I made my 100th post a few days ago, so I thought what a good reason to have another fun contest! Since we are focusing on saving money, food storage, frugal living, etc. I want to give away something related to that. Sooo...here is what the winner will get!
1. A starter stash of product samples and trial sizes to use in your 72 hour kits or wherever you want.
2. Some cute handmade cards by me. :) I haven't made them yet, so I will even let you specify what kind of cards you want...birthday, thank you, etc. How about a set of 4 cards?
3. I will also throw in a few other misc goodies I can come up with. Surprise! I have a few ideas up my sleeve.
NOW...if you want to enter to win, here is what you have to do: Make reply to this post. In your reply, I want you to share one or two tips for saving money, building up your food storage, lessons you have learned, your best freebie ever, etc. so we can all get some new ideas. Anyone can enter (as long as you live in the U.S) even if I don't know you. I will draw a random winner on April 29th.
17 comments:
Marne, I am not the best person at saving money. The best thing I do to save is to stay away from the stores! Having this kidney stone, I've let Dave do the grocery shopping and it has helped him to see how expensive things really are so he knows I'm not buying tons of extra things when I go and it all adds up. I do love sales adn finding things on clearance that we need, like winter clothes for next year, etc. For food storage I try to buy one thing each week, like a case of water bottles to add to our storage, or buy things in bulk when they are on sale, like toilet paper, etc. You have given me lots of great ideas and I really appreciate this blog! I think you're amazing.
I know some people say that buying clothes at Ross is ghetto, but you can find some fantastic deals there. I found a David Britton shirt, originally $78, for $21. It's cleaner than a thrift store (though those have their place, too) and I've dug up some pretty cool stuff before.
I"m always up for a give-away!! I love this site, always fun and fresh new ideas... I seriously need help on the food storage issue! I love it, I just have a small home and have a hard time knowing where to put it all! :) So thanks for the great ideas!
One thing I like to do is to buy the holiday items after the holiday! The best is to purchase little kid halloween costumes a day or two afterward. One year I purchased some adorable costumes for $2.99 from Old Navy. What a bargain.
Another thing I am trying to do is when I make big purchases to make sure it is high quality! It may sound like an oxymoron, because it costs more initially, but it will last so much longer than the el cheapo junk... so you will not be replacing it - saving money in the long run.
One thing I need to do better about is not buying a whole bunch of clothes when they are on clearance. I find that I spend a grundle to get bags and bags of clothes... and I don't end up wearing them (because they aren't quite fashionable or my favorite). It may be worth it to buy a few favorite clothing items on sale.
I am thankful for my food storage..there have been times when all we eat is our food storage and so it is such wise council from our prophet and leaders to have food storage...I heard on Glenn Beck today that the secretary of US Agriculture warned us of of the shortage of wheat in our nation...
I fight for freebies...I am good at getting free furniture...My cabinets I am painting at the moment were free...if you have a will and a desire I think Heavenly Father kind of directs you in blessings paths. (My version of the Secrete-) anyway- there are a lot of opportunities to save money and find smokin deals if you are willing to work at it a little-
Chay and I signed up for our 401K this year and I can't believe how much it is growing- they match almost 100%- so we are putting in 5% and they match it 4.5% we are saving almost %10 of our income! This is crazy because I never thought we could save anything but you really can if you just do it- somehow things work out.
Yay for contests! I would say our biggest money saving tip is to go to garage sales. My kids have very few clothes or toys that have come from a store brand new unless someone else bought them for them as gifts. Plus I love to go on Fatwallet and sign up for all kinds of free samples of stuff, they are great for traveling and for 72 hour kits. Thank you for sharing your tips with us!
I love getting free things. A while back I got this offer for four free Scholastic books and a free backpack If I would preview a book and decide if I wanted it or not. Scholastic would even pay to have the preview book sent back to them. So, all I had to do was send in the card and then call the company when they sent the stuff so I could tell them that I didn't want the preview book. They don't want to have to pay for the shipping so they let me keep the book for free and cancel the trial membership. I have kept doing this (they send you more cards with each free order) and I have received 21 free books, two free backpacks, a free princess set and other stuff....and I have more free books on the way! I love it!
Thanks Marne for getting us to share some ideas!
One of my favs is to go driving around on garbage day! Yes - sounds crazy and NO I don't open any garbage container. Today I scored with toddler boy bike (needed), girl scooter, and bottom rack of dishwasher (super needed - ours is falling apart). This dishwasher was the exact brand and model as mine, worked out well. Wednesday mornings can be delightful!
Great idea Marne. I like reading everyone's ideas! My money saver idea this month is to have a monthly meal plan. I wrote out all the meals for a month and went shopping for 2 weeks of meals. If I have a meal plan, it saves me money - because then I don't get the urge to go out to eat when I feel I'm out of ideas of what to eat and haven't planned on a meal.
I have always been the type to find a great deal when it comes to clothes, shoes or the like. My favorite of all time is this darling jean skirt I found at GAP, it retailed for $48 and I got it for $7!!! I try to buy classic pieces and then accessorize with fun, more trendy pieces. But when it comes to food...boy do I have some learning to do. About six months ago our family made the decision to go from a well paying job that wouldn't really go anywhere down the road to starting our own business. Despite the business doing well for beginning stages I have had to adjust to a tighter budget. Then add in the price increase on everything, I have a new found incentive and drive to learn how to cheat the grocery world. I am still a greeny but i learn new things everyday. Like, why I didn't start this sooner. I think this was the push I needed, I count it as a blessing for my family. A friend of mine posted about your site a couple of weeks ago and I love all the links and postings you have. I even started using the survey site you have on the side bar. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, I am a fan.
1. I make menus according to what is on sale or what I have on hand (in freezer, etc).
2. I love to garage sale - my latest deal was a 12-20" porcelian Christus for $17.00 instead of over $100.
3. I plan and buy ahead - gifts, clothes, whatever I think I will need- if I find it at a steal!
Marne- it's been a while since I visited this blog- i love the facelift and the new title. I want you to know you are amazing. what a talent you have and how generous you are to share your knowledge with others. I always shop a season ahead for my kids clothes. ALWAYS! i hate vintage shopping as it is too overwhelming for me so this way i get my kids brand new clothes for the same price as a thrift store. HOWEVER my newest way to save money, time and sanity are freezer meals. my friend and I just assembled 40 healthy and hearty meals- the cost of groceries for each of us was $196. Pretty good eh?
One thing that has saved us has been to accept things that are second hand, our house is full of nice things because of it. Also, spending less than you earn is crucial. Because then you can save and prepare for emergencies. Not original ideas, but they work for us. I really enjoyed reading others' ideas as well!
I save money by choosing to live Green. I hang up my clothes to dry, use cleaners like vinegar, baking soda, and club soda, and by taking my tote bags with me to the store when I buy groceries (most stores give a 5 cent rebate per bag). I also save money by riding my bike everywhere during the warm summer months.
I am building up my food storage one week at a time by buying specific items each week. This process eliminates the feeling of being overwhelmed by the task.
Well, I don't really have anything new to add. One of my biggest ways to save $$ is to be organized. I figure out 2 weeks worth of menus (usually involves a couple nights of leftovers, so about 12 meals I will feel like making over the next 2 weeks.) I always have chicken and hamburger in my freezer as I buy them when they are on sale. So I usually have 1 huge shopping trip every 2 weeks ans in between those 2 big shopping trips, I will stop for milk and some fresh produce or have my husband stop on his way home. So it keeps me out of stores, which keeps me from spending money. Also, keeping to my list. It is possible! I won't pass up a huge bargain, but if its not on my list, I think twice before buying it.
Also when we want a new church book or really any book, we always visit amazon or half.com. We always buy used books and so far they have always been in good condition.
Also, a little thing I do that might be cheezy is I don't fill up the dishwasher all the way with soap to run, not even half way...about 1/3 and my dishes still get clean. I also use probably only a couple of Tablespoons of laundry detergent to wash our clothes. I have a front loader, and they use so much less detergent and our clothes still get clean. I was a little skeptical at first when the installer said they hardly need any soap. If you can see lots of suds and bubbles when the washer is going, you have put in too much soap (is what I was told.) And its not like I would keep using so little soap if the clothes didn't get clean. It really works. It took me over a year to go through a Costco Kirkland brand laundry detergent and at the time I had 3 and then 4 kids.
Oh, and about food storage--I buy at least 1 thing for my food storage every time I go to the grocery store. It can be a large purchase or even something small like a thing of salt, baking soda or yeast or 4 cans of tomato soup. But it adds up fast and keeps your food storage up. I also love the Fall when so much is on sale like soups, muffin mixes, peanut butter, apple juice and I really stock up on the extras and the rest of the year I work on building maintaining the basics...wheat, rice, beans.
Oh, and thanks Marne for such a helpful blog! :)
The best tip I have, which has worked really well for is, is to STAY AWAY FROM WALMART, as much as possible. I don't clip coupons and don't have time to go through all the adds to price match everything. I look through the grocery ads, find out what store has the best deals and just do my grocery shopping there.
The best deal I've had is when cereal is 10 for $10, and it's the good stuff like cheerios, chex, total, etc. I stock up big time. I also collect enough coupons that are in the dispenser at the store and end up spending less than 40 cents a box!!
I have saved soo much money this year doing this and have really built up my food storage buy buying extra when it's on sale.
Another thing I do recently to help build my food storage, is buy it even if I don't need it yet, like bottled water, toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. especially when it's on sale. My little stock pile is growing & it literally brings me so much joy!!
Thanks again for this amazing site!!
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