5 Ways to Save Money on Purchases

June 12, 2018

I’ve always been a thrifty girl, not drawn in by flashy, name brand things. I get pretty excited when I find a great deal on something that I need. After becoming a homeowner and then a mother, I found new ways to save on necessary purchases. If you haven’t fully embraced technology and all the ways it can help you save money, I’ve got a helpful guide below to get you started!

1. Coupons

This is obviously nothing new, but the days of clipping coupons from the Sunday paper have definitely evolved. With websites like Coupons.com and Groupon, you get much more variety. If you eat very healthy, organic food and are convinced coupons do not exist for these things, think again! Mambo Sprouts and Common Kindness are two of my favorite websites for organic coupons. You can also visit the websites and Facebook pages for your favorite brands to find discounts and coupons.

2. In-Store Apps

Most department and and grocery stores now have their own apps you can download and use in the store. My favorite department store apps are Kohl’s and Target. Both of these allow you to scan merchandise and see eligible discounts. The Target app now has Cartwheel built in, which allows you to add manufacturer’s coupons and store discounts you find in Cartwheel to your Target wallet in the app. In the wallet, you can sometimes find additional coupons such as $5 off a $25 beauty supply purchase. When you get to the register, just pull up the wallet in the app and the cashier will scan the barcode, automatically taking off the Cartwheel coupons and discounts. The Kohl’s app will show you if the item is on clearance as well as your discounted price if you’re enrolled in their Rewards program, and discount offers the item is eligible for. If you shop at Kohl’s, do yourself a favor and get this app! One time I paid under $5 for a very cute dress that originally was priced at $50! Be sure and download your favorite grocery store’s app also. For most stores, you can link your club card to the app and add discounts and coupons while you’re shopping.

3. Rebate Apps

Most popular with grocery store purchases, these rebate apps allow you to submit your receipts and receive cash back for eligible purchases. My favorite apps are Ibotta and Checkout 51. These started a little shaky, but are now very easy to use. You can usually find at least a couple items each shopping trip since offers sometimes include any brand products like any brand of cereal or produce that is in season and an Any Item offer. It only takes a few minutes to browse through the offers, scan a few barcodes, and upload your receipt. In Ibotta, you can withdraw funds in the form of gift cards or through PayPal or Venmo. Checkout 51 will send you a check and will soon have the option to transfer funds to PayPal.

4. Facebook Buy/Sell/Trade Groups.

This is where I get most of my kids’ clothing, shoes, and baby/toddler gear. Since babies grow so fast, it makes sense to buy things used. I’ve found some great deals on baby clothes, shoes, strollers, high chairs, and other baby items that I’ll only use for a year or two. Things like baby slings and carriers are nice to find used since you don’t always know if a particular brand will work out for you. And if it doesn’t work out for you, go ahead and re-sell it! I’ve also found furniture on these groups. Until I’m confident my kid will not draw or spill on my couch, I refuse to buy something brand new. You may even be able to find a “Buy Nothing” group in which people in your neighborhood are giving away things for free.

5. Buy In Season and On Sale.

When planning your meals and grocery shopping, always check out the store ads first. Check out the store’s app or download the Flipp app to find most retailers’ weekly ads and match them to digital coupons. You can usually tell what’s in season because it’s featured and heavily discounted. In late summer sometimes you’ll see 10 ears of corn for $1. I like to plan my meals around things that are in season to get the most out of my shopping trip. You’ll also find that seafood and meat are discounted depending on the season and occasion. For example, on Memorial Day weekend you’ll find hot dogs, BBQ meats, ketchup, etc. on sale.

Don’t forget – you’re not really saving money if you buy something that isn’t a necessary purchase or that you weren’t already planning on buying.

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Cut Your Grocery Costs | How to Make a Meal Plan

August 10, 2015

One of the biggest areas families can save money is on food. Many times, life gets busy and before you know it, dinner time is fast upon you. Without a real plan, you decide to order a pizza, head to the drive thru or to have a nice mid-week dinner at a restaurant. Maybe this happens a few times a week. Add in the cost of eating out every day for lunch and the forgotten groceries that are wasting away in the fridge, and the money spent on food can really sneak up on you!

A simple plan for the week’s meals and a list can really go a long way when you’re trying to save on groceries. It will also help you avoid spending money eating out.

The first thing I do every week when making our meal plan is to get out the grocery sale ad from our local store. I like to use the flyer from the mail, but you can also pull it up on your mobile or tablet using the Flipp app. Knowing what’s on sale and what’s in season is the first step in making a meal plan that will save you money at the checkout. You can get a good idea of what’s in season by visiting the Sustainable Table Seasonal Food Guide.

Next, I go through my pantry and freezer to see what I have already. Have some ground beef in the freezer and know that bell peppers are in season? Stuffed peppers are an easy meal that won’t cost you much! A good way to keep track of your pantry and freezer stash is to keep a list on paper or on your phone. That way, you don’t have to keep opening doors to check what you have.

Now, the fun part! Get your favorite cookbooks out and pull it all together. Now that you know what’s on sale and what you have, you can start making your meal plan. Here’s what ours looks like this week:

Sunday: Chicken Tikka Masala, creamed eggplant, Saffron rice

Monday: Pasta with Italian sausage in marinara

Tuesday: Chopped salad

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Bison burgers and french fries

Friday: Date Night

Saturday: Open/Leftovers

We always make enough to have leftovers for lunch the next day and we usually have a leftovers night during the week. We like to keep Saturdays open in case we need to finish off leftover meals or we have a family event to go to. To make things easier for ourselves, we’ll cook some things ahead. For instance, since we are grilling chicken and eggplant on Sunday, we go ahead and grill the Italian sausage for the next day’s meal also. Now on Monday, we just have to cook pasta and heat up our sausage in the marinara sauce.

If you like going to warehouse stores like Costco and Sam’s Club, you can make your meal plan for two or more weeks at once. Know what is worth buying in bulk and what freezes well.

While you’re creating your meal plan, write out your grocery list. Make sure you account for breakfast and snacks. When you get to the grocery store, use your list and don’t buy anything else! If you do this right, you can cut your grocery cost down significantly. Our trip to the grocery store for the week only cost us $52 for a family of two plus baby. That includes all the meat for our meals.

So here it is in a nutshell:

1. Shop in season and use the sale flyer

2. Shop your pantry and freezer

3. Make a realistic meal plan from #1 &2

4. Make a shopping list and stick to it!

What are some things you do to save on groceries? I’d love to hear from you!

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Our Debt-Free Journey | How We Paid Off $29k in a Year

July 21, 2015

When we got engaged, Jacob and I decided to take a pre-marriage class to make sure we both had the tools we needed to have a good marriage. One of the lessons was about finances and featured a segment of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. We had both heard of Dave Ramsey before, but never really looked into his books or classes. What we heard in that lesson really sparked our interest and began us on a journey that really changed our lives.

We were both doing pretty well; we had good jobs, we knew how to save and we didn’t think we were in a great deal of debt. Jacob had just purchased a house that was very affordable and we planned to slowly fix it up and furnish it together. I had a car loan, a student loan, and a credit card with a small balance. Jacob also had a student loan and credit card.

After we were introduced to Dave Ramsey, we decided we wanted to live our lives free of debt and teach our children why that is so important. We recognized that if we had no debt and built up our savings, we would have more freedom to do what was really important to us. So we read all of Dave Ramsey’s books, borrowed the Financial Peace University DVDs from a friend, and started on our 7 baby steps. The first is a small emergency fund, the second is to pay off all debt but the house, and the third is to fully fund the emergency fund with 3-6 months of expenses. But we also had a wedding to pay for.

We started tackling our debt individually while saving for our wedding. We had nine months to save because we were determined to pay for all wedding expenses with cash. Jacob and I are both planners and like to use spreadsheets, so we created a budget and a plan. We started meal planning and being smarter with our grocery shopping, stopped eating out so much, and took our lunches to work every day. We had garage sales and sold things on Craigslist. We were being gazelle intense! By the time August came around, Jacob had paid off his credit card and we had saved $12,000 for our September wedding and honeymoon. It was a beautiful wedding and very relaxing honeymoon. But most importantly, we knew we were starting off our marriage on the right foot.

Now that we were married, we combined our finances and really started concentrating on our debt. Together we now had about $29,000 in debt, not counting the house. We really kicked it into gear. Jacob put in a lot of overtime at work, I got a part-time job for the holidays, and we rented out one of our rooms. We continued doing meal planning and I tried finding good deals wherever I could. Jacob kept driving his old truck, “Leaky Lou” which he owned for 11 years. He did as many repairs on his own as he could for both our vehicles.

One by one, we tackled each debt while setting money aside for car replacement/repairs and travel. Our goal was to be debt-free within a year, and then take a big vacation to celebrate our one year anniversary and being debt-free. By the time our anniversary came around, we had scheduled our last payment, we were on a fun vacation in Seoul, South Korea, and I was pregnant!

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1. Coupons

2. In-Store Apps

3. Rebate Apps

4. Facebook Buy/Sell/Trade Groups.

5. Buy In Season and On Sale.

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