It’s officially fall now, for better or for worse. As the days get shorter, we’re getting fewer hours of “run around outside and play” time. But homework time flows more smoothly when the beautiful weather isn’t beaconing the kids outside!
Each Friday I share the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week. This is the 50th edition of this series! How exciting to have made it to this mark! If you want to go back and read all 250 tips in the series, you can check it out here.
Truthfully, I’ve been excited to read the 52 week mark. That will give us one solid year of tips for saving. The one year mark feels like a big one in the blogging world!
Here are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week.
Hand Me Down Bed. Our 2-year-old showed several signs of being ready for a big boy bed. He was trying to climb in and out of his crib. At nearly 3, he’s old enough to get himself out of bed without causing too much trouble. And he was constantly complaining about the scary shadows that his crib made from the nightlight.
Happily, my brother had given us a toddler bed several months ago. The struggle between keeping clutter around (the bed is nice, but it wasn’t being used for such a long time that it was clutter!) and saving money is real! But since I knew we’d need the bed sooner than later, it was worth spending some space to save some money.
Register my Kroger card. You’ve probably signed up for the savings cards at your favorite stores. But have you actually registered them? I’m often guilty of hanging on to the card and not registering it. I don’t need constant hassle and junk mail from companies.
But I did register my Kroger card, and I’m glad I did. I don’t get much (if any) junk mail from them. But I do constantly get coupons mailed to my home. The coupons are often for the things I buy the most, and they are good coupons! I find savings on produce, dairy, and other items that you’re less likely to find coupons for regularly. Definitely worth it.
Bonus money saving tip: If you use the Ibotta app, they have a September bonus going on. You can get an extra $10 back by redeeming 12 rebates this month. If you don’t use the Ibotta app yet, get it for free and start saving more on groceries. Use my referral link to get an extra $10 when you start!
Leftovers. I always talk about the importance of having a plan when you’re trying to save money. But I also believe that it’s important to be able to deviate from your plan! Sometimes I feel obligated to stick with a plan that I’ve worked on, even when there’s a better way.
For instance, I made a whole 2 week meal plan. But a couple of days ago, I noticed that the pork chop leftovers weren’t being eaten. There were several left, and I was worried that they’d go bad.
I decided to chop them up and make a quick stir fry. No, it wasn’t on my list. But I had the ingredients on hand, and I wasn’t stealing those ingredients from any other recipes. So this time, the more money saving way was to leave the plan and mix up some leftovers instead.
Reusable Batteries. Our family goes through AA batteries much too quickly for my tastes. We’ve started buying rechargeable batteries whenever we see a deal. If it costs 24 cents to charge these batteries each time, we need to get a good deal on the rechargeables to make them worth it.
I found some on clearance at our Kroger, so I grabbed them! We tend to use rechargeables only in the toys and items that go through batteries the fastest.
You’d have to use these rechargeables more than 5 times to save money over buying regular batteries. We’ve used ours far more than 5 times each, so it’s been worth the cost.
#yearofno. I’ll say it again and again. Choosing “no” is going to give you the most bang for your buck every time. Hubby found a deal on MLB TV to pay just $3.99 for the entire remainder of the season, including playoffs. We’re a big baseball family, but we don’t have cable. So this deal was pretty tempting.
I wish I could count the number of times we’ve said no to small change throughout our #yearofno. All of those small nos have added up to significant debt payoff. Some of the nos have been harder than others, but all of them have been worth it!
Those are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week!
If you’re struggling with debt, be sure to check out my latest post. Read 4 Reasons Unexpected Expenses are the Key to Being Debt Free.
Let us know how you saved money this week!
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
Jon had to say no to the NFL football package that was being advertised for $10 a month but would have really meant an extra $100 because of all the extras it required. He was pretty irate at the ad, it was funny.
I always wonder about tricky marketing like that. Do they actually get enough new customers that aren’t irate to make it worth it??
Ugh, I wish it FELT like fall around here! We have a high if 89 degrees today, and I am volunteering at the school’s walkathon this afternoon. I can’t wait for fall weather.
A year in the blogging world is quite an accomplishment. I would love to hear more about your blogging journey so far.
I’m soaking up these last rays of summer! I hate cold weather, though. 🙂 Here’s a post I did on my first year of blogging if you’d like to check it out! https://www.mediumsizedfamily.com/9-things-learned-first-year-blogging/
Rechargeable batteries were supposed to change the world! What happened to them, lol. I bought some about ten years ago and they worked for quite a while…but then they died, and I was sad, lol. Though, considering 4 batteris + charger cost ~ 20$, maybe closer to 25$, and I was able to get use out of them for four or five years…that’s a pretty good deal, all said and done!
And oh boy, register those Kroger cards! The coupons, ah! I worked, through a temp agency, for their call center for a while. Your shopping is tied to your card, obviously. But also your shopping *habits* – and when you get to certain tiers (ie how much you spend there, how much they think you are spending there vs other places), you get even more coupons. Loyalty, or whatever you wanna consider it, ha. The more you shop, the more the coupons are tailored to you, for the actual cycles…and then there are “bonus” coupons sent out that can be across the board, or that can also be tailored to you. Definitely worth giving them your address, ha!
I had no idea! That’s fascinating. I’m going to have to look into that more.
You have the most amazing sense of control ever – SERIOUSLY! Debt-free = peace of mind for sure!