I have decided to challenge myself to post a thrifty tip everyday that I have learned, created, read or used. I love learning what others are doing to stretch a buck. So today will be my first day for the Thrifty Tips post. You will be able to view all the thrifty tips by clicking on the link on the sidebar.
#1:
This tip is by far my favorite and something I actually do. This tip is called the cooling off period. We all try not to use credit cards if we are thrifty, but sometimes an emergency happens and we must use our emergency credit card. This tip will help you to decide if your emergency is really an emergency. Take your emergency credit card and put it in a bowl or container of water and then put the bowl in the freezer. Yes you heard me right, you are going to freeze your credit card! This may sound crazy, but this will allow you to take your time in deciding if you really need to use your credit card while your card is cooling off. This helps with making an impulsive purchase. People might think you are crazy, but you will have more money in your pocket if you make smart choices about using credit cards. Happy freezing!
#2:
Carry Cash-You will save more money if you carry cash than use your credit card or debit card. If you take $30.00 in cash into a store you will make sure that you stay under $30.00 so that you have enough money to make your purchase. If you use a debit or credit card you might not be as concerned about how much you are spending until the cashier tells you how much you owe and it is way over the $30.00 you planned on spending. You will then leave the store feeling upset that you spent more money, cash eliminates this problem. You know that you are not going to spend more than what you have in your wallet.
#3:
Cut dryer sheets in half. This is a trick I use to double the amount of dryer sheets. When I open a new box of dryer sheets, I will go through and cut each one in half. It works just as well as using a whole sheet.
#4
Create a budget-My husband and I have developed a budget that fits the needs of our family. I believe that one person can not complete a budget on their own. You both need to work together, because you both will be responsible for staying within that budget.
Every two weeks we meet to discuss are budget and pay bills. We meet every two weeks based off of when bills are due and when we get paid. We have a budget for the first and second half of the month. All of our money is pooled into one checking account. The budget changes monthly depending on your needs, so you can not expect to make one budget and it lasts you a full year. When we meet every two weeks we spend at most 30 minutes discussing our budget.
We create categories within our budget. For example, we have a category for car maintenance of 50.00. Every month we write put 50.00 in the car maintenance category of our budget. We do not physically move the money from our checking account, but we allocate the money on paper. We create a tracking sheet for each one of our categories. All of our categories papers are put into a binder. Throughout the 2 weeks when a purchase is made we deduct it from the specific category. This might sound like alot of work, but once it is set up, it is an easy way to keep track of where your money is. Examples of our categories include: mortgage, gas, electric, water, doctor's visit, phone, internet, cable, haircuts, groceries, personal allowance, date night, gasoline, home maintenence, car maintenence, property tax, gifts, clothes.
Why we like this system? Every dollar that you spend is accounted for and has to fit into your budget. When we want to do something, we have to be able to figure out which category the purchase fits in to. This also helps plan for unexpected events so you are not dipping into your savings. For example, we pay property tax every year in December. This bill is usually around 500.00. If we forget about this bill, along with Christmas, we would be pulling money from our savings to pay for our property tax. Instead, we save a portion on paper in our budget to cover this expense.
The other great thing about having a budget is that you are able to save more or pay off more debt. Everything you spend has to fit in your budget, so you have to discipline yourself to not give in to your spending urges.
#5Use ingredient substitutions when cooking-Have you ever been in the middle of cooking a recipe and realize that you forgot to pick up an ingredient at the store. This seems to happen to me alot whenever I am baking. Instead of sending your husband running to the store for the ingredient, use this as an opportunity to save money and be a little creative. I recently discovered that most cookbooks come with an ingredient substitution list. Pull out your dusty cookbooks and look to see if their is a substitution for the ingredient you are missing.
For example:Ingredient Substitution1 cup honey-------1 1/4 cups sugar & 1/4 cup water
1 T. cornstarch----2 T. all purpose flour
1 cup sour cream--1 cup yogurt & 1 T. cornstarch (for cooking)
1/4 cup red wine--1/4 cup cranberry juice
Take out those old cookbooks and be creative with your recipe substitutions
