Sneaky Ways to Save Money

The prices of everything from groceries to household goods are really increasing right now.  It's kind of disheartening to see how your money doesn't go as far as it used to a few years ago.  I am always on the hunt for ways to save us money.  I'm excited to share some sneaky money saving tips with you today.

1 // Eat at Home

Keep your fridge and pantry stocked with meal options that your family enjoys.  I know that groceries are high, but eating out is even more expensive. You will still save money by eating at home.  My crew wanted soup and sandwiches for lunch one weekend.  I made this for all of us for under $10.  It likely would have cost us $10+ per person to go out to lunch somewhere.  Challenge yourself to keep quick and easy foods on hand for easy meals.  It'll save you lots of money!

2 // Compare Prices

I've been on the hunt for some new walking shoes.  I finally found some that were comfy that I really liked.  The price seemed high at Shoe Carnival so I did a quick Amazon price comparison.  The exact same shoe in my size was $79.99 on Amazon.  I was shocked!  We paid for the kid's shoes that they'd picked out and I went home and ordered mine on Amazon.  I paid for both of the kid's shoes with my savings.  Hunt around if you need to buy something new to make sure you are getting the best deal.

3 // Save and Reuse

If you order from Door Dash or get take out regularly, save your extra sauces and reuse them for other meals.  Door Dash isn't cheap, but it is cheaper than taking our family out to a restaurant.  We always save our sauces in a gallon ziploc and then I reuse them for dinners.  I'll show you how below.

 

I used a can of chicken, packets of bold bbq sauce, shredded cheese and these mini Naan flatbreads from Aldi.  It made the yummiest bbq chicken pizzas for us.  It felt good to have all this bbq sauce saved to reuse for another dinner.

4 // Use What You Have

Go through you bathroom cabinets and use up the toothpaste, make up, hair products, etc that you already own before buying new.  I'm currently using a toothpaste I don't love because I didn't want to waste it.  The kids are doing the same and are not happy about it.  Haha.  I remind them often that groceries are expensive and that we don't want to waste money.

5 // Prep Food

This can mean meal prepping food for your family throughout the week or preparing food for something like a night with a babysitter.  My kids love pasta night so I regularly do this set up for a babysitter.  I brown the meat, roast broccoli and boil noodles ahead of time.  I put everything in glass containers.  Then I cover everything with foil and label them.  About an hour before the babysitter arrives I pop everything in the oven.  That way it's all hot and ready at dinner time without causing too much work for the babysitter.  This is much cheaper than going through a drive thru to get dinner for everyone.

6 // Organize Your Stuff

You will save yourself a lot of money if you keep things like your pantry, your craft closet, your holiday closets and your clothes closets organized.  I overheard some ladies at Hobby Lobby say something like this - I have no idea where my ribbon is at home so I'm just going to buy more ribbon.  That's fine from time to time, but it is pricey to always be overbuying.  If you know what you have at home, you won't risk buying multiples.  I recently cleaned out this craft closet.  I know what extra art supplies we have and I know that I have plenty of glue sticks for my glue gun.

What things are you doing in 2023 to save money?

I'm all ears!