I know there are a lot of readers on here who are funding their trips to Disney World, Disneyland, or just saving for whatever by using coupons, creative saving tactics and more. I want to know what creative ways you are adding to your fund! I am going to pick one person to win ‘something’. I am not going to tell you what it is. ;)
So please share away!
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My name is Kristin and I am a coupon addict. My coupon addiction feeds my other addiction, Disney. How are the two related you ask? Well I have learned how to use the money I save by couponing to pay for my yearly trips to Disney World. And I am eager to share that knowledge with all of you!
{ 136 comments… read them below or add one }
I spend everyday at lunch going to Goodwills, thrift shops etc., and Saturday morning going to Garage Sales. Not to buy stuff for myself but to purchase things to sell on ebay. I bought a vintage charm bracelet for $1 at a garage sale and sold it for $85. I put together sets of kids books and sell them in matching groups (Like a set of 30 Clifford the big red dog books) I do this by purchasing them as I go and keeping them in bins on a shelf. Once I have enough for a set I sell them. It gives me about $500-800 a month in earnings!!! Besides this I also am a HUGE Surveyor and make about $200 a month with surveys!
Oh here’s another small one. Save your butter wrappers in a baggie in the fridge. When you need to grease a cake pan or any muffin pan etc… take one of the butter wrappers out and use it instead of regular oil or spray!!! Works great.
Hello Kristin,
We have planted a garden, purchased a food dehydrator and food sealer to cut down on the amount of food that ends up in the trash. Thanks for the giveaway and I love CTD!
I am the queen of free/cheap outings. I always find really inexpensive ways to entertain my child, especially in the summer. We go to the park, free movies at Great Escape theaters (with the concession cash from Kelloggs), we will take a day to redeem all of her free books from various summer programs, free token days (through various coupons and rewards charts) at Chuck E Cheese. Out to eat with coupons (I almost always have a fee kid’s meal from somewhere). We also do “free shopping” days where we use coupons various places to pick up things for free or nearly free (bath & bodyworks, VS, build a bear). I love when we get a free animal coupon. We go to a lot of yard sales too. We do go on a couple of vacations in the summer that sometimes cost quite a bit…but for everyday fun in the sun (or rain) we go for cheap as possible.
Well Kristin, other than following YOU and doing everything you tell me to do :) …
We’re looking to hold a HUGE yard sale this summer in the hopes that we can really put a lot in our Disney jar. We’ve also shopped around for new insurance to save $$. This weekend I’m hoping to contact a scrap metal place to buy and haul away a bunch of junk we have somehow accumulated over the years. We’re also on the lookout for other ways we can add a little bit here and there – picking up bottles for the deposit, looking for change on the ground, etc. Thanks to you I’ve got a nice little gift card balance on Amazon (through Swagbucks and Ipsos) and am working my way up to what will hopefully be a $50 Rainforest Cafe gift card through MyPoints. Every little bit helps!
Whenever I coupon, I figure up how much I’ve saved and move it in to the savings account. So it’s like I’m paying full price for the items (as far as our checking account is concerned), but we get all this money magically appear in our savings account :D.
I love watching movies, but the movies can get expensive@
I get free movie tickets using fandango by doing their deals. I signed up for a free 7 day trial on credit report and got a free ticket. I got a magazine trial subscription!
I get weekly coupons from Cinemark and Regal which I use to get a discount on popcorn or drinks. I have also get Groupons when they are available to get a discount on tickets. I also rent movies at the Blockbuster kiosk, I get the groupons that let you get 5 for 2 dollars. They are usually available in other cities, but it doesn’t matter through which city you buy it for. Mondays I usually always get FREE! rentals!
I have my daycare expenses taken out of my check pre-tax and automatically deducted and my husband pays for my child’s daycare…but then I submit the reimbursement form to get my check to “pay” for daycare…yet it’s already been paid by my husband so then that money goes into savings! Sounds complicated but it’s really not…and we’re not making any extra money but b/c it’s taken out of my check I never have it to spend until the reimbursement check comes so I treat it like extra money and put it in savings before I can spend it!
My mom and I have gotten together and are starting a garden along with getting chickens (It is located at her home because I rent a house). Between our entire family there is nine of us so we all will take turns working in the garden and hopefully we will not need to buy any vegtables, fruits, or eggs at the store!! (We currently purchase the veggies and fruits from local farmers market) With all the kids in our family and the amount of food we go thru, any little bit helps. We can now use the money we would’ve spent on other things like paying off bills and saving for family vacations that we normally wouldnt have been able to take :)
My husband recently stopped paying child support payments to his ex wife because his son is now over 19 years old. I’ve been taking that same amount we used to pay her and we pay our savings account instead!
don’t you help with college?
I have used my “extreme” couponing skills to get many items for my welcome bags for our Disney Dream wedding. I have gotten everything from free tide pens, shout wipes, sun screen and life savers (ha ha ha)….couponing has made my wedding much more affordable and allowing us to stay in Disney for 10 days after the Disney wedding cruise!
Instead of using paper plates for simple, fast meals like hot dogs or burgers, I give the kids their food “to go” in a traditional style coffee filter. It’s the perfect size to wrap around a hot dog, comes in boxes of 100, and is so much cheaper than paper plates. I also reuse bread bags, cereal bags, hotdog/hamburger bags to dispose of dirty diapers in. They are free (relatively speaking) and the food smell inside helps to disguise the smell of the diaper…they’re usually big enough to “double bag” around the diaper so thats a bonus! That saves money several ways–I’m NOT buying those expensive diaper disposal bags, and I’m not taking out the trash before it’s full, just because of a smelly diaper.
Whenever I see the coupon distributors on store shelves, I pick up the coupons for the items I use. I then wait for a sale and use them when the items go on sale. These coupons help and are most useful for soy and almond milk that don’t often have plentiful coupons.
I recently started using cloth wipes. However 18 wipes only go so far. My baby girl is almost one, and it’s getting to be summertime. I had soooo many hand me down flannel recieving blankets, which I can no longer use. I cut them up into eighths and use those as wipes!
The other thing we’ve been doing is combining trips. We live in the county,and with the price of gas we can’t afford to keep running to the store for things. My son has tee ball twice a week, so we turn tee ball time into grocery stops, and whatever else we may need to do! :)
I use reward programs like Pampers Gifts to Grow and My Coke Rewards to get free photo prints and photobooks. Even my husband will save the coke caps for me. It’s great for gifts too! It’s amazing how many points I accumulated with ‘free codes’ on top of the ones from the diapers we actually buy!
my tip is a small one, but oh, well! :) if you wear elastic bands in your hair for buns or ponytails, you know that eventually, they stretch out. instead of throwing them away, use them for securing your rolls of wrapping paper…not only does this recycle, but it’s also easier on the paper. rubber bands seem to stick too much and rip the paper, but the ponytail holders roll on and off (and you always will know where a hair tie is, too…bonus!) :)
I think that is a great idea.
Me too! thanks for sharing! =)
I consign my daughter’s gently worn clothing at the local consignment shop, and have earned $50 in just 3 months! I still have a bin from each age in my basement should our second, when we are ready, be a girl…and if not they will go to the consignment shop too! I also bought her birthday gifts at the same consignment store, saving me another $20-$30 (she’s one, so she’s not getting much…but I spent just $9 for three toys!!). Also, instead of expensive diaper disposal systems with refills, we got a small, flip top lidded garbage can and use scented bags (vanilla, from Walmart – she’s 10 months old right now and we’re only on our second $2.50 package – so cheap!!) to line to help keep the odor at bay. It’s small so we empty it 2x a week and we never have an odor issue!
We are fortunate that our local grocery store has digital coupons that we can load on to out store card. You can stack them with manufacturer coupons for extra savings!
I have been cleaning out my closets and selling things on Craigslist. I recently sold a camera that has been collecting dust for a year for $100. I have also sold our outgrown Little Tikes stuff, our daughters’ bunk beds when we replaced them, a mouse and webcam we no longer needed, etc. I also sell books back to the used bookstore after my kids grow out of them or after I read them. I get my space back from storing these items and I have great incentive to sell them when I know the money will take me to WDW! (Is it wrong that I calculate my money earned in Mickey bars, i.e. $100 is 25 Mickey bars :)
i’ve posted this idea before, but it’s one of my FAVORITES…i rinse out cereal bags and store them to use when i need a bag that doesn’t have to fasten. i have refrigerated leftover pizza in them, sent Box Tops to school with them…i have also used them to hold the condiment packets in the fridge, dye water with (so food coloring doesn’t stain plastics), and throw diapers (or pet waste) away with! they are great for storing wet kids’ clothes or being trash bags in the car.
also, by way of bags, i save newspaper baggies, zipping or fastening bags if they haven’t been used for food, and even those small, thin bags Taco Bell gives out now with the napkins, sauces and mints…they’re perfect for hanging on the fridge with a magnet to collect cancelled stamps for my mother (long-time stamp collector).
I work at a small Christian school with no library. I am a huge reader, and have become the “school librarian” with my large (1500+) collection of children’s books. I use the coupons and sales to get school supplies for cheap at the beginning of the year, and then put them on sale for a slight profit in a classroom store. The profits are used at yard sales and thrift stores to buy more books. Students get new books to read, parents get a better deal on things than they would at the store when their students run out mid-year, and I get to feed my addiction. Everyone wins!
I LOVE this!
OK you win in my book :)
WINNER! What a wonderful idea!
wow
that is awesome! :)
This is such a beautiful thing you are doing! I sent you an email. :)
my husband and i recently sold our second car and now share a car. he takes it to work everyday except for Tuesdays (that is my grocery shopping day because wal-mart doubles coupons on Tuesdays.) if i have to go anywhere i just walk or call and ask him to bring it home on his way. if i plan right for meals and such we wont have any extra trips to the store and we can save on gas, car payments and insurance. along with my couponing cutting my grocery bill in half recently, this is helping us pay off our debt.
I put money aside all year for Christmas. Besides stashing cash whenever possible, I “save” money via our utility company. In fall and spring when our energy bill is lower, I still make payments equivalent to the months with higher usage. This gives us a cushion so we can pay very little (or even skip the payment completely) in November and December when we need the paychecks to cover the festivities. This would work really well if I was planning a trip. Since my husband does not get paid vacation, we could skip the utility bill on the budget for the month his hours were short from time off.
I wanted to add, this is a good way to trick yourself into “saving” money if you have a difficult time resisting the temptation to spend whatever extra dollars and cents you could have saved.
I have a vegtable garden which I grow organic veggies and hopefully some fruits this year.
I try to avoid all disposable items unless I can get them for free. For instance we use cloth diapers, cloth wipes, rags made from old T-shirts, cloth napkins. We don’t have paper towels, we just use a rag to clean up a mess, and it gets tossed in the washer. I make our laundry detergent and dryer sheets, so we don’t have a ton of plastic containers going to landfills. The only disposable item I buy is toilet paper, and we have no intention of giving that up!
I also use cloth diapers, wipes and napkins:) i recently started making my own laundry soap but how do you make your own dryer sheets??
Alex try this for your dryer sheets
Pour fabric softener into a spray bottle, spray an old washcloth 4-6 times, and then put in the dryer with the wet clothes. A small refill carton should last you over 1 year.
In a pail, such as an ice cream container, mix one gallon water and one cup concentrated liquid fabric softener. Every time you do laundry, dip an old washcloth into the mix, wring out, and dry with your clothes. Put the lid on the pail and don’t forget to label both the pail and lid.
Pour a 50/50 mix of fabric softener and water into a spray bottle, spray your wet clothes 3 or 4 times, or an old washcloth, then put the rag in the dryer. Basically the same as the first recipe, but less concentrated.
Mix equal parts hair conditioner and water in a spray bottle, spritz a washcloth, and dry with the wet clothes. I wouldn’t recommend this recipe too often, as hair conditioner can be very expensive.
Vinegar with a few drops of essential oil misted on an old washcloth works just as well, and is much cheaper than dryer sheets.
One fabric softened rag should last about 5 loads before you have to wash it. Old pieces of flannel work great too, if you don’t have any old washcloths kicking around. Don’t forget to wash your rags every once in a while too, not only to remove build up, but to keep them from smelling funky.
Hi, the recipe I use for dryer sheets is one part bottled fabric softener and three parts water. Combine fabric softener and water in a container with a lid. (I use one cup softener to three cups water in an old frozen yogurt container.) Dip a sponge (wring out first) in the mixture and throw in the dryer just like you would a dryer sheet. I got a package of five or six sponges at Dollar General for $1. They don’t have to be the best quality. Each sponge will last two to three months depending on how many loads you have.
We have a garden and fruit trees…we coupon and save our extra money for trips to Disney…
My big tip is we buy our bread and snack from the discount bread store for $5 a rack.
My husband gets paid twice a month- so I have our bills broken down into 1st and last 1/2 of the month. Once all of those bills have been paid, I take everything that is left (leaving as little as possible in checking) and move it over to savings. This number has gotten bigger and bigger since I started couponing!
PARK THE CAR!!
With the horrible price of gas, I have decided to become very strategic in my outings. I shop ONCE a week (this was hard at first, I thought I was passing up so many great DEALS!). It saves money on gas, wear on the car, and even “freebies” cost tax!
We PARTICIPATE in “No dining out” and “Minnie-mize” here on CTD. Both save us big bucks!
We set a BUDGET, pay with cash, and put our change in a Disney fund jar. My kids willingly put their change in the jar.
PAY YOUR (fund) FIRST. We made returning to the magic a priority.
We figured out how much we needed for our dream trip, and now transfer funds automatically from our checking to our trip account.
We vacation with family to save on lodging, have family yard sales to put toward the lodging, cash out my points from My Points for restaurant gift cards, use a Discover card for everything for the cash back (paid off monthly), surveys, rebates, birthday money, loose change, selling books on Amazon, and anything else!
We actually found a way to ‘exchange’ for services with the gift cards we earn through Target- buy 2 puducts and they give you a $5 gift card, and the Reward Dollars from Walgreens.
We have a neighbor who cuts hair and in exchange we give the cards we earn. She is less likeky to just spend the cash and saves the cards for shopping for ‘extras’
FYI- i don’t pay extra for a colring since I get it free when 8 have the right coupons and when I know I can get it for free, i call the neighbor and ask what color she needs to stock pile. Big WIN WIN!
My girls (ages 5 and 3) and I started a money book. I bought a cheap photo album that has the old pull and stick kind of pages and everytime we get change we put it in our book. We have matched up the years on the change and so forth but it made saving your change so much more fun plus my girls are learning a lot!!!!
I have 2 preschoolers and I coupon everything I can to save money. I try not to get carried away with buying items I don’t need unless I know we will eat it or will use it. I keep an eye out on clearance items at the stores of toys,clothes, (books from the library for .25 that are still new) ect. and I buy them when they are cheap and put them in a closet for birthdays/christmas. Then I can afford to get them nice things that I know they will like.
Another tip for clothes and jackets for them I also make a list for the next season and do my best estimating on sizes and make sure to buy pants/shorts/skirts ect. with an adjustable waist band. I shop at the outlet mall at the end of a season and get great deals on childrens place,oshkosh,carters,the gap and always check at the disney store and I shop the clearance use the additional take a percentage off coupons and use the stamp cards to earn more. I keep a list of what I have gotten them so I know when I am out if I see anything that I don’t have I can get it. It has saved me a ton of money not having to buy them both an entire wardrobe every season. This has really worked out well for me and my kids still have really cute clothes just the last season style.
Hope my savings tips can help out others! Thank you Kristin for all you have taught me on couponing!
After putting the kiddos to bed on Thursday nights I always run to my local grocery store and pick up milk for the next week. They get their trucks Thursday nights so a gallon of milk is marked down to 1.38 and has 7-10 days before expiration. That’s a 50% saving on milk which is hard to do!
Wow! That’s awesome.
Wow! I wish that store was close to me. We go through five gallons of milk a week!
hehehe, I see me in that picture :)
I missed this pic, but I was in the other one. I had a gray mickey mouse shirt on too.
Amber are you the one from Palm Harbor?
My girls (ages 5 and 3) and I started a money book. I went and bought a cheap photo album the kind with the pull and stick pages. And everytime we get change it goes in our book we match up years on the change and so forth. It has made saving change a lot more fun plus my girls is learning a ton !!
That does sound like a lot of fun!
My family is currently saving to buy mommy a better vehicle. I love my truck but 12 miles a gallon just doesnt cut it right now. We have planted a garden! I also have spoken with the local produce stand owner. Once a week he will give me anything he cannot sell due to bruises or on the edge of rotten for $1.00. We have to use it super quick but we eat a ton of veggies and fruit. I also will take it home cut it removing the funky parts and freeze it. We save all our butter wrappers for greasing pans, or stuck fingers….. lol. We save any plastic container food comes in like margrine or cream cheese. I reuse these for lunch and snacks. We reuse our big dog food bags as trash bags. those suckers are huge and hold a ton! My kids crush any box even if it is little before we put it in the garbage. We save all our aluminum cans and recycle every few months and that goes in mommys fund. At the end of the week if my girls have behaved all week they get to choose a happy meal or putting $4 in the fund. They usually choose putting it in the fund. They want a jeep lol. We try not to use the lights and air. I used to pay 250-300 a month on electric. Now I pay between 80 and 130. I put the rest into the fund. I also will throw money in if I buy a ton of something with coupons we use everyday. Like this week I will buy 40 bags of yellow rice and 40 boxes of magic eraser sponges at winn dixie since I will be spending about 15 on all of this I will probably toss 15 into the fund. We eat rice almost every night and I use the sponges on my counter everyday. We are constantly looking for ways to save.
my friends and i swap clothes for our kids, since we all have various ages and sizes. it beats collecting all the clothes until a yard sale, and the kids love finding bags hanging on the door. it may not be new, but it is new to them!
I don’t have as many hand-me-downs for my daughter, so I do a lot of clearance shopping, buying at the end of the season for the next one. It is especially good for holiday clothes, which don’t to go on sale before the holiday. I also buy other holiday stuff ahead when it goes on major clearance.
Another thing we have used to save money is that we have one main credit card, a Marriott rewards one. While it does have an annual fee, it has more than paid for itself in free nights in the past couple years. We pay off our credit card every month, and you can also earn extra points (besides dollar based ones) with online spending including at The Disney Store. :) Also our card gave us a free night for signing up, and after the first year, we earned an “anniversary free night.” When we went to Disney this year, we drove, and since it was a long trip, we used two of those free nights to cover our stopovers. :)
The fee is $75 but you get a free night every year and from the second year on, you get a higher category room. I like the card because we save the free room for an anniversary trip every year. The room would cost more than $75 so the card more than pays for itself. With the credit card, it make you automiatically a silver rewards member so you get free newspaper, late checkouts, etc and I was upgraded one time too so every bit helps!
I buy mesh sponge bags, they are like mesh sponges and you put a bar of soap in them. Instead of a full bar I fill it with the little pieces that are too small to use but I always felt bad just tossing away. This is a great way to use every bit of soap and not waste any. I also get things and give things on frecycle. It is a great place to get gently used items. I have gotten a rocking horse for my daughter, clothes, brand new baking pans….one more tip I shop at a bread outlet. Right before long weekends they have blow out sales because they are closed Monday’s. They reduce certain things to.99 cents. I stock up and freeze bread, rolls, pizza crust….it saves a lot and always tastes fine.
You can also use the toe of an old pair of pantyhose to put the soap chips in. Works great, and saves money and frustration chasing them around the tub! LOL. =) Also, you can use nylon yarn to knit/crochet your own (I made one for myself and it works great! I gave it some ridges so it’s a great scrubby! I’m thinking about making more, maybe to sell…)
I wish I had a really cool way to save for Disney, but all of my small efforts and hard work took me to DL twice last year! And I live in Idaho! I budget and meal plan, I am lucky enough to work at my children’s childcare center so I only pay 50% of their tuition. I search for free or low cost family outings, I shop for our clothes at consignment stores and when I plan a trip to Disney, I look forever for the right deal!!
Hi Julia!!! I am from Idaho too! I would love to hear how you went to DL twice in one year…that is like a dream come true ;)..we manage a trip about every three years (Hoping to change that) we fly which is a big chunk to save.. I am a stay at home mom, we recycle cans/bottles which as of now~ has PAID for our Hotel for 5 nights!(wow)…I also do alot of “budget” or free activites for the family. We also started a vacation fund where we auto draft money into a account each month..and we save all “found” money as kristen talks about on the site…Happy to see another Idaho follower.. we live in southern Idaho in a small town called Homedale :)…
Hey, I’m sorta near Homedale! :) (have family around there too)
Going twice in a year is awesome! We haven’t been to DL in quite some time but have been to WDW every other year for the last few vacations with a significant chunk of the SW Idaho residents. LOL (27 of us…big family vaca!) Looooong flight though!!
my washer died this week, so we need to buy a new one. i have two money saving tips for buying a washing machine. my mom puts a quarter in a jar every time she does a load of laundry. over the years, this adds up. when her washer dies, she will have probably enough saved up to buy a new one without dipping into her regular savings. also, i called sears to see if they had info on upcoming sales for the model i want. they told me of an upcoming sale. they currently have free delivery of appliances, so i can order it now, get it delivered for free, and then call next week and have them price adjust to the sale price when it begins. this way, i’m kind of double dipping – i get to take advantage of the free shipping sale this week and the reduced price next week. plus, ordered through shopathome.com and saved an additional 5%, plus a $5 off coupon, and put it on my citibank card, giving me another 1% back…..pretty soon, they’ll be paying me to take this new washer from them! ;)
I LOVE the idea of putting $0.25 in a jar everytime I do a load of laundry!! That’s so ‘doable” and I won’t miss the money at that small amount! With the amount of laundry I do I’m sure it will add up quickly :) Thanks for the tip!
I think the absolute best tip I can give is to embrace the minimalist lifestyle. I have “found” significant amounts of cash since making this switch in my home. So much of what we think we need is really what we want, and when we focus on the essentials, we find there’s extra $$$ left over! Money we as a family can share with those whose actual needs go unmet or money to take that much anticipated trip to Disney to make memories rather than purchasing our way to unfulfillment!.
I’m relatively new to couponing and still trying to get a grasp on it all. I do love going to the grocery store and seeing that I’ve saved 75%. Love the idea of putting what you saved on your groceries into your savings account. We love to go to second hand stores and yard sales. Might have to really dig into that and start selling on ebay.
I stopped shopping! I organized my stockpile, and we’re living off that for a while. I do have to run to the grocery store once a week or so, but I’m saving a ton of gas, time, and energy not having to run out for the drugstore sales. I miss it a little so far, but my husband appreciates me having the extra time to concentrate on other things!
I am right there with ya, Alycia. I am buying dairy and produce. I am going to see how long we can live off our stockpile and full freezer. Things were getting a little out of control (crowded) in our house!
I yard sale not only to buy gently used clothing for my girls (sometimes you can find clothing new with tags on them) as well as baby items such as walker, toys, etc. I then turn around and sell the items at a local consignment sale. For example, I bought a jumperoo for $5 at a yard sale and sold it for $30 at the consignment sale. I usually make around $5 per clothing item.
I also eat at places on days kids eat free.
We have a friend who has several weeks per year with a timeshare company. She “sells” us one of her weeks, very cheaply I might add, each year to help with her maintenance fees. We used this week to stay on property at Disney World at a greatly reduced rate.
When I print coupons, and they only take up part of the page, I cut the rest into one or two pieces to use as scratch paper. I never need to use new paper to make a list.
When Target has a good deal on something with their “Buy X # of items and get a $5 Target gift card”, I take advantage of the deal and tuck the gift card away. As the trip gets closer, I will use all these at our local SuperTarget to get vacation items as well as groceries for the trip!
I also tuck away my $5 gift cards – but instead of using for vacation (great idea!) I use them for my Black Friday shopping spree. It makes getting up at 4:00 am a little better. : )
That’s a good idea, too!
I tuck gift cards away to use at Christmas. It really makes our Christmas budget stretch!
About 8 months ago I adopted two black and tans from a rescue group, they are LARGE dogs! One of the dogs is allergic to wheat, beef, and chicken. Needless to say, the food needed to feed these beasts (said in a loving way) is very expensive due to the allergies. In order to help stretch the dollar with dog food I cook up rice and mix it in their food about once a day or once every other day (that I get free or cheap with coupons). It’s a great filler for dog food and helps keep the male’s sensitive stomach on track.
Two tips, one for every weekly and one for the rare occasion:
Weekly: I shop the perimeter of the grocery store before shopping the aisles. Since most of what my family uses is found on the perimeter (produce, dairy, bread), this fills up my cart — and knocks down my shopping list — very quickly. A full cart helps cut down on the impulse purchasing and a vastly whittled-down shopping list allows me to focus on the few pantry items and breeze through the store — which also cuts down on the impulse purchasing!
Rarely: Did you know that you can trade old books, dvds, electronics, etc ofor Amazon credit? Well, you can! If you go to the Amazon main page and search for “trade in” on the “All Departments” search, you’ll see “how to trade your items” as the second hit (well, I did, anyway!).
Happy saving — and thanks for all you do!
I get the whole family involved. From the kids rolling change to deposit in the savings and returning bottles and also putting that money in the savings. The whole family also looks out for coupons and helps clip and use the coupons. we all participate in rewards programs that gives us money back. Like pampers, I don’t even have a baby but I just got a $10 gift card. We also cut down on eating out and only do this once or twice a week and always with a deal like a discounted gift card or a coupon or a rewards certificate. It’s a family affair! The one thing is the kids are learning to live cheaply and this will help them in the future.
We make our own birthday, holiday, anniversary, thank you etc. cards. One time I forgot to pick up a card for a birthday so I had my daughter make one. They loved it so much that we do it all the time now. I did not like paying $3 for a card that will be put in the trash. I then started buying them at the Dollar Store. While they were cheap they weren’t that nice. Now my daughter draws every card we give. Sometimes I will print out pictures of the family and then let my kids decorate it. Great way for the kids to be creative and to save quite a bit of money. Same thing goes for wrapping paper. You can buy the plain brown paper and decorate it. Kids and adults alike love getting these personalized items!
My kids make their own cards too – family and friends love it so much more that a store bought card. My son in 1st grade will make the whole card. For my 4 year old, we’ll go to Fisher-Price.com and click on coloring activities and they have seasonal cards to choose from, print, and color. It’s more special for the children to give home-made/colored cards, they really enjoy it.
Take advantage of the FREE photo offers on sites like Snapfish. For my son’s first birthday party, I used a cute photo of him as the invite :) Some of the photos were “free” ones and some were doubles that I had no need for. I wrote all the pertinent info on the back and only had to pay postcard postage. This worked really well as over 150 people attended his first birthday bash! I saved a ton in the cost of invites and postage and everyone loved seeing DS’s happy face on the invite!
My children and I sell potted perrenials from our garden and flower beds for extra money to add to our Disney fund.The perrenials are paid for at the end of my drive by people using the honor system.My children love being able to earn money and at the same time share some of our beautiful plants with others.But better yet,this year we donated about 25 large pots of perrenials to a friends plant sale to make money for her Relay for Life Team!That was truly an honor for us.Our goal is to double our donation to 50 pots next year! God has blessed my flourishing garden…it’s our way of sharing and fighting for a cure!
After our first trip to Disney, I decided I wanted to go back quickly. I upped our auto savings to $350 per month. We have a cash system, and have figured out exactly what we need each week. Because we are debt free, we have money to play with. So that play money goes into a savings account earmarked for vacations. (It includes camping in the summer, and going to visit my family in another state). But we do more than $350 a month. I recently changed insurance companies, and we save $25 per month by the switch. On the day that our insurance is paid, I automatically transfer that $25 to the savings. I transfer $1 a week to the savings account. Every time I save money by bringing bags to the store (where they give you a credit) I go in and transfer the .05 or the .30. It all adds up. We have a Disney bucket that all our change goes into. The girls get an allowance every week, and they deposit .25 of their allowance into our fund. Sometimes the older one puts in a dollar. My husband and I get an allowance too, $20 per week to do with what we want. I want to take the kids on a dolphin excursion when we go on the Disney Cruise, so I take $10 of my weekly money and put it into the Disney fund. By the end of the year I will have enough to take me and the girls on the dolphin encounter. Since we are on a cash budget, if we have leftovers in the grocery account, that goes into the Disney fund. I used to put extra gas money in too, but with the costs that keep rising, I can’t do that anymore. (In fact I am taking out money from our other funds to keep gas in the cars, but I rotate them, so it doesn’t kill the other budgets). I use shopathome for online purchases and that money goes into the Disney fund. I use swagbucks and get the $5 paypal (although it is more points than Amazon, but I don’t shop Amazon very much). Every time I get 700 points I cash out. I’ve gottn $60 since January through Swagbucks. So many different ways…
I no longer have kids in diapers, but we used to save our newspaper bags for stinky pants! they are also handy for on the go accidents when walking our dogs. My mom taught me many years ago how to use coupons efficiently, I just didn’t know I was learning at the time. My kids know now too if it isn’t on sale and mom doesn’t have coupon well maybe next time. It is so much easier to be coupon savy with blogs like yours! My sister and I have now tried teaching my mom a few new tricks! Thanks for such an excellent blog!
I always go through all the grocery ads while I make my list and menu- the sales always steer our menu. As I make my list, I note which deals can be matched at another store. Then I get out my coupons to try to sweeten my deals. By price matching and couponing I can usually shave 40 to 50 percent off my total.
I stay home with our three children and with summer coming, I need to entertain and keep them busy without spending much. My friends and I made a list of cheap and free activities. Things like Vacation Bible School, Kids Bowl Free, Free Movies, Summer Reading Programs. My sister lives in the country and has a huge garden, but she works long hours and sometimes her garden suffers. This year the kids and I are going to go to her house once a week and tend to her garden and share in the harvest.
I called my cable company to switch to a lower cheaper tier, and they offered a better deal on the same package I already have. I’ve done this twice in 5 years after our ‘promo’ rate is over and it saved $50 a month- without giving up anything.
Instead of buying a drink from the machine at work every day ( 1.25 x 5) i buy a six pack at the beginning of the week and take it in. I know it is only $4 savings but after a year that is $208 and I am not giving up anything.
I do this to. The campus where I work is all Pepsi, and I prefer diet coke, so I save money and get the drink I like better. Since I drink more than one a day the savings add up!
My high school son and 7 yr old daughter both play baseball. My older one’s team travels and we have to usually spend 4 weekends out of town. I always make sure I stock up on granola bars, protein bars, snacks that will not succumb to the heat, and water and powerade before these trips. I always carry a small cooler and keep drinks and snacks in it so we will be less likely to pay expensive concession stand prices. This really pays off in the end.
My husband and I get paid every two weeks and I budget for that. It basically is two paydays a month – however, there are two months during the year that we get three paychecks (usually Spring/Winter months). My budget is for two paydays, so with the extra checks I put half on the principle of our mortgage and the other half goes into a vacation fund. I have done this for the last 18 years and it has taken years off our mortgage loan and a great vacation fund for our annual Hawaii trip!
Those are great ideas!
That is a great idea!
My tip is to not take advantage of every deal you see. When I first starting following blogs and using coupons I tried to hit all the deals in my area. And ended up spending more than I should. Now I go easy on following deals, try to stick to online deals or grocery (with price of gas I don’t want to run around to stores even for a deal), and combine trips when I do chase a deal. And for those starting out…anything you save is better than nothing!
I started out the same way and finally came to the conclusion that the high sales tax where I live (9.5%) was killing even a “free” deal if I didn’t really need the item. Things are going much better now that I am more selective about my coupons.
Combining shopping trips is also a must. I go to the gym 3 days per week for health reasons, so I make sure to do my shopping on those days (and split up my shopping so I’m not killing myself on any one particular day). I also just started getting allergy shots and the office is right next to the gym. If you live in the country this makes a huge difference on your gas bill.
I organized a swap party for my friends last fall. It was essentially a giant garage sale, but no money was involved! We all brought things we didn’t want or need anymore, from kids toys and clothes, to kitchen items, to books, to adult clothes and laid it all out on tables at one of my friend’s church. Then we all “shopped” but no one paid anything! We all got great new things and we cleaned out our homes as well! I came home with 2 garbage bags full of clothes for my 7 year old and all the supplies we would need to throw a Luau birthday party for her. I even got a few new shirts for myself. It was great!!
We are on the lookout constantly for change that people drop, literally, everywhere. All three of us are on the lookout for money. In the past week we have been to several different stores and we have found a few pennies but recently, we found 3 quarters, 2 dimes, a nickel and my daughter found a $1 bill on the side of the road (all at different stores). I know it isn’t a lot but on top of everything else we are doing we put everything we find into our fund. We are saving up to go to Disney Land next year for the new Cars exhibit (and Little Mermaid). Every little bit helps toward our goal.
Also, I read an article saying that when you are driving every time you are sitting at a stoplight for over 10 seconds you are wasting too much gas. So every time I know I am going to be at a stoplight for a longer time, I turn the car off. Apparently it saves more turning it off for that amount of time than it costs to turn it back on. http://www.slate.com/id/2192187/
Finally, we are growing our own garden. My kids LOVE this, we get fresh organic food since we don’t use pesticides and don’t have to pay the crazy prices.
My biggest savings come from budgeting and menu planning. It’s too easy to just “grab a quick bite to eat” in the evenings on the way home and money spent eating out can really add up. The more meals at home the more money in our pockets!
I also use
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Kitikat
the amazon gift cards we earn buy Christmas gift for my kids
http://www.inboxdollars.com/?r=ref3578987
I print coupons on swag bucks & Inbox dollar so it’s like earning for printing them.
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=vSR0LckObQdvJzp9nDhqUQ%3D%3D
When I shop online I use either ebates or shop at home
http://www.shopathome.com/?IAFCG=sI+q+x3BsFUKzpVZm6USpg==
We plant a garden so that we will have fresh veggies to cut down on expensives. I also have a large empty water jug that the girls fill with change that they find weather we are at the park or shopping. They enjoy filling it up. I also do a consignment shop for clothes that they can no longer wear. Any mail in rebates or buy me free items also go to our fund. We also recycle coke cans for cash.
I am using many of the tips Kristin uses
1. Examine your bills – we cut our trash pickup to once per week to save $200 /year
I cut out the dvr on one tv and dropped our movie channels to save $15 per month.
Got rid of some duplicate insurance to save $2000 per year, but before I did I checked all the policies and filed $1500 in claims.
2. Get rid of what you don’t need – we will drop the cable for the summer
3. Stockpile – once I figured out that the key to saving with couponing was stockpiling I have been able to reduce my grocery bill by 50%
4. Keep the house cold in the winter and use fans in the summer to save on utilities
5. We reuse lots of stuff – newspaper bags for cleaning up after the dog
6. Get creative in our home repairs – we fixed leaking sinks with aquarium sealer for example. We also needed replacement mirrors for two cars, so we bought inexpensive ones that didn’t match and then painted them to match. They look awesome and you would never know we saved so much.
7.. I run the concessions for my daughter’s club swim team and they discount her fees by 50^% – I save $700 per year!!! on her favorite activities. This is my favorite way to save because it lets her do something she loves that is so important to her and it lets me save big in the process.
8. share with friends – things like a powerwasher, chipper, and other special equipment can be shared so that we don’t have to fill the garage with stuff we don’t need.
9. yard sales
10. I use amazon codes I get from a survey site to buy gifts at birthday time. I get free shipping through my .edu email so it is a great way to send gifts
I get early editions of the Sunday paper on Saturday, which has all the same coupons as the Sunday edition but is half the price. I get quite a few copies so I have a pile of great coupons when I’m done. My dad also delivers papers in the area, so I get the leftovers of the local coupons too.
We plant a garden each year. In Michigan we pay a deposit on cans & bottles. We get it back when we recycle them. When I recycle them I turn the refund slips in for rolled coins. I throw the coins in our Disney popcorn bucket for our next trip. I am less likely to spend $10 in rolled quarters than a $10 bill. I don’t feel like I am missing anything.
My best tip is to make dinner or a potluck item from your stockpile. My husband always challenges me to make stuff with what we already have, so the only things I need to buy at the grocery store that isn’t on sale is things like an onion for a recipe and then meat. It has really cut down on our weekly budget because we keep a small stockpile with things that are bought on sale and with coupons : )
When we go out for several hour errands, weekend activities, etc. I take a cooler and put sodas or water in it. Even when we do our day trips to Disneyland, I sometimes take a cooler and put drinks in it for when we go home in the afternoon and are thirsty on the drive home. It helps us avoid the 2.79 sodas as Disneyland!
My tip is not really a “savings” tip, but a good tip for anyone going to the parks. I purchase “body glide” at REI.com. to bring with me on our trips. We put it in all of the creases of our bodies. It helps prevent chaffing due to sweating, plus has a sunscreen in it. It’s also great for anyone who works outdoors, or does a lot of mountain climbing or hiking. Right now REI.com is offering free shipping on any order of $25 or more. So it’s a great time to stock up. Body glide usually runs about $8 plus shipping (there are now REI stores near me).
I had no idea such a product even existed. My sister and I recently returned from the D23 Scavenger Hunt at WDW and could not believe the chafing. When you are doing that much walking in 90 degree weather, trust me it hurts. We tried everything – baby powder, medicated powder, changing out of our wet clothes – but at the end of the day it still hurt to move (or shower for that matter). We will definitely remember this next time. Thank you so much for sharing this tip!
Our garden this summer helps so much on our grocery bill. We won’t have to buy lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and other veggies once the garden matures. For those of you living in apartments or rentals, try doing a container garden. There are so many veggies you can do in pots that it could help you out too. :)
My savings tips are simple..
1~ Seperate your “NEEDS” from your ” WANTS” ~Listen to your little “voice of reason”~.do I NEED this? or do I WANT this?
I found if I think ~would you rather have this now? or save the money for Disney it really makes me not buy, or get something I dont need but want.
(I just picture my kids having the biggest smile on their face on our trip because we worked hard to save and get us there)
2. Recycle..If possible where you live. I never even thought about how much money I threw away..not to mention the impact on the environment..
for example: I started recycling as a project to get my kids involved, we have SAVED enough money thru that to pay for 5 nights hotel for our Disneyland trip
3. Host a Yard Sale, and or take things to an auction house.
4. Save all “found money” remember a penny saved is a penny earned!!!!
Good Luck and God Bless :)!!! (Disneyland~ December 2011 or BUST!!!!)
We save our change! Goes straight to the vacation fund! Any extra money from the month goes to the fund too!
All of our kids are involved with 4-H and one yearly project is the FACE project. It is a 4×4 area for gardening. So we plant all of the veggies we can get into their raised beds. Benefit is that we get to keep everything grown!!
I also autodraft $20 a pay period directly into savings. 26 paydays a year equals $520. We don’t carry change around. It goes straight into a vintage Mickey coffee canister and deposited at the end of every month. Nothing is bought unless it is on sale has a coupon. We are on a weight loss challenge and for every pound we lose $1 goes into the fund. I do surveys, mycoke rewards, rebates, swagbucks, mypoints, and ebates. All found money goes into the fund. I also take what ever is left from our bi-weekly budget and roll it over to the savings. Hand me down clothes are the bomb!!! DH has a lady that works for him that has a daughter and a niece that are a size or two larger than my youngest. I’ll take Limited, too, Gap Kids and Aeropostale’ any day without the cost!! Just wish i had someone to keep my DS closet filled up. What ever i save on coupons goes into the fund as well. And last thing I can think of is if someone gives me a gift card, I take the value of it and put that much into the fund.
One thing we do is “round up” our money. It makes us about $40 extra dollars a month effortlessly. (details on my blog:
http://joyfilledmama.blogspot.com/2010/08/finances-making-money-with-your-bank.html)
Oh, we also set our budget to allow us about $200 “left” of the spending portion of each paycheck. That way it’s there if we absolutely NEED it, but if we end up with that “extra” (or more!), we “sweep” it into the savings!
That’s a good idea!
I buy everything on clearance…or I don’t get it. I stack coupons with the clearance prices ! I set budgets for everything (groceries,entertainment,couponing) I save everything I can with the sales,clearance and coupons and SAVE the rest for Disney :0)…I recycle reduce and reuse to save money as well !
I have started to build furniture. I honestly had no idea I could do it until I tried one day. It is tons of fun and I have recently started selling some pieces. Not bringing in a whole lot yet but maybe someday!
My husband was devastated when I told him we couldn’t afford to keep throwing away so much money on fast food, eating at expensive restaurants, going to the movies, etc. because of our debt. I already knew how to live that way because that’s how I grew up, but I knew it would be hard on him because that’s just how he has always lived. Since then I have been reteaching him how to enjoy these things in moderation and how to make the outing possible by saving money when we do get to treat ourselves.
The first thing we did was budget our expenses and set up a system to make sure that neither of us spent money on “wants” instead of “needs”. We budget a separate allowance every month for each of us, then when something falls into the “wants” category we have to decide if we want to use our own allowance to buy it or not. I know it sounds like something you’d teach your kids to do, but trust me it works for adults too. My husband and I both love video games, so if we know a game is coming out we make sure to save our allowance no matter what we see in the store.
We also have an allowance that we like to call our “McDonalds Money”. Our budget does not have room for us to just eat fast food whenever we want, so having a set amount of cash really keeps us accountable. My husband is also learning that the way you order your food can save money too. If you order a chicken sandwich combo at Wendy’s you’ll end up paying at least $6, but if you order the chicken sandwich off the value menu, value fries, and a value drink you end up spending $3. The portions are smaller but more realistic, so the added bonus is that you don’t overeat.
We’re also constantly on the lookout for restaurant coupons and movie deals. We have a small budget every month for one restaurant outing, so we try to go somewhere that has a good coupon or that we know has reasonable prices. We also get to go to the movies every now and then by looking for ways to get free movie passes. So far this year I have scored 5 free movie tickets just off of cereal boxes. Always look for the ones with special codes because they don’t cost any more and you get things for free.
We don’t eat at fast food too often, but when we do my husband and I will each order a chicken sandwich and then share 1 small fries and 1 drink (I don’t drink that much). At some sit-down restaurants, I’ll order something off the ala carte menu for the kids. For example, at a Mexican restaurant instead of buying a kids meal for $5 with rice & beans that they will not eat, I just order 1 taco for my daughter and 2 for my son at $2 each. Also, they always drink water and I’ll bring apple slices or something similar to balance their meal.
I do most of my clothing shopping on Goodwill’s half off days. (In my town they have these once a month.)
That’s a really good idea!
We have a friend that lives outside of city limits and has chickens. Each week they give us 2 dozen eggs and in exchange I bake them 2 loafs of bread. We also decided to go in with some of my family and buy some cute teenage cows that will be delicious burgers and stakes next summer for about $1.70 a pound.
I do several things. The money I save in coupons I take and put into a Christmas club. That way it is seperate from home finances and I don’t touch. I also answer online surveys, rebates. This summer I plan to have a garage sale and put some things on ebay.
The bank near my had a promotion that if you opened a checking account and kept 100 dollars in it for 6 months they would put 200 dollars in the account. Since it will be longer than that before we go, it works for me. After that time, I will close the account and be 200 dollars closer to Disney. Another, bank offered a flip camera. I missed that deal but it would have been great to take with me. :)
That is a great deal!
We learned this week that my daughter was awarded a $20000 scholarship to the college of her choice. Now THAT leaves us some room in the budget to save for Disney since we will pay $5000 less for tuition each year for the next four years!!!! So proud of her.
@DanyGirl
Thank is awesome. WTG to your daughter.
CONGRATULATIONS!!
I have been telling myself I have to find a bit of time to read and submit something up here. this page is great. I just love all the ideas on here.
Ok so everyone has been posting how you save for vaca but what about ways to save for your next while on vaca? Here are my tips.
If you are flying (learn this from a couple who travel allot around the USA). If the next flight is in a 2-3 hour window we will ask them how full the flight is and if at the boarding desk they are looking to bump a couple of seats we will do it. What do you get if you get bumped you ask? Well the airline will usally comp you tickets to fly anywhere in the USA for free for each seat and they will keep families together so if you have 2-6 seats you all can wait for the next plane. They are open ended and good for a 1-2 years (depands on air line how long) with no black out dates. If you have the chance to do this you have your airfare paid for your next trip!!!
Second thing we did was to buy a couple of timeshare weeks in South Africa. Not that we are planning to vaca there but for the abilty for trading our weeks on RCI in the US. We were able to buy two weeks for about 1,000 with $200.00 a year for both weeks in maintains fees thanks to the exchange rate. They are amazing to stay at and now you can trade into DVC rooms too. It is so nice while on Vaca to have a kitchen and landry in your condo instead of just a bedroom. Some places we have stayed Manhatten club, Smugglers notch in VT, Orlando seaword resorts, and Animal Kingdom lodge just to name a few. Over the few years we have been using RCI trades we have more then paid for the time share.
Also before we travel we use restaurants.com to get GC for dinning out and check the local websites to see what is going on in the area. Since we always have a kitchen we will do most of the cooking in room and when we do go out it is for lunch or with the GC.
Last thing for saving for vaca if you buy something take the time to check and see if there is a rebate for that item that the store may not have know about. When we bought our first house this saved us so much money. I found so many rebates on the fans A/C and even our freezer chest that we had bought. (I am very proud of this one our freezer chest I snaggled on clearance and when I got home there was a rebate on it our finally cost for the chest came out to be only $23.00 )
We also have started cuting down on how much meat we buy and two night a week we have vegiatain meals. Also when I do buy meat I always buy large cuts and cut them down it is so much cheaper in the long run. Also I am lucky enough to have a small store up town that offers freezer packs for a considerable discount.
When repainting check your local paint stores discount racks most sell gallons of paints for $5.00. They are usally the current colors and most times you can find the color you are looking for. If you need two gallons of paint for a large room remeber to buy two look colors and mix them toegther in a 5 gallon paint to insure your color will match. (honestly you should do this anytime when painting. have worked in hardware before I have seen allot of miss matched paint come out because the base was from a diffrent run from the factory.)
Also girls learn to sew you will save so much money on alterations. I also now do alterations for friends and family.
I also can veggies and fruit for the winter. Thankfully I am local to allot of farms around me If the fruit or veggies are bruised or so on they will mark them at a much cheaper price and these make the best relish, pickles, jams and chutney. Also I have gotten into the habit of doing gift baskets for family and friends for the Holidays with the my canning projects. Everyone looks forward to them I have found out the year I did not make them they were missed.
I hope someome finds these tips useful.
I just love all the ideas you have all posted and look forward to reading more.
Look to see if stores are offering something to entice you to transfer your prescription to their store. My daughter takes 2 medications everyday so I’m always looking for deals on new scripts and transfering ones. Target, Kroger, CVS, Rite Aid and Meijer have all had deals in the past year- sometimes for as much as $25! I filled a prescription yesterday and had a coupon that I turned in and received a catalina for $20 off my next purchase at Meijer and have 2 more coupons to get $10 giftcards for future prescriptions at Target as well.
We have been shopping for the kids clothing at Goodwill and finding some incredible deals on name brands that don’t look like they have even been worn! We also did a huge children’s consignment sale that went on in our community… we sold $700 worth of stuff and did summer clothing shopping for the kids and got a ton of stuff for only $52. We have gone through the kids toys and they had a toy yard sale and made $70 for souviners and things…. and we made $400 on our stuff. The fund keeps adding up!
I learned something last week that I got excited about (you were there too)- but Shop At Home does cash back on Orbitz and other online travel sites! Can’t beat getting $ back!
This probably is repetitve, but how we save:
We shop for groceries and health and beauty items with coupons, and we stockpile. We only will pay full price for something if we absolutely need it. I go to one of grocery stores on early Sunday morning, because that is when they mark down the “old” bread and clearance out a lot of items. We don’t eat out. When we travel, we pack our drinks and food. We plant a garden so that we don’t have to pay for fresh produce during the summer and fall.
For clothing, I have been going to garage sales and Goodwill. I cannot believe all of the great things I have been able to find for myself, my son and hubby. For example, Goodwill has “the color of the week” items marked down to 99 cents on Sundays. Recently, I got my hubby a brand new pair of Dockers for 99cents!!! These would have cost around $30 brand new at a regular retailer. We also recycle what we can.
Also, we recenlty had a yard sale and made over $200. We also sold one of our cars that we really didn’t need anymore. (It was an old beater that was only costing us $20 a month in insurance, but we made some money on it!)
Thanks everyone for the great tips! I love sharing information like this!!!
i am always checking this website and the facebook one so that way i can find as many ways as possible to save money for my fund. i really like to keep a list of all the under $1 deals for each store in my binders when i am at the stores so i can be ahead and know what is on sale. Its taken a while but i am finally getting more organized so i am not in the stores for so long anymore..:)
I always enter tons and tons of giveaways, either on blogs or sweepstakes.I have won a tassimo, which we were really wanting to buy and I have won a year of netflix, so every month we take the netflix payment and put it into our disney fund! I have also won quite a few children’s toys so I was able to give them as christmas presents so I didn’t have to buy as much. You get a “winners high” and also save a lot of money and get things that you want!
We also save ALL of our change and I have, by myself, saved about $70 since our trip in July.
One, that I’m not sure if they do at every Sonic, but 1 out of every 6 or so receipts has a thing at the bottom where you go online and fill out a survey. It gives you a code and you write the code on the receipt and it’s good for a free Rt. 44 drink. We love sonic drinks make a trip there at least 3 times a week (always during happy hour 1/2 price drinks!) and we have about 25 coupons on our fridge. That’s almost $50 worth of drinks that we can get for free at anytime! And many times I’ll take a coupon out to get me a drink and I get another one with the drink I ordered! Woooh.
These are all great ideas! My husband changes our oil and does all the servicing himself, when people give away wood or downed trees he is always there to haul them away and he sells the wood for firewood.
I shop at Goodwill, garage sales, thrift stores and resell items that I buy cheap. I also sell things for friends who don’t have the time and receive a percentage of the sales.
My kids and I made a “Disney fund” out of an old fish bowl and ALL of our found money, spare change and extra money go into this bowl, it’s filling up fast!
Here are two tips which will not be new to your readers, but I think we sometimes forget about them when we focus on coupons/sales/etc.:
(1) Garage sales! (and craigslist, etc.) The best deals I’ve ever gotten on children’s clothes and toys have been at garage sales and online equivalents. It’s a great way to get some fresh air and exercise on a Saturday morning as well.
(2) The library. My husband and I love books, so we do still buy them (with coupons, of course!), but we get so many more at the library, and borrowing DVDs allows us to save on our Netflix subscription.
And speaking of Netflix … did you know you could put your subscription on hold without losing your queue, ratings, etc.? We do that from time to time. We will put the subscription on hold and use the library more for a while, then get another month or two of Netflix, then put it on hold again, etc.
I have been using coupons for food and toiletries for years, but just recently have broadened my horizons to include home improvement items. This week I went to
Lowe’s and purchased a 3 lb. container of plant food and a bag of Miracle Grow potting soil.
I used a $3 coupon from Home Depot for the potting soil which was on sale for under $3 which made it free, and a 10% off entire purchase Lowe’s coupon. I sent in a full price refund for the plant food, so I actually made a little over a dollar on my purchases after the refund.
Every season I go through my kid’s clothes and sell the gently worn ones to a local children’s resale shop. I do this with toys too and it really adds up!
I try my hardest to only buy toiletries and similar items at CVS. I always seem to have a lot of extra bucks on hand and I get a great coupon just about weekly. It makes most of these items free or nearly free!
I do my grocery shopping at Aldi and plan our meals for the week out ahead of time- our weekly grocery bill for our family of 4 runs less than $50. I do have to go to Giant Eagle for a few things here and there that Aldi doesn’t carry, but the majority of items I buy there.
Every week I empty out my wallet and put all of my change in our Disney fund. I always try to break a dollar rather than use exact change so I’ll have more. Change really adds up and you don’t miss it!