I started this blog with the intention of sharing coupons, coupon codes, and various other ways to save money with my readers.
Today I want to share a story about lessons I have learned in saving money and living frugal. Just a quick personal story on my journey to save money for our family. Due to the economy and slower than normal sales, my husband recently had to take a pay cut at work. Needless to say, I started to review the budget to find more ways to save money and possibly cut back our spending.
The first to go was eating out. We never really ate out all that much but now we needed to curb it for the time being. And since summer is upon us and grilling days I'm not sure I will miss eating out all that much. Since we have a nice sun room we will simply be enjoying more meals there. Considering an average meal out would cost $20-$30 we are now saving $40-$60 a month.
The next thing to go was (gulp) car washes. You see, I have become spoiled in driving through the car wash to get the car cleaned. Yes, five minutes and the job is done. That being said, at $10 a car wash twice a month I could save $20 each month. So yesterday I grabbed my bucket, car wash cleaner and a hose and an hour later I had the job done. Not as easy as the five minute car wash where I didn't need to lift a finger but I am saving money! And the bonus was the kids ran around the yard and enjoyed being squirted with the hose.
Then my sister stopped over yesterday and we went to Walmart together. As she gets into my car she remarks at how nasty our grille is and it really is...lol...it's been around for about 10 years now and has seen better days but it still works! She told me we should just break down and buy a new one. Well, first of all, the nasty old grille still works perfectly fine. My point is why spend money on a new one when it's not needed and we don't have the extra money to buy one now. Her reply, just charge it. Again, not feeling like we have to buy a new grille at this time and why go into debt for one. When it stops working then we will look at a new one. Until then why spend $100-$200 on something that works fine, just doesn't look good.
Speaking of Walmart...I brought along a coupon from my "All You" magazine for a Taco Bell Taco Dinner Kit for $1 off one box. My kids love tacos and it's a quick dinner to make for them. The Taco Bell Dinner Kits were just $1.98 at Walmart so with my $1 off coupon I paid just .98 cents for the Taco Kit! The evening we have tacos our entire dinner for the four of us will cost around $4-$5...can't beat that.
I just subscribed to "All You" magazine and love it. It's a great magazine that has interesting articles and tips to read and you get the added bonus of all the fantastic money saving coupons. Follow the link below to get your subscription. It's currently $15 for a year then Amazon has an offer to take $5 off so you end up paying $10 for a year!
We can all find little ways to save money each day in the way we live. My most recent changes were a few meals out and the car washes. Consider giving up the expensive coffee or switch from bottled water to filtered and watch the savings add up!
Donna
