Five Great Ways to Save Some Cash

1. Be very creative with Christmas gifts. Do you have a new baby in the house? (we do!) And we decided that instead of spending hundreds of dollars to buy and send out xmas gifts, we took a ton of pictures of our son dressed up nice. Finally chose the shot we liked best. Took it to walmart on our SD card and printed out a ton of photos. Now you tell me, if you are a grandparent, would you prefer a bauble or a great pic of your grandson? No contest, everyone loved our ‘gift’.

2. Grocery shopping can be alot cheaper if you PLAN! Have some free time to play on the computer? Put it to use! First write out a list of food companies that you use in your house. Then visit those companies web site. There will almost always be a link at the very top or very bottom of the page that you can click on called Contact Us. Fill out their form and tell them what you honestly think of their product! I have gotten tons of coupons for cents off up to free products from different companies. My son’s formula company even sent me a whole can of formula along with a teddy bear!

3. Concentrate on your electric bill. You know those little lights on your electronics that stay on all the time? Even when the item in shut off? Those lights run up your electric bill, I believe it is like $5 per light a month. See if you can find a big source of electronics in your home… it will usually be around the television or computer area. Get an extension cord that has an off/on switch and plug in all the electronics to that. Every night as you are locking up your home, simply flip the switch. We started doing this and noticed our bill went down like $40-60 a month! When you are on a budget, that really helps!

4. Back to planning your groceries. Make a list of what you want for dinners before you go to the store. This will cut down on a lot of ‘extras’ you thought you needed. Not only will you have exactly what you need but you can also try to remember to bring the coupons with! Make a weekly plan and try hard to not go to the store again for the rest of the week. Every trip to the grocery store averages $10-20 extra in ‘crap food’ in our house. So beware and recognize your shopping habits, it will help you eliminate them!

5. SHOP Ebay and craigslist! I normally love going to the store and picking stuff out, but now I really can’t afford to much anymore. I have discovered only bargain hunting and I am in love! Ebay is great if you are looking for a specific item. Hello, I got a Nike hoodie for my little brother for only $6 including shipping! And craigslist is like a giant online garage sale! You can bargain and haggle with people. Not to mention you can throw your own stuff up for sale and make some extra money too!