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Things have been quiet around the blog lately, because I’ve been working hard on my book.  The good news is that it’s getting close!  I’ve pulled together more than 500 ways to save money without the repetitive “stop drinking lattes every day” and “cut the cable” advice you read everywhere.  I’m excited to release it soon, and I hope you’re excited, too!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on a title for this book.  Leave your ideas in the comments below.

Even though I haven’t shared too many posts lately, I couldn’t skip my 5 ways post.  Every Friday, my family shares the ways we saved money that week.  It motivates us to keep paying down debt.  We’ve already beat two credit cards and have just one more to go!

If you want to read all the tips in the series, you can find them here.

Some of the links here pay our family a small commission if you click through them.  You won’t pay an extra penny, and we’ll be able to pay off debts sooner.  Thank you!

The 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week

Free Redbox Code

We don’t rent Redbox movies super often, because we already have Netflix and Amazon Prime.  Plus we have plenty of old DVDs.  But since a couple of kids had been sick for nearly a week, I thought it might be nice to watch a different movie.

Since I was renting on a Tuesday morning, I knew my odds of finding a code for a free movie were good.  Sure enough, I found one on retailmenot.com and we enjoyed watching a newer movie for free!  (I made sure to return it on time.)

Backpack Repair

Buying a durable backpack is the only way to go if you don’t want to buy year after year (after year).  Our son has had his Jansport for three years, and it’s still in great shape.  But the zipper got stuck earlier this year, and a month or so later it broke.

No problem.  I just returned it to Jansport and they fixed it right up for us!  Within a couple of weeks we had it back, good as new.

Did you know there are extra money saving tips on Facebook?  Like Medium Sized Family!

Free Amazon Bucks

Amazon Prime strikes again!  It’s amazing how many benefits there are to being a Prime member.

This time, they have an offer for Prime members on gift cards.  If you reload $100 to an old gift card (if you’re using Swagbucks, you probably have tons of them), they’ll give you another $10 for free.  This is only a good deal if you were already going to spend $100 on Amazon anyway.  Since we do much of our Christmas shopping this way, it was a no brainer for us.

If you aren’t a Prime member, you can test drive it free for 30 days!

Cyber Monday Shopping

As usual, I started all my online shopping with Ebates.  They give you cash back on everything you buy.  I’m excited to see my Big Fat Check growing for pretty much no effort!

Like I said, Amazon seems to always have the best deals on our Christmas shopping.  That’s why I was surprised to see better prices and free shipping on certain gifts from Walmart and Toys R Us this year.  Don’t assume that lightning deal is always the best deal you’ll find!

Shopping With A Plan

Do you have a plan for Christmas?  It can be dangerous to head out to Black Friday type sales without an idea of what you’re looking for.  In the excitement of the busy mall, that Santa sweater with the flashing lights might seem like the perfect gift for Aunt Tilda.  But when you get home and decide that it’s not enough, you’ll probably overcompensate by buying her a nice necklace to go with it, too.

In reality, if you’d put some thought into it before you left the house, you would have bought her what she really wanted… a nice pair of fuzzy slippers.  Cheaper but more thoughtful.

Those are the 5 ways we saved money this week!

I hope your shopping is going well, and that you’re avoiding debt this Christmas season!

Print out these free tags for those Christmas gifts:

Remember, I’d love to hear your thoughts on a book title.  Maybe something like Over 500 Ways You Can Save Money This Week?  (Are you better at this than I am??  Leave a suggestion before you go!)