Jan 30, 2009

Spin Cycle: Turning Dollars into SENSE!

small cycle

This week the topic is all about money saving tips. There are a lot of things that we do in our house to save money.
  1. I buy in bulk a lot, but only the things I use a lot of. I am not going to buy 500 gallons of mayonnaise if I never eat it. It makes no sense. And once I get the bulk buys home, I divide it up into meal sized portions and freeze things that way for ease of use.
  2. I make a menu plan and a grocery list every time I go shopping. It helps to limit impulse buying. You know what else helps to limit impulse buying? Going alone. Not having anyone with me asking me, "Can we get that? What about that?" really helps to limit the extras.
  3. I do shop sales but like budget shopping, I try to limit it to buying things I actually use.
  4. I also buy store brands of a lot of products. Most of the time there is no difference in my point of view.
  5. The biggest thing that we do to save money is buying what we need, not all the things we would like to have all the time. When we buy something that is an extra, we plan it out. We don't get it on impulse.
  6. We also check the weekly flyers to see which store has the best deals and do our grocery shopping there.
  7. Farmers Markets are a great place to get good deals on fresh vegetables.
  8. I save the carcass from chicken and little bits of leftovers and freeze them to add to a soup later.

3 comments:

Sprite's Keeper said...

I am addicted to Costco. If I would only use the membership the way I should, buying serious poundage of meat and dividing it up, veggies and such. We, being a family of two adults and one grazer, have to buy small amounts of fruits or else they go bad and I can't have that! I think the only 500 gal tub of anything we would need would be hot sauce. I buy a large jar EVERY WEEK for John. Sick, I tell you.
Great tips! You're linked!
(Love the new masthead by the way!)

Anonymous said...

Joe should take a tip from you... He is attracted to clearance sales like a bee to a flower, but he will sometimes buy things we don't need, just because he can't resist a bargain... One time he bought some swim shorts that were 2 sizes too small for him, just because his size wasn't on sale. So they were completely uncomfortable and he ended up getting rid of them... But hey, he saved $2 at the time. *rolls eyes*

Shangrila said...

Great post! We just bought a subscription to Costco so that we can by in bulk-great timing for the reminder to only by what we use! :)

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