Happy Frugal Friday! I like to spend Fridays tracking some of the ways we’ve saved money over the past week. Writing this series has held me accountable, and I consider it one of the important methods we’ve used to pay down debt in our #yearofno. If you like, you can read through the entire series.
School is back in session for us this week. I’m not sure if that helps me save money, since the kids are always need money for something school related. But at least we have a routine again.
Let’s get down to it!
Here are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week.
Pinterest. I love Pinterest. Scrolling through the beautiful pictures is a fun way to spend some free time. The frugal hacks and stories of people who have paid off debt there have truly inspired me.
At the same time, Pinterest shows me things that I didn’t even know existed. A quick search of “diy projects for the kitchen” puts a world of beautiful kitchens before my eyes. Before I know it, the green eyed monster has shown up and I find myself pricing out major projects.
It’s great to save those ideas in a “some day” file, but if I start splitting off money for a project now, we’ll never be debt free. So I’m trying to be more careful about how I look through Pinterest.
Follow me on Pinterest here! (Don’t worry, I’m still pinning tons of fun ideas.)
Lunchbox. A couple of years ago, I found one of our nicer lunchboxes in the bottom of a big pile. It was gross. I scrubbed it out in the sink, but no luck. I figured I would have to toss it and cut my losses.
Then I had a thought. I should stick it in the washer with a load of laundry and see what happens. If I was going to throw it away anyway, I wasn’t going to be out anything.
Well, what do you know? You can wash some of the more sturdy lunch boxes this way! They always come out much cleaner than if I wash them by hand.
No promises that a $7 lunch box with a character on the front will hold up to the washer. But if you find your lunchbox in an unfortunate area, it’s worth trying before you throw it away.
[Tweet “Lunchbox filthy? Try this before you throw it away. Plus other money saving tips!”]
Target. My boys needed socks pretty badly, so I headed to Target this week. I haven’t been to Target in ages. It’s funny how few things you need when you put yourself in a #yearofno mindset. We’ve been using the old method: use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without pretty well.
Before my total change in mindset, I did a lot of casual shopping at Target. Those dollar bins always have something to buy. Pretty things for the bedrooms, yummy foods to try, a cute shirt for my daughter at a bargain price; these temptations are hard to pass up.
Happily, I was able to look at most of those items as just another thing to clutter up my home. I was able to get the necessary items and head out.
I also used my Target Redcard to save. Some of you might be wondering why I would use a credit card when I’m so desperate to get out of debt. I always thought a Redcard was a credit card, too. Did you know you can order a debit Redcard? It links directly to your checking account and can be used at Target like any other debit card. You still save money without any debt being built up. That’s actually worth it! (The credit card would not be, not for any amount of savings.)
Perennial fruit. I always loved to garden, but this year I didn’t get a chance to grow anything. On top of a busy schedule, we have a Great Pyrenees puppy that is big on digging and eating things. So when I pulled out my pot to plant some lettuce, he chewed it up.
That’s why I’m grateful for the perennial fruit plants I have. While nothing else is growing, at least we have peach trees and raspberry plants providing some groceries for us!
#yearofno. I’ll admit it. We are 8 months into the year, and there are times when #yearofno gets tough. There are some things I’d really like to have around here. Our washrags barely qualify for washing faces. Some of the family is missing the fancy yogurt I used to buy. We’ve skipped trips and activities we’d really like to do.
But is it worth it? A thousand times, yes! Each time I have to skip something, I remind myself of how nice it will feel to buy that item or do that fun thing using guilt free cash. I’m not saying never. I’m saying not now. I’ve been doing some projections on when we will be free from all of our credit card debt, and it looks promising. We just have to stay the course!
Those are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week.
I posted our August check in on our goals, including the BHAG of digging out of a chunk of our debt. See how we’re doing!
Your turn! Share your frugal wins in the comments. Feel free to leave a link if you’ve blogged about it!
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
I wrote about this today, but I bought the wrong kind of plastic bags a couple of months ago (the folding kind instead of the sealing kind, because cheaper). They ended up working terribly, so i got in the habit of using old Chinese soup containers and other plastic tubs instead to send Little Bit’s snacks, fruits, cheese and crackers etc.
I finally used up the bad bags, but I’m using way less of the good ones because we’ve largely made the switch to the containers, at least for Little Bit’s lunch and snacks.
Sounds like a great habit! I think I need to get my first grader a larger lunch box. We can barely fit her lunches into her character covered lunch box when I use containers.
We took the kids to the IN State Fair. We went on $2 Tuesday, so admission for three of us was $2 each and my son was free (5 and under). Parking was $5 so we paid $11 (standard admission is $12 per person). The rides were also $2 each; we let each kid pick three rides. We could have let them ride more, but they were generally happy to ride three attractions. Many food vendors had sample sizes of their items for $2. When it made sense, we did that too (teeny tiny mouse ear $2, giant elephant ear $5 – we got the elephant ear). We spent around $80 for all of us to get in, park, ride rides and eat dinner. Plus the kids got to pet goats, horses, pigs, bunnies and see baby chicks hatch.
I would say that was worth our money.
We’re also attending a fun, FREE picnic this weekend. My son was a preemie and had a month stint in our local hospital’s NICU. Each year they invite all NICU patients and their families to a park where they have tons of fun things for the kids to do – pony rides, bounce houses, a barrel train, etc. The kids get to have fun, I “get” to cry when I see the nurses and doctors who cared for my son and it’s free (to us anyway).
I love that they have smaller sample sizes at your fair! We’ll have to look for those next year. Sounds like a great time. Have fun at the picnic. 🙂
Great ideas for saving money! I love my Target REDcard (debit) and growing my own food! Best wishes on your get out of debt journey! It really is the best feeling and worth the short-term no’s.
Jamie, this is awesome. If for one year (you’re almost there by the way:) you can curb the spending bug, you will save many years of worry. More power to you! It will be such a relief & what a valuable lesson for the children. Keep up the good work~
very useful post as always thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop,
Oooh, I’m so excited to hear that your lunchbox survived the washing machine! We have one that I just can’t get scrubbed out enough, so tomorrow I’m sticking it in with a load of towels and crossing my fingers! #FridayFrivolity
I threw this one in with towels, too. Good luck! Hope it works as well as mine did. 🙂
I once put a large Pyrex food carrier in the washer: it ruined the washer.
Wow! I’ve never heard of that. I wonder what happened? You do take a certain risk when you throw things in a washer.