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It was time to gear up to write my weekly 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week post, and I was trying to shuffle kids off to their other parent so I could get some work done.  Instead, the hubs told me he would just write my post for me.  hahaha

Then he actually wrote the post and sent it to me.  Ok, hon, that’s pretty funny.

Then I read it.  And I thought “Hmm…this post is already done.  It’s pretty good.  And it actually might be interesting to read from a man’s perspective around here for once.”

So here is Hubby’s guest post.  (He’s totally still reading to the kids, though.)

5 Ways We've Saved Money This Week

The Hubs

This week, guest blogger Dan (aka The Hubs) walks us through this Friday’s money saving activities from the man’s perspective.

Spending most of the time outside the home offers a counterbalanced perspective on the Medium Sized Family in many areas.  One important area for our family is the financial aspect of family life.  If you’ve read this space with any regularity, you probably already know that Jamie is the kind of person that can make a nickel scream.

(Jamie note…Not entirely true. I consider myself a student of frugality rather than a master.)  As one half of this partnership on paper, and almost one third in practice, there are some things I can do to help in our journey.

Pay attention to the small stuff.

Out in the world it’s easy to buy an extra cup of coffee, mid afternoon snack, or dozen donuts for the office without thinking much of it.  In reality all of these things add up to quite a bit of money pretty quickly.

Turns out I was bleeding nearly $40 a check on incidental purchases that an easily be replaced by existing groceries.  Taking the extra time to make coffee in the morning before going out into the world is going to save us $3 a day for the next roughly forever.

(Jamie note…imagine my horror when I recently noticed how very many purchases were being made for coffee!  I have always said that this isn’t one of my ways to save money.  I’m sure happy that hubs is on board for this one now, sheesh!)

Rebuild the chainsaw carburetor and sharpen the chain at home.

Our chainsaw has been running pretty ragged lately and has come to the point where it won’t start.  For a mere $11 we can rebuild the carburetor and subsequently extend the life of this otherwise useful tool.  Additionally, for another $11 we can have a Dremel attachment that sharpens the chain saving us another $5-7 each time it dulls.

Tailgate at home.

For years, my group of friends would road trip to see our favorite college football team play a road game.  It turns out that this could be quite an expensive weekend after paying for hotels, game tickets, gas, etc.

Last year we decided we could tailgate in the barnyard and forego the cost of the ticket, hotel and travel.  This saved well over $100 last weekend when rather than go to a game, we build a bonfire and put a TV in the yard.

Work from home.

If you’re fortunate enough to have the opportunity to set up shop in a home office occasionally, you can really save on gas spending.  With a 2 hour commute round trip each day, working from home just one day a week can have significant impact on the gas line item in our monthly budget.

Sign up to be the coach.

In the winter I find myself spending a lot of nights looking for something to do. Invariably that leads to spending money on chips, movies, adult beverages, entry fees, etc.  This week I was fortunate enough to be “voluntold” I was coaching basketball for one of our sons.

Beyond the obvious bonding time with my son, I also get the added benefit of not blowing money a couple nights a week all winter.

Those are the 5 ways we’ve saved money this week!

Hopefully some of these tips can be useful to your family as you join us in our journey to financial independence.  Be sure to approach this trip as a team.  Both partners have different perspectives and can add in their own special way.

If you are looking for more ideas you can use this week to save money, check out the whole series here.

What are some ways you can get your significant other involved in money saving?