Money Saving Tips

It's the little things that we do that can save a buck here and there-but it totally ads up! Here are just a few ways to save money!

1. Brown bag your lunch. Let's say you eat out 5 days a week at just $5 a pop. That is $1300 a year to have a probably not too delicious 5 buck lunch during the work week. What in the world could you do with $1300?? Wouldn't THAT be nice!

2. Don't touch your air/heat! Set it and forget it. If it's blazin' saddles at your house set it to 72 and then do NOT touch it. Don't turn it down, or kick it up a notch. LEAVE it alone. Studies have proven this will save an average of $40 each month which comes out $480.00 per year!

3. Cancel the magazines! I KNOW that you love the National Enquirer (don't we all), but your local library has it for free! And you probably have a neighbor or friend that has a HUGE stack of these that they are about to trash... get it for free. Depending on how many magazine subscriptions you get, cancelling them could save you up to $100 each year!

4. You want your diamonds to sparkle... who doesn't?!?! But that $10.00 bottle of cleaner you are buying every few months is nothing more than ammonia and water. Trust me--I had a jeweler tell me to save my money. SO, I went from buying a bottle around 3-4 times a year (average of $40.00 per year spent) to buying a gallon of ammonia at the Dollar Tree for $1.00. TADA! There ya go :) Let's spend that money elsewhere.

5. Laundry time! Do it early in the morning or late in the evening. Energy costs are cheaper when the sun is not up in the high sky yet. According to GE's newsletter published in 2010, by doing so you could save easily $15-25 dollars EACH month! So start the load at night, and then throw it in the dryer before work. Save that money!

There are ALWAYS more and more ways to save money. I plan to do better about sharing these. What are your money saving tips???

Dressing frugally...or just down right cheap!

Alright its time to get to the things that women WANT to hear... dressing on a budget! It can be tough but I have found it to be simple and quite fun!

I have never had the luxury of going to any store and buying whatever clothes I wanted. From a young age I knew to look for the sale racks and dig through there because buying something that was NOT on sale was probably not going to happen. I THANK my mom for teaching me this at an early age. Much easier to have spent your entire life shopping that way then having to learn it out of necessity at an older age. (Hard to teach old dogs new tricks). So with always shopping for things on sale and understanding how to stretch a dollar from a very early age, shopping has always been FUN to me but it's also been the time to DIG for that best bargain.

I've always wanted to be able to go to the mall and know that money was no object. That I could just spend and spend and spend! But... the truth is i'm way too far gone for that. Jere suprised me with a shopping spree a few months ago. I had quite a bit of cash in my pocket to go buy whatever. He BEGGED me not to make price an object and just to buy whatever but i still caught myself going to sale racks, looking at the tags, asking if they had instore coupons and so on! And though I worried Jere would be mad he actually was impressed. I managed to buy myself two pairs of shoes, a shirt, curtains and a curtain rod, a picture frame that I ended up dressing up and giving to my parents for Christmas, a cute picture frame for our house (Which I will show you later), a pair of earrings AND... I came home with $72.00 in my pocket. Jere had given me $200 to spend on ME...and I came home with enough to get my oil changed, buy Ava a few things at the consignment shop, treat her to a new dinosaur from Tuesday morning and still have a little blow money left!

My point... it CAN be done. You can have NICE things, cute clothes, awesome accessories, a well decorated home and NOT have to take out a second mortgage!!!!

Back to dressing frugally... it takes practice. It takes the ability to look at a shirt that you may not be in LOVE with and think about all that you could wear it with, what you could do to jazz it up... if the shirt is kinda cute and its only $2.00...YOU BUY IT! And you got home and empty our your tank top drawer, empty out your stash of necklaces and you play dress up!

The shirt-dress thing I have on today I bought at our local Goodwill store. It still had a price tag on it. It's not the cutest thing ever. But it works. It's different, a funky pattern and something that I won't be wearing a LOT but it's a fun piece to break up the monotoity of black pants and black shirts. :)

My husband took the pic for me. He chopped my head off and somehow managed to get the trashcan in the picture but, well, you get the idea. :)

Goodwill, good bargains!

Have you been to your local goodwill? Yeah, I didn't think so. You are not too sure about the location of town, or the funny smell that they ALL have. Well, I am going to encourage you to go NOW! I know it seems silly but if you only knew the bargains I have gotten there you would have left 20 minutes ago!!

My friend Rachel is ALSO a fellow Goodwill lover. She has gotten some of the cutest things at the Goodwill. Clothes, home stuff, plates, antiques. AWESOME stuff!

You have to think about it this way... the people that drop off stuff at Goodwill tend to have really good stuff. They are people that don't have the time to go through everything, don't want to have a yardsale, they don't want to take the time to take their nice items to a consignment shop. They don't need the extra money so they drop it off. And that is why WE go by there :)

I have gotten name brand clothes WITH tags on it, cute home decor items, SCENE IT dvd game for $2.00 bucks. A light brite for Ava with ALL of the pieces and it was the updated version for only $3.00. I have bought brand new coloring books for a quarter, plates that I bought for 50 cents that I was going to use to decopauge anyway!  I bought Ava a brand new bike for Christmas for $15.00!! it was a disney princess bike that was in PERFECT shape.

So why wouldn't you go by? It's worth the digging I promise. The treasures you find for next to nothing make your day!!!

Make it a game. Go by with a limit of $10 bucks and see what you can find!!! you will be SO glad that you did!

PERFECT gift!

Ok guys,today on GROUPON.com the daily special is Bath and Body Works promotions! You can pay $10.00 and get a $20 gift card to B&B, or pay $15 and get a $30 gift card. The gift card itself is a GREAT gift BUT... what if you kept the gift cards and went shopping with it. Hold onto the cards until they have one of their HUGE sales and then WA-LAH! You just racked up!

You could get enough presents to cover a few birthdays, or gifts for teachers at Christmas, stocking stuffers, etc.

The list of things you can do with that gift card is endless... but you better hurry. This one will go FAST! Also, if you look at their website by clicking above one of the FIRST things you see is that their soaps and wallflowers are majorly on sale!! :)

HAPPY SHOPPING! :)

SAVE IT!

Ok so I recently almost fell into this trap.I recieved a letter from Glamour magazine saying that I could get 2 years subscription for $15 bucks PLUS a free bag! WOW! WHat a deal... almost.

I was at the library the other day which by the way is my FAVORITE place to be... and realized that they have EVERY single magazine there. You can sit and read them while your kids play, or just go on a lazy rainy day by yourself. No you can't take it home but how many times do we get magazines and read the once, then chunk them. So... why not save that $15 bucks and just read them at the library? Not only that... they have way more than glamour. They have EVERY magazine thats EVER put out.

Ya know what I did? I transfered $15 bucks into savings since I was kinda planning on spending it anyway. No, 15 bucks isn't a LOT to put in savings, but its something.

Save your money and hit up the library. OR read it online. Most of the articles can be viewed without paying AND a lot of the articles can be found by simply googling. Every website and magazine uses the same material anyway.

Just another tip from the bargain hunting mommy.

Chuck E Cheese

http://email.chuckecheese.com/hostedemail/share.htm?h=7e2a5a76fadf0cf0a200cb6baaf987b4&CID=12514885992&ch=B5FFF5D75A3615878B429D2EC7735A62&show=1



i know this is a long link but its worth it! This is a Chuck E Cheese coupon for a LARGE pizza and 75 tokens for $25 bucks. If you haven't already signed up for Chuck E Cheese coupons, go to their website and do it! Its totally worth it... I have used these SEVERAL times. But keep in mind when you get there to look at OTHER options... you want to get THE best deal, not just be pumped to use a coupon.


Be smart about it! And hey, its the weekend...have a little fun!

Christmas...for free?

I can't tell you how excited I am! This morning while sitting at my computer at work I popped open facebook. I know, I know. HUGE suprise :) Well, I sure am glad I did! JUST as I logged on some "news feed" was coming through and my friend  posted "hey if anyone wants some toys lemme know. we are cleaning out a room and HAVE tons of good, clean, gently used toys!" I IMMEDIATELY said I WILL TAKE THEM!!!

So I ran by to get them. #1 it was good to see her but also it was like friggin' Christmas morning!!! I'm talking I RACKED up! Or I should say Ava racked up. Anything from barbies, doll clothes, stuffed animals, brand new crayons, a shopping cart, a cleaning set that had like a little broom and vaccum and everything!! OH MAN OH MAN! I am PUMPED!!!! Yes, I will buy my child presents as well. In fact she already has a good little stash that I have been working on all year hidden in my closet for her. But wow! I hit the mother load.

I will wash everything, wipe everything down, and ta-da! I am so pumped!! One thing to remember when being a "Bargain hunter" is that you CAN'T get caught up in getting all these great deals...so you buy more. If thats how you are gonna do it then its NOT a deal at all. So... lesson of today is... take free things! Look for bargains like that in the paper. In the classifieds I have seen more than once where people have listed encyclopedia sets to give away. Or "100 books for free..come pick up" . Now don't get me wrong... I do not want to end up on the show "Hoarders" nor do I want you too...but if its free, what does it hurt to look through it? You could sell some on ebay? Trash some, keep some, give a good read to your neighbor. I mean come on--its FUN!

So get excited! Go lookin' for bargains and lemme know what you find!!!!

The adventure of the consignment shop...

Thanks to those who emailed me, text and called… appreciate it!! So for that reason alone… I am starting off with consignment shops!

If it weren’t for consignment shops, me and Ava would be wearing the SAME clothes all the time. I’m not kiddin’…my budget doesn’t allow me to spend a ton of money on clothes. In FACT, my budget barely offers any room for clothes! So… I have done what seems like the most logical thing to do…go to consignment shops. I’m not talking about walking into a dirty store where the clothes smell like an old persons attic, I am talking about walking into a clean, crisp, nice store with lots of options for you and the kiddos. Sorry guys, for some reason mens departments at consignment shops are either 1.full of a terrible selection, or 2. non existent. (I think this is because men don’t let go of things…they spend more for them, they don’t go out of style, and they wear them til they are worn and ratty.) BUT for moms and kids consignment shops can be like Christmas EVERY single day.

Case and point…today I took a huge load of mine and Ava’s clothes to The Walk In Closet. (Perfect place here in Hot Springs). I dropped off enough clothes that when they all sell I will more than likely have about $46-50 dollars to use there. Now, you CAN get cash back, but I use this as my savings account for clothes. I always have at least a little bit of money there waiting on me, so if we need something, I go digging out at the Walk In Closet for it. Anyway, I dropped off all of these clothes today and took a gander through the kids size 5 section. HOLY COW! I bought Ava 2 pairs of jeans (1 from Gap and 1 from Childrens place which STILL had the tags on them), 2 fleece sets that included the pants, a shirt AND a jacket, a halloween shirt that was too cute, a flanel top for Ava that pretty much will make her look like a rockstar, and a pair of pj’s. So… I went to check out and I had 17 dollars left on credit. And then I paid out of pocket $20. SO… I walked out the door with $37 bucks worth of clothes for Ava but the REAL truth is that if I had gone to those places where these clothes are from, I actually walked out with $100 dollars worth of clothes that i NEVER could have bought her at regular prices.

Last month I was in there dropping off clothes of Ava’s to be consigned, and I bought her a pair of New Balance tennis shoes that looked BRAND new for $9.00. They are even a half size bigger so I already have her spring tennis shoes. And if you have a 5 year old, you understand why I am already assuming her current shoes will be SHOT by spring.

So its like this… Ava dresses adoreable, if I do say so myself. She has a closet full of clothes, but luckily I have gotten rid of the clothes that don’t fit, or she doesn’t like, or that she doesn’t ever wear. Yes, I spent money today on Ava’s clothes but she NEEDED them.

It’s crucial to remember this… it’s not a bargain if you DONT NEED IT!

THE bargain hunting mommy

Well ladies and gents…its true. I AM THE bargain hunting mommy. Not many people would argue with me, but some peeps just like to argue so they may attempt to. Let it be said that I pride myself on being this bargin hunting mommy. From Christmas presents, to making budget cuts, I am ALWAYS the one that looks for the cheaper, money saving way out. I wish I knew where to start. I’d love to help people save money, but the truth is that some people don’t want to. OR maybe its that they don’t have to. I HAVE to and I WANT to so its hard for me to see it any other way. BUT if you are one of those few people that don’t mind throwing money away then this blog probably isn’t for you to read unless its for you to critcize.
I have lots of tricks to save money. Or even in some cases make you FEEL like you have more money. I create my monthly budget so that it ALWAYS feels like I have some cush room, even if I don’t. I know that makes no sense, but we will get to that.
I need tips on what you guys want me to write about. Call me, text me, comment, whatever. Do you want to save money on your electricity bill? Do you need help saving money to cell service? Are you spending a fortune on clothes? What about Christmas…that ALWAYS gets people in a frenzy. What if I told you that if your family has 13 people in it, I could get everyone a minimum of 2 presents a piece and you would NOT spend over $100? Would THAT make you a believer?!
So… lemme know what you want me to blog about and I will do it. I have lots of tricks up these big sleeves.
Done for now…go find a dime, put it in your pocket, and imagine how good it would feel if that were a $100 dollar bill?