More Money Saving Ideas

Ever since my sons and I lost our jobs, I have been looking into how I can be more efficient with our money. And it has amazed me the things that I have figured out now that I am looking into saving money. And to be very honest - I wish I had have thought of these things before.

I thought I would share a few of them with you just in case you have not thought of them. I, by NO means have all the answers but slowly I am making better choices which is helping save my family money.

I wear contacts. For a long while now I have been using a multi solution- meaning you can use it to store you contacts, wash them and rinse them. A bottle - I think 12 oz bottle was lasting me about a month. I was already buying the package of 2-12 oz bottles because it is cheaper that way. But then I noticed that they also sold packages of 2-12 oz bottles of saline solution- and it is actually cheaper than the multi solution. So I have started buying a package of each and I use the multi solution for the cleaning and storing and I use the saline solution for the rinsing. And it has helped the solution last longer. So it is farther between times to buy more- which is always a good thing.

In my household - I am basically the only one that likes to eat apple sauce. I love to have it on pancakes or toast along with peanut butter and cool whip. This is something that I did as a girl and still love to do. Anyway I would buy the jars of apple sauce but because I did not eat this very often I would more times than not - end up having to throw a half used jar of apples sauce away because it had gone bad. Then just a few weeks ago - while I was at the store- I noticed that they had some packages of 6 small individual packages of 4 oz of apple sauce. And when I did the math -it would not cost me any more to buy the 6 pack than the jar of apple sauce. And the really good part is that you open one when you need it and the rest stays good until you are ready to use it. No more waste when it comes to apple sauce. Many times those multi - Individual packages are more expensive and not worth the extra expense but this sure is a good idea. Be sure to take the time and do the math - you might be surprised!

Another way that I have been saving money is that I shop at several different stores: Aldi's, HEB, Walmart, and sometimes Albertsons(when they run chicken breast on sale for @1.49 a pound -or equally as good of deal). A week or so ago  - I did a check in at Aldi's on Facebook and how I loved the place. Well a cousin of mine asked me why I went there since I could get the milk and eggs as cheap at HEB. I told him- because they have a lot of other deals that make it worth the stop. Just to list a couple of the basics that I find there cheaper is - chips, spaghetti sauce, white sugar, bread, oats- both old fashioned and quick, and a lot of other things. It is worth the extra stop to get those deals - right now I can get my white sugar for 20 cents cheaper than anywhere else in town - HEB is the only one that come even close and that is the 20 cents higher price - everywhere else is more like a dollar more. It is worth the extra stop different grocery stores if you have time. That 20 cents here and 30 cents there - add up over time.

One more way that I am saving money is with my hand soap and liquid dish soap- I have the regular sized bottles that we use. And then when I need more of that soap - I buy the large refill container of the stuff and then just refill my smaller bottles when needed. A lot of what you buy when you continue to buy the small things of soap is the packaging. This way save waste and money.

Well those are just a few of the ways that I have found to save us money. I continue to look for ways to make the money go further and it is so exciting when I figure out something that will help.

Oh one more thing- I think on a different money saving post - I shared how I love Paul Mitchell extra body mousse stuff - and I had shared how I had written the date on the bottom of the bottle and that even though the bottle cost me about $10.00 that it had lasted me 4 months so it was well worth the money. Well when I ran out of that bottle and started using the new bottle - I wrote the date on the bottle of the bottle - 12-20-12 - and guess what? I am still using that bottle = I am at 4 months and about 18 days now and I have several days left in the bottle at least. I am going to continue to use it till it's gone. I did pick up another bottle today because I got my hair cut today. I love to see that I was able to use it more sparingly and was able to make it last a lot longer.

There are always ways to save money - we just have to be willing to learn new things and to figure out different ways.