Upromise.

Create a Upromise account. By creating your own account you can earn money for your child's education when you use linked loyalty and transaction cards. Plus you can share your Upromise ID with friends and family and they can choose to connect their cards to your account as well for earnings when they make regular everyday purchases. 

Hand me downs!

When someone offers you clothes in the size you need or will be needing - SAY THANK YOU! Hand me downs and hand me across is a great way to boost your child(ren)'s wardrobe which will be grown out of soon anyhow. It if has a stain, find a cute bow, button, flower, or patch to put over the stain. This can make the item even more personal and appropriate to your child.

Avoid disposable everything.

Paper plates are great because you don't have to wash dishes. In a few cases they are the best choice but avoid disposable, pay per use, whenever you can. Other places in this book tell you about ways to avoid disposable napkins, rags, diapers, and all sorts of household items.

Use only as much shampoo, etc. as you need.

Shampoo is expensive. How much do you NEED to use? Cut the amount in half once and add a little more if you need. Test things out and don't accept the prescribed amount from the company. What else could you use less of to make it last longer? There was some big drama against a prescription contact company for saying they needed to be changed more regularly than necessary. See what you can do different. 

Turn your mattress.

If your mattress is turnable or flipable, make it last longer by spreading the wear throughout the mattress.

Use a credit card with a good rebate program.

If you are going to use a credit card at all, make sure you get something for it. If you fly often, use a card with frequent flyer miles but only if they will benefit you. Cash back programs such as American Express Blue Cash and Chase Freedom Cash Back Visa give you a percentage of all of your purchases which can be claimed as credits to your account of cash or in online purchases.

Mint.com to track your spending!

 https://wwws.mint.com/ is a wonderful resource and FREE. If you already have electronic accounts, it's super simple to pull in your data into their system and categorize your purchases. This will give you a start to knowing what you've been spending on what and then can begin creating a draft budget. After you've figured out where your monetary leaks are in specific categories,  you can make challenges for yourself to plug those leaks.

Mint lets you track categories and emails you when you've reached the limits that you've set. It also lets you create goals and track your savings goal progress. Having an eye on your money can be very difficult and intimidating but with technology at your fingertips you can make it much simpler and less stressful!

Celebrate a spending moratorium: challenge yourself to not spend for a weekend, a week or A MONTH! You write the rules.

Bake your bacon!

Yep, I said bake your bacon. There are folks who pay top dollar for packages of a couple of sticks of crispy bacon, already cooked for them. They pay 10X what you pay for a pack of uncooked bacon! So here's the deal. Get out a jelly roll pan or a high edge cookie sheet, the edge here is necessary. Take some aluminum foil and cover the entire cookie sheet, making a bowl that will not leak onto the pan. If your foil is not wide enough, forget this step all together. Now take about 12 inches of foil and twist it into a snake. Get two more pieces so you have 3 snakes. These snakes are going to lie across your pan. Now take your bacon and drape it across your pan over the snakes. You can nudge the edges as much as you like to get nice hill and valley bacon.

Now place your nicely bacon-buried snakes in your COLD oven. Turn the oven up to 400 degrees and walk away. Come back in about 15 minutes to see if it's to your liking. If they are not crispy enough, leave them in longer. Personally I like my bacon soft and floppy but my husband and kids like theirs glass shattering crispy, so I take mine out early and keep theirs in for a bit longer. Then when you are finished you have one pan to clean BUT if you lined your pan with foil, carefully pour out the grease and you should be able to reveal a clean pan - NO DISHES!

Scrutinize Your Bills

We have everything setup on autopay. It is a great system to avoid missed payments but it is so hands off that we may be paying a lot for charges we never see. Get your bills out and read line by line what you are paying for. Be accountable for your spending every dollar of your money.

On our Internet bill we were paying $5 a month for a loaned modem. After how many months would that basic/cheap modem have been paid for? Do you need cable and internet with so much TV online? Can you cancel your landline or get a different plan for your cell phone with better features for less?

Get to know your mortgage statement - how much extra in a month would it be to pay a whole extra month every single month? If your payment is $600, that total is going to escrow, principal and interest. An extra monthly payment may only be $200!

What about your water bill, are you getting a service fee because of that flower bed blocking the access panel? Is your lawn watering costing you overage charges because of a conservation policy?

Are your insurance coverages right for your car's age and your home's value?

Are you still paying a gap insurance on your car payment?

Is your BANK costing you FEES? Are you paying a load fee for your investments? Find another bank!!!

Take a detailed look at where your money is going - even with the non-negotiable items like bills. Find the unnecessary and feed your pig. Review every bill. Slash every feature you can live without. If you want to live a better life, make the hard choices and don't let the money sit there - feed your pig!

nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Great Pretender

So you walk into McDonald's with $15, what can you order? Anything! Walk into McDonald's with $2, what can you order? You might be surprised. No matter where you go, pretend you are worse off than you are and look for ways to spend less. Order water when you eat at a restaurant. Order off the dollar menu at a fast food joint. Shop at a thrift store for clothes and household items. Buy a car for house under your perceived level. Basically read this blog of tips and implement any that interest you. If you mentally tell yourself you don't have that money - it's easier to resist - even challengingly exciting.

What can you do for less so you can feed your pig?!

Happy Birthday with homemade love



Our 3rd birthday celebration





 Is it birthday time for someone special in your family? MAKE their cake and save bundles! You can easily make a beautiful fondant cake from scratch!

Last Minute Munchies! Awesome Granola Bars

Ever have a 10 minute errand take 2 hours? You end up super hungry and don't want to get fast food, but at this point you're starving! Plan ahead with a packable snack each day. Even better, plan ahead with long lasting snacks that you can pack once a week and not have to think about again. Even storing a gallon jug of water in your car can save an unnecessary purchase.

Reasonable driving zones

Photo via Salvatore Vuono

If you don't need to drive - don't. If you must plan your trip carefully to be sure you only drive as far as you need. I would suggest you consider a "driving zone." Look at your regular every day activities on a map and consider what might be your reasonable region. Then anything you need/want to do outside of that region - THINK about it before getting in the car!

Keep the air flowing and clean - for less!

Now this is a multi-topic concept; energy, materials, environment and health. Most houses have central heating and air now days - I know - not all. Even if you are renting you are affected by your system. Anyone who pays for the electricity used by a heating/cooling system should be aware of their filter. If your filter gets full of muck - you will start paying more and getting a less healthy result as well.

Know Yourself: be realistic about abilities and limits

Photo via digitalart

They say "time is money" - but if you have the time, you don't need to pay someone else to do what you can do.

If you know you can - complete the project.
If you think you can - do a little research.
If you doubt you can - consider the possible outcomes - delay, cost, replacement, injury
If you can't - find the least expensive way to do it correctly

Mint.com to track your spending and create a plan

Mint.com is a wonderful resource and FREE. If you already have electronic accounts, it's super simple to pull in your data into their system and catagorize your purchases. This will give you a start to knowing what you've been spending on what and then can begin creating a draft budget you can start with. After you've figured out where your monetary leaks are in specific categories - you can make challenges for yourself to plug those leaks.