Money Matters Part 3: Five Practical Ways To Save Money

"A house is built by wisdom
and becomes strong through good sense."

Proverbs 24:3

Okay, so now we get to the practical stuff regarding money: how to make that dollar stretch! Let's face it, life ain't gettting any cheaper. Rent, food, gasoline, bills...it all goes up but, unfortunately, never really comes back down. Throw in a couple of growing kids in the mix and you really start feeling the burn!

But there are ways to make that paycheck of yours stretch. I'm a stay-at-home mother of two and in my house I'm known as the "Queen of Savings." I try my best to be "wise" when it comes to spending (and saving) money so that I can stick to my budget, live within our means and let's face it: not go broke! My husband might be the one who brings home the bacon, but I'm the one who preserves that bacon and makes it last us the whole week. Without a strong will and good sense, to use Solomon's words, we'd eat through his paychecks faster than he can earn them!

In this post I'll give you some practical, real-life examples on how I try to save money. Some might work for you, some might not, but hopefully you can find at least one thing you can do that will help keep some of that hard-earned moola in your pocket.

1. Coupons! Coupons! Coupons!

Okay, so those of you that know me know that I'm crazy about coupons. In fact, I try to recruit people into the world of couponing by explaining to them just how much I save so that they can save, too. (Friends never let friends pay full price!) No, I am not an extreme couponer (although I do stock up on some items), but I've found that once I started seeing the savings, I just couldn't go back to ever paying full price.

You can find coupons almost everywhere. The Sunday newspaper has them, you can print them online, get them in the mail, find them on the product themselves in the supermarket -- you can even buy them on eBay! I happen to be very fortunate to have a supermarket that doubles coupons every day and when I add them to the sales price, I get stuff for pennies, sometimes even free. (Oh, how I love that word!)

But I don't just use coupons at the supermarket. You can use them for all sorts of stuff! We don't eat that much, but when we do, I always go to a restaurant with a coupon. The Olive Garden, Smokey Bones, Ruby Tuesdays, Pizza Hut, Mello Mango, Krispy Kreme donuts -- you name it. Sometimes it's only a few dollars off, sometimes it's a free entree or dessert, but you know what? Every little bit helps! I also use coupons when I shop. My Sears Mastercard sends me coupons in the mail all the time. Craft stores like Michaels, Joanne's, Hobby Lobby and A.C. Moore have coupons either in the Sunday newspaper, through mailings or on their website. Department stores like Kohl's, JCPenny and Macy's will throw out cool coupons every few weeks. I even get coupons for visiting places like Chuck E. Cheese, Smartstyle (where my kids get their haircuts), TLC Car Wash, and Christian bookstores. And don't forget those internet coupon codes! Before I order anything on Amazon or Barnes & Nobles online, I google "coupon codes" and see what's available. Sometimes it's free shipping, sometimes it's a percentage off the total. I've said it once and I'll say it a million times over: every little bit helps!

Yes, I have a coupon binder. Yes, I have a "savings" card for all of my local pharmacies and supermarkets and yes, I go up to strangers in the supermarkets and tell them where they can find that particular item they might be eye-balling somewhere else for a better price. (I have yet to have someone call the store manager on me for harrassing them!) But I am just such a firm believer in saving money that I want to share my hard-earned knowledge with anyone and everyone! So, people, start clipping those coupons!

2. Shop With A List

If you've ever walked into Walmart or Super Target, you might find yourself spending way more time in there than you'd planned. You meander through each and ever aisle and depending on how hungry you are, or how nicely they've displayed their product, you find yourself placing stuff in your shopping card that you really hadn't intended to. Ever notice how the essentials, like milk and eggs, are always way on the other side of the store? There's a lot of temptation inbetwee the store entrance and aisle 15. It's called snazzy marketing and most of us fall into their trap.

But, if you have a grocery list on hand, then you can resist the temptation of grabbing for that extra box of Hot Pockets because you already have one at home. You won't purchase that yummy looking box of donuts or pick up that cute set of towels. Why? Because it's not on your list! Keeping a list keeps you focused on buying and spending only what you need. Your budget of $50 will be kept and you'll get out of there a whole lot faster, too.

Also, try not to go food shopping on an empty stomach. When you're starving, everything looks too good to pass up!

3. Do Not Go "Window Shopping"

I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the mall just to "look" and ended up spending money I really didn't have. What? The Children's Place has a sale on kids jeans? Victoria Secret's is having a buy one get one free sale? You see the huge red SALE signs and think: I absolutely have to take advantage of that! Uh...no, you don't. Because you know what? Your kids already have enough pairs of jeans and you don't really need four new bras right now.

For some people, going to the mall has become a health hazard. Sometimes they go because they're bored, want to get out of the house, it's raining outside, or want to hang out with their friends. But there's really no way you're going to leave that place unscathed. One hundred bucks later, you'll end up with stuff you really didn't need or really couldn't afford in the first place. If you absolutely must go to the mall to simply get out of the house, then do me a favor: leave your cash and your credit cards at home!

4. Limit How Much You Eat Out

I love to cook so this one is really easy for me. If I go out to dinner, it has to be to a place that makes food I can't cook at home. If you're the type of person who doesn't like to cook, well...maybe you should start learning. The average meal at a typical sit-down restaurant for a family of four costs about fifty bucks (not including dessert). Think fast food is cheaper? Think again! Three Value Meals and one Happy Meal (again, no desserts) can easily cost you about $20. Ordering a pizza will also set you back about twenty bucks and Chinese take-out for our family is about $25. (Note: These numbers are much higher if you live in a big city.)

If you eat out four times a week, that $25 has now turned into $100, more if you go to a sit-down restaurant. Now, if you sit back and think how far these same $100 can take you at your supermarket, you'll be amazed. You can make chicken, soup, rice & beans, sandwiches, pot roast, potatoes. Heck, you might even have money to bake yourself a boxed cake! See where I'm going with this? Sure, you actually have to take the time to cook the food yourself, but in the long run, you'll not only save yourself some money, you'll be healthier, too. We all know fast-food is bad for you, but you think all that restaruant food isn't loaded with salt and preservatives and God only knows what else? Talk about high blood pressure!

Another thing you can do is pack your own lunch when you go to work. I pack my husband's lunch at least 3 times a week. Usually it's leftovers, but other times it's something as simple as a sub-style sandwich, yogurt, chips and cookies (he's not watching his weight). A $10 a day lunch budget times five days a week, times four weeks a month adds up to $200. By packing leftovers (which the other guys at work totally drool over) or using what I already have in the fridge, I save that money and use it on something else. Sure, it takes a little planning, but if it means I can save some more moola, then I'm all for it. (And he is, too!)

5. Keep An Eye On How Much You Spend When Going Out

If you have children, then you know first hand how expensive it is to provide them with what I call "outside" entertainment. Movie tickets? $9 each. Soda and pocorn? Another $13. A trip to the arcade? $20. Chuck E. Cheese? $25-35 if you get pizza and drinks. Shooting range for two costs $55. Bowling costs $8 per kid, not including food or drinks and ice-skating at the rink is $20 for two kids.

Now, I'm all for having a good time with my kids, but they know that we simply can't go out every single weekend. When we do go out, I try to find ways to spend less money. For example, I absolutely refuse to spend $36 on movie tickets at the regular theatre, especially to watch a cartoon. (I mean, come on! I love Disney just as much as the next gal, but forty bucks is a bit ridiculous!) So what do I do instead? I take them to the $2 theatre. It only takes about a month before they move from the more expensive theatre to the cheaper one and I save myself $28. I buy them popcorn, but I will not spend $5 on theatre candy when I can buy one for a buck at the Dollar store and just sneak it in. (Don't worry. No one's going to actually check your bag.) Or, if you have a whole brood of kids, you might just skip the movie theatre altogether and simply grab a movie at Red Box, or join Netflix for $8 a month, watch all the movies you want and eat the mircrowaveable popcorn you just bought for $1 with your coupons! (Sorry, I had to slip that one in there.)

Another way to save money when you go out is by checking the time. Some places will charge less if you go earlier in the day or go on a weekday versus the weekend, something to think about now that the kids are on summer break. Ice skating is $6 cheaper for 2 kids if we go on a weekday and bowling on Tuesday nights is only $3 per person versus $8. You can save $20 a person if you visit Carowinds (an amusement park down here in NC similar to Great Adventures) if you go after 4pm and you get 50% off all tickets if you go on opening day. Members of the military receive discounts on certain days of the year to a variety of different places and visiting special museum exhibits at night usually costs less, too.

You can even save money this way on food when eating out. After 8pm Sonic sells their yummy shakes for 50% off and between 2-4 pm they have their "Happy Hour" when all drinks and slushes are half off, too. Almost all of the major chain restaurants like Applebees, TGIFridays and Bahama Breeze offers some kind of Happy Hour with 1/2 off of their appetizers as well. If you like to plan ahead (like I do) and time of day is not a big issue, these might be some smart ways to save a few more of those dollars.

You know, the how and why we spend our money isn't always obvious to us. It's really easy to fall prey to a simple, "spend as you live" philosophy. But the Bible tells us that we must be wise in how we deal with our finances, to use our common sense, and to be strong enough to resist the monetary traps and temptations that constantly surround us. It's not easy, it's not always fun, but it is the responsible thing to do. With just a little bit of discipline, you'll find that stretching that dollar bill isn't as hard as you thought.
 
Keep your eye out for my next post: Five More Ways To Save Money. And feel free to comment and share with me your own ways of saving that dough!