This week we are continuing our Friday series called 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week. If you missed any posts, you can find them here!
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So without further ado, here are the different ways we have saved this week.
Shop Craigslist
While I would prefer “saving money” to mean I didn’t spend any at all, sometimes a big purchase is necessary… or at least highly desirable.
As a former music teacher, I think music is very important and want it to be a big part of all of my childrens’ lives. So this year when our 11 year old finally had the opportunity to join band, there was no way we were skipping that!
Rather than buying new, I scoured Craigslist. When a good name brand trumpet (that looked like it was cared for well) was listed for under $200, I jumped at the chance to get it. This saved me hundreds of dollars over buying new or renting!
Obviously if you shop Craigslist, you need to take precautions and only meet in a public area. And anytime you buy a used instrument, you should be careful to purchase a good brand name instrument (or you’ll spend more money in repairs in the long run).
Get more tips for not renting a school band instrument here!
Use a Clothesline
This is a two fold savings! We are saving the electric we would have used (and at over 15 loads of laundry per week, that’s a crazy savings). We also are taking it easy on a dryer that is showing clear signs of wanting to give out.
Fix it
<Read this next sentence in sarcasm font.> The kids were practicing for their big Olympic try out by using the bar for our push mower. The push mower bar didn’t withstand the treatment (for some odd reason). With an unusual part broken on this specific mower, we could have thrown it out and looked for another one on a yard sale.
But with the magic of Google, we were able to find the replacement part for just a couple of dollars and the hubby snapped it on in just a few moments of time. Now it works great! (Although I doubt the mower or the kids are going to win a medal any time soon.)
Shop without a cart
Sometimes when I go into a store that tends to make me want to shop a little too much, I make sure that I do not get a cart or a basket. That way I have to carry my intended purchases around with me. As that becomes awkward, it gives me a nice reminder to not spend too much time or money in that store!
Figure out how to shop gluten free
I’ve mentioned this a time or two, but we are trying our second born on a gluten free diet. When I go grocery shopping, I feel guilty about the fact that he has to miss out on some of his favorite treats, and it makes me lean towards buying the pricey gluten free versions of those items.
But the truth is that he isn’t as bothered by the diet as I am. When the rest of the family is eating birthday cake, he’s totally happy to have just ice cream and a couple spoons of icing. The teachers asked me to send in treats he can have while the rest of the class is eating cookies. I could have bought expensive GF cookies…instead I bought him a couple of chocolate bars. Much cheaper, and he is just as happy.
Be sure to “like” Medium Sized Family on Facebook to keep up with all of my money saving tips!
How did you do this week? Be sure to let us know in the comments. If you blogged about it, leave the link so we can learn from you!
Yay for playing trumpet! My husband and I each played as well and while I passed mine down to my brother, we kept his hoping our kids will want to play 🙂
These are some good tips worth passing on. I didn’t think about the no cart bit, but it makes practical sense. Our local grocery store has the smaller carts now, and it does keep me from buying to much at one time.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
Yes, sometimes I take the smaller cart for the same reason! I know I need a few heavier things, but still don’t want to over do it. Thanks for visiting!
Shopping without a cart is a brilliant idea. Thank you for making me stop and think!
Aww, thanks for your kind comments!
All the savings sure adds up! 🙂 We recently moved, and we decided one way to make the move cheaper was only to buy necessary appliances…we decided that a dryer didn’t make the cut for ‘necessary’, so I hang all of our clothes indoors. In Malaysia, that’s pretty normal behavior anyways, but it took some getting used to since the house we rented in the USA for a few years had a dryer!
That’s a great idea! Hanging clothes is very doable if you make the time to do it.
Today I’m going to a test session of gluten free products. I’m very curious about it because this brand is a popular one so I’m sure their prices will be more accessible than the imported brands we find on the market.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I’d be interested to know what you learn about this brand for sure.
I can not tell you how many really great buys I have made on Craigslist as my grown kids have needed help furnishing apartments. Just incredible savings.
Isn’t it amazing what you can find on there? I almost always check there first.
Congrats on saving money this week! I love to save money – I actually think I’m addicted to it.
I have my good times and my rough times when it comes to saving money. I used to be like you, really addicted to it. I’m hoping to get back there again!
I actually did that too (not grabbing a cart or basket) and it really did help! My husband is really great at fixing things…which is probably why we have so much clutter in our basement! 🙁 We try and dry on the line too. Great tips! #smallvictoriessundaylinkup
I agree 100% on the shopping without a cart business! Yesterday, I went into Joann’s and could have bought yarn for the next project, and the one after, and the knitting needles I needed, and the yarn that was on sale for a decent price for the next blanket that I won’t even be able to start until after Christmas. Instead, I just grabbed the knitting needles I needed and the one skein for the next project and out I went – and seeing as I only had a coupon for the yarn, and the needles were already on sale, I even saved money on top of not buying all the extra! The extra can wait – sales happen all the time.
Oh, I like that. Sales happen all the time. Stores are very good at making us think we have to grab things now before it’s too late!
Love your money saving tips.
Thanks for linking up with #ShowcaseTuesday
Thanks! And thanks for hosting.
These are great tips!
Thanks, hope I helped in some way! 🙂
These are some great tips! We started over a month ago not using our dryer anymore, and hanging our clothes to dry. In one month’s time we literally saved $40 on our power bill. I will continue the line drying to save that kind of money. I do the no cart shopping a lot to keep from racking up the money when we run into the store and only need one thing. I used to be bad about grabbing a shopping cart because we needed milk and bread, and would come out of the store spending $100! Love these tips, thanks for sharing on #WednesdayShowcaseParty!
Wow, $40! That’s a great savings for something that only takes a few extra minutes! The last time I line dried I saw significant savings, too. Thanks for visiting!
Thanks for the great tips, I’m always looking for a few new ways to have a buck! We already use the clothesline idea and it really does save money. You’re our feature this week on Front Porch Friday!
Wow! Thanks so much for the feature. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your tips on how to save money at the Inspire Me Monday link party. I hope you will join us on September 21, at 9:00 am EST and share more of your links.
I’ll be there. Thanks for hosting!
You are so right about using a basket in the shops – I really need to do this.Thanks for linking up to Pin Worthy Wednesday, I have pinned your post to the Pin Worthy Wednesday Pinterest Board.
It really helps me to have a reminder to not overdo it. Thanks for pinning!
Very nice tip, thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop, I need to do shopping without a cart.
Your post made me smile, especially the Olympic tryouts. Thanks for sharing on the Homestead Blog Hop.