How Do I Save Money? Let Me Count the Ways.

WHAT I DO:

1. GroceryGame.com Yes, I play the game and love it. It required some time to learn and do, but it is always worth the money I save. After you play it a few times, you’ll get the hang of it and you’ll be hooked - especially when you see how much you’ve saved! You can try it for $1. However I always tell people to clip coupons for about a month before you start GroceryGame. You can still play & win, but not as much fun without a coupon stash.

2. CVS shopping Need I say more? If you’re unfamiliar with it, read my page on how to shop there. You just can’t beat the freebies!

3.Garage sales (have and go) I’ll buy almost anything used, with few exceptions (let me lump Craig’s list, Half Price Books and the like in this category). I love getting up early to slam down breakfast and run out the door. I don’t have many opportunities to go because we have 3 kids in activities, but I love finding those little treasures when I have the time. Also, I am not a pack rat. I love to get unused items out of the house as soon as possible. The cash in hand after a garage sale is a sweet reward.

4. Light green living CFL light bulbs, turning off the lights, shorter showers, recycling, reusing items, finding new uses for old items (in-home recycling), etc. are important to our frugality and to our stewardship of natural resources.

5. Freecycle.org Have you joined yet? Our local loop is very active. This is a loop you can join to get used items for free. You may also get rid of things you don’t want anymore. Something wonderful to take advantage of. Keeps items out of our landfills.

6. Freebies in the mail I sign-up for everything I can. Samples in the mail may be small, but they’re still free. I never snub a free deal.

7. Cut luxury items What luxury is to me, may not be luxury to you. I don’t have a maid and my husband doesn’t pay for lawn care. We are able-bodied and have 3 children. However, we do eat out every Sunday after church (at Dickey’s where kids eat free). I don’t take magazines unless they are free subscriptions (of which I get plenty). We don’t take cable, but we’re fortunate to be in an area where it’s not a necessity in order to watch television. Little things like that can really add up.

WHAT I NEED TO DO:

1. Garden I currently don’t have the know-how and the time that would be required of me. I suppose I would make time if I wanted to do this, but quite honestly the thought doesn’t appeal to me. I have actually researched square foot gardening, but have implemented nothing (part of my “light green” living status). Any encouragement in this area would be appreciated. I truly know nothing about gardening - soil, mixtures, what’s good in my zone, bugs, plant diseases, etc. The task seems too large to conquer.

2. Walgreens I have a great aversion to deal-doing at Walgreens. I’ve heard so much chatter about people not being able to use their Register Rewards (like ECB’s at CVS) and not receiving their rebates. I can’t imagine the frustration. Rebates are time consuming to begin with, but to not be able to collect - ugh. It’s all been chatter though. I’ve never tried. I go to Walgreens if there is a straight deal (no RR’s/rebates involved). Few and far between though.

This entry was posted on 4. June 2008 at 22:35 and is filed under FRUGALITY. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.