Money Saving Monday

Happy Monday!  I've got another round of money saving tips for you.  Some may be things you already do, but hopefully you'll find a few new ways to save money from my tips today.

1. Make Your Coffee At Home

Iced coffee is my favorite year round.  I just love it!  These are my favorite combos - Unsweetened Cold Brew & International Delight Mocha Light.  I love to mix the two.  It costs me $7.84 for these two and it lasts me for at least a week.  If I were to go through a drive thru for coffee every day it would easily cost me $3-5 a day.  This is a huge way to save!

My husband love hot coffee so he has a Keurig at home and in his office to make his own coffee.  He also asks for Starbucks gift cards anytime people ask him for gift ideas.  The he adds them to his reward card.

 

2. Swap Name Brands for Store Brands

This one takes a little work.  You've got to spend a little time trying out the store brand versions of your favorite foods in order to know if you've got a good dupe.  My favorite store brands are at Aldi, Great Value at Walmart and Members Mark at Sams.

I'll give you a quick example of how this saves us lots of money.  My kids love chocolate ice cream.  It's anywhere from $3.48-$7.24 for a container of name brand chocolate ice cream at Walmart.  Those prices add up!  I tried the Aldi brand chocolate ice cream recently as well as the Great Value chocolate ice cream.  My kids loved both and the container only costs $1.89 at Aldi and $1.97 at Walmart.

We also love store brand cheeses, tons of Aldi brand things like pasta, pasta sauce, produce and meats.  Almost everything at Aldi is cheaper.  I love Peter Pan Peanut Butter.  It was hard to find for a while so I switched to this Peanut Delight Creamy PB.  It's $2.14 at my Aldi.  The same size Peter Pan would cost $4.68.  Give me half price peanut butter anytime.  I've seen it get marked down to as low as $1.99 so I stock up when it's that low.  

If you can't eat or really do not like the store brand version of an item, you can return them for full refunds.  I would definitely take the time to make these returns if you are committed to saving money by switching out products.  It's not embarrassing to say - we just did not like the store brand of this item.

 

3. Sell on Your Local Marketplaces

I sell items my kids have outgrown or things that I no longer use on my local mom's group Facebook market page.  I keep a pile in our bonus room of things to sell and when the pile gets big enough, I list the whole thing.  It feels so good to get rid of things that are in the way and earn some extra cash. 

 

4. Look for the Freebies on Ibotta

This week I got a free tube of lipstick with my grocery pick up order!  Revlon Super Lustrous Moisturizing Lipstick - Cream finish - 435 Love That Pink.  It was $4.98 and the rebate was $5.  There were 20+ shades to pick from and I have been happy with it already.  Yay for freebies.  I've seen deals for free notebooks during back to school time and free cereals when a new flavor was released.

They also offer coupons on seasonal things like this Land O Lakes cinnamon butter.  It's not free, but I'll take $0.50 a yummy seasonal treat. 

If you're new to Ibotta - check out this post to see how to sign up with my referral code.

5. Buy Things in Bulk

Not everything that Sams sells in bulk is a great deal.  Remind yourself of that every time you are tempted to stock up on everything there.  These are the bulk items that are a good deal for us:

Hand soap

Kitty litter

Bread

Gardettos/Chex Mix

Chocolate Chips

Baking Ingredients

Dukes Sausage Links

French Toast Sticks

Mixed Nuts

Trail Mix

Trash Bags

Toilet Paper

Paper Towels

Puffs Plus

Keurig Coffee Pods (They're $7 off a box this month!!)

Contact Solution

Allergy Meds

Happy Deal Hunting!!