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It’s fair week, and for the first time in years we aren’t showing any animals.  It’s an odd mix of wishing we had our goats and lambs over there and relief that I don’t have to deal with all that stress!

Showing animals is an expensive adventure, and it takes up a lot of time.  By taking a year off, we are getting debt free faster and enjoying a slower pace in between baseball season and band camp.

Have you ever made a big change?  Just stopped doing something you’ve always done?  We have parts of our lives that seem permanent and we don’t give them much thought.  But remember that you can stop doing things that become more stress than they’re worth.

(We’ll probably show animals again, but it will be simplified!  Two goats rather than five…)

Now, every Friday we reflect back on our week and think about the ways we saved money.  Every little bit of savings goes towards our credit card bills.  We’ve paid off a ton so far, but still have more to go.  So it’s important that we don’t lose our resolve!

That’s why I love the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week series.  You can read all of the savings ideas in this series here.

The 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week

Every Friday there are new money saving ideas on this blog! This family is paying off a ton of debt right now.

A Coupon (And Some Stubbornness)

I have made sure the rest of the family gets what they need in the way of clothes.  To be honest, most of them have far more clothing than they need.  (Luckily a lot of it is free hand-me-downs!)

But me?  I’d rather suffer through than buy myself needed clothes.  I’d rather just put it towards debt.

But my clothing situation had become dire and I just couldn’t put it off anymore.  (I’ll confess that I can take #presson to an unhealthy level sometimes.)  So when I got a JC Penney’s coupon in the mail, I decided to head to the mall.

It was close to closing time when I got there (kid free!) so I hurried to find something that fit well and was in my price range.  (That would be clearance priced!)  I got to the check out and the cashier told me that my coupon didn’t begin until tomorrow.

Whoops!

I was so upset about it.  Finding the time to drive to the mall kid free doesn’t come easy (we don’t live close).  Luckily she told me that her manager would sometimes let the coupon go through since we were so close to closing time anyway.  It worked out and I was so grateful!!

 

Lego Night

Our library has been offering more and more classes and activities for families, and we’re loving it!  This time we were able to attend a Lego night.  The kids were challenged to build things with tubs of Legos, and they each received a free Lego guy at the end of the night.  Free fun and a goodie to boot!

Staples Binder

When a reader on Facebook told me about the Staples Better Binder, I was intrigued. (Do you follow Medium Sized Family on Facebook yet?  We have the best money saving conversations!)

To start with, these binders are well made.  They’ll handle the crushing my boys tend to give them a lot better than the cheap-o binders I tend to buy.

But they also come with a guarantee.  If you check the website, it says there’s a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.  Reports of how long the guarantee is good for vary widely, but according to this Facebook post they should be guaranteed for at least a year.

I’ll let you know how well these hold up throughout the school year, but if you want to try them out, I recommend you start at Ebates.  Shop online and pick up in your store for free.  That saves you the hassle of finding them yourself, plus you’ll save extra money and get a rebate!

Ebates Coupons and Cash Back

Staples Better Binder (Copyright Medium Sized Family)

Jury Duty

I had jury duty this week for the first time ever.  I was called in just one day, but that will give me another $15 I can put towards debt!  (Snowflakes, right??)

Rolled Coins

Did you catch my confession late last week?  I wasn’t sure if I should show my cards to the world, but I’m glad I did.  The response has been overwhelmingly supportive.  And between the confession and support, it’s just what I needed to pick up the pace on our debt payoff.

Read The Brutally Honest Truth About Paying Off Big, Ugly Debt.

The Brutally Honest Truth About Paying Off Big Ugly DebtThe Brutally Honest Truth About Paying Off Big Ugly Debt

So Hubby rolled some coins he had and I found some extra cash in a drawer (yeah for cleaning!) and a surprise check I got in the mail.  We put all of that money towards the debt and brought it down another good chunk.

I think credit card 2 is on a good pace to be finished by September.  But I’m still anxious to make it go away faster!

Those are the 5 ways we saved money this week!

By the way, we’re hoping to breed the goats again this year, so I really hope to have some adorable baby goat photos come winter!

 

How did you save this week?