Creative Ways to Save Money

We are in a recession.
Anyone who watches or reads the news knows this fact.
I thought that our family was fairly recession-proof.
I was definitely wrong.
In the 2009, our household income will go down by approximately 50%.
I am trying not to completely freak out.
We desperately need ways to save money.
For the most part, we are pretty money conscious.
We don't take trips or vacations - Paul's parents live on Lake Michigan!
We drive a car that gets between 40-55 mpgs.
We don't go to nice restaurants - we actually rarely eat out.
We shop at Aldi and Costco.
We don't buy expensive clothes.
So, we sat down today and tried to brainstorm ways we could save money.
Our list isn't very long yet.
We are trying.

#1 - get rid of home phone - saves approx. $50/month
#2 - make pizza at home instead of take-out once/week (splurge once/month instead) - saves approx. $30-40/month
#3 - find another family to trade kid watching with once/month - saves $25/month
#4 - use what food we have in the house as much as possible - savings ??/month
(our freezer and large downstairs pantry holds MUCH food... use it b/f adding more)
#5  - instead of running through Wendy's drive-thru after soccer practice, have meals at home that can be eaten at different times that night - saves approx. $50/month

I need more ideas - lots of them!!!
I just bought "101 Things to do with Ramen Noodles" and "101 Things to do with Ground Beef" - kinda makes me laugh!
Do you have any ideas? If yes, please leave a comment with your idea!!

Comments

[mandy]

I love the list! You should check out www.moneysavingmom.com She always puts good deals that are out there and also some freebies! Hope this helps

[Leah H-G]

- here I use what we have in pantries but still shop each week only for what is really on sale plus coupon that I store in my pantry so that I'm never out of something & paying full price...couponmom.com is a free source for the list & extra coupons

- unplug chargers when you're not charging things & use those plug strips for other items you always have plugged in

- we have been known to create a game of timing showers (of course making sure the scrubbing still happens is important)

- paperbackswap.com...when you want a reading fix without the library return schedule

- Epinions.com...write product reviews & earn $ (of course this assumes the time to actually do this)...I've done it for years - completely legitimate

I could go on & on... :) Congrats on the lack of freaking out...I'm not all there yet.

[Marie]

Sounds like you've got a great list going already. Way to go. Here's my 2 cents:

I make a lot of my own "convenience food." Granola bars, cookies, etc. I think it saves money- but I've never really added it up.

Soup. Soup is so cheep, easy to freeze, and good for you.

Casseroles are great for meals when everone can't eat together.

I always shop first for clothes at "Once upon a child." I bought Hannah an entire wardrobe (truly) for $80 - plus I brought in her used stuff and got $20.00 back (some of which I bought there originally).

That's all I've got. You covered the rest very well. Oh- I did remember one more thing - God will provide.

[christy Kennedy]

Great start.
Ryan and I plan a menu every week after looking through the adds (our meals are based on what's on sale). We then go online and try and find coupons for those items already on sale. We cook and freeze a lot. Makes meal prep on Sunday long- but throughout the week it's Great.

We have recently really been more thoughtful about what we buy. We really didn't think we had so many "things" that we just "picked up" while we were out. That has cut down a lot.

Making out own snacks (even if it's just buying a bag of chips and separating it ourselves vs. buying snack size.

I second the soup idea. It's still winter and it's wonderful.

Hang in there- ck

[Rachel Sheldon]

Yes! I cut Peter's hair...have been since we got married. I recently tried to cut Stella's b/c she was starting to get a mullet...she moved...then I had to even it out....now she REALLY looks like a boy...sweet Rach, sweet. Oh, & we eat the super cheap bagged cereal...also makes great lowfat munchy snacks. We mix all of them together for a "friendship" snack...yummy. Love the list. Love your blog

[Veronica]

Here are my ideas....and since you have the same dutch background you will know how frugal they are....

....always turn off powerbars to computers at night....they still draw energy...as much as a 35 year old fridge!!!

....sweaters and slippers!! and nothing beats all snuggling up under a blanket while watching tv or a dvd!

....dvd swap with friends...you really are only going to watch it once or twice.

...clothes lines!! a dutch tradition....we used to have some over the heating vents to dry laundry and keep the house warm!!

...dutch people reuse everything...milk bags, tea bags, and ziplock bags...

...soup, soup and more soup....remember that crockpot meatball soup recipe you gave me....still have it....still use it...except I make my own meatballs ... much cheaper and healthier than buying the premade ones.

...have some couple time doing the dishes....we have stopped using our dishwasher and the electical bill has dropped by 15.00 per month!!

...prayer....God always provides!!

...wishing you and your family the best of luck over the next while.

[Rachel Sheldon]

ha ha ha.....do I shop at Aldi? It is only the greatest store around. I started shopping there when I was 16 & lived in Germany!! LOVE Aldi!!

[Katie Sportel]

I used to shop at Aldi all the time-but they don't take coupons! I get coupons online and in the Sunday paper and really save a lot grocery shopping! Walgreens has been one of my new favorite spots because they have great deals on bathroom stuff-toothpaste, shampoo etc. and they take coupons--even 2 coupons for 1 item:) They also have great deals of their own if you watch their add and their supersaver coupon book where you can get a lot of things for free. Although I still go to Aldi for some things-using coupons at Meijer has proven beneficial to us:) We have a grocery budget each week-look through the deals and make our list of meals for the week ahead. We try to grocery shop just once every 2 weeks-it prevents us from going and getting unnecessary things! Although we do have to stop to get milk or fruit etc. sometimes. Frozen pizza instead of take-out is another great money saver:) This is getting long, but maybe it helps!!??

[Ba Orao]

I don't know that I've gotten the savings side worked out well enough to be able to offer a family of five advice, but as far as convenience goes I would suggest getting a copy of The Joy Of Cooking if you don't already have one. Its got about 4,500 recipes, substitution recommendations for just about everything ingredient you can think of and you can look up recipes by ingredient. Saturday mornings now involve me waking up, opening that book and finding out what I can make with what I've got in the house, and believe it or not it works.

This weekend's discovery was lemon and sour cream pancakes.

I'd say that book saves me about $10-$15 a week auxiliary trips to the grocery store.

I'd guess you could do the same considering you probably have large quantities of whatever you're getting from Costco.

[Jodi]

We cut out the TV. (50$ a month)
We get our DVD's from the library.
More creative play and less schedualled activities for the kids. WE are skipping organized soccer this year.

[Abby]

I just sent you links to join some sites that pay you to read emails. I've already gotten 2 checks from them, so I know it's legit. They're called InboxDollars and SendEarnings. And have you ever heard of MyPoints? I love it because you get points for reading emails and can redeem them for gift cards. I've gotten 3 or 4 $25 Macy's gift cards that way :)

[Abby]

I just sent you links to join some sites that pay you to read emails. I've already gotten 2 checks from them, so I know it's legit. They're called InboxDollars and SendEarnings. And have you ever heard of MyPoints? I love it because you get points for reading emails and can redeem them for gift cards. I've gotten 3 or 4 $25 Macy's gift cards that way :)

[Ba Orao]

Somebody sent me a link yesterday to a service called ChaCha. They've reopened Guide registration. So basically you can apply to answer questions people text in from their cell phones. Depending on your stated area of expertise you can get paid up between $0.10-$0.20 per question answered. I have no idea how strong their service is, or how busy a person could be answering questions, but lets say you Guide for an hour or two a day and in that time you can answer 30 questions. Thats like $100-$200 a month. and if you're like me and you're surfing the internet anyways, it might be worth a shot.

http://becomeaguide.chacha.com/index.php/guide-roles/guide-role-status/

they were open to new registration yesterday, I don't know about today.

[Melanie H]

Melissa,

We have just the 16.00 basic cable
Make a menu with the sale adds each week
Use SCRIP (for you it's TRIP) for groceries, etc. for credit towards our tuition.
Stick with our monthly budget (which is bare bones) and pay cash for most things.
We do not eat out.
We've reduced out tuition bill significantly by moving to a new school
Shop at thrift and resale shops when possible.
Give homemade gifts very often...even at Christmas time.
Bake and cook from scratch.
Use the tickets available at the library for activities: Children's museum, etc.
Take advantage of library programs, books, dvd's etc
Have bartered for services when possible.
Plan ahead for road trips: plan snacks, meals, etc.
Make coffee and tea at home instead of buying one. If we buy one we get the house coffee and not the fancy drinks :).
Loan and borrow kids clothes to and from friends. )This year Tati needed a Christmas dress and I called Marie...of course she had two beautiful dresses for Tati to use!)
Purchase clothes when they are out of season.
Shop at Aldi's for things not on sale.

I'm sure there are other things I'm not thinking of..I'll let you know.

I love getting new ideas too. I also visit a lot of web sites with ideas...I will pass some of them on to you.

[Renee]

Definitely do coupons. I've been couponing it since my husband lost his job in the middle of January. Still have no job, but we've yet to cut into our savings because of the drastic savings couponing created for me! I budget for 5 of us every meal (no eating out and no school lunches) for 400/month. That was a HUGE cut for us with the coupon savings...and I have more food in my pantry and freezer now than EVER BEFORE. Check out my blog for tips...and more sites to go to!