Creative Ways to Save Money

A while back, I was interviewed by a local writer for a piece she was doing on how local moms save a few bucks here and there. I realize that she had several other people contributing to the article and therefore was not able to use all of my brilliant inspired practical suggestions, so I thought I would publish them here.

On surviving the recession:

Like many families, we felt the effects of the recession in 2009. During this time, we started looking more carefully at how and where we were spending our money and made some adjustments. I feel that it is important to keep an “attitude of gratitude” during these times. I don’t think anyone needs to look very far to see someone who is worse off than they are. While it seems many spend their time bemoaning “the economy”, we try to keep our focus on the many wonderful things we have in our lives and give thanks for those. We are trying to teach our son that a lot of your happiness in life is determined by how you look at things. I hope we are doing a good job modeling a positive outlook for him.

On saving money as a family:

That said, we have made some adjustments in how and where we spend our money. We have done a lot of the basic things you hear about everywhere such as eating out less and brewing our own coffee rather than hitting Starbucks every day. I keep an eye out for coupons and try to do my grocery shopping on double coupon day. I make use of websites such as mysavings.com that offer either printable coupons and/or free stuff and samples. I find the company websites for the products I use most and sign up for their newsletter or updates. They often send extra coupons to their subscribers. I also make a grocery list and (try!) to stick to it rather than get tempted to start throwing things into the cart.

During the growing season, we head to the farmers markets to get affordable organic produce and meats. I will often buy a large package of meat on sale, and then split up the package, add a homemade marinade, pop into a vacuum sealed freezer bag and put it in the freezer. When we are ready to eat it, it marinates while defrosting and is ready to be cooked at the end of a busy day. Because it’s so easy, the temptation to just “grab a pizza” is much less. The crockpot is also a huge help on busy days. Having dinner ready when we get home makes us much less likely to hit the drive through. (Both our wallets AND our waistlines thank us for that one!)

Last summer, I had an empty patch of soil where we had removed a shrub that had gotten too big. It’s in a spot that gets great light and is fairly hidden from view, so I tried growing some vegetables and had great success (once I figured out how to keep the rabbits away). Not only was it convenient and inexpensive, my son was more likely to eat veggies he had helped to grow! I’ve grown herbs for years and dry the extras and the end of the season to have fresh herbs all year long.

We have learned that the price on almost everything is negotiable. The trick is to ask. We didn’t want to pay full price when we replaced our refrigerator so we asked the salesman we were working with if he could do any better. He offered us one with a dent for a significant discount. The dent is hidden by cabinets in our kitchen, so we didn’t mind at all! Don’t be afraid to haggle – it gets to be a game after a while. If you have a service to offer, try bartering for things that you want. I have a friend who does the cleaning at a fitness center in exchange for a free family membership.

If you are looking to lower the cost of things like your cable TV service, your ISP, or cell phone, you need to speak with the retention department. Most customer service reps and sales people do not have the authority to adjust your bill. If you speak to the retention department and tell them that you are calling to switch your service over to one of their competitors, they will be very willing to negotiate with you. My husband (who hardly uses his cell phone) managed to negotiate a plan for $15 a month!

Nights out don’t have to stop just because money’s tight. Trade babysitting with friends – you and the hubby get a night out (without worrying about whether the teenager at your house is watching the kids or spending the night texting her friends) and your kids get to have a special night with their friends too. The following weekend, you return the favor for them. Want to go out for a nice dinner? Check out restaurants.com for deep discounts on gift certificates to local restaurants. Many of the radio stations also offer discounted gift certificates to local business. Just be sure to read the fine print – some cannot be used on weekends.

Since this is the last year before my son will go to school for full days, I didn’t want to give up our afternoon adventures. We bought memberships to the zoo and several of museums. The memberships pay for themselves after just a few visits and then we get to go for free for the rest of the year. We also take advantage of a lot of the activities through our local Park & Rec department.

Clothes for growing children can get expensive quickly. Many times you can score like new clothes on eBay for a fraction of the retail price. When I have a positive experience with a seller, I add them to my “favorite sellers” list. As my son grows, so will hers and she will most likely be selling clothes in the next size up. Craigslist.org is another great source of second hand items (although it is less controlled than eBay so be careful when using it) and many people have had good luck with freecycle.org as well.

One of our biggest savings actually comes from me making my own cleaning supplies. I started doing this because I was concerned about the chemicals many cleaners use. I now use vinegar quite a bit. It is proven to kill germs and is nontoxic, so I don’t have to worry. I use it to clean countertops, floors, almost everything. If you find the smell objectionable, add a few drops of essential oil to it – the house smells fresh with none of the chemicals found in air fresheners. This summer I started making my own hand soap as well. I used one of the foaming soap dispensers we had purchased and used a tablespoon of Dr. Bronner’s soap and filled the rest with water. If you’re a germaphobe (like me) you can add a few drops of Tea Tree oil to it. Now you have a natural anti-bacterial soap that doesn’t have any of that nasty Triclosan in it (did you know that Triclosan can combine with the chlorine in your water to form chloroform gas which causes cancer?).

We don’t like to give up our family vacations, and have discovered that it is very economical to purchase other people’s time-share weeks to use instead of booking our own hotel. Many times, the time-shares are in nicer hotels than we would have sprung for, have more amenities, and cost much less! Myresortnetwork.com is a great resource for this. Many people also rent their time-shares on eBay.

Since we aren’t huge fans of cutting back, one strategy I used was to create additional income to close the gap. I took something (writing) I used to do for a hobby and created a business out of it. I generate income by article marketing, copywriting, and blogging. I am also in the process of finishing my first book.

On teaching saving to kids:

I feel that it is very important to teach children about saving and using money responsibly at a young age. My son has chores that he completes and he also receives an allowance. He has a passbook savings account at a local bank where he receives tokens each time he makes a deposit. He saves up the tokens for a special prize. He owns several CDs (certificates of deposit – not compact disks) purchased with gift money he received and understands the concept of interest. We discuss what happens to the money once it is deposited and why it is important to save. We also point out how much things cost in terms he can understand such as “that toy would cost three weeks of allowance”. He is a natural saver and loves to find coins and put them into his piggy bank to be deposited into his savings account and almost always chooses to save his allowance rather than spend it.

(Dave Ramsey has a wonderful series of children’s books on saving that are appropriate for preschool and older.)