People seem to love these top 10 lists, so here goes:
10 (More) Money Savers That You Will Actually Do:
1. Eating Fast-Food? Skip the “value-size” option for you combo. This saves between .39 and .59 per meal, per individual. Family of 4? That’s between 1.60 and 2.40 a meal. This adds up. Plus, you eat less food, gain less weight, and feel better.
2. Buy and Try Generic Foods. Shop at Kroger? Their generic “pop-tarts”, ketchup, sodas, bread, etc. taste just fine. Typical savings: 25 to 50 percent off of name-brands.
3. Buy pool supplies at the very end of summer. We have one of those 4 foot by 16 feet plastic pools for our kids, and the filters run about 8 bucks for a twin pack. At the end of summer, we find them for 2 / 3 bucks or less. Same goes for pool chemicals.
4. Want a cheap, fast growing, leafy plant for you back porch? Plant cucumbers! We planted 6 cucumber seeds in 2 old pots on our back porch, and now they are growing really nice and big. They look great, we can eat the cucumbers, and they are super easy to maintain.
5. My daughter goes to gymnastics three times a week, after school. She likes to have a snack before class. If we were to stop at a convenience store, we would spend at least 2 bucks on a coke and some chips /candy. Stock up on these items at the grocery store. Box of “nerds” candy at the convenience store? .59 Four boxes of “nerds” candy at grocery store? 1.00. Plan ahead, even for the little things.
6. Kids want to rent a movie? How about showing them their home videos of when they were babies? My daughter LOVES to watch herself when she was 2 or 3. She just dies laughing whenever she sees herself. (Be sure that the kids cannot destroy your original copies. I made a “best-of” DVD for my daughter.)
7. Buy dark tennis shoes, instead of white. Seriously, I have a pair of black New Balance shoes that I purchased TWO years ago, and they still look very, very nice. White shoes get dirty easy, stain easy, and are difficult to clean. Go with the darker shoe colors.
8. Need to print a web-page or a document? If the quality of the print doesn’t really matter, print the document in “draft” mode. I use paypal a lot to ship packages, and I print all of my shipping labels using “draft” mode. They look just fine, I save ink, I save money. Plus, they print faster!!!
9. Gas prices are high. Duh! Be sure to schedule your trips to town so that you can do multiple things in one trip. Dry cleaning, getting gas, grocery shopping, etc. Maximize each trip. Every single dollar helps!!!
10. Teach your kids about money! The more they know about money NOW, the less you have to worry about supporting them in the future!!! Bless your kids by giving them some limited responsibilities, and reward them financial for their hard work.