We are home after a great anniversary away! It was so nice just to get a way and not worry about all the things that need to be done around the house or in our businesses.

I will share more when I have a little more time, but I didn’t want the day to get away from me without posting day seventeen’s tip.

Tip 17
Purchase some things in bulk (if you have the space) – I always check the little cost per ounce or whatever they’re called on the price tag to ensure I’m getting the best price if I know it’s a product I’ll use a lot of. I always buy my toilet paper and paper towels in bulk. I also try to buy bigger bottles and packages of things I know I’ll use instead of the smallest. I don’t think you should be a hoarder or buy everything at a big box store, but if you have the space and will use it, it really does save money to buy some things in bulk! Or at least check the cost per ounce lines on the shelves price tag!

If you’ve missed any of the others remember to click on the pink piggy bank in the right sidebar!

Ps. Help me add just 24 more likes on my facebook page and I’ll host a fun giveaway!

See you tomorrow!

Godonight

Tip 16
Shop Craigslist, Ebay, and Amazon for great deals! I’ve bought tonsandtons of things off line. At first I was skeptical of Craigslist, but now I love it. I always send my amazing husband to pick it up, but we’ve scored some pretty sweet deals! Like our practically new GE stove & fridge with french doors for $200 total. Like our 73″ tv with stand, surround sound, and blue ray player for $600 (that we rarely watch). Like my favorite steam mop for $30. Like my Nissan truck 1 year old fully loaded for $20,000 when msrp was $47,000! Big purchases and small purchases alike, it’s always great to find someone’s sell for a steal!

Hope you’re having a great weekend, y’all! We will be coming down from the mountains today

Welcome to day 15 of 31 Days of Change! If you’re just joining in, or if you’ve missed a couple of tips, please click the piggy bank button!

Tip 15
Sell the extra stuff! This is something I’ve been working on all year long. If you remember way back at the beginning of the year my goals were to simplify and find a balance! Well, in simplifying I’ve been purging things. Cleaning out everything! We have way too much stuff, and I’m assuming that you might, too. Clothes that I never wear, furniture that we were saving for when we had more room, extra kitchen goods that I never use, just lots and lots of stuff. All year I’ve been listing things on craigslist and ebay and even had a couple of tag sales! By cleaning out I’ve found things that I could sell and make money on and things that I could give to others to help them out. And, the leftovers have all been donated for a tax write-off!

Perhaps soon I’ll have have a post on how I purge and clean out! It’s so liberating!

Today is our 5th Wedding Anniversary!!! We are leaving for a nice weekend away, but before we do know that I already have my posts for the days set to automatically post. Let’s hope it works! I am so excited! This is our first family vacation together!

In honor of our anniversary, I’m here with…
Tip 14
Conserve water – shower together! Yep, you heard me right! Shower together! It not only saves money, but it can save your marriage, too! One of my favorite times a day is shower time! We get to catch up on the day just the two of us and talk – really talk!

Enjoy your weekend, y’all!

Packing up today for our mini weekend get-a-way! I’m so excited! It’s the first time we’ve really been away on a family vacation that didn’t involve visiting family or friends. I always miss our house and Jade, but they will both be taken care of just fine!

Tip 13
Eat out less – pack your lunch. We save lots of money by simply eating what is on my menu and not splurging on expensive meals. We usually treat ourselves once a month, but we try to not do it more often that that. Like I mentioned in Day ten’s meal planning post, our weekly budget for food & home care items is $150.00, and if we eat out, we easily spend $30 of that. I usually make enough food for dinner that Andrew has leftovers for lunch the next day. Packing his lunch easily saves us $5-8 a day by not having to pay for cafeteria food or take out. And, it’s much healthier as he always knows what ingredients are in the food.

Hmm… I just noticed that a lot of my save money tips also tie in with getting healthier, did you notice that too?

A great big thank you to everyone who commented with encouragement on yesterday’s post about losing weight! You girls sure know how to make a girl feel loved (and motivated)!

We are off to the library this morning and then to Trader Joes to grab some things for our weekend anniversary get-a-way! And to pick up some flowers for the cemetery. Tomorrow my Mom would be celebrating her 52nd birthday…

Anyway, before the business of the week catches me here is

Tip 11
The eleventh tip I have for you today is be something that I learned the hard way – don’t be afraid to ask for stuff! I hate asking to borrow things, as much as I hate to ask for help! But, in sending out a quick post on facebook, I always seem to come up with what I need. For instance, the other day I desperately needed a carpet cleaner, but didn’t want to pay $40 to rent a rug doctor (I’m really hoping Santa brings me a cleaner, I’ve only been asking for one for years) so I asked on facebook if anyone had one I could borrow and waalaa, I didn’t have to spend the money! Easy as that! Ask for things!

 Remember, you can click on the pink piggy bank to recap the first 10 tips!

Have a great day, y’all!

XOXO

We’re 1/3 of the way through our series! Have you learned anything? Will you utilize any of the tips you’ve learned?

Tip 10
Today’s tip is simple, but can take some preparation – meal plan! I have saved so much money by meal planning! I clip those coupons I spoke about earlier, I check my pantry and freezer stock, and then I plan my weekly meals. I try to purchase my meats on sale and stock up my freezer. Because we try to eat healthy and as natural as possible, I try to not have beef more than twice a week and pork more than once a week. The other nights we eat chicken or fish. I also try to not repeat meals too often to help us not get burned out. We usually have Italian and Mexican once a week. Our budget is a very firm $150/week for our family of 3, though most weeks we don’t spend that much unless we need paper towels, toilet paper, dog food, etc. I keep a calendar on my fridge and try to plan a month at at time and do my shopping every week so that I have fresh produce on hand. I try to stick to my list as best as possible to stick to my budget! I prefer to not shop at big box stores to avoid tempting clothes racks and home goods. 

Do you meal plan? What are your tips?

The blog is still underway… Please bare with me as I get it right!

Today has been a li’l busy! We missed church this morning, but I’ve been working hard on some blog things and then Elizabeth and I went to Small Group! Andrew had to work another 12.5 hour shift today   When we got home, our house smelled delicious of the pot roast I had in the slow cooker! A side of cream spinach and mashed potatoes made it perfect comfort food! Elizabeth & I played outside a little before Andrew got home! Girl loves to climb! She’s like Tarzan, she climbs right up on the kitchen table, on the back of the couch, and today she climbed all the way up the slide without sliding back down! I don’t know what we’re going to do with her!

Anyway, I’m here finally with today’s tip! Number nine.

Tip 9
We use to have a lot of what I’ll call “luxury expenses”. Luxury because they weren’t really necessary, but that we used. Such as xm satellite radio in both vehicles. We realized we didn’t really need it, and we quickly began saving $15 a month! We also realized we didn’t watch our satellite tv enough to spend $60 a month on that. So we cancelled that too! And we haven’t had a home phone in years. Do we miss any of those things? No way, Jose! We use Pandora Radio now for free! We use Hulu (which A paid for with Xbox live credits) and Netflix (that we share with my cousin, but is only $8 total per month)! And for phones, we exclusively use our cell phones, but also have a free Google phone number that is attached to our cells for family that don’t have long distance services.

Do you have luxury expenses? Do you need them? Will you think about cancelling them and switching to a cheaper or free service?

Tip 8
I have shared with you in a couple of posts now about my Shaklee products. This is my newest way of saving lots of money! I’ve mentioned before that I am a clean freak! I use to always shop the cleaning supply shelves for the newest greatest products. I spent tons. Well, not anymore. Shaklee’s Basic H is not only the most effective product I’ve ever used, but it’s probably the cheapest, too! And being all natural and green makes it perfect! One $10 bottle of Basic H equals over 4,000 bottles of windex! Crazy, right? I was totally skeptical at first, but it’s for real! Check out this cost comparison list
                         

If you are interested in saving money this way, click here!