I feel like between October Halloween costumes and candy, Thanksgiving hosting and meal planning, and December holiday food and gift spending, I’m always squeezing our finances tighter than I’d like to. I thought I’d share a few ways we’ve used to save money and keep wiggle room in our budget.
Don’t Get Your Oil Changed
I know, I know. This is contrary to everything mom, dad, and your car mechanic taught you growing up. If you cracked open my head, I’m sure “Three months or 3,000 miles” is scrawled on my brain somewhere. But cars these days are far more efficient than they were even ten years ago. Unless you’re driving a super old junker car, I suggest you consult your car’s owner’s manual carefully. My 2013 SUV states I only need an oil change every six months or every 6,000 miles given how and where I drive it.
Make Homemade Gifts
Having kids is expensive, but those little buggers can sometimes save you some cash too. Store bought greeting cards can be costly for just a folded piece of card stock and an envelope! Instead, I’ve been having my daughter make cards for birthdays, anniversaries, and other holidays. When she was a baby, I made a few gifts for family out of her footprints. They ADORED them. Now that she’s getting older, I can start having her make other presents. Even if I get a smaller gift in addition to the homemade one for Grandma or Grandpa, it means I’m spending less than I would otherwise.
Buy Secondhand or Sell as Secondhand
There are certain things I will try to thrift for before I resort to buying new. I typically hit up Once Upon a Child for kids clothes. I also frequent Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist for Christmas or birthday toys for my daughter. For now, she doesn’t know or care if the present she opens is new or not. I’ll check out Goodwill for kids clothes, non-cloth based home goods, or Halloween costume pieces. I never pass up a clearance section for things I need (not things I want.) This past week, I snagged two bottles of our brand of travel sized shampoo/body wash for $0.97 each (normally $3.50 each) that I know we’ll need for an upcoming trip in April.
On the flip side of this is taking the time to sell the things you’re getting rid of. I know tons of you are KonMari-ing your houses. I see you! Even if you’re not using Ms. Kondo’s method, consider going through the things you’re purging and selling the ones that are still in good shape. About once a year, I’ll take a box of clothes into Clothes Mentor. Whatever they don’t buy, I’ll send into ThredUp. ThredUp will donate anything they can’t sell for me. I’ve also made some cash off of my daughter’s clothes at Once Upon a Child. They take toys, bikes, furniture, and other children’s items too. I also list things like electronics and household goods on Facebook Marketplace, LetGo, and Craigslist. Sometimes it takes a while to sell items, but I’d rather get $20 for a wireless router than just put it in electronics recycling!
Use Money-Saving Apps
I installed Honey on my laptop browser, and it has saved me money on countless occasions. It’s a free extension that will apply coupons and discounts for you on over 30,000 websites. Whenever I need to shop online, I always hop on my laptop to take advantage of the Honey savings. You also gain Honey Gold with certain purchases that can be put towards gift cards at specified online retailers. I regularly use the website Retailmenot.com to search for promo codes as well. I almost always get my photo prints for under a dollar at Walgreens thanks to Retailmenot.
Downloading the app ibotta to your phone will get you the same type of savings while shopping on your mobile device or while shopping at the stores you already frequent. I typically go to Meijer, Costco, Target, Walgreens, Home Depot, and use Amazon, HelloFresh, and DoorDash, which are all included on this site. Why would I not get money back for uploading receipts or by shopping those sites through ibotta? They also have deals for travel sites, entertainment apps like Groupon, clothing stores like Gap or Payless, and many more.
Trim Your Food Expenses
This one can be hard, but it’s worth it. First, I recommend planning your meals ahead of time and planning those meals around what’s on sale in your grocery store flyers or what you have coupons for. It took me a long time to get into a good groove with this. But now every Sunday, I pull out the coupons and flyers section of the newspaper and sit down to meal plan for the next week or two. I’m pretty good about keeping a mental inventory of what we have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer. So I take what’s on sale, find a good recipe for it, subtract the items I know we have in the house, and that generates my shopping lists. I’ll go through my lists once I’m done and clip physical coupons or virtual coupons in my grocery store apps for the things I need.
Second, I suggest eating less meat. My family and I are not vegetarians, and I am not here to make a case for or against that way of life. But if you are carnivorous, consider having one or two meals per week that are meatless. The reasoning behind this is meat is by far more expensive than going with pasta or grains.
Third, try looking into making your own cleaning products. By switching from buying an all-purpose cleaner to mixing my own using just white vinegar and water, I save an easy $4 a month.
Last, make use of those kids eat free nights. Meal planning sometimes includes a night out, and that’s totally fine! Check out our list of restaurants where kids eat free or cheap, and hit up those spots to save money on your final check.
