Ways I've Saved Some CASH This Week...
I have been feeling extra thrifty this week. I'm not sure why... maybe it's the new furnace we had to install last week... or maybe it is the new air conditioner that was installed with it... or maybe it is the four new tires for our van that need to purchased imminently... Hmmmmm....
Anyway, I've been looking to save some cash. When you keep getting slammed with expenses that are somewhat out of your control, it feels good to take charge of the spending that you can control. There are a million ways to do this, and here are a few ways I did it this week:
1) We didn't eat out. I made my meal plan, bought the groceries, and we ate them. Tonight, my husband and daughter are visiting Grandma out of town, so of course it was tempting to pick up a pizza or something to feed to myself, Fisher and Holland. But instead we split the leftover spaghetti and cut into the watermelon I bought yesterday. And we were full and happy. Every time we eat out, it costs about $20-30! That is a lot of money that could be saved if we just ate at home- even if it is just odds and ends found in the fridge...
2) I asked nicely. This is a bit of a long story, but here's what happened: My husband had a small balance on his Kohl's card. We both forgot about it because he rarely uses it. Kohl's kept leaving messages on our phone to call them and I knew my balance was zero, so I never called them. Well today we get a notice of our delinquincy on our account. We owed our small balance plus a $15 late fee. So I called Kohl's and I told them what happened. Then I asked them to not charge me the late fee. And they said "OK!" Then as I was about to pay our balance over the phone, he told me that there would be a $10 service charge for this payment. I asked nicely if I could not pay that too. And the nice gentleman at Koh's said "OK!" Sweet! I saved $25!
3) I made my own yogurt. Making my own yogurt costs the price of a 1/2 gallon of milk. I used whole milk, so that was about $2.25. After I make the yogurt and strain it to thicken it up, it makes a little more than a quart. A quart of Greek yogurt costs about $6, so I save almost $4 by making it myself. Here's how I do it!
4) I am making more sack lunches. School started this week, and hot lunches cost $2 each. That is a pretty cheap lunch, but I'm pretty sure the lunches I pack for Fisher cost about half of that. So at the beginning of the week we go through the menu and he picks out 1-2 days he'd like to eat the hot lunch. The rest of the week I make him a sack lunch. This week he had turkey sandwiches or wraps, butterscotch pudding or chocolate chip cookies, fresh fruit, baby carrots and pretzels.
5) I bought white bread. And it was Wonderbread at that. I nearly ALWAYS buy 100% whole wheat bread, but when I was at Target, they had Smart White Bread on sale for $1.80. It has 2.5g fiber per slice, so I decided to buy it for this week. I won't buy it very often, as I would rather use whole grains that haven't been processed, but for this week it saved me a couple bucks and Claire was over-the-moon about having white bread on her plate!
Anyway, I've been looking to save some cash. When you keep getting slammed with expenses that are somewhat out of your control, it feels good to take charge of the spending that you can control. There are a million ways to do this, and here are a few ways I did it this week:
1) We didn't eat out. I made my meal plan, bought the groceries, and we ate them. Tonight, my husband and daughter are visiting Grandma out of town, so of course it was tempting to pick up a pizza or something to feed to myself, Fisher and Holland. But instead we split the leftover spaghetti and cut into the watermelon I bought yesterday. And we were full and happy. Every time we eat out, it costs about $20-30! That is a lot of money that could be saved if we just ate at home- even if it is just odds and ends found in the fridge...
2) I asked nicely. This is a bit of a long story, but here's what happened: My husband had a small balance on his Kohl's card. We both forgot about it because he rarely uses it. Kohl's kept leaving messages on our phone to call them and I knew my balance was zero, so I never called them. Well today we get a notice of our delinquincy on our account. We owed our small balance plus a $15 late fee. So I called Kohl's and I told them what happened. Then I asked them to not charge me the late fee. And they said "OK!" Then as I was about to pay our balance over the phone, he told me that there would be a $10 service charge for this payment. I asked nicely if I could not pay that too. And the nice gentleman at Koh's said "OK!" Sweet! I saved $25!
3) I made my own yogurt. Making my own yogurt costs the price of a 1/2 gallon of milk. I used whole milk, so that was about $2.25. After I make the yogurt and strain it to thicken it up, it makes a little more than a quart. A quart of Greek yogurt costs about $6, so I save almost $4 by making it myself. Here's how I do it!
4) I am making more sack lunches. School started this week, and hot lunches cost $2 each. That is a pretty cheap lunch, but I'm pretty sure the lunches I pack for Fisher cost about half of that. So at the beginning of the week we go through the menu and he picks out 1-2 days he'd like to eat the hot lunch. The rest of the week I make him a sack lunch. This week he had turkey sandwiches or wraps, butterscotch pudding or chocolate chip cookies, fresh fruit, baby carrots and pretzels.
5) I bought white bread. And it was Wonderbread at that. I nearly ALWAYS buy 100% whole wheat bread, but when I was at Target, they had Smart White Bread on sale for $1.80. It has 2.5g fiber per slice, so I decided to buy it for this week. I won't buy it very often, as I would rather use whole grains that haven't been processed, but for this week it saved me a couple bucks and Claire was over-the-moon about having white bread on her plate!
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