It’s been another big week on the blog. I launched the Identify and Destroy Your Budget Busters challenge. If you’d like access to this totally free challenge and Facebook support group, you can learn more here.
Our family is really enjoying a lazy summer so far. The kids have played at home and had buddies over for entertainment. I’m loving the laid back schedule!
Let’s celebrate another Frugal Friday with a 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week, shall we?
Avoided buying myself treats at a kid party. It’s well established that food is one of my weaknesses. It’s certainly a budget buster when I choose to buy treats that I didn’t really need.
Often, one or more of the kids will be invited to a party. The kids are served food, but sometimes there isn’t anything available for the adults. Which is fine. I’ve usually eaten before I go to a party anyway.
But there’s always that temptation to buy myself a little snack or drink, simply because it’s there and I see the kids eating. Which is kind of silly. Not great for the budget or the waistline. I’m learning to say no to these temptations (but I still want a gold star for saying no!).
Spread it out. I admit, it’s far easier to just buy all of the kids shoes at one time. It means one long trip to the store, but at least it’s over with.
Unfortunately, my checking account disagrees with that notion. Buying shoes for 5 kids at one time isn’t cheap. I’m learning to just get a couple of pairs of shoes per paycheck. That doesn’t leave us short at the end of the pay period. It takes more time to shop this way, but it’s better than falling into credit card use. (Shudder!)
Hung a curtain. We live in a farmhouse style home, which means that the upstairs bedrooms have angled ceilings and no doors. It also means that climate control becomes a problem upstairs well before it’s a problem downstairs.
We’ve been using the air conditioner without a curtain hanging in the doorway. You can already guess that this becomes expensive in a hurry. All of that cold air is rushing down the stairs and going to waste.
I picked up a cheap tension rod and curtain at a discount store. Why did I choose to go the cheap route instead of investing in something likely to last longer? Because my boys are very rough on curtains. They hang on them, they pull them, they sit on them. Not intentionally, but because they are rough and tumble. They aren’t likely to take care of a nicer curtain and rod set, and I’m not willing to spend more money on it than I have to.
[Tweet “Looking for money saving tips? This family is making changes and paying off debt.”]
Discounted Blogging Course. I’ve been seriously considering joining the Elite Blogging Academy for months. I’ve carefully weighed whether it would be worth the price to join. After a long time, I determined that it seems to be worth the cost. (You never really know for sure until you try something like this yourself.)
I liken it to paying for college courses for your major so you can get a better job.
When I found a discount deal to get the first 5 modules, I decided to go for it. This saved me a lot of money and will get me a great head start until I save up enough money to buy the rest of the course! (Unfortunately, the time limit for this deal has since expired.)
Saving school supplies. On the last day of school, my kids always come home with a backpack stuffed to the brim with school supplies. I’ll open it and toss most of the papers they brought home. But in the midst of the junk, I usually find several supplies that are perfectly good to use for next year. There are obvious things like scissors and highlighters that are perfectly fine for another year.
There are obvious things like scissors and highlighters that are perfectly fine for another year. But I also look through notebooks to see if they can be saved. Many times I can just rip out the few pages they used and save a notepad that is still 80% full.
So long as I remember where I put it come August, we’ll come out ahead!
You might also like: A List of Free Educational Websites for Kids.
That’s 5 ways closer to being out of debt!
Earlier this week I did a check in on our yearly goals, including our debt payoff plan. You can find it here.
Be sure to leave a note about any ways you saved money this week! And don’t forget to sign up for Identify and Destroy Your Budget Busters.
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
These are great! I am all about saving money, and paying off debt. Have you enjoyed the Elite Blogging course so far? I have always considered taking it, but never actually done it! How is it?
I’m not very far into it yet, but I think it’s going to be great. There are specific tasks to get you organized so you can be more efficient. That’s certainly something I need! And tips for writing great posts. I’m excited to dig in further and learn more about it as time goes on.
One thing I used to have my kids do (and I still do) is that we go to a lot of local festivals during the summer. I always encouraged my two to take a pen or pencil if a local group, business or whatever was offering them. You end up with a lot of pens, pencils and other useful stuff.
Great idea! I always have my kids pick up free pencils whenever we see them available, especially at the county fair.
I really enjoyed your post. When I was in school my mom would go through what we had at the end of the school year and sit aside anything we could reuse. Surprisingly there is a lot sometimes. I remember having a full carrying case for colored pencils because I went into High school with some from when I was in elementary school. Now that I am old school supplies are really cheap before school starts! Wal Mart gives amazing deals and I stuck up for my work at home office this way when everything is down low to avoid buying through out the year.
It’s true that most of the best deals can be found over the summer. I should probably set aside more money in a calmer part of the year to purchase all of our school supplies then.
Saving up the school supplies always happened for me growing up, too. They say you need a jillion pencils…and, you don’t. The scissors are the same every year, the pencil case is the same every year (I had two pencils cases in elementary school, and they lasted me until I got rid of them as a teenager xD ). Binders, though. Those tended to only last me a school year. Maybe a year and a half if I was lucky. I love using binders, but I have a feeling I’m rough on them (even now). I also was one of those kids that has a birthday in August, so I usually got some school supply of some sort (under the guise of cool pens or a large box of coloring utensils, etc) for my birthday from at least one family member. Or, a new backpack. Meh, I like school supplies, though, so it works out xD
I wish we had an August birthday! haha My boys are so hard on binders that I often have to buy new ones halfway through the year. Maybe I buy the cheap ones, or maybe they’re super hard on them. Luckily, their backpacks have years of wear left!
Ah, spreading it out is sooo important.
I only have one kiddo, but I often find myself going to the store and just buying anything and everything we need for the house-even if I don’t need to use it for a couple of weeks-just to save the extra trip.
Saving school supplies is absolutely GENIUS! My parents didn’t do this as I was growing up, but this is definitely something I’m going to keep in mind. Too often I would just end up tossing a perfectly good binder or notebook.
Thanks for sharing!
This is the way to be thinking, Jamie. I feel like these small things don’t just save money, they change the way your brain is wired. And that is what REALLY saves money. My 4 year old goes through So. Much. Paper. He draws all day long. Now, before I throw any of his art away, I cut small squares out of any pages that he only used a small portion of. I keep them on my desk and they are always handy when I just need a little piece of paper to jot something down. Will this save me a ton of money? No, but thinking like this is a habit now and at the very least, I am cutting down on paper waste, which to me does have great value. This is the way to be thinking!
Absolutely! I used this in a past 5 Ways post, but I always save the envelopes that come in junk mail. Then I use them to send forms and money in to school or for similar things. You’re right, it isn’t always about the pennies saved as much as it’s about the mind set.
I’m so intrigued by the Elite Blogging Academy too and haven’t been willing to take the plunge yet. I might do it in August when I have most of the month off, but I’m still waffling.
Spreading it out is definitely the way to go. I love the school supplies idea too. We went to a big community event last week and there were lots of stalls handing out free pens, notepads, etc – I was all over that!
Thanks so much for sharing over at #FridayFrivolity 🙂
Loving your blog! I just started mine this week and am considering doing the course too!