Squeezing The Lemon

Sometimes you think you’ve squeezed all the juice out of the lemon. But if you give it another try, there’s still a little more juice left.
 
Seven years ago we started a quest to have one parent home with our children. It is a part of why things got put on to credit cards that maybe wouldn’t have if we had two, full-time incomes. That being said, over all of those years, we have found some amazing tips and tricks to save money. We have never had cable TV or satellite TV. We got rid of our telephone land-line that amazingly enough costs us more than our cell phones to use. We also choose to buy “pre-loved” merchandise at a discount price, rather than paying full price for similar items. Some of the biggest changes we made years ago were to cloth diaper our children. And we are not talking about a diaper service, but actually using cloth diapers. While this increases our laundry utilities slightly, it saves us in purchasing diapers as well as extra trips to the store to buy diapers. On top of that, we went from being a two-car family to a one-car family. Tricky, but it can be done and saves a bunch!

With our desire to live on the “less is more concept”, we came to a realization that the “little things”, “it’s for the kids”, and “it’s for the house”, were getting us into trouble with our finances. With renewed vigor, we are looking at money saving tips again! 

We love fresh produce, and find our local farmer’s market has the best price on in-season produce. We continue to support CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) by purchasing our shares through Vermont Valley Farms in Black Earth. The added bonus to this is we get a $200 rebate back from our health insurance provider when using the CSA. This year we will put that rebate into the grocery envelope to ensure we are not scraping by to make payment for next year.
 
We also have comparison shopped several stores to find the best price for the food we buy and use local ads to purchase the item we are looking for in bulk. For example, one store might offer a buy-1-get-1 on our kids’ favorites “Back to Nature Classic Rounds”.  We go there and purchase that item in as many quantities as the budget will allow. The key to this is to not open more boxes than what you normally would. Just because you have 10 boxes does not mean you need to eat them all in one week. We found that labeling the boxes week 1, week 2, really helps. 

We are looking into using more coupons which is a great tip we got from our fellow project money player Cassie. And not just for groceries, but for car repairs, eating out, and our favorite thrift store (I know, coupons for a thrift store but they are out there!). Since our food budget is $500a month for 5, we buy as much whole, natural foods as we can and purchase a few inexpensive fillers on the cheap such as buying pretzels for our hummus. 

We have found that being weekday vegetarians and weekend carnivores saves us lots of money. Allrecipes.com and Allcooks.com have many great meatless dinner options that do not require any out-of-the-ordinary ingredients. Funny part is that it is helping our waistlines as well as our budget!

As for having a life, we are finding lots of cheap and free ways to hang out as a family. We love our summer pool. It is only $90 for a summer of fun! We have used the zoo more and plan to attend local music-in-the-park events. The state parks have a plethora of fun for only $20 a year and the dream park in the Madison area are some of our kids’ favorite stops. We realize as we search, we live in a wonderful area for fun and free things to do as a family.
  
What we discovered in this process was that going to all these fun places unprepared is one of the “little things” that got us into trouble. We now take our treats and lunches to go so we don’t get caught in the “oh let’s just grab dinner out” or “it’s just ice cream”. Ice cream for a family of 5 can get pricey!

As we continue to tweak our budget and get amazing advice from Don, we are excited to see what next month brings.  

 

Comments

[Angie]

Cloth diapers and no diaper service...Awesome!! Not only are you saving money but you are helping the enviroment. Big fat GREEN star for you. :) Also, Savers offers coupons for donations and many thriftstores have special promotions. You should also check out consignment shops to complete the recycle and reuse cycle.

[Jen Faber]

Watch 'Food Inc.' and you'll be able to pass by processed, packaged meat with even more ease! :)

[Rachel]

I love the title of your blog: Squeezing The Lemon! I've always avoided the generic brands ... but I've come to find that there really isn't a taste difference.

[Carrie]

I love all the family fun ideas you shared! And, the weekday vegetarian tips, too! Not only is it good for your budget and good for you, but I'm told it is also good for the environment!

[Brenna]

Coupons are like...the best thing...ever.