part of my life as a stay at home mom is managing how all our money goes out. and while saving money may seem to be these crazy easy thing to do, it really does amaze me (as well as most others) how quickly it can disappear.
since becoming a sahm 3 years ago, i have always been looking for ways to scrimp here & save there. and while it does take a little practice, it does add up. over time, you find tricks, secrets & shortcuts -and i feel pretty dang proud when they happen.
so i figured i would do a little post on some ways that i save, scrimp & basically make a little seem like a lot without feeling like you're completely poor.
1. cut the cord with your cable company. this has to be one of our biggest money savers. we always had cable of some kind, but i found us watching only a handful of channels. so when i quit working completely, we also quit cable. its been almost 2 years of no cable - we instead subscribed to hulu, netflix & bought an HD antenna for our news & local stuff. cable was costing us $150 a month!!! now we pay about $20 for both streaming services. savings $130 a month
2. assess your electric bill. i recently was looking over our electric usage to determine how to save some money without sitting in the dark all day... i realized we werent in a contract! make sure your account is on a fixed plan rather than a variable plan. yes this requires a term commitment but if you have a place to live, you need electricity. we were previously paying up 15.4 cents per KWH & after assessing we are down to the max of 9.2 cents and free weekends! going off our previous bill and usage, we would have saved $25 being on a fixed plan..
3. stop eating out & meal plan. i stress this to most of my friends (or family) who ask how do you manage xyz. i meal plan.i take a few minutes during naptime (preferrably) before pay and make a plan. i assess what i still have & make meals from that & then schedule out my 2 week of meals - we're paid bi-weekly, so i plan 14 dinners approx, weekend lunches & weekend breakfasts for 3 of us.. weekend breakfasts are usually easy: cereal, cinnamon rolls, eggs or something else thats quick - pancakes are usually a dinner meal during the course of 14 days so i try not to burn anyone out by making them for breakfast... however if i have leftovers i put them in a bag for the fridge and reheat as a breakfast for ben during the week.
back from my tangent..... if you need meal planning help, reach out to me, seriously. im always searching for new ideas, while keeping fan favorites in the rotation. you dont need fancy software or anything crazy to meal plan.. paper & pen.
once i've meal planned, i make my grocery list. this will keep you from eating out because "you have no idea whats for dinner" - we eat out mayyybe 2 or 3 times & its usually something quick, easy & affordable.. unless its a special occasion. we used to be really bad about eating out.. and now we only use that option if we've been busy & cooking is just not in the cards or we find ourselves out for the day. & even then, something, easy & affordable.
4. rent a movie.. sounds kind of like an oxymoron to saving money. but instead of going out & doing, we stay in, make food & rent a movie.. its $5 at most & usually have a good amount of time to watch, unless you redbox, but then its $2 for 24 hours... we love fandangonow since we stream right to our tv & have viewing abilities for 48 hours.. another perk? you get points for renting towards coupons for free or cheap rentals.
while some of these ideas seem very redundant, its because they are tried and true methods... hopefully, they will help you too, if you're looking to save some money here and there.
this blogging thing seems sparse, but i hope to take this blog in a few new directions in the future - including a meal planning series (& a few other ideas, that i'm still piecing together) - tonight we're making baked chicken tacos with rice & then sugar cookies for dessert (that we made earlier this morning!) i'll be sure to share those recipes in the coming days.
happy tuesday!
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