It’s hard to believe the holiday shopping season is upon us. Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, or just have a lot of family events coming up, wouldn’t it be nice to trim money off the usual bills? Sometimes, the little things really do add up to big savings, and I’m not talking about coupons. (I love coupons, but often am frustrated because the things I buy tend not to have coupons or go on sale. Am I alone?)
Easy Money Saving Tips for the Lazy Mom
1) Try to menu plan and use what’s in the house already. Then make a list to avoid impulse shopping. For me, this is a way more useful tip than couponing or bulk shopping. I am not one to go to 3-4 different stores to shop. I find that I end up wasting gas and time, which is even more valuable to me than money, frankly.
2) Unplug any unused appliances. This is a tip I learned ten years ago from a dear friend. It’s great not only to help you save money, but firefighters encourage this to avoid accidental fires. According to the Energy Star website, the average U.S. household spends more than $100 each year to power devices that are turned off!
3) Instead of going out to eat with friends, do a potluck at home. This saves on the marked up meal, tip, and babysitter! Plus, you won’t feel rushed, and you can drink all you want if it’s your house!
4) Shop tag sales…especially online ones, like those on Facebook. Personally, I rarely buy new clothes for my son without checking on the various tag sale groups I am a part of on Facebook. Recently I scored 10 pairs of pants and a few tops for only $25! I also sell toys we are done playing with, so it’s a win-win.
5) Do you read on your kindle or ipad? Stop buying books!!! Download the overdrive app and connect into your local library’s account so you can virtually borrow books.
6) Try not to do small or crazy big loads of laundry. Doing the ‘normal’ size load maximizes the efficiency of your washer and reduces costs. Also, very few loads need to be washed using hot water.
7) Speaking of washing machines, it’s least expensive to use your appliances after the sun sets.
8) Call your credit card companies, and internet/television/cell phone provider, and request lower rates or new promotions that are running. My husband did this with our cable this summer and not only did we get a lower rate, we got more channels!
9) Lower your water heater temperature. Most thermostats are set at 140 degrees, but you can get away with lowering yours to 120 degrees. This will save about $50 a year on your bill AND elongate the life of your heater.
10) This last tip is a bit more time consuming, but definitely worth it. Use flexible spending accounts! FSAs allow you to pay certain medical, dental and child care expenses using pre-tax dollars. Last year, when we realized we were sending our son to preschool, we used my company’s FSA to get the money pretax dollars. That really made our money work harder for us for a change.
So these are my “quick” and relatively painless tips for saving money. What am I missing? All tips are welcomed, comment below!
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