Money Saving Tips

Believe me, we're there. I don't have a lot of ideas, but one that I use to cut down on grocery bills is a) to generally eat more vegetarian meals (pasta, beans, rice, tofu, eggs are all a lot cheaper than meat), and b) when we do eat meat, add veggies to stretch it out. For example, we had BBQ chicken for dinner last night, but I bought chicken tenders, grilled them and then shredded them. Then I cooked up some shredded carrot, onion and peppers and mixed in the chicken and BBQ sauce. It made 1 package of chicken tenders serve my husband and I, as well as our two kids (who eat about one each), with enough leftovers for a generous lunch today. Buying three whole chicken breasts would have been more expensive, and there wouldn't have been any leftovers. You can do the same things with hamburger, etc. Veggies are cheaper than meat, and I figure this way it's healthier too!

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Food: I make my own baby food in bulk and freeze in ice cube trays. I plan my menus around the supermarket sales each week. For meats I'll stock up when its on sale and freeze. We've cut eating out to once a week or we get take out so we don't have to pay for tip.

Clothing: I've been hitting up tag sales or yard sales for kids clothes. I visit a local thrift shop when I can - it requires some effort but I can often find excellent quality clothes, some even new with tags. I'm also on freecycle and people are always givng away clothing for kids I recently got a bag of fall/winter cothes for my baby - the clothes were in excellent to good condition. I'm buying clearance for next year for my two girls.

Recreation/entertainment: We've stopped cable service but on most shows we are a season or two behind and can get the sets on DVD for birthday or Christmas. I've been going to the local library which has had great programs for kids in the summer. Our library is part of the Minuteman Library Network which has museum passes for free or at a great discount so we've been to several local attractions for very cheap.

Gas: Whenever I get in the car I make sure to plan for more than one errand on the way. Also, shop around for gas prices - prices can differ by .05 to .10 cents per gal. just across town or in the next town.

I've learned a lot about saving money recently since my dh is between jobs and we are subsisting on my part time income!

Here is a couple of ideas my girlsfriends and I do, one when anyone is going out to do some shopping, we ask around so if I am goign to Target, I call around and make a list of items to pick up for friends and they do the same - save gas for the same trip.

Also, when items are on sale I tend to make big meals for example 5 lbs of hamburger on manager special is $3.00 off, well I make enought shepards pie for 4 meals, mu hubby has had enough about day 2 - so we share with a friend. We chose a night double our recipes and switch one meal so watch the sales and its getting 2 meals for the price of one - on sale

Plan your driving and combine errands.
Don't drive if it is a short distance.
Don't idle your car.
If your family has 2 cars, make sure the person who does most driving is using the more gas efficent car.
Buy online and quit driving to the mall.

I have started to do my grocery shopping at night, when my husband can watch the kids. I have been leaving the store with lots of stuff I didn't really need because the kids were asking for it.

If you are lucky enough to have a housecleaner and/or someone doing your lawn, consider cancelling, or if that won't work, make them come less frequently.

Cancel cable and the newspaper (or call them for a reduced rate).

Cook your own babyfood. It is very easy to mush up carrots and such, and a lot cheaper.

In addition I do most of the things other posters have suggested. And I don't feel that I am deprived of anything. It's all in the head.

Good luck!

I've been looking at ways to cut back as well. With 2 kids in daycare its very tough. However, we just reviewed our cable bill. We had cable and internet with comcast and our house phone and cell phones with verizon. We chose to combine our house phone with the cable and internet for a bundle package. I got them to waive the fees. We will save appx $50/month just from this. I have also started to shop at Market Basket versus Shaws. Its not as convenient and doesn't carry all the things we normally buy - but I plan to do the bulk of my shopping there with coupons to save. We've basically cut out our eating out and i think the next step is cutting back on our spending money. Hopefully this helps a bit!

there's lots of hting you can do.
Start by buying food in bulk.
Cancell your monthly cell phone service and get a pay-as-you-go phone (use it only for emergencies!!)
Change your house phone to basic service (cancell things like call waiting, caller ID & private number)
Get rid of cable (spend your evening walking, exercising, playing with the kids, reading ect.)
Plan trips to stores to be done all on the same day.(saves you gas)
Turn your water heater down. (to 112 degrees?)
Turn your A/C up.
Turn off any thing you're not using (TV, lights,computer, saving electricity)
Shop off season and clearance racks whenever possible (buy swimwear & summer clothes, pool supplies for next year now!)
NEVER use your credit card unless you plan to pay the entire balance due at the end of the month. (Intrest charges build up quickly making it impossible to ever get the balance down.)

hope this helps

When we decided to cut back, we got rid of our satellite dish and switched to cable. We also got vonage for phone service because it's only $14.99 a month. Although, if we were really frugal, we'd get rid of our home phone all together and just use our cell phones. Stop & Shop's new gas plan can help a lot. I just earned enough points to get $.90 off/gallon! Plus I got a free gallon of milk from the milk rewards plan and you get $.05 back for every reusable bag you use. We buy everything store brand organic that we can because it's much cheaper than other organic brands.
You can also shop at consignment stores or goodwill/salvation army for clothes and shoes. It takes a lot of looking usually, but you can find some really good things there.