Almost everyday when I am surfing the net or participate in various message boards and discussions, I come across people of all walks of life struggling to get by during this recession, and quite frankly I think we are all hurting on and off. It is so depressing with the number of people loosing their jobs every day. Here are a few tips and tricks our family use, that will hopefully also help save you and your family some of your hard earned money, some of the tips you might already be familiar with or use already, others might be new to you - either way I hope you will find them use full. They works for us.
Eating out less often, or completely skip the restaurants and cook at home. However if you like going out, (who doesn't) start using coupons - if you have little kids go for the restaurants that offers "kids"eat free days - I actually started gathering a "kids eat free"list on this blog also. (in case you hadn't noticed!) Restaurant also offers low cost gift cards on some restaurant - such as $50 gift cards for $25, or even better $25 gift cards for only $10 it's an easy and convenient resource -Our family has used it a few times - once for a high end restaurant, that we wouldn't be able to afford if it weren't for the gift card. Do a search for your area on the site, and I am sure you will find a few listed restaurants in your local area. Just an FYI the resource is BBB approved!
Cook from scratch. If your family has a busy schedule, cook larger portions and freeze - another easy option is to buy a crock pot - they are so convenient and easy to use. We just got one and were amazed how cool they works. You can even cook meat in frozen condition, just need to add a little bit of extra water and it works great.
Cable TV - You don't need 250 channels, chances are you don't use half of them anyway -call your provider frequently and check for deals going on - Oh and they hate the word "competitor" - we use it all the time, like when we are tired of our provider (At our previous home in MN, our bills were constantly messed up, so it happened quite often)
Check your bills for errors and wrong charges the month after being on the phone with them, you never know if the rep you chit chatted with mistakenly forgot to make the changes you asked for..Tip: always take notes of name/ID, date etc - you just never know.
Unplug all unused appliances etc. when not in use - even if turned off but plugged in, it still adds to your electricity bill!
Turn off lights in rooms not in use. The US Department of Energy and Consumerenergycenter has alot of great educational information on this topic.
Review your land line phone bill, do you really need all those extra features..chances are that you don't, cut it down to the basic package - or unless you really need it for a telecommute job that requires a land line phone you could completely eliminate it and join thousands of people who have already downloaded the software Skype, it works great. Skype is a well known and trusted piece of software that users can download to call other people on Skype over the Internet for free and make and cheap calls to phones and mobiles worldwide. It is completely safe and secure. It will give you FREE unlimited chat PC to PC, anywhere in the world, it's really a cool feature. There's however certain requirements to your PC in order to successfully download it. We personally use Skype all the time when chatting with family and relatives overseas, we have had no issues and it works all the time. Our family were the first to download it, ever since then most of our relatives realized how cool it is and went along. Skype offers many cool features, that also business owners can benefit from.
If possible, line dry your clothes - sure it will soften your clothes, but it will also slowly weaken it, not to mention the cost for every load dried, whereas line drying will extend the life of it. Consumerenergycenter has great resources for usage of clothes dryer vs line drying your clothes. They also provide assistance resources for low income families. I too have a clothes dryer, but I try to only use it in emergencies, so I personally vote for line drying our clothes. It might sound weird, but I actually enjoy the time while organizing our clothes on the line- my thoughts goes a long ways while doing it- it's so relaxing! almost like therapy:) We also have a covered patio that I also use for same purpose. Line drying your clothes doesn't have to mean that you need to spend a ton of money, it could be a simple thing such as a inexpensive rope and such. I personally did spend money on an umbrella clothes line only because I grew up with one, so it was just a must have for me.
Review your Cellphone bill, do you and your family really use all the minutes for which you currently pay for ? or do you actually go over your minutes frequently and overpay for overused minutes, then register with overmyminutes (it's a free service) you will get free alerts when you go over. We check our minutes daily to stay updated on our account. How about your txtplan ? We are on an um limited txtplan, but doesn't really use that much and decided to eliminate and just allow our son to text.
Start using money saving coupons, I personally do it all the time - I go through the Sunday newspaper which we subscribe to only on weekends - it's cheaper than picking it up on gas stations and grocery stores. I also go through various of other papers and ads coming through the mail. I supply the coupons I clip with coupons printed online to maximize my savings. I try to combine sales and specials for groceries already on sale with money saving coupons and try not to go grocery shopping unless I am prepared. Some of the coupon resources I use is Smartsource.com Couponbar Mypoints.com they will even pay you to print out coupons, you accumulate points redeemable for FREE gift card of your choice. I am close to my 4th gift card - and usually pick Target. CoolSaving.com also offer money saving tips and advice. I subscribe to their newsletter and come across really great offers and tips.
If you have frugal tips and tricks that saves you money, feel free to leave them here, I would love to hear from you.
