cost savings tips !

[HALEY]

Mike also put one new storm door up, hopefully if its not raining this weekend he'll get the other one up, i'm going to see if it makes a difference on my a/c and gas bill.
Last year we also put up all energy light bulbs, i didn't see to much of a difference in my electric. But cutting down on washing clothes, im going to check it next month.
I couldn't believe prices of groceries, when i went yesterday, i shop wal mart for all my baby stuff and then i go to giant eagle for my meats, wal mart meat is just terrible, i got the pop special that giant eagle was advertising for our lunches, i started packing a lunch again for work, sometimes i eat lunch sometimes i don't..
so i'll save some money there too..
i got Micah off of all baby food, so i'm saving tons of money there, next step is to start the potty training.. oh boy !!!!

[Chandra Amaya]

my biggest tip is ...when you go shopping, be it for cleaning supplies and household goods, groceries, stuff for kids, clothes...whatever. Leave the debit, credit cards and checkbook at home! Take out your spending limit at the ATM or just save it out of your check and only take that with you. That way you CANNOT go over your budget because you can't pay for it.
Our biggest cost is gas... we have to drive to a different city and back sevral times a day. I take my son to school (same city), come home... wake up my hubby and the baby they drop me off and come home (a city away) they drive home. He picks my son up from school, comes home, picks me up as he goes in (we work in the same place but opposite shifts.). I drive home. I have to get all the kids up and go pick him up then drive back home. This is a normal day without any trips to stores, any bills or errands to run... We spend wayyy too much on gas. We need a second car but that is not in our budget for some time. We have no one to share rides with. I hope gas stops going up soon, but i have heard it will be $5 a gallon by summer. It already takes about $82 to fill up.

[judy]

I feel for you Traci! But, it does sound like you and hubby are good to each other.

[DianaB]

When you go out to eat have your whole family order water to drink. Have small children share a meal and just ask for an extra plate. Adults can do this too if a meal is too large for one person. Take left-overs home and warm up for lunch the next day.

[AngieDoogles]

I buy off brands whenever possible. The savings really add up. A few things, like cereal, I just don't like the off brands so we go with name brand but use coupons.

Use your bags from the grocery store. I put larger trash items (like milk cartons and big boxes) in these and take them out immediately. I use a lot less trash bags this way.

Always ask for a student or senior discount if it applies. Some places give these types of discounts even if they don't advertise it on their menu or price lists.

Homemade cleaning solutions are usually very cheap.

Precook and freeze a few meals so when you're in a hurry you aren't tempted to eat out to save time.

For entertainment, try going to a park instead of a movie. You can take your furbabies and have a great time!

[Gina]

I like Judy am a shopper and I am curbing my spending , will not buy stuff that is unnecessary. Another good point like Traci mentioned I will try to use cash instead of credit cards. I am paying them off and will not add on to them as long as I can help it.

[judy]

I did go shopping today because I got a 30% off coupon from Kohl's. For a little less than $50, I bought 3 tops and 2 cutie pie baby boy outfits for a gift. I saved almost $20.00 with the 30% off.

The checker outer was on the phone and almost missed my coupon! OH NO, YOU DON'T!!!

Another way I save is to use my ATM card as a credit card for almost everything I buy. This slows me down, because the money comes right out of my checking account. No minimum payments here. I also realized that it's a waste of time for me to charge anything on a credit card. It all comes out of my checking account in the end anyway.

I do it as a credit card instead of a debit card because I'm enrolled in the Upromise program. It's a way to save money for the children to go to college.