Well, February has come and gone and that means the P&G Saving Made Simple campaign has come to an end. But that doesn’t mean that we stop all of our good work at saving our money, right? We work hard for our money and if we take care of it, our money can work hard for us too! What I’ve learned most from the experience, was that there is always something to learn. Whether it be lessons and rules from Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s new book MONEY RULES – Rule your money or your money will rule you, or hearing what works for a friend, you can learn something new about ways to save cash every single day.
You’ve heard me share my own ways that I like to save for our family, today I wanted to share with you some great tips I’ve learned from others!
We have our bank automatically transfer $10 – $20 to a few different accounts every pay day – this way we barely notice the money leaving the main account and it goes to other accounts for kids activities, vacation fund etc – Jody, http://mommymoment.ca
Make your own cleaning products, not only does it save money but you’ll also be using less chemicals! – Laura, http://realmomma.com
Pay for all groceries, bills, property taxes, and anything else you can with your “rewards” visa or m/c. Your points will add up super fast and you will be rewarded with lots of cash back or travel points (whatever your card gives you) in no time! In order for this to work, be sure to transfer a payment to your credit card every time you use it to cover the expenses you’ve charged to the card. This way you won’t face a huge bill at the end of the month, or spend more than you have. – Sandi, http://www.canadianbloghouse.com
Grocery shop later in the evening… that’s when the 30%-50% stickers go on the fresh items! – Heather, http://mmmisformommy.com
Bring along store flyers when shopping. Lots of stores offer price match or better – Christine, http://thediydreamer.com
Buy Quality not the cheapest thing. Sometimes things can be inexpensive but be quality. But buying something that is cheap can actually cost you more in the long run. By needing more, or having to be replaced often, or for electronic things, it can actually do damage to other things it is connected to or short out and cause a fire. Sometimes spending a little more now can save you in the long run. – Shari, http://www.theknitwitbyshair.com
Stock up on staples when they are on sale! – Amanda, http://www.multitestingmommy.com
Meal plan for the week and plan your grocery list around your meals. Check the flyers for best price and price match/coupon to get the best deals –Ashely, http://www.talesofmommyhood.com
Freecycle.org has been a great (free) way for me to give away the items I no longer need, and receive for free the items I do need, such as double strollers, dressers, couches, bedroom sets, kid’s clothing and more. No item is too big or small, and I’ve seen items from stamps to a free working car given away. I’ve also given away some great items to some very thankful people. – Jenna, www.snymed.com
Take a close look at your monthly bills and re-examine your spending. Do you really need an expensive cable package or can you go with basic TV? Do you need all of the extra features on your home phone? Maybe you can replace “call answer” with an inexpensive, refurbished answering machine. And be sure to call your service providers regularly to see if they can offer you a better deal. Small monthly savings can really add up – Joann, http://www.womaninreallife.com/
Sign up for newsletters if you shop online. Often you will recieve 10-20% off orders by being a member or subscriber As well, they will email you discounts and offers like free shipping etc – Kim, http://www.talesofarantingginger.com/
and sometimes when you get right down to it, the best advice is
Don’t spend money – Lisa, http://thecanadianhomeschooler.com
Simple and effective right? If you don’t have the money to spend, don’t spend it. As Gail would say herself, ‘Don’t be a Money Moron’!
I hope you enjoyed the Saving Made Simple challenge and learned a few good tips along the way!
Don’t stop learning and don’t stop saving!!
#SavingMadeSimple
Disclosure: I am a P&Gmom/mamanP&G. As part of my affiliation with this group I receive products and special access to P&G events and opportunities. The opinions on this blog are my own.
Great tips!
awesome tips – thanks for including mine!
Price matching has saved us a TON of money on groceries.
that’s actually one thing I haven’t tried, you really have to be on top of what is on sale at which store
It is always great to see what creative ways people come up with to save their money. I have learned a few tricks along the way and hope to continue growing our vacation fund!
I never know about the sticker trick that Heather mentioned. Very interesting.
These are great tips!! I never realized the 30-50% off stickers went on at the end of the day ! Good to know! I agree with what you said. If you don’t rule the money, it will rule you!
Those are great tips!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Rule your money or your money will rule you…love that. I also participated in the challenge. It was more difficult than I thought it would be. We’re a frugal farming family and don’t spend much money to begin with, so cutting corners when we already don’t spend a lot just seemed crazy to me. I discovered that our challenge was not cutting back, but putting more money IN the bank. That’s something we have to work on.
I agree, I thought we were already doing pretty good, but I realized we just aren’t preparing for our future enough