Victor and I were talking tonight about ways we try to save money. I thought this would be a good discussion question. So what are YOU doing these days to save a few dollars here and there?
Here's a few things we are doing:
- we don't buy bottled water anymore - I refill our water bottles for the car.
- we don't have long distance on our phone - we buy the 1000 minute cards from SAMS for $30 or so and program the numbers into our phone. Our phone bill each month is $16 and we refill the minutes on our card 3-4 times a year. So, yearly total is about $280 not counting cell phones. And now we're trying Magic Jack. We'll see how that works. It should cost $20/yr.
- I clip coupons and shop at VONS where they double the coupons. I get fruits and veggies from Sprouts or Henrys where they are really cheap.
- for lunches - I buy a big bag of pretzels (or whatever snacks) and put them in little baggies instead of buying the individual small packaged ones. L takes a water bottle to school instead of juice boxes.
- when we go out to eat - which is rare these days, we pick restaurants we have coupons for (I am the coupon queen.)
- trying to get L and M to shut off the lights in their rooms - but no luck there yet
- we take a bath together as a family once a week - OK, no, we don't really do that.
- we trimmed back our magazine subscriptions - we didn't read most of them anyway
- Victor got different bids on insurances and found out you can get discounts if you have certain degrees (and since we are highly inteligent we got numerous discounts)
- we'd like to do babysitting swapping with someone to save on babysitting fees! (Anyone interested?)
- I buy used clothes for Lucas and Marisa at a used clothing store or beg for hand me downs.
So how are you saving these days? Any ideas to share?
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3 comments:
Craig rides a vanpool to work (about 20 miles from our house) to save on gas- it works out great b/c now he gets every other Friday off by working 7a-5p other days :)
I would totally like to babysit swap with you...once a month? I shop from the sale flyer at the store...I try not to ever buy anything not on sale.
Debbie, I enjoyed your card & reading your blog! This is Katy Pina here. Jose takes the bus to work downtown & we still drive our older cars. We canceled newspaper & netflix & switched our phone to magic jack. I am applying to substitute teach as I'd like to work partime now all are in school. We drive over to South Carolina to buy our gas as it's 10 to 12 cents cheaper there. I use the library a lot & rent movies there or at the red box at grocery store for $1. My sister is starting a coupon web program in Scottsdale, it helps you use your coupons most effectively as it analyzes the weekly specials & coupons & tells you where & what to buy. I don't know if they have something like that here in North Carolina. OH, rice & beans are a cheap dinner.
We need to be extra careful as Jose was worried about layoff with Wachovia. Wells Fargo has told him he's needed so it looks like he is safe. But it is a big stresser having the house in FL still and the house here. Our renter in FL lowered her rent, we were stuck saying ok
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