- Planning our menu-we have always planned for meals when making the grocery list but now I put them on a calendar and we are married to that menu. Even if I have to drive right by Little Caesar's on my way to the store to buy 1 ingredient, I don't stop like I would have 2 weeks ago. My weakness is eating out, but this change has not been painful at all.
- We signed up for our banks "stash the cash". Our debit transactions are rounded up to the next dollar and the difference goes into our savings. I have wanted our bank to do this for a while but did not think it would ever happen because we don't use a national bank chain. Our bank is matching 10% through December 30!
- I took 3 movies back to Hastings the next day and received a $2 credit for each one, usually I return them late and end up losing money.
- I spent an entire evening online and on the phone with HP support to avoid paying for 1.a battery on a 8 month old laptop with factory warranty and extended warranty that has not even kicked in yet. 2.shipping an item they should have made correctly in the first place.I refused to let their problem become mine!I think I save about $60 in replacement costs for battery and $15 in shipping. BOO-YA.
- I got Carson's Christmas gift on eBay for $135 with shipping which saved me about $30, if I can do the same with Cameron's that will be $60 in savings math wizards.
- Today I took Cameron's ill sized jazz shoes back to Payless EVEN THOUGH she glued fabric to the box. You see she is doing this mini society thing at school and making decorated boxes to sell and she snatches up empty boxes whenever she sees them. Now she knew her shoes didn't fit so I guess 9 year olds don't exactly know what is required for an exchange at a retail store. So newly frugal, I removed the fabric and in some cases a layer of cardboard from the box and trotted my happy heiny in there and returned them anyway. I also took back the boots I bought because I couldn't just buy one pair during BOGO. The moral of the story is I got a $50 Payless gift card to buy the correct size shoes that I would have had to pay for out of pocket had I not swallowed my pride.
What are you doing to stash some cash?
I love Dave Ramsey, he has great advice & suggestions! Another one I love is Gail Vaz Oxlade, she's Canadian but does a budget system like Dave, only with "jars". As for how do I save money, I have 4 ING savings accounts that money automatically gets moved over to every week when hubby gets paid. Works for us!
ReplyDeleteWe do the planned dinners too! It saves tons of money. Also we put any overtime straight into the savings account. We have completely stopped renting movies from Hastings and rent from redbox only. I only allot for about 2 movies a week and that totals $8 maybe $10 a month. Dave Ramsey is really helpful, but I found some of his methods just weren't right for our family. Overall though, it was a good learning experience.
ReplyDeleteI love Dave Ramsey as well! Reading his book helped me get out of all of my debt in a little over two years (with the exception of student loans, which will soon be gone as well). I didn't use his envelope system religiously, just for about two or three months to get my spending habits in a good place. I really like his motivational style too. It's a good kick in the pants :)
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