So how does everyone manage to save money these days? I heard on the radio the other day that consumer inflation in the month of June was 1% the largest monthly increase in over 25 years! Usually in a whole year we experience 4-5% inflation. So things are looking a litttle grim! So how to you fight the rising cost of goods and gas? Do you have any tips about conserving/preserving in general??
6 comments:
Okay, my cousin has become quite the coupon queen lately!! And she has gotten me on the boat now, too! :)
And I actually heard or read, (can't remember which) that coupon use in the US went up 25% (I think?) in the past few months alone...they said it was LARGEST increase in coupon use in years! Who knew right? And not just using coupons at the store, but knowing when certain items you use normally- are on sale -and then using a coupon on top of that...basically getting it for next to nothing, or nothing!! (In some cases!) :) I have done that just this past week at Target, love it!!
This is probably obvious but the other thing we do now (more of) is...go to the "bulk" sellers like Sam's Costco, etc. Esp if you know you will be using that product for a while. HUGE saver vs. shopping at the grocery store! I have been keeping tabs on how much certain things have gone up...here is an example:
Kraft Mac & Cheese is about $1.09 (last time I checked) at Food Lion right now- which is up from the$0.80-ish it used to be earlier this year. If you buy a 12 pack at Sam's for like the $6 something it is...that is roughly about $0.60 something a box!! My boys love that stuff, so that is a given for us.
On gas- I've gotten to where I combine trips and go the speed limit. :)
Love that pic of you and Eric by the way! :)
(Ronnie has one of me and him -at work- that was taken at your wedding. Pretty neat, huh!?) :)
There is a first for everything so today I will join in on your discussion.... How do I conserve? I do not leave the house, or in other words, drive my gas guzzler unless it is absolutely needed! This is a double plus, less frequent trips to the store = money saved and my house work and craft projects get more attention!! We go on a lot of walks too!! Basically we have gotten a lot less commercial!! The other area that we are saving an expense on is babysitters...yes, our one year old has never had a sitter! This also saves money in two ways- a nice dinner out is a nightmare with a busy one year old so we do not eat out much....AHHHH! I do not necessarily recommend that method of saving money but for now I can not stomach the cost of a sitter or having a 12 year old be responsible for my little one!! Yes, the real issue is "over protective" not "super saver!"
Hey Maurine,
This is me putting in a plug for my new blog catania and i are writing!! (sorry don't know how to make it a link)
http://disparody.blogspot.com
Everyone check it out and comment comment comment, we really need the input!! Thanks
Now,
I just bought a front loader washer and driver to save water and on my energy bill. Technically i spen money but eventually it will pay off. You gotta spen money to make money right? Having food storage so you can buy stuff when it's on sale and I don't go anywhere unless forced to now by obligations or errands because gas is way too much money!! By staying home becuase i can't afford the gas means I'm not out shopping making unwanted purchases which saves me even more! YAY for gas prices, who'd of thought it would save me money?!!?!?
I have tried playing the coupon game, but I could never find the coupons for the particular things I wanted to buy...but I do shop at Target a lot so I should look at their coupons! Anyways, I totally do the bulk storage from Sams, and I buy most of my canned goods from Aldis. I also buy tons of meat when it goes on sale and I'll go ahead and make meals out of it and stick them in the freezer. So that way, I save money and have meals ready when I don't have time to cook. I also just store plain cooked ground beef in one lb. increments and chopped, cooked, chicken in one lb. incriments and they take only a couple of minutes to thaw and put in a casserole. Erick and I also grow a garden and we've done a lot of canning this year--that's free food except for the cost of seeds and fertilizer--which isn't much. It's also not as hard as I thought to can and stuff. It's kind of fun.
I also have tried to travel less and combine my trips. I used to go out about every day for something but now I try to only go out when I really need too. Like I only go grocery shopping one time a week, if I forget something we just have to live without for a few days!
And finally, Erick is the one who is really going to save us some money because he has just started making his own bio-diesel fuel out of grease. That's right people. We have a diesel truck and plan on using our (free) fuel to drive us to the beach and run errands together on the weekends. So we're trying all sorts of stuff!!!
Hi Maurine,
It's been along time, I found your blog through Cecilia...I find it very interesting and thought I'd weigh in on the discussion on this one. Chuck and I have a very tight budget as we are just staring out and his job is not so good right now.
What we eventually wound up doing was going to the church website and printed their "Budget Worksheet" out as an example. We customized it to our needs, decided what's most important to us and where can we skimp and where we'd like to spend a bit more and then we set a weekly budget.
When we get paid we go through the list and write out and the estimate of what we think we might spend (i.e on groceries on gas, etc.) and also our bills, debts, etc. We also plan for any extra expenses that week (i.e. an outting, clothes, etc.) Once it's paid we write in a second coloumn the actual amount paid/spent. We add it up and see what we have left over at the end of the week. Anything left over is saved for upcoming events, unexpected items, or a special outting. We take it week by week.
By writing it down and discussing it together it also helps us evaluate and adjust as necessary as well as helping with planning ahead, and thinking twice before making unnecssary purchases.
We also make a list when going to the grocery store and take a calculator to make sure we are not going overboard. We started cooking more at home. We make sure our checkbook is always balanced, use cash for certian items (to avoid overspending) and started saving. We were amazed at how just a few small changes made such a big difference without it feeling like a "huge burden."
Different strokes for Different Folks, but that's what works for us.
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