Saving Money

www.daveramsey.com (If you haven't read The Total Money Makeover, you're missing out!)

www.thegrocerygame.com (I just started using this method about a month ago and have been SHOCKED at the amount of food I can bring home for so little! The one month trial costs $1 and is soooooo worth it!) We have so much food in our house right now, that I have no excuse not to cook!!

We also cancelled our satellite service & just watch the channels available off our antenna, and subcribed to netflix for movies. (It's so much easier to monitor what your kids are watching on TV when there's not so many channels to choose from!)

Just yesturday, I applied for the digital converter voucher so that we can get the converter boxes for our TV's for under $10. I've been told that when you hook up your converter box to the TV, not only are the channels from your antenna crystal clear, but you also receive many more channels that you couldn't get with the antenna alone.

We also use our library ALOT.....for books, movies, children's activities.

We just started using Super Suppers in Richardson. They are located in several places - www.supersuppers.com. The meals are tasty, reasonably priced, and it's fun to do (you can assemble the meals yourself in a couple hours, or they also have meals pre-made & frozen for you). Just heat/eat. Good luck!

use fans!
Last year I bought tower fans w/ timer (up to 8hrs timer) and ionizer (and also turns) for each of our bedrooms and our living room. by doing so, we could keep the airco a couple of degrees higher at night. within a couple of months, we saved more than enough to pay for the fans. I got my fans at
walgreens.

-turn off lights
-turn off computers at night
-read your electric meter every day.
go back and look at you bills and see what
your daily average was and try to beat it.
-whenever you leave the house, change the airco to a couple of degrees warmer.

-buy less bottled water and use a water filter
-buy less juice & drink more water.
doctors say kids shouldn't drink more
than 4-8 ounces of juice per day.
-when going to a restaurant, drink water instead of soda.
for a family of 4 that could save you $10 easily.

-find out what night kids eat free at local restaurants, and make that your night out.

http://dallas.parentzone.com/parentresources.asp?prid=174

http://mommysavers.com/boards/money-saving-tips-entertain...
-take advantage of library summer programs even the ones from nearby towns/cities.

http://www.kidseat4free.com/index.php

-get videos from library instead of renting
-sign up for VBS
-check when your local movie theater will have free or $1 movies for kids in the summer

-use a timer for timing kids (and grown-ups)in the shower.
-use cold water to wash clothes.
-use towels twice instead of once
for a family of 4 that would save at least 1 load per week
which means a savings of 52 loads per year
(use a small hand towel to dry certain body parts
and wash those afer 1 use -- sorry too much
detail, but we all know that we don't want to
dry our face tomorrow w/ the same spot of the
towel we used today for another body part...!)
-jeans can be worn 2 - 3 times
-run bigger loads

extra toys at thrift store (make sure all is in working order) for example you can get board games for less than %4 when they're usually $15- $30 --make sure all pieces are there. 5 minutes checking it can save you up to $20)

-install motion sensor lights on hallways/closets
(no more lights left on all day)(or timer-switch)
-buy 1/5 less fruits make sure you'll eat it all
-if milk being left in the glass, serve it in a smaller glass/cup. might save you up to 1/2 gallon per week. you can always pour twice if you want more milk!
-check how much cereal is being wasted...ditto... use smaller bowl.
-buy refillable water (small) bottles that you can fill up w/ ice water and put in a cooler when going to the park, etc.

check out: http://dallas.parentzone.com/calendar.asp?age=&indoor...

Good luck!
~C.

I do tons of things to cut back and almost everything that I do has been listed below. I also decided to start a business on the side. I do my business when my children are in bed--that is my free time. I also save money with my business as well because everything is delievered to me by the post man. I save on gas that way. If you are interested in what I do, check out my website: www.myfamily-mylife.com. If your not interested, no problem. I hope that all of the post are helping you with saving money!

You are so not alone on the money crunch these days. With summer here, I put my clothes outside to dry rather than use the electric dryer all the time. When the weather is just right and hot, I can put the clothes out in the morning and by evening they are dry.

I am also keeping my air at 80 as much as possible and keeping blinds/curtains closed to reduce the heat coming in. I feel like I live in a cave during the summer but it is worth it.

My DH and I are also going to plan out meals more rather than eating out all the time. As well as walk to the grocery store and PO..we live in a small town where walking to these is only like 3 blocks. Fortunately, my MIL has a pool and hot tub so there is our recreation for the summer.

We also do the Netflix thing and only antenna TV. Yes, we applied for the converter coupon as well but quite honestly, we just don't watch that much actual TV other than news and weather.

As for groceries, I am going to try cutting out sweets and sodas since we do tend to have these more than we should.

This is just the beginning I am afraid of a natnion wide issue and if something is not done by our government, we could be seeing another depression sooner than later especially with gas going through the roof.

J.

i am not sure if you are still looking for advice but I have just started a e-commerce site called eHealthSource.com. We offer over 400 value branded products that are all FDA approved. Here you can save up to 75% on your healthcare products when compared to national retail brands. You can buy such items as your band-aids, asprin, diabetes testing supplies and cough syrup. Prices are rising on everything, so buying generics is economically smart right now. So if you are interested, check us out at eHealthSource.com!

checkout ---> blog.greensherpa.com

They always have great tips for me when it comes to saving money from every aspect of your life