Everyone wants to spend less money, especially those of us who are trying to pay off debt or save towards the goal of financial independence. Budgeting can be helpful, but the key to really improving your finances is spending far less than what is coming in with your income. Shopping less is one of the best ways to save money. So how do you decrease the amount that you spend, so you can apply more towards your goals?
Bake
How much do you spend on baked goods? How much bread do you buy every week? You can save a lot of money by baking food at home. We save over $200 per year with an easy-to-use bread machine. You can also buy ingredients, like flour, in bulk. Buying in bulk will help you save even more money on your shopping bill. We love the smell of fresh baked bread in our house. It tastes good, is healthier, and it helps us save our dough for paying down debt.
Start A Garden
Speaking of fresh, healthy food, we love growing vegetables in a garden. We are in the midst of harvesting tons of tomatoes. The ones we don’t eat are cooked down to make spaghetti sauce. We have also enjoyed zucchini, squash, cantaloupe, green peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, lettuce, green beans, and banana peppers while avoiding the produce section of the grocery store. Even if you can’t grow a garden, you may be able to find places to pick your own food for a low price. We’re planning on picking some cheap apples in a couple weeks to make lots of jars of applesauce.
Upcyle Your Clothes
The average family spends thousands of dollars on clothing every year. Yet, I’m on my third year of not buying any clothing. It is possible to not shop for new clothes by relying on what is already in your closet. And, I refashion or upcycle old clothing into new items, so I can have different things to wear without visiting the mall. Pinterest is full of inspiration and you can pick up a used sewing machine at garage sales, thrift stores, or on Craigslist.
Upcycle Furniture
I don’t plan on ever buying any new furniture. There are so many quality items out there at garage sales and Cragislist. And, like clothing, you can upcycle furniture to make it look newer or trendier. You can pick up something on the side of the road or update something you already own. Upcycling is a great way of saving cash. It also helps your household cut down on waste – instead of throwing something to the curb, you can re-purpose it into something new and different.
Keep Using Old Toys
As your children get older, try to resist the urge to sell or donate all of their old toys. First of all, if you have any more children, you can reuse almost everything from your first child. Babies and small children don’t care about the origin of their toys or whether they come in original packaging. Take advantage of hand-me-downs. Here’s a mommy hack: hide away toys for a while and then bring them back out. The kids will be entertained like you’ve gifted them with new playthings. I’ve even been pleasantly surprised when the older kids were interested in baby toys that were taken out of storage for their little brother.
I even gave Tornado the ponies I played with as a little girl for her birthday last year.
I was never that much of a “shopper,” yet we were able to accumulate a significant amount of debt just by spending money on expenses that seemed normal. Cutting out lattes and cable only go so far when you’re trying to save money. The big gains happen when you put some effort towards ways to avoid spending money, before you ever head out to go shopping.
I love the tips, thanks Harmony. Some great reminders there. We have a bread machine that we used pretty regularly before but got out of the habit and not it is almost forgotten. I think it is time we pull it out again and make some delicious and fresh breads. Thanks for the post!
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I love our bread machine, and so does the one year old. He actually gets excited when we turn it on and dances to the mixing sound! It is hilariously ridiculous <3
I make bread all the time (okay, except when it’s 90 degree here) without a bread machine–I found an easy no-knead recipe that I love.
I also use Amazon and Target subscription discounts for some household items and toiletries so that I can shop less–it’s as great a perk as the savings!
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Thanks for the tip on Amazon and Target. I always buy diapers on Amazon, with Swagbucks gift cards. I haven’t paid for diapers in years!
As a new parent we have been extremely lucky to find free craigslist toys and clothes that those in the community were giving away. With our son growing so quickly it hardly makes sense to pay big $$$ for some clothes he may wear once or twice. We plan to give away these clothes to keep the goodwill rolling 🙂
Good for you! Craigslist and Facebook are great ways to find used stuff for kids at low prices, or even for free. Now, if we could just find a place to pick up some free extra sleep, am I right?
Great article on saving money through self sustaining means. Starting a garden really strikes with me because I had never considered that to be a personal finance move but have read others doing it and thought it was such a novel move. Thank you for the tips! Saving money is a great feat to celebrate 🙂
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Bringing in extra income, while finding new ways to save money, is the best way to defeat debt and get ahead. Our family loves fresh vegetables – growing a garden was a great way to feed everyone while spending less on groceries.
Great tips! We can’t wait to have a little land to grow vegetables? How did you learn? Did you start with seeds or plants? I need some quick wins so I can convince myself I don’t have a “black thumb”.
Mrs Groovy recently posted…Did I Flunk My Own Positivity Challenge?
My brother-in-law started the garden (it’s actually at Mr. Smith’s dad’s house three down from us). He watched a lot of YouTube videos and started with seeds. We took over last summer when he was deployed and bought plants. The plants are inexpensive and they get big and start producing vegetables very quickly. The biggest issues we’ve had were with things like blight . . . and figuring out what these issues were called so we could google solutions.
I would recommend starting with some plants, in a sunny area, and keep giving them water. Also, when you go to buy the plants, the folks at the nursery will readily give you lots of tips. You’ll have some have some quick wins for sure, and the rest should be a fairly quick learning experience.
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