1. Stop Buying Bottled Water
We drink a lot of bottled water in my house. In fact, my
daughter drinks nothing but water when she is at home. We were spending a small
fortune in bottled water and much of it was going to waste. I was constantly
finding half empty bottles hidden around the house, having been there for God
only knows how long. Where we live the tap water has a nasty sulfur taste so
drinking straight from the faucet wasn’t an option. We tried several regular
water bottles and while they were great for taking out and about, they just didn’t
work well at home. Finally, one day by chance I came across these awesome
Re-duce bottles. They work wonderfully! I wash them in the dishwasher and after
six months the design is still vibrant with no peeling or wear and tear. We
simply fill the bottles with tap water filtered with a PUR filter and place
them in the fridge, refilling when needed. My daughter loves them and we’ve
saved tons!
2. Save on Books
My daughter (soon to be seven) really enjoys reading and has
began reading chapter books on her own. It’s one of those things I typically
splurge on, books. Some moms splurge on fashion for their kids, I splurge on
books. But I’ve found several ways to save on used books and it’s saved us a
lot of money. First, if your child has outgrown or gotten bored with some of
their own books, you can swap them with another mom in the area. I did this
about twice a year as my daughter was growing up and it always worked great. I’d
usually post on Craigslist or Bookoo asking if anybody wanted to do a books
swap. I’d say how many books I had and what kind of books I’d like in return. I
never had a problem finding somebody willing to trade me with books their own
child no longer used.
Now that my daughters on chapter books though she’s more
particular about the books she wants. I’ve fallen in love with two sites,
PaperBackSwap.com and BookMooch.com. It is so simple! You post books that you
no longer want, people request a book they want of yours, you ship it at your
cost (usually a few dollars) and you get one point. You can then order other
books at no cost, each for one point each. Now both sites work on the same
system but I tend to prefer PaperBackSwap for children’s books, simply because
they have a large selection. However, my books are requested much quicker on
BookMooch. My suggestion would be to use both.
3. Save on Movies and TV
Just like PaperBackSwap.com, their affiliate site,
SwapADVD.com is amazing! You post movies you no longer want and for every disc
that you ship you receive one point (BlueRays worth two). You can then request
movies you do want with your points. The only catch is you must have the movie
case, which I rarely keep.
Other ways to save on movies of course include NetFlix and
Amazon Prime. I always had a hard time finding shows to watch on NetFlix. Since
I switched over to Amazon Prime and use their unlimited streaming service hubby and
I always find something good to watch. Movies we would have otherwise paid for
are usually available for free as well. If you've never tried it click here to sign up for a free 30 day trial. My daughter also enjoys it and I enjoy
seeing her watch TV shows from when I was a child. She’s a huge fan of Sabrina
the Teenage Witch.
4. Take and Print Your Own Pictures
I am a sentimentalist at heart. If my house were to catch on
fire I would likely be caught up in the flames as I attempted to collect all of
my boxes upon boxes of pictures and scrapbooks. They are just priceless in my
eyes. Before getting pregnant with our second daughter we were spending A LOT on
pictures. I mean A Lot! Christmas, birthdays, Halloween, Easter, the list goes
on. Each time I’d pay a session fee and usually spend between $300 to $400 on
prints. Finally, I broke down and after we got our taxes back I bought one of
those fancy cameras, just like I’d seen one of our photographers use. I bought a Canon EOS Rebel and was very impressed with the ease of use. I
researched photography techniques and even purchased a backdrop and lighting setup and a few props. Altogether I spent about $550, but I have saved that ten
times over by taking pictures myself. The only thing we pay a photographer for
now is if we want family pictures taken, but we usually try to do these
ourselves as well with the timer. Another way I saved both time and money is by
ordering the prints offline. I use a professional service and it is SO much
easier than using one of those kiosks at the stores. I use Bay Photo Lab and the cost
is either the same or cheaper in most cases!
5. Make Your Own Cleaning Supplies
So a few months ago I broke down and decided to make my own
laundry detergent and dishwasher caplets; two things we were buying a lot of. I
was really satisfied with how both turned out and they have lasted for over two
months already, saving us a good bit of money. You can find lots of these
recipes on Pinterest. Stay posted as I plan to post some of my own how-to’s
with personal tweaks and additions soon.
6. Buy Out of Season
This is where you combine a love of shopping and savings
into one. Buy out of season. Below is a list of when I usually buy what, at
steep discounts:
School Uniforms and school supplies: A few weeks after
school starts
Winter clothing: Just before spring starts
Summer clothing: Just before fall
Christmas décor and wrapping: Right after Christmas
Birthday gifts: Just after Christmas (gift sets are on steep
discount! Great time to stock up on bath bubbles, body wash, etc.)
Bedroom play (fishnets, costumes, lingerie): Right after
Halloween
No comments:
Post a Comment