10 Creative Ways to Save Money

An important part of my stay at home mom life is to find great deals for my family. 

I'm the one who does the majority of the paying bills, shopping and planning for us right now while Kevin is the primary income earner in our house.  I'm super thankful to be home with the kids in this stage of life and I look forward to finding extra ways to save us money.  There were seasons in our family where I brought home the biggest paycheck and contributed the most financially, but the season we are in right now Kevin has taken over that role.  We balance each other out nicely!

I love a good deal and am happy when I can save us money to get things that we love.  I'm not a crazy coupon/deal hunter.  I don't watch prices 24/7 or deal hunt tons of places.  I just do a reasonable amount of deal hunting and enjoy the savings.

I've got some creative ways to save money to share with you today.

1 // Grocery store flowers & plants

Kevin loves to surprise me with flowers.  He grabs them at Meijer or Kroger on his way home from work.  They're always so pretty and so affordable.  They usually have a really affordable plant selection, too.  Keep this in mind the next time you want to order flowers or a plant for a friend.  Save money and deliver it to them!

2 // Eat Your Leftovers

If you Door Dash food or have leftovers from dining out, be sure to make plans to eat them.  They're going to taste best if you reheat them in your oven or air fryer.  We enjoy Panda leftovers!  I've mentioned this before, but add a leftover night to your menu each week to ensure that you are eating up all the leftovers and not wasting food each week.

3 // FREE

If someone offers you something for free, take it!  Ask around, check with your family or friends, join your local buy nothing Facebook groups or join a local moms group.  All of these are great options to find free things.  My sister offered me this giant can of Crisco and I said THANK YOU!

4 // Buy the size that makes sense for your family

The boys are I are the only guac eaters.  We rarely can finish a big container of it before it goes bad so these single serving cups of guacamole from Sams are perfect!  We grab them for lunch or for taco night.  This Member's Mark Classic Guacamole from Sams is under $7 for 14 cups and it's delicious!!  You'll always find it in my fridge.

5 // Art for Kids Hub

My kids like these art classes on youtube.  They're free and so much fun!  They do them at school sometimes and like to do them together at home.  Yay for free fun!

6 // Breakfast at Home

Save yourself some major $$$ by making a big breakfast for your family at home on the weekends.  My kids love things like muffins, scrambled eggs, omelets, waffles or eggs in a basket on the weekends when we have a little more time in the mornings.

7 // Plan Ahead for Parties

If you have the gift of time, you can save yourself lots of money in the party planning department.  Party store prices are often much higher than Amazon or Walmart.  I found these cool $100 bill napkins on Amazon a few weeks before I used them for a party and they made a big party statement without breaking the bank.

8 // Shop Around

If you want to buy a big ticket item - like a bike or a grill or patio furniture - shop around to compare prices.  Sometimes I'll price compare when I'm in the store and other times I snap a photo of the item and the price so that I can compare prices when I get home.

9 // Contact Customer Service

When something breaks, instead of just replacing it right away, contact customer service for that company and see if they can help you.  My kids like these Pogo water bottles and use them daily for school.  Both kids had issues with their lids snapping at the hinge.  I took a picture of the problem and reached out to the company.  I found all the contact info through a quick Amazon and google search.  Pogo customer service was very responsive and ended up sending me 4 brand new water bottles to replace the ones that broke.  I was impressed!

10 // Just Buy What You Need

If you just need 3 donuts, buy 3 donuts.  You don't always have to stock up or buy large quantities.  It's cheaper per donut to buy 6 or 12, but if you don't need 6 or 12 then you are spending more money than you really need to.

Which idea would be easiest for you to try this month?