordingly. If we're talking heat I keep the house set at 63/64 at night and 65-67 during the day. I bundle up and we use an electric blanket to warm the sheets before we fall asleep. This makes up for the summer when I can't sleep no matter how much I have tried unless it is 73, but it stays at 76/77 during the day.
16) Don't buy pop or bottled drinks. Nick is a trooper to have given up his Diet Coke. I love H2O and he drinks tea that I make here at home.
17) Grow a garden. While this first year was an investment, we reaped lots of reward that more than paid for itself! Our cucumbers especially were a huge hit. With 9 plants we always had plenty to keep us happy. We also grew strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, green beans, onions, spinach, lettuce, and snap peas.
18) Learn contentment. The Lord is teaching me how truly blessed we are. We may both have older cars with a few issues. Or we may not have painted the bedrooms since we moved in or still have dated light fixtures, but honestly there are things I want more-like funding this adoption. It's about my priorities.
19) Scour garage sales/Goodwill for good deals. (Or be blessed by friends). 90% of the furniture in our house has been handed down to us by generous family and friends. May not be the latest style, but it is helping our 1-income-saving-for-adoption lifestyle. Some of my favorite shirts Nick wears have come from Goodwill. I can get him about 5 shirts for the cost of 1 elsewhere and we walk away with quality brands.We've also had our own garage sales, bringing in money for our adoption.
20) Skip the smart-phone and contracts. We bought 'cheap' phones and skipped the smart phones since neither one of us have a need of them for work or such. I love that I'm only paying $30/month with AirVoice.
21) Use Priceline for getaways. We recently went to Louisville for an adoption conference and scored an AMAZING deal on a nice 3.5 star hotel that was cheaper than the comparable 2 star hotels around town!
22) Change internet providers or re-negotiate. When we first moved in we got our high speed internet for $20/month. We tried re-negotiating and ended up going with another company for slightly more. They recently raised our bill and we are in the process of getting them to lower it again. Always worth asking!
23) Eat a meatless meal at least once a week. This is getting harder with my newly begun wheat and dairy free diet, but is possible. It definitely helps spread the money further.
24) Combine trips/errands in town. I seldom go to the next town over to the store unless I have planned out a way to squeeze as many errands into it as possible. Since I'm 6-7 miles away it saves me about half a tank of gas (round-trip) each time I can combine errands.
25) Frequent the library. I used to buy books a few times a year or maybe more. Now the librarians see us quite a bit. If our local branch doesn't have it I will put a request for it and they bring it in from around the state. Nice perk of living within walking distance of our local branch. : )
26) Buy paper products at Costco. I stock up on Kirkland brand TP about once every 6-8 months. It saves us more than I could with coupons and I like not having to add it to my grocery list every few months. I also took a good friend's advice and use rags (I bought white barmop cloths) for cleaning and wiping down counters and the sink. Since they are white I can bleach them or I throw them in with all our whites on hot if they don't need bleached. This is saving quite a few paper towels.
27) Pay our phone bill and shop online with the Pure Charity plug-in. Hundreds of companies/stores are available. We pay Nick's AT&T bill online and get a small percentage back we can give to a cause of our choice on Pure Charity, be that our own adoption or one of several great causes.
28) Take advantage of an FSA account. We sit down and figure out how much we think we'll spend on medical expenses in a given year based on what we spent the previous year or what we know we have coming up. This includes dental, vision, prescription drugs, doctor visits, contacts, glasses, & more. Anything we contribute doesn't get taxed. I've read that someone contributing $1,500 in could save about $325 in taxes for the year. Be careful though because you will lose what you don't use by the end of the year or within a certain grace period.
29) Put off that (dream) vacation. Nick and I both have dreamed of making it to Ireland for years. We decided early on that we would put this on the back burner though in order to save for adoption. We'd both still love to make it there someday, but ultimately know that we'd rather see our funds go towards providing kiddos with a home.
30) DIY. Chair repair? No worries. Nick will take care of it. House needs painted? No problem. We'll climb up on ladders and do it ourselves (ok, that was a bit ambitious but it did save us a couple of thousand). Plumbing issues? Nick was awesome and persistent! Kitchen needs painted? My dad lives close and was going to help us, but we came home one night to a painted kitchen. He's quite the handyman and has been a great help to us. I'm very proud of Nick for all the hard work he puts into our house and the ways he helps save us money even when it would be more convenient to hire someone else.
There are many other ways we are being money conscious, but these are the first 30 to come to mind. Being mindful of where our money is going and where we WANT it to be going has really stretched me and challenged me to be mindful of money not being my own. We desire to be good stewards of what God has given us and recognize that beingcheap frugal is helping us do that and pursue adoption.What are some things you do to stretch your money/save?
20) Skip the smart-phone and contracts. We bought 'cheap' phones and skipped the smart phones since neither one of us have a need of them for work or such. I love that I'm only paying $30/month with AirVoice.
21) Use Priceline for getaways. We recently went to Louisville for an adoption conference and scored an AMAZING deal on a nice 3.5 star hotel that was cheaper than the comparable 2 star hotels around town!
22) Change internet providers or re-negotiate. When we first moved in we got our high speed internet for $20/month. We tried re-negotiating and ended up going with another company for slightly more. They recently raised our bill and we are in the process of getting them to lower it again. Always worth asking!
23) Eat a meatless meal at least once a week. This is getting harder with my newly begun wheat and dairy free diet, but is possible. It definitely helps spread the money further.
24) Combine trips/errands in town. I seldom go to the next town over to the store unless I have planned out a way to squeeze as many errands into it as possible. Since I'm 6-7 miles away it saves me about half a tank of gas (round-trip) each time I can combine errands.
25) Frequent the library. I used to buy books a few times a year or maybe more. Now the librarians see us quite a bit. If our local branch doesn't have it I will put a request for it and they bring it in from around the state. Nice perk of living within walking distance of our local branch. : )
26) Buy paper products at Costco. I stock up on Kirkland brand TP about once every 6-8 months. It saves us more than I could with coupons and I like not having to add it to my grocery list every few months. I also took a good friend's advice and use rags (I bought white barmop cloths) for cleaning and wiping down counters and the sink. Since they are white I can bleach them or I throw them in with all our whites on hot if they don't need bleached. This is saving quite a few paper towels.
27) Pay our phone bill and shop online with the Pure Charity plug-in. Hundreds of companies/stores are available. We pay Nick's AT&T bill online and get a small percentage back we can give to a cause of our choice on Pure Charity, be that our own adoption or one of several great causes.
28) Take advantage of an FSA account. We sit down and figure out how much we think we'll spend on medical expenses in a given year based on what we spent the previous year or what we know we have coming up. This includes dental, vision, prescription drugs, doctor visits, contacts, glasses, & more. Anything we contribute doesn't get taxed. I've read that someone contributing $1,500 in could save about $325 in taxes for the year. Be careful though because you will lose what you don't use by the end of the year or within a certain grace period.
29) Put off that (dream) vacation. Nick and I both have dreamed of making it to Ireland for years. We decided early on that we would put this on the back burner though in order to save for adoption. We'd both still love to make it there someday, but ultimately know that we'd rather see our funds go towards providing kiddos with a home.
30) DIY. Chair repair? No worries. Nick will take care of it. House needs painted? No problem. We'll climb up on ladders and do it ourselves (ok, that was a bit ambitious but it did save us a couple of thousand). Plumbing issues? Nick was awesome and persistent! Kitchen needs painted? My dad lives close and was going to help us, but we came home one night to a painted kitchen. He's quite the handyman and has been a great help to us. I'm very proud of Nick for all the hard work he puts into our house and the ways he helps save us money even when it would be more convenient to hire someone else.
There are many other ways we are being money conscious, but these are the first 30 to come to mind. Being mindful of where our money is going and where we WANT it to be going has really stretched me and challenged me to be mindful of money not being my own. We desire to be good stewards of what God has given us and recognize that being
these are great! I wish we were doing more of them. I think making these changes really signals to those from whom you're asking monetary support that you're doing all you can do! thanks for joining my Adoption Month link up!
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