Are you ready to save some money?
Friday is the day that I reflect on the frugal choices we’ve made in the past week. I like to share these ways on the blog so that you can find new money saving methods that fit into your own family life.
Since I do this every Friday (for 24 weeks now!), I’ve grown quite the collection of tips. If you’d like to read the archives, you can find the entire series right here.
Let’s get this show on the road.
Here are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week.
Just keep driving.
I live a distance away from our closest Ikea, so it’s not a store I get to shop in very often. This week we had a doctor’s appointment in that area.
Can I just tell you how tempting it was to stop in? I was sure that there were some serious deals to be had in there!
But when I really thought about it, there is nothing that we need from Ikea right now. Oh, you can bet your boots I would have found something to buy had I gone into the store. But my best bet was to never step foot into it.
And that’s what I did! I just kept driving. (You should be thinking Dory from Finding Nemo while you read that…)
Frugal Fun
We had a (very rare) free Saturday this past weekend. Our baseball season is about to begin, and when you are chasing 4 different ball teams, life become crazy! So I wanted us to spend some family time together while we still had the chance.
We chose to go to a museum with free admission. The kids enjoyed the trip, we got to hang out together, and with the price of gas so low right now it wound up being a fun, frugal day.
Patience paid off!
In last week’s 5 Ways post, I mentioned that we had been patient in shopping around for a sink for our bathroom. Well, that patience has paid off!
We shopped the big hardware stores. We shopped smaller stores. We looked on Craigslist.
On our way home from our museum trip, we stopped at another store that is a distance from our house. There I happened to find a vanity and sink that was on the back of a shelf and not marked in any way.
I asked a worker about the cost of it, and he searched around for 15 minutes looking for the price. He finally said that it had been discontinued and was $65. This was a fraction of the cost of vanities we had found, and better quality than those ones, too! I was so excited about this find!
Discovered a truth of grocery shopping
I often have lived under the assumption that the fewer times you go to the store, the better.
Now, I definitely still believe in that idea. However, I have learned that there is a happy medium to be had. You want to find the sweet spot between not grocery shopping because you have enough food, but not waiting until the cupboards are bare either.
The great thing about getting ahead on your grocery shopping is that you can really stock up on deals. If I grocery shop before we are out of everything, that means I can spend the money I would have been spending on cheese, for instance, on an item that is at its rock bottom price.
So when pasta went on sale for 49 cents (my stock up price!), I had the wiggle room to buy 3 months worth of it.
Bonus…the next time I go to the store I can use my pasta money to stock up on a different rock bottom priced item!
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Discount produce
We have a store in our area that sells discounted produce. I love this store! Sometimes you’ll go in and find everything at the same price as your local Kroger.
Other times you’ll find organic pears for 59 cents. (That was exciting!)
Those are my 5 Ways I’ve Saved Money This Week!
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Let us know what frugal things you accomplished this week! Feel free to leave a link if you blogged about it.
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
Being patient on fixtures is really important. We were able to pick up the sink and counters for our kitchen remodel at the Habitat ReStore (which look great) all because we waited. Of course, it did slow things down a bit, but I’m not sure the hubby was going to move any faster on it anyway.
Oh my, our bathroom has been a very slow process! We are constantly busy with getting the 4 school aged kids to their various practices, activities, and appointments. So it probably didn’t put us terribly behind to be patient on this purchase, either.
This is what I’ve been doing with my grocery shopping! It would normally be a matter of “well, chili is on sale, I’ll buy a few” and then be out well before it’s on sale again. Now, it’s on sale (and, for some reason, a lot lately, yay!) and I keep buying it…keep buying it…and keep buying it, ha. And while it’s not a huge savings, if it’s on sale for 99 cents and the cheapest for it when it’s not on sale is 1.17…and I have ten cans in my pantry right now…I’m still a happy lady 😉
Also, you need an IKEA cheese grater. I mean, well, everyone needs the IKEA cheese grater. It’s the best thing ever (only second to the stand-up Tupperware cheese grater that I do believe is not as good of quality was it was when I was growing up xD ). But, it’s not worth going into the store, only for that – too tempting!
I am not sure I grind cheese often enough to justify that purchase, but I bet others would definitely benefit from that tip! 😉
Now I’m singing “just keep driving … just keep driving!” 😉 Love it! Like I said on Facebook, you are a wise woman!
Congrats on finding your sink! Your patience really paid off (pun intended).
Thanks! 🙂
I love searching the discounted produce AND meat section of our local store! That’s a great way to save money. And not stopping at a store, even when you know you can get good deals but don’t really need anything at the moment, is hard to do but it’s worth it. These are great tips! Thank you for sharing them. It encourages me to just keep going, just keep going 🙂
haha! I love it. Thanks for reading!
Great job Jamie! I think the “just keep driving” is key! .49 cents per box is a great deal for pasta! I’ll have to keep an eye out to see if it gets that low here in my area. I did start a price list from the 2 stores we usually shop at so I should be able to start telling if things are a good deal or not.
A price list is such a big money saver! Great idea to start one.
I always love reading your tips! Similar to your “just keep driving” mantra I often tell myself “There will always be another sale” when I see an email from a store tempting me to look but I know we don’t need anything. Thanks for sharing!
Stores are excellent at creating that scarcity mentality so you feel like you’d better act now. That’s something I have to remind myself of often! I’m glad you like the 5 Ways series! Thanks for reading.
I have really been trying to cut out my frivolous spending! Thank you for sharing this at the #SmallVictoriesSundayLinkup!
Thanks for hosting!
I found your blog this week. I went back and read all 24 of the weekly savings posts. I love your ideas and you’ve given me food for thought.
Thanks so much! I’m happy to help.
I had to go to a specialist this week 1.5hr from home. Big city. Lots of shopping I don’t typically have access to. I was really, really tempted to go shopping while my in-laws were watching my 4yr old. The appt was faster than planned so I had time…but I decided to not do it. I totally understand the “keep driving” one. 😉 #ShineBlogHop
Just keep driving, I love that one! I feel you on that one, there were so many times that I didn’t need anything but had a few extra minutes and wanted to stop and just look around, but I know that’s trouble! Thanks for sharing Jamie found this post at the Shine blog hop!
Great post. As a family of 5 I’m always looking for ways to save!
I am loving the idea of discount produce. Before we moved, there was a really great place near our house. I’ll have to look around to locate another one… because I really miss it! lol!
Jamie, way to score on that vanity! Woohoo! Thanks for sharing on #FridayFrivolity.
What is this patience word you say??
Keep on driving is probably the best tip ever!
Friday Frivolity