Since there are a lot of SAHM and working Moms on this board thought this would be a wonderful place to share your tips for saving money. My dh is facing a large pay cut and I would like to be prepared although I know all of us could use these tips.
so please share:
How do YOU save money??

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Dani B.

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We buy almost all of our clothes at garage sales or thrift stores (except for underwear and shoes). When you can buy pants and shirts at $1-$3 (sometimes kids clothes are 25-50 cents at garage sales!) it saves a LOT of money!!!! I'm super picky and look everything over for stains and rips, etc.

For that matter, we even buy a LOT of toys, etc. used. Example: very clean- in working order Leap Frog alpha bug used was $1.69 at Goodwill- brand new it's $20! Again- be picky- and go often! Start now for Christmas! It's actually a lot of fun to see how much money you can save.

We don't buy much of anything new actually- except food- LOL!

We haven't had a car payment in years!
Our last 4 vehicles were priced at:
$200 90 Buick Century
$300 88 Ford Escort (2nd car)
$50 91 Plymouth Voyager mini van
$1500- we went all out this time- on a '93 Ford Conversion van with high top

Quite often people want to trade in their vehicle and the dealership doesn't want to give them much for it- so they'd rather sell it to someone else instead for the same price or a tad more. The key is letting people know your needs- nobody can help if they don't know!

With DH's health issues (not able to work a "real" job) and me wanting to stay home with the kids- we've had to cut corners. We notice just how much the Lord really provides- when we don't have any extra money to spend. We wait and we are patient- and He provides every time! In the pre-kid days when we were both working, if we "needed" something- we put it on a credit card- instead of waiting for the Lord to lead us to something that was in our price range.

Thanks for starting this topic Dani- I would love to hear what others are doing!

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~Laurie Garza~

Laurie! You are just amazing! Thank you so much for the tips and insight.
I have never had any luck with garage sales unless it in our neighborhood but I will give them a try again.

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Dani B.

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Have you ever heard of Freecycle.org. I just recently joined the group in my area and I am so amazed! I love to shop at thrift stores and sometimes garage sales as well, but Freecycle is free! People post things that they want to give away and you can reply and go pick them up. I had some things that were dear to me but not used - my old photo darkroom supplies - and I didn't want to just put them in the pile for Goodwill so I posted them to give away and a lady who was setting up a darkroom to teach her son was blessed by my stuff and I think will really use it. It is great just to give things away and you can even request things you need. So if money is tight, people request things all the time from furniture to kids clothes and shoes. If I had anything that someone needed I would rather give it away and know that if I ever needed anything others would do the same. They have them all over the US and I have heard there are international groups also. So I am sure they have one in your city! Check it out. If nothing else it is fun!

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Melissa Renfro

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Melissa-
TFS this! I had never heard of this- there are almost 1800 members in my town!
Gonna check it out! Thanks again!

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~Laurie Garza~

I know that the biggest way I need to save money is to cook dinner. You can cook beans, get whatever meat is on sale, rice, etc for so much cheaper that ordering pizza! Of course as a working mom of 2 that just doesn't always happen.

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Marianne
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I 2nd the suggestion to cut back on the amount of eating out you do. I can feed us for 3 days with the $40 it would cost us to eat at say, Swiss Chalet. When you make a freezable meal (like a lasagna), make double and throw one in the freezer for those days when you don't feel like cooking and would otherwise be tempted to order out.

Start making your coffee at home if you usually stop at Tim's (or whatever the US equivilant to Tim's is... Starbucks? I dunno, lol). When we kept track, I was amazed at home much money dh was spending a week just on coffee.

Not sure if you have diaper-age kids or not, but I switched to cloth diapers about a month ago. It's a bit of an initial investment, but will save tons of money in the long run.

Hang your clothes out instead of using the dryer when possible. Wash your clothes in cold water when possible. We don't have this advantage here, but some of my American friends have said that it's cheaper to run your appliances after a certain time in the evening, like your washer or dishwasher. Maybe check if that's the case in your area?

Walk!

With the price of gas these days, I just refuse to get into the car unless it's important. My husband was unhappy that I wouldn't make a trip to the storw to get a gallon of milk, but I explained to him that with the price of gas, it would be a 6 dollar gallon of milk before all was said and done, and that he could drink juice or water until the next store run. Then he said we needed bread for sandwiches, and I showed him how to make a wrap with tortillas.

Really we have tons of food, I'm not going to get upset if we dont' have the one or two things he wants when there are reasonable substitutes available.

He slugs to work, and I walk my son to school, and the others take the bus. I'm sure the stores miss me, but I'm not going out unless I can justify the expense.