As I mentioned in my home page, my husband and I were struggling to make ends meet while I was out on maternity leave. We were used to having two incomes and with me not working, and having so many new additional expenses we were really hurting for money. It’s hard enough having a new born baby, but then to have money issues on top of that was extremely stressful. That’s when I started to do some research to find ways that I can help us cut back on our spending and make us a little extra cash on the side.
Discount Stores
By no means am I a healthy eater, in fact I am quite the opposite. However I do like to buy a lot of organic foods, which tend to get very pricey. There is something about eating a half a bag of organic popcorn that makes me feel better about myself than binge eating on a half a bag of non organic popcorn! That being said, I researched a lot of discount stores in my area (Northeast Pennsylvania) and to my surprise there were a ton! So that was my first switch. Whatever types of products I could buy at these discount stores I would.
Coupons
The products that I couldn’t buy at discount stores I would go to Walmart or Target and use coupons for. Especially for baby products, diapers and wipes. I have never used a coupon in my life before maternity leave, so by no means was I an extreme couponer, or even good at it for that matter. I would just look through my parents flyers in their newspaper (too cheap to buy my own newspaper) and clip whatever we needed to buy. While coupons were a big savings, that wasn’t one of my favorite ways to save money. As I would stand in line waiting to check out I would actually start sweating from being nervous, thinking “are my coupons going to scan” or “did I buy the right product that matches the coupon”. But I just sucked it up and tried my best to help out my family.
I not only use coupons for groceries, but I use them for pretty much everything anymore. Clothing stores, restaurants, car servicing. There is pretty much a coupon for everything, and my new rule is if its not on sale and there isn’t a coupon I’m not going to buy it!
Cooking
Goodbye takeout. Before my daughter my husband and I would eat out and order out multiple times a week. That stopped in a hurry. The only times we would do either was on special occasions. I actually started meal prepping on a Sunday afternoon for half of the week. Then on Wednesday or Thursday (whenever I had energy) I would meal prep for the rest of the week. This was a huge savings for us, and a lot healthier! The good news is I now that I am back to work fulltime we do splurge on takeout once a week!
Cleaning
You might wonder how you can cut cost for cleaning, but trust me there are ways. I buy All free and clear laundry detergent because 1. its not expensive and 2. the chemicals in it are way less harsh than a lot of other detergents. I also always buy this with a coupon. I do use the dryer, but instead of using it for everything I have a drying rack that I hang a lot of clothes and blankets on. I stopped buying dryer sheets awhile ago, and instead I use a wool ball, which is safer and is a savings. There are coupons for a lot of cleaning supplies to reduce the cost. You can also make your own cleaning supplies, which is actually a lot easier than you might think. I will list some DIY cleaning products that are safer and cheaper.
DIY
And I am not referring to projects! If you like getting mani/pedis or getting your eyebrows done, you will save a ton of money if you start doing these things for yourself. I am not saying all the time, but if you can cut back you will save a lot. I even started dying my own hair! Which is actually not as hard as I thought it would be. But if you can find ways to do things on your own instead of paying to get them down it really does help out a lot.
Katie's Ways 