How far would you go

[Dizlvr]

A pantry week doesn't mean no fresh food. Apples and oranges will keep that long. So will grapes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, spinach, peppers, potatoes, carrots, beets.......It may mean by the end of the week you haven't gone shopping there aren't fresh leafy greens in the house, but most of the rest of that list is good for another week.

Plus some people have gardens

 

[havaneselover]

I'm a single mom and my ex isn't in a position right now to pay child support. I don't make a lot, but enough to pay bills, save for college, save for retirement, and put a little away for vacations. I don't do WDW (not relaxing for me) but we love Disney cruises. What I do to afford them is:
-Carpool with a co-worker during the school year (saves on gas, tolls, parking)
-All other vacations are to my parents house in Northern Michigan and SW Florida (we drive)
-Shopkick for the kids' souvenir money
-Just started using Swagbucks--this will be for my souvenir money (hopefully including a photo CD)
-Use the Kroger/Target gift card method to save money on Disney gift cards
-Bring lunch to work everyday. The kids pack lunch for school everyday.
-We basically only eat out for birthdays/Mother's Day/Christmas Eve and I usually have a coupon and a gift card.
-I bake bagels from scratch
-My grocery shopping involves using coupons and carefully reviewing grocery circulars
-We might go to the movies 2x / year
-I cut my son's hair. My DD gets her hair cut 1x / year (long and curly hair) and I probably go 6-9 months. No hair color/highlights or anything high maintenance.
-We try to buy used when convenient. For example, I bought my DD got a great PB teen full bed last year for $350 on Craigslist. Dd's summer reading books came from thriftbooks.com (great site).
-I mow my yard and clean my house myself
-I follow several sites which alert me to deals/savings
-Throw out catalogs, stay out of stores
-Check Amex offers and maximize credit card rewards
-Re-shop insurance annually
-Took high deductible health insurance (thankfully I'm very healthy) to have a lower premium and to have access to an HSA for the kids' braces
-For my cell phone I use Straight Talk ($41/month when you pay annually) and have my sister's old Iphone 4. Neither child has a cell phone.
-We use the public library extensively (for new DVDs, books, and ebooks).
-Our county has free summer camp (very grateful for this) so I don't have any child care expenses in the summer (ex husband and his wife help when camp is out).

I'm sure there are a bunch of other ones, but I do everything I can think of to save money. I was always decent at managing money, but saving money has become a hobby. My family thinks I'm nuts though--but they also all make a lot more than I do.

 

[redsonja76]

We are a military family so every now and then we do what I call "PCS cooking". A PCS is when you are moved to a new duty station, PCS cooking is when you don't want to throw anything away so you eat it all before you move across the country or the world. It starts normal, but usually ends with meals that are "waffles, pears, and green beans" or "sausage, pancakes, and corn". So we do a PCS cooking week when we're not PCSing just to be sure we use it all every now and again. Low and behold we are moving in 24 days, so the PCS cooking season is upon us lol!

I also coupon like a crazy lady. I never pay more than a quarter for toothpaste, and never more than $2 for a razor.

 

[MichelleVW]

Folks here get great value out of target giftcards and cnverting them to disney cards. for me, I've been in target once since christmas. it's inconvenient to drive to from my house so it's not worth my time or effort.

You can save money on Disney gift cards online at Target...I have the red card so it's free shipping, 5% off and no gas or "extra" purchases while you are in the store. I buy Target gift cards on raise for a 5-8% discount and then get another 5% discount online for using my red card. Saves a big hunk of money that way and I never have to leave my house.

 

[clshirk]

We only do Disney every so often. I follow a lot of the same rules several have posted a list on to save money. And I do it because I don't know and don't feel comfortable not being frugal in daily life. I, too, grew up this way.
New cars only when the one I'm using stops working. Dh's truck he's had 8 years, I've had mine 3, but plan to keep for another 10 if I can
Shopping- my monthly grocery bill averages $250/month- because I watch circulars, sales, and stockpile when I can buy stuff dirt cheap or free. The only foods that get bought weekly around here are milk and bread and fresh vegetables.
I don't shop to shop. When I do, I buy clothes on the clearance aisles with coupons to purchase items very cheap.
I shop yard sales
I work. And hard, to occasionally get bonuses
I work the credit card system. All credit cards paid off monthly. Awesome credit. Open cards that give great opening rewards, hold on to them long enough to use and get the bonus (ie Disney rewards card, spend $500, get $200 back in Disney giftcard), then cancel within a year. I do this with other cards about once a year to get travel bonuses
Always shop online through ebates
Shop for travel through hotwire, etc... and use coupons from retailmenot.com to get an even better discount through those sites.
Just because its on sale, its not a deal
I don't take my kids places that cost $ except special occasions. We have enough free parks, splash pads, bike routes, etc we can do to avoid paying museum fees, aquarium fees, etc...
I pay for everything with credit cards, and take the reward points and purchase giftcards for places we go often.
Eating out once a month as a family, about once a week fast food.
Pack lunches. Cook at home.

At Disney: After obtaining gift cards through cc deals, Target giftcard/raise deals to pay for trip.
Pack at least 1 park meal, eat 1 at the hotel, 1 meal in park per day. My kids are much happier knowing they'll get to eat a PB&J than worrying what they might not like at the park anyhow.
I'm already gonna have to carry a small pack with an extra shirt or something for the kids, so an extra water bottle is not an issue.
(this last trip I was very thankful I pack extra outfits for the parks when my child got sick in the park and got his clothes dirty- I had something to move him right into)
Reuse Disney sling pack bag from 2011!

 

[dprincessmom]

I have shared this before, we as a family took a challenge one month to not eat out. When the month was done we had saved enough to stay for a long weekend at Seaworld and Aquatica. WDW trip is coming up rapidly and starting next week we will scale back eating out to have a little extra on the trip and honestly to clear out the pantry a little. DD was gone this week, so last week's grocery run was a little light.

I typically take snacks/grab and go breakfasts - all prepackaged and ready to grab on the way out the door to the bus stop. We will usually stop and get ham and tortilla wraps to have quick wraps in the morning also. DD prefers those to pop tarts.

 

[Colleen27]

We do the "eat from the pantry/freezer/fridge" thing regularly. If we don't, things get forgotten and stored too long to be any good. I have a basement freezer, root cellar, and walk in pantry and the "eat what we have for a week" challenge is part of our regular upkeep to ensure we're using what we've stored. There's no lack of veggies that way, though, because I freeze things when they're in season to use up through the year. It isn't fresh, but it is still far better than store bought!

We also live very simply in the day-to-day (older cars, older/modest home, seldom eating out, etc) to afford the things we deem more important, particularly private school and travel. I don't consider that extreme, though. I don't care what I drive as long as it reliably gets from Point A to Point B, I enjoy working on my historic home, and I like gardening and cooking from scratch. I sell outgrown clothes and toys and household items we no longer want/need on a Facebook swap group because I can't see myself throwing out things that are still in good condition, and any money I make from that goes straight into our "fun" budget.

While we're at WDW I don't really do much to save. Travel is my splurge, and my habits when vacationing are about convenience rather than savings. I pack breakfast items (granola bars, string cheese, jerky) to save time on early park mornings, and I carry my own water bottle in the parks to refill (from CS locations, not the tap - FL tap water tastes weird and even a filter bottle only helps so much) because I find going through multiple disposable bottles every day so wasteful. If DH is traveling with us I'll place a We Go Shop order to stock the room fridge with his preferred brand of beer rather than paying Disney prices for crappy Budweisers or something like that when we're relaxing on the balcony/by the pool in the evenings. So those things do save money but also make the trip more enjoyable for us. And we're not shoppers so that saves money too, but again fits with how we enjoy vacationing. But I draw the line at anything that would feel like "work" to save money - I don't cook on vacation, we don't stay offsite because I don't want to drive, etc.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

You haven't lived until you've had a grilled cheese sandwich made with a hotel iron. Just warm some tomato soup in the coffee pot and you're all set!

 

[crisi]

You haven't lived until you've had a grilled cheese sandwich made with a hotel iron. Just warm some tomato soup in the coffee pot and you're all set!

MREs can be heated up right on the sidewalk with your can of sterno. Bring the can opener from the creamed corn.

 

[Majesty1919]

When you use the target gift to purchase Disney cards, does it matter if your REDcard is debit or credit when trying to get the 5% off? Also, if your using the Target gift card to buy them, how do you get the 5%? I thought in order to get the 5% I had to use my bank account linked to the REDcard.

 

[Marionnette]

When you use the target gift to purchase Disney cards, does it matter if your REDcard is debit or credit when trying to get the 5% off? Also, if your using the Target gift card to buy them, how do you get the 5%? I thought in order to get the 5% I had to use my bank account linked to the REDcard.

Credit or Debit does not make a difference when it comes to getting the 5% off. However, if you're paying with Target GCs. you're going to have to make your purchase online in order to get the additional 5% discount. It won't work in-store.

 

[mondragon]

Was talking with secretary today and I mentioned that we are meeting some friends this coming weekend at disney. They are a larger family (6) where 3 of the 4 kids drive so they have very high auto ins. She mentioned that they have been saving for disney and now can afford to go. They stay offsite in a large town home and mostly eat in. The way she saved was by canceling their auto ins for 6 months. The kids had their driving privileges taken away for bad grades I think. She takes a bus and husband only drives. She said it was a risk worth taking to go on vacation.

 

[Majesty1919]

Credit or Debit does not make a difference when it comes to getting the 5% off. However, if you're paying with Target GCs. you're going to have to make your purchase online in order to get the additional 5% discount. It won't work in-store.

Right. Okay caper solved. Thanks.

 

[Majesty1919]

I keep hearing about Shopkick which really intrigued me especially since I can hardly stay out of stores even if it's just window shopping. It seems to work for you though? I read so many disheartening experiences when I looked into their program like people getting banned and dealt with rudely, app not working properly, and others not getting paid if I believe their account of the story. I'd like to hear your take on it.

 

[mortimor]

We historically eat little to no meals out at home. We don't do many (less than 6, easily) movies in the theaters each year and enjoy our home life. I guess that is how we are able to go 3-4 times each year. We also drive some of the trips which is a huge savings on flights and car rentals. Our average trip is 10 days. We normally stay at the values resorts (always on property) and have had AP's forever for WDW and Universal. While by no standards are we rich, but we watch what we spend on everything. We don't do the movies or extended packages and somehow still survive with only basic dish, internet and netflix. It all does add up, even eating out at work each day is crazy...$8.00 per day X 5 days per week X 52 weeks..you get the idea. There are so many ways to save a few bucks and they truly do add up quickly.

 

[mousefan73]

I think not going shopping for a week might sound outrageous to some, but when you consider the size of our pantries/fridges/freezer in the U.S. it's not really a hardship. My kids might gripe because there is "nothing to eat" but in reality if we were starving I could feed them for weeks on the food in our pantry.

So if a mom told me they were going to eat whatever was in the house instead of shopping, I would thing she's A)tired of grocery shopping, B)wanting to make sure she uses food before it goes bad, C) being resourceful and teaching her kids they need to learn to 'make do' or D)wanting to save some money.

This is a great idea! We spend about a 100 per week for our family and 100 for dining. Our trip is in 3 weeks. Now I am considering cleaning our cubbards and fridge/ freezer out before we go. Mentally I can say this will pay for our extended parking or the kids and I have a spending treat at the airport duty free!!

Plus when back home it's a fresh start with grocery shopping

 

[KJMAX1]

Actually, frozen fruits and veggies are healthier than fresh from a store. By the time they get to the store, they are days old or longer. When you buy frozen, all the vitamins etc are frozen within hours of picking.

We do a week of no eating out, or shopping just to clean out the pantry etc. We buy a lot in bulk and things get pushed to the back. Its such a waste to not clean out the cupboards. We get milk delivered so we don't really need anything else for a week.

I do spend about 20 hours each year doing consignment sales in my area on my kids old clothing, and toys, and pocket the money for trips, holidays, etc.

I'm actually shocked people don't have enough food to last more than a week. We live in a stormy place, where its earthquake prone. We are all told to have at least a weeks worth of food on hand. lol

 

[havaneselover]

I keep hearing about Shopkick which really intrigued me especially since I can hardly stay out of stores even if it's just window shopping. It seems to work for you though? I read so many disheartening experiences when I looked into their program like people getting banned and dealt with rudely, app not working properly, and others not getting paid if I believe their account of the story. I'd like to hear your take on it.

I've been doing Shopkick for about a year and a half with no issues. When I started it was easier to get points and making $20/month wasn't hard. Now $10-15 is standard. I use mine for my kids' souvenir money for Disney cruises. I'm not sure about people getting banned--do you mean banned from stores? I really haven't had any issues.

 

[mondragon]

Actually, frozen fruits and veggies are healthier than fresh from a store. By the time they get to the store, they are days old or longer. When you buy frozen, all the vitamins etc are frozen within hours of picking.

Frozen better than fresh???? Depends on where you are buying your fruits and veggies. We buy from local farmers. If the veggies and fruits are in season then buy fresh. If not then buy frozen but it must be marked "US Fancy" which is the highest grade. Those marked US No 1 or IS No 2 tend to be poorer quality. We try not to ever buy frozen but we also visit the farmers market 3-4 days a week.

 

[BostonJP]

My job has excellent vacation benefits which involves accruing several vacation days each quarter with the option to "sell" them back to the company (effective strategy to avoid being understaffed during our busy summer months). As such I don't take any time off until it's time for my vacation, and then I sell back 10-15 vacation days which is equivalent to 2-3 extra weeks' pay. This usually covers at least one major expense like airfare, or hotel/park tickets.