Hey, everyone! It’s been too long since I’ve posted – my brain has been in too many places lately. But I wanted to take a minute and share some things I’ve been doing lately to save money. When Rylee was born almost 8 months ago, I made the decision to resign my position as Creative Arts Director of Rock Church and become a (mostly) stay at home mom. Don and I had already downsized from our large new home to a very small home to cut our budget and make this move possible, but it has still proven to be difficult to make things work with one income. Now – those of you who know me know that I am nowhere near being a naturally frugal person and I LOVE to shop so it has been difficult for me. Here are a few things that I have done to try and help our budget out…
- I got an account at www.mint.com and got the app for my IPhone. It has helped me keep track of what I am spending – some days I like it and some days I want to chuck my phone in the toilet when it beeps at me saying I’ve spent too much money at Starbucks this week….
- I started working out – I know that sounds weird, but I don’t spend as much time at Target if I work out everyday!
- I started using Coupons. I have never been able to do this successfully but I have found some great resources: did you know that there are sites that scour the coupon inserts and all of the grocery store/drugstore sales and give you a list of how you can use coupons on items that already on sale? AND there are sites where you can order complete coupon inserts or individual coupons for pennies and it saves SO much time and money! I am so excited to see how much I can save. Sooooo… go here, here, here and here and start saving some green yourself!
What have you done to help save your family some cash? Come on, now – I need more ideas!