Frugal Mommy Friday ~ Stretching pennies

Being on a budget, means making your pennies stretch. However, sometimes saving money seems nearly impossible, especially when you are living paycheck to paycheck.  This post will show you some simple and painless way to cut your budget, and make those pennies stretch even further than you thought possible.

*Of course these days, I believe everyone is looking for ways to stretch their pennies, and make their budget go further, so while there may be a few ideas here which are "old news" We hope that you are able to find some new and useful information as well *

 

 Turn out those lights - turning off a light when exiting a room can save you as much as $2 a week. Also changing your light bulbs to longer lasting LED light bulbs can save you an additional $1 -$2 each week.  While this does not seem like much, this is a savings of approximately $208 a year

* In our house we use the lights out policy - when leaving a room turn the light off, also by 10pm (kids bedtime) all lights are out, it never hurt anyone to sit in the dark, especially since I am usually the only one up anyway.

 

Wash your clothing in cold water, this will not only cut costs, but it also cut down the wear on your clothing, thus giving your clothing a longer life. Also line dry your clothing whenever possible. Doing both with cut your energy bill by approximately $30 a month.

 

Cut down on luxuries  * for example in our home, we have only one car, we do not have cable, we have only a basic cell phone package, and we do not go out to eat. Even something as simple as cutting out one meal out a week, can lower your budget by as much as $50 weekly.

 

Shop smart, use the cost per unit method when shopping. * for example when buying trash bags. You can buy either a 10 bag package for $2.99 or a 6 bag package for $2.50 - to figure out the price per unit to divide the cost of the product by the items in the package ($2.99 divided by 10 = .30ea bag) so in this scenario the 10 bag package is your best deal. However many times you will find that buying several smaller bags of an item is more cost effective then buying one large package, as the cost per item is often smaller.

 

Take advantage of free activities - find activities within your community such as free museum tours, parades, parks, live concerts and take advantage of them.

 

Use the borrow/trade method - when there is a product or service your family wants or needs, but it is simply not in the budget, first try borrowing. You may be surprised at the items friends are willing to let you borrow. However, if you are unable to borrow perhaps you can trade for the product or service your family needs. * for example, we borrow our elderly neighbors lawn mower in exchange for mowing her lawn for her. We also trade babysitting services with friends.

 

 

Of course this is only a small beginning to the many things you can do in order to stretch your pennies, and your budget. We will be posting another Frugal post every Friday, so keep checking back to see even more Frugal tips. In the meantime, what are some frugal things you do in order to help stretch your family's budget.