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Anyone here doing anything to save money?

Tam - posted on 07/17/2009 ( 6 moms have responded )

769

What is your tip for helping other Christian moms keep their homes and lives frugal?

I'll start with two of ours...

1) We unplug anything unnecessary. For example, the toaster or our hairdryers. Yes, we use them almost daily, but only for a few moments. However, did you know that if they remained plugged in they will continue to draw electricity through the outlet, even if they are off? It's not a huge savings, but in this day and age, we need to be good stewards of every penny we have.

2) We switched lightbulbs. One, we were tired of changing the incandescents contstantly. But we switched to the compact fluorescent bulbs (those spiral ones) and it cut our electric bill dramatically. You wouldn't think a light bulb could do that, but it did for us. We started slowly (since they aren't cheap in the midwest) and bought one to two packages each month, slowly switching over each room. It's been three years and we've probably only had to replace five or six bulbs in that time. More are starting to go out now (it's been some time) so we are now back to buying one package a month.

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Bethany - posted on 01/05/2011

Have you tried gardening? I thought I couldn't grow anything, and truly anything in a pot doesn't live more than a few months. But a good friend turned me on to Square Foot Gardening. Check your local library for the book, or Amazon. You can usually find a book for just a few dollars. Its written for beginners and experts alike. Anyway, start small. Just grow what you'll eat. A couple tomato plants, some beans, a pumpkin, maybe a few radishs, so on. With SFG you learn when to plant, how to plant, how much, how to plant them side by side to conserve space and have less weeding. I can't speak enough good things about it. It makes gardening simple and manageable.

Best of luck!

Latisha - posted on 12/15/2010

I recently started selling Avon products and found that Avon Bubble Bath and Avon Skin-So-Soft have MANY uses. The best one is getting gum out of hair WITHOUT having to cut a chunk of hair off. I have saved at least 10.00 a month because I only have to buy 2 products instead of 5.

Tam - posted on 09/04/2009

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Wow, that sounds nice, Anne! HOpe you can get some good stuff next time you go.

Well, we did another money saver. It cost a little bit up front, but we got a new printer. With us printing more for homeschool and whatnot, we invested in a better printer (scrimping and saving) but the ink is only a fraction of the cost, so in long run will be much better for us financially and will help with homeschool.

We are also looking into way to save some money by making a lot of our own things. I know the Duggars has a homemade laundry soap that I'm wanting to try out. My mom found one of the "expensive" (more costly of ingredients) on clearance. So, hopefully can report about that soon.

Anne - posted on 08/13/2009

2,743

It must be my turn, during the summer I try to buy fruits and veggies at the local Farmers Market. They even have some gourmet food items that although are only bought once in a while are more reasonably than at the regular grocery or gourmet food stores.

Tam - posted on 08/07/2009

769

Yeah. It really is good to eat more meatless dishes. Unfortunately my family is not entrhalled with beans like I am, lol. So, trying to sneak in stuff that at least is not red meat so much. We've been eating a lot more turkey. Wish our stores did double-coupons. some do, but it's only up to .35. :(

I will tell you one money-saving thing we did today. I stopped at the thrift shop here and picked up a hot air popcorn popper. We eat a lot of it and microwave, even no-name, can get expensive. So, for about $10 I got a hot air popper, two big bags of kernals, and some seasonings/flavorings for us to enjoy. :)

Anne - posted on 07/21/2009

2,743

Hi,I try to use coupons as often as I can. Our local Kroger Grocery Store doubles coupons up to $1.00 making the savings $2.00. Also our Kroger gives points each month 1 point per dollar you spend. Those points equal cents off for gas the next month for first 4 fill ups. During the summer months I also shop for veggies and fruit at the Farmers Market. I also am about 75% effective on this one. I do meatless Mondays. It is easier in the winter for me because We really like bean soups. I just need to get more creative and find more recipes with meatless foods. Not only is it a small money saver it is very good for you to eat beans.