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No matter how we cranked, the well wouldn’t pump anymore.  That didn’t stop the goats from being thirsty, so our boys had to fill 5-gallon buckets with the hose and carry water from our house.  Since we have to pay for hauled water due to our water circumstances, that isn’t cheap.

It was a relief when the skies finally opened and gave us a good rain.  Well, maybe not great that we got a couple of week’s worth of rain in the span of a few hours, but at least we have water available again!

We try to fill all of our buckets with rain water and save them for a “not rainy day fund”.  But sometimes the buckets run dry and we have to find creative ways to fill them.

You can see where I’m going with this metaphor, right?  (Rainy day funds…saving up…)

Some day I’d love to send the drops of money we’re saving to our rainy day fund.  But for now, we’re using it to dig out of debt.  Every dollar counts, so I’m always on the look out for small and big ways to save money.

If you like saving money, you’ll want to look back through the archives of this series.  You’ll find tons of money saving tips here.

Here’s the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week

5 Ways We've Saved Money This Week 54. This family is one week closer to being debt free, thanks to all of the little ways they've saved money. Steal some of these ideas for your own family!

Put the weekend to work.

Beautiful fall weekends like the one we had last week are perfect for attending a festival or fun gathering.

Unfortunately for the kids, it’s also the perfect weather for doing outside work that’s been put off for far too long.  We skipped the festival and cleaned up a tree in the backyard.  We also did some work repairing the chicken coop.  (I’m hoping to start up with chickens again in the spring.)

Even though we didn’t go out and spend money, we still had fun.  We built a bonfire and had some quality time together as we worked.  And the kids learned lessons in working hard, which (I hope) will serve them well.

Baking day.Having a baking day helps keep the fridge clean and saves tons of money on food.

I love to cook and bake.  It’s tough to get to it sometimes, but this week I decided to dedicate some time to a baking day.  Well, not really a baking day…more of a baking few hours.  But it was well worth it.

I was able to upcycle some leftovers that no one wanted to eat.  I made breakfast bars, yogurt drops, and some other things.  I’m hoping to blog more on this soon, so stay tuned.

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Birthday Party Savings

The baby turned three this week, so we’ll be celebrating with a party at home.  He wants a Rescue Bots themed party.

I love that Netflix gives us more options, but it’s tough to find party things that match a show that isn’t as popular as it used to be.  I found a set of Transformers-themed plates and partyware on Amazon.  I put it in my cart and pondered on it for a while.

A few hours later, I gave that online shopping cart a good hard look.  Yes, the set would serve 16.  But it cost nearly $16.  I’ve paid more in the past, so this kind of seemed like a bargain.  But was it the best I could do?

Of course not.  None of the kids at a 3-year-old’s party are going to care what the plates look like.  They’re all going to be too busy requesting different parts of the cake to care.

I got a pack of red and a pack of blue plates at the dollar store for (you guessed it) $2 and pocketed the savings.

Next week I’ll share more ways we saved on this birthday party.

Too hot!  Too cold!

What a strange fall we’ve had!  Hubby put our a/c window units away a few weeks ago.  Since then, we’ve had an unseasonably warm October.  The good news is that with no air conditioning, there’s no temptation to turn it on when the weather gets hot.

We’ve also resisted temptations to turn on the heat on cold mornings so far.

It might not be perfectly comfortable, but we’re making adjustments.  I’m already happier with this month’s electric bill.

#Yearofno

This week, we decided to #yearofno our little town’s Homecoming football game.  We went to the parade (some of us even participated in it!), but came home afterward.  With our oldest joining marching band next year, we have years of football games ahead of us.  In the meantime, we saved a lot of money by not going to this one.

If you enjoy reading about the #yearofno, be sure to check out this week’s post.  I’m talking all about our hashtag motto, and how it’s made such a difference in our lives (for the better!).

Learn how #yearofno was born, and why it's helping us pay off debt! This family has used a motto all year to help them dig out of debt. And it's working!

Those are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week!

 

The boys won’t be building up their muscles quite as much this week since we were able to catch a lot of rainwater at the barn.  Now the trick is to make sure we don’t waste that water frivolously.

(That was still a metaphor.)

Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger.

Have you signed up for the Identify and Destroy Your Budget Busters course yet?  It comes with a support group!  And best of all…it’s totally free!  Learn more here.

Did you find any savings this week?  If you got a great deal or decided to #yearofno something, tell us all about it!