Friday, January 11, 2008

Frugal Friday--Five Painless Ways We Saved Last Year


Today we have been asked to list 5 ways we saved $100 or more for Frugal Friday.


Here are some things our family did last year:


1. My husband biked to work from about March-December every day, saving us a total of at least $228. It's a little under a mile to his workplace.


2. I made my own Fuzzi Bunz-style diapers. Using these cloth diapers for a whole year would save us at least $300. They are just as easy as disposables to put on and they don't require a lot of maintenance. In fact, I like them better than disposables because dirty disposables stink up the house, but cloth don't since we rinse and soak right away.


3. I learned how to shop Walgreens and have gotten endless good deals there. In one day, I saved over $100 by hitting a clearance on Pull-Ups diapers (for our toddler at night) and using $2 off coupons on them (they were priced $2.59). I bought a bunch for friends as well and thankfully had LOTS of Pampers coupons on hand. These diapers, which I got for 59 cents to a dollar per package normally cost $10.


4. I started couponing and printing coupons off the internet and combining them with sales. In doing this I have gotten all of our cereals for $1 or under a box (name brand cereals) and have gotten tons of groceries free. You'll remember that tips on Money Saving Mom have gotten me countless free crackers, free bodywashes, free shampoo, free granola bars, free computer paper and a free flash drive. We've gotten free bags of cheese sticks, free candles, and free samples of things. Thanks to those $5 off Tylenol coupons we've gotten tons of medicine free this year too. In fact, I get mad if I have to pay more than $1 for a bottle of Nyquil or Robitussin or Theraflu or something! Many of the Christmas gifts we gave out this year were free to us or almost-free.


5. I hate to sound like a GEICO commercial, but by using GEICO for our older vehicles (Honda Accord and Toyota Camry) we have saved at least $500 in car insurance each year as opposed to using the agency in town. Our current policy with GEICO (liability) costs us $300 a year for two vehicles. Not bad!
I just thought of a couple more ideas, later in the day today:
6. We cut back on eating out. Instead of eating out once a week or every other week, we cut it down to once a month or less and in doing so have saved around $300 this last year.
7. My husband has always cut his own hair with the Flow-bee vaccuum attachment. This saves us around $100 a year on haircutting costs.
For tons more great tips on how others have saved money last year, go to www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog and check out the other posts on today's Frugal Friday!

1 comment:

Laura said...

My husband bikes to work too (except for these past few months that we've had snow and ice!). I never added up the savings, but your calculations show them to be quite significant! That's great!

Pin It
Pin It
Pin It