This has not been our most money saving week ever. Going back to school is always expensive, and as the kids get older it only becomes more costly.
But I guess we’ll keep them anyway.
I also took care of some home maintenance things this week. It was good to get those things done, but it made the budget feel extra squished.
All that said, I was able to find some ways to save money, too! So let’s get to that favorite Friday ritual…
Here are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week.
Read through the archives here if you’d like to see over 230 ideas for saving money!
Dress. I was checking out my Goodwill for some clothes. I happened to get there on 99 cent day, which was a bonus! I found a dress on the rack that actually fit pretty well. As I was checking out, I noticed the dreaded “dry clean only” notice on the tag.
Rats. But I decided it was worth a 99 cent gamble. I brought it home, turned it inside out, and threw it in the wash. I hung it to dry. And it worked great! I got a deal on a pretty dress because no one wanted to mess with a dry clean only label.
I’m surprised at how often throwing something questionable into the washer works out. Clearly there’s a reason these things get a label like that, and if it were a valuable item either in cost or sentiment, I wouldn’t take the gamble. But with bargains or items that are so far gone I’d have to throw them away anyway, it’s worth a try.
Pictures. School pictures, to be precise. Do they ever turn out right? Sometimes my kids bring home a good one. But most of the time they’ve spilled something on their shirt (odd, because they left the house clean and haven’t had lunch yet at picture time). Or have a goofy look on their face. Or wore the exact same shirt as his brother did in his picture.
Plus, by the time I pay for a package that would cover enough pictures to give to the grandparents (times 4 kids) , I’d be spending a fortune.
So I’ll be paying a friend who will do a family shot for the same price that I would have spent to get only 4 kids’ pictures taken.
French Horn. Here’s a simple lesson you’d have thought I’d learned by now; check out prices before promising a child he can play the instrument he’s most interested in.
Our oldest learned the trumpet last year, but he most wants to play the French Horn. Since music is his forte (pardon the pun), I wanted to encourage this any way I could. Until I found that even used French Horns are selling for upwards of $1,000.
(jawdrop)
So while I look for a deal, we’ve decided to rent one from a local music company. Renting is not the most frugal way to do this, but it can buy you some time to find a better deal.
Prescription Savings. No, we don’t have to buy an Epipen (have you seen the price on those this year?). But many of our prescription costs have skyrocketed this year.
Sometimes the doctor can be a good resource for finding cheaper medications that work with your insurance company. But another thing to explore is asking for discounts at your pharmacy. Most employees at the pharmacy are experts at finding coupons or programs put out by drug companies and other organizations to help you afford the medication your family needs.
So be sure to ask about this. And if your pharmacy can’t help you, shop around for another pharmacy.
Propane. Summer is a much more affordable time to purchase your propane or gas than the colder months. So I called our propane provider to lock in a lower rate.
I had to purchase my winter propane all at once. That made me happy that I’d been saving for this in a special account. Not to mention how nice it will be to call for more this winter without worrying about how I will pay for it.
Those are the 5 Ways I Saved Money This Week!
If you’re trying to save money so you can reach your dream of being a stay at home mom, be sure to check out the steps we took in order for me to be able to stay home with our kids.
Did you save money this week? Tell us all about it!
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
I think renting an instrument at first makes a ton of sense anyway. I mean, once your kid plays it a while he may decide to go back to trumpet. Little Bit has talked about wanting to learn an instrument, and unless she wants to play cornet (she could use her dad’s), banjo (ditto) or piano (her nana’s) we’ll likely start her with a rental.
And I’ve mostly disliked our kid’s school pictures too. We get so many great candid shots during the year, I’d rather pay for prints of them instead of paying for weirdly posed formal ones.
You are so right about the school pictures costing a fortune and not looking good. Sometimes I think they let them out for recess just before taking them! Then my grandson school takes both Fall and Spring pictures. I don’t think that is going to happen! Have a good day!
Great ideas! Especially on renting an instrument. And I love me a good thrift store shopping trip.
Here from the Simple Saturday Blog Hop
Tammy
http://www.simplypreparing.com
Great tips for saving money. I agree that school pictures are so expensive. I don’t buy them unless they are really good. It’s usually cheaper to go to an outside photographer and have both of my kids photographed together.
I love this! I got to read the other posts about saving money! I laughed so hard about the school picture one. Now that all of us kids are adults we can laugh with our parents that the younger siblings were wearing the same clothes the older siblings wore for school pictures the year before. What’s even funnier is one year we took a family picture when my youngest brother was a baby because my parents thought they were done with kids. My sister came as a surprise a year later so two years afterwards we go back for another family picture. Our dad is wearing the exact same outfit as the last family picture. We did not notice this till just a few years ago during Christmas time (25 years later). We all laughed so hard!! My poor parents, did not have money but they made sure to get the pictures done for us!! = )
lol! My boys wore the same shirt within the same school year. We have them side by side. Looks like a “who wore it best”? haha
Two great ways I enjoy saving money is letting the laundry dry outside on the line and washing my dishes by hand. When the kids were home this knocked off at least $50 a month off our electric bill. I still do this and honestly it doesn’t take any more time. Also having laundry days instead of doing laundry everyday saves time and money.
Great tips as always! Thank you for sharing with us on the Art of Home-Making Mondays at Strangers & Pilgrims on Earth! 🙂