What did you do to save money this week?

[21hearts]

I made one shopping trip to the store last Monday and bought enough food to last us until this Friday (which is pay day woo hoo). My husband is famous for forgetting things at the store & then making trips there and coming home with extra stuff we don't need. We've saved $12 in gas and over $40 from him not buying all of the extra stuff.

We've been staying home more, instead of letting DH & DS run throw McDonalds on the way to TBall last night I made them sandwhiches that they could eat once they got there (DH is the couch and has to be there 30 minutes early). I also packed chips, juice boxes and fruit salad. DS loved it and wants it every time he has to go. That saved us $10.

My DS wants to be a magician for Halloween so I went to a thrift store and found him a top hat $2 and my MIL is making him a cape. Hat at Party Store $10 and a cape is $10. Saved money there.

 

[mbf]

My youngest daughter has two college auditions this month that will require overnight visits, one next month that will also, college apps that will be due (so fees), and our Disney trip is in December so I have been trying like crazy to save wherever but it is especially critical this coming month. I would really like to be able to add to my Christmas/Mickey fund as much as possible too.

I am trying really hard to stick to a resolution to eat what we have in the freezer/cupboard as much as possible this month. I have been buying chicken and pork on sale for awhile and we bought half a cow last year so we are still eating our way through that (small family). We have our garden which is producing and I just stocked up on many boxes of pasta. I think all of my cleaning supplies are stocked enough that I SHOULD be able to stay out of the grocery stores aside from the staples like milk and bread but I tend to agree with Clark Howard...the deal sites are costing me money lol. I see the fabulous deals on the couponing sites and I end up going crazy stockpiling. I do love Groupon and Living Social and have gotten some really amazing things lately from there. I am pretty prudent about only buying the things I know will be a great deal for my family.

 

[annsteere]

I shopped carefully and used codes for our rental car for DS's wedding in late Oct. We have a medium sized car with unlimited miles for $143 for 8 days. (Nearly half of which is "added fees!")

Can we start this thread once a week to keep ourselves inspired? Rather than getting to 1253 posts, I need to keep thinking about what did I do THIS week.

 

[JamesMom]

Yesterday, the kids & I had time to kill between dentist appointment and church school so we stopped at Kolhs to pick me up a shirt I needed for Halloween (white button up - the family is going as Harry Potter crew). Using my 30% off coupon I picked up the shirt off a clearnace rack. And while I did pick up the kids unplanned Angry Bird shirts (too cute and only $6 each with coupon), I did say no to the kids getting toys despite DS6 tears (fake, btw, lol) and got a b-day party present for cheap (the reason we were in the toy section to begin with).
Then we went to Michaels and bought NOTHING. DS6 played with the animal figures while DS8 and I checked out the Halloween decorations. Taught them that you can actually go to a store and not buy a thing
Since we didn't go home after school - I packed snacks for them to eat and waited until we home to eat dinner - though the Arby's drive though looked real good - I stuck to plan!

 

[englishteacha]

We stayed at a friend's house after a wedding last weekend instead of getting a hotel room. We're staying home this weekend. We're excited about that. We've had plans every weekend for 3 months!

We didn't buy a new-to-us house. Instead we're trying to frugally expand our current home so there's room for our growing family.

 

[pannm]

my DH has started to bring a big paper box of scrap printed paper home. It's printed on one side with work junk, the other side is plain and I use it to print coupons! The info. on the other side doesn't show the company name or any sensitive materials/designs or anything like that!

We ALWAYS particpate in our local radio auction. We have one in our town and one in the big town next to us. We do both and save 30-70% on restaurants (we can buy a $20 restaurant certificate for like $7-$10) and going out to eat three-four times a month is a great treat for us that we cannot seem to give up. SO, the radio auction is big for us. Other ertificates we've gotten from it are: oil changes, hair cuts (I never get my hair cut with out a certificate and my FAVORITE local beauty shop almost ALWAYS has them on there for 1/2 the cost!), hotel nights, local shopping and other entertainment...
Can you tell, I'm a HUGE fan of the radio auctions???

We travel several times a year for my daughters medical issues. Every time we go, I get on priceline and get up to 60% off hotels with priceline! I also look on the groupon and restaurant.com type sites to find restraunt deals, local hotel deals or what ever.

I have been staying home a lot more, making all of my shopping stops in one or two days instead of scattered through out the week. People are right!!! Staying home does save money!

Also, this week and last week, I have gone through my stock pile and made meal lists for the next 3 weeks. I NEVER have bee able to make an EXACT "we will eat this on this date" type of list, because our schedule changes with my daughters health issues, with sports, with LIFE. SO, I make a list of meals, put it on my fridge and cross them off as I use them. I also make a little note by each meal of what needs to be done before I can prepare it (like: take this out of the freezer 1 day prior to making it, or "this needs a fresh ingred. before it's made).

EBAY has been big for me these last 3 weeks. We just got out fall/winter clothing and I made my kids try on EVERYTHING to make sure it fits. Our second hand store here pays me only 40% of what my items sell for, I pay ebay MUCH less for each listing that is purchased, so I go the ebay route. There are outifts that I've put on ebay that have gone for up to $15 and jackets from last year went for $20 each! I would NEVER have gotten paid that much from the second hand store (PLUS, I saved money on gas for going there- because I use the USPS home pick up, which is WONDERFUL!)

I don't drive to mail packages anymore (as mentioned above!!!) I have USPS pick EVERYTHING up at my door! 90% of the packages I mail are a flat rate package, so I just print off shipping on my computer and leave the package in my front door! For the other 10%, I wait until I go to the grocery store (which has a post office in it!!)

To mentally save more money, DH told me I have $100 for groceries each week. This includes all food, paper, health and beauty items (NOT perscriptions, gas, entertainment though). What ever I DON'T spend out of that $100, goes into our vacation fund! That has helped me A LOT. Belive me, there are weeks I squeek by with out spending more than $20, just to get closer to that vacation! I do keep a nice sized stock pile, and we almost always have a lot of meat in our freezer (buying 1/2 a cow/ full pig / deer meat)...so some weeks we really only need to buy milk and a few other fresh items.

I save money by buying large packs of frozen bread dough. I really like the better taste and freshness when I bake it at home myself. I've never gotten into making bread from scratch, but the frozen is ALMOST as good...I make it into pizza crusts, rolls, loaf, cinnamon roll bread and many other things! I save $1 on each loaf by making it at home, 2 loaves at a time.

I never just make 'one thing' in the oven at a time. Pre-heating the oven is what takes the most energy for an oven. If I'm going to pre-heat the oven for dinner or to make a cake or cookies, I also find something else to put in the oven (like a loaf of bread or two for example!!!) If I'm making brownies, cake or cookies I also find a side dish to put in for dinner that night.

 

[java]

My youngest daughter has two college auditions this month that will require overnight visits, one next month that will also, college apps that will be due (so fees), and our Disney trip is in December so I have been trying like crazy to save wherever but it is especially critical this coming month. I would really like to be able to add to my Christmas/Mickey fund as much as possible too.

Just a college tip, when you visit make sure you register and often they Waive application fees. Most of the colleges my son is apply to are waiving the fee (at $75 an application, that adds up!)
Also he finally got his butt in gear about grants and scholarships- yesterday 2 things came in the mail from schools offering $$$ based on his SAT scores! *too bad it wasn't the one he wants to go to but we're still hoping!

I have to jump on the EBAY bandwagon.

 

[kerplop]

This week I did a lot of vacation-related savings. I managed to book a 4 star hotel on Priceline for our trip to the Georgia Aquarium for $55 a night for two nights, which saved us about $100 over all. Then another good bid on a hotel for the drive over there that saved us about $30. I also revised plans to maximize our time and the value of the vacation - e.g. I redid our touring plans and decided we could skip Park Hoppers and save $170. Then I picked up a great Groupon deal on a restaurant we go to often for special occasions, to celebrate DP's raise. So it's been a good week!

 

[MEM]

Its the same procedure I follow every week but its worth repeating. A few days before the sales start, I study the grocery store flyers on line (and the coupon match-ups) at weusecoupons and slickdeals. That gives me time to plan my meals, print and organize my coupons and plan my trips so I can do everything Friday night after work.

I also made some sourdough starter last weekend and will try to make my very first loaves of sourdough bread this weekend.

DH made a month's worth of laundry soap powder - he uses it on his clothes and the kids' clothes. Its too harsh for me so I use Tide-free - one bottle will last me a month or more.

 

[Karenj2]

Well, for one - I've been bringing in my lunch to work every day this week. I had gotten a bit out of control in the last few weeks, eating out multiple times a week. It's better for my budget AND my waistline!!

The other thing we did was to actually sit down and discuss our budget. We're trying to save money up for IVF round #2, so every dollar is VERY important. Today was payday, so we're going to sit down again today and figure out where that money should go.

 

[mbf]

Just a college tip, when you visit make sure you register and often they Waive application fees. Most of the colleges my son is apply to are waiving the fee (at $75 an application, that adds up!)

Can you explain this a little more in detail? My daughter is going to be a dance major so our trips will be for auditions for the dance program. Luckily the first two trips will be dance auditions way in advance of the deadline for applying for academic acceptance to those colleges. If she does not like the schools or does not get accepted to the dance programs she will not have to apply to the actual colleges (so no application fee as the dance auditions have no fee). However, the school she is auditioning for in November does have an application fee as do the other three she is applying to after that.

When my oldest applied to colleges she was able to get fee waivers because at the time my DH had been in an accident and was out of work so our income was drastically reduced. This is not the case this time (which of course is a good thing in that he is healthy).

 

[java]

At the schools we attended, as well at ones we met at College Fairs have all sent my son emails waiving the fees. When they get his name from an actual meet and greet vs. just online got him the fees waived. (now these are not IVY league schools- but more middle to upper tier schools )Good luck to her!

 

[bettymae1121]

DH sold one of his old guns for $100, he has another he says he can clean up and sell for $200-$300.

Okay, this won't be anything special I've done, just good timing...but Costco sent me some coupons in the mail and a lot of the Q's are for stuff we really use, so I'll be stocking up there this weekend. Just the coupons alone are worth $36 off, on top of the savings from shoping at Costco to begin with.

I'm pregnant and while at the doc's office last week I found a coupon for Babies R Us in one of the magazines. If I regester in the store and present the coupon, I get a $10 gift cert. I was going to register for my shower there anyway, so yay!

I found a whole chicken in the freezer that I didn't know I had (DH must have put it in the shoping car the last time he went with me to the store and I never noticed) so I put it in the fridge a few days ago to thaw, I'm going to roast it today and that should be dinner for tonight and tomorrow. Or maybe just tonight, DH can eat a whole chicken by himself when he's really hungry! Still, I'm using up what I have on hand.

 

[java]

I found a whole chicken in the freezer that I didn't know I had (DH must have put it in the shoping car the last time he went with me to the store and I never noticed) so I put it in the fridge a few days ago to thaw, I'm going to roast it today and that should be dinner for tonight and tomorrow. Or maybe just tonight, DH can eat a whole chicken by himself when he's really hungry! Still, I'm using up what I have on hand.

Don't forget to make Chicken Stock out of the carcass. So easy and I can't believe I used to buy stock in a box.

 

[disneyofcourse]

I ended up buying Groceries for last week instead of eating out every meal. I'm guessing I saved at least $100 with just that. Plus, I canceled a weekend trip and that saved at least $500!

 

[nairv]

My boys want to be pirates for Halloween (they are big fans of Jake and the Neverland pirates) and so we put together semi-homemade costumes for about $10 total for 2 boys costumes! Great timing-Target had pirate play sets in the dollar spot which will work great as accessories.
Today, I walked into Target with some items to return and walked out without buying anything else! Yay! usually I think we need milk or something and then walk around the store and find more stuff that we need. Granted, I always buy stuff that is needed, just not necessarily that day! So I feel like I saved money.
Been reading a ton of books from the library.
I have also been doggedly refusing to buy myself any new clothes. I do need them for my new job which I will start in the next month, but I will buy them closer to the time that I need them.
Oh yeah and just staying home in general has saved me a lot. Staying OUT of CVS, Starbucks, whatever.
Goal for next week is to meal plan more diligently. I do a lot of cooking and we eat out rarely, but I am a bit slack about surveying my fridge and pantry contents which could help cut down my grocery bills.
Love this thread-keep the ideas coming!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Today I'm going to go through my stack of coupon circulars and printouts and clip and file them to make it easier when I go to the store Wed.

I added turning off the power strip with our tv, dvd player and video game consoles plugged into it to my before-bed routine to save electricity. Before I was just doing it every once in awhile.

 

[reginaastralis]

So, this isn't good for me (necessarily), but I've been procrastinating like heck on writing my humanities paper. This week, I've managed to meal plan from now until Jan. Seriously. Thanks, in part, to pinterest, I have some pretty amazing (and cheap!) meal plans coming up.

This week, while I'm studying (procrastinating) for my history midterm, I plan on making grocery lists for these meal plans. I'm just getting busier, and next semester, I am planning on taking 15 credit hours ... so I plan on keeping this going.

 

[scbelleatheart]

I took 2 $4 prescriptions to Meijers and got 2 vouchers for $20 each for groceries/beauty only. You can do it once a day everyday on any prescription.

 

[Mrs.Reese]

More like this school year but I have stopped buying supplies for my classroom. Everytime we get low I will be sending home requests. I just took a $1200 paycut this year! I probably spent close to $400 last year. Nope not anymore. I'm not asking for expensive stuff just things like glue sticks, pencils.

The A/C has been off this whole weekend. We just got a nice burst of fall weather and have been able to open the windows.