Earlier this month, JL and I made a pact to be better about spending money. We each have our own trouble spots and I accepted the challenge happily! It's kind of like a competition with yourself, and since I like to be competitive but I hate to see people sad, this worked out well.
The first thing I did was to get back on Bountiful Baskets. For those of you who live in the many states that they do this, you should definitely join the band wagon. I forgot how much food you get for just $15! We've been munching on bananas, watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, pears, apples, and fresh salad made from romaine, spinach, tomatoes and bell peppers since Saturday. Mmmmm....fresh produce. This is really nice for us because with Walter's food allergies, he pretty much sticks to fruit and grains with the occasional veggie snuck in. I am a bit nervous because we have three artichokes and I have never cooked or eaten an artichoke in my life. I will definitely make sure to blog about that little adventure.
I've also made a firm commitment to eat more chicken. And, no, not Chik-fil-A. With both pregnancies I have had major aversions to chicken, but it is healthy and cheap and soaks in flavors really nicely. Hence....more chicken.
Just making small changes in our grocery approach will save us an estimated $200 a month! Crazy to think about.
I also did a big look into coupons versus shopping the weekly sales. I was lucky because our local news had just done a special on that exact topic so my research didn't take very long. This made my pregnant lazy self happy. I was equally ecstatic to note that the woman who shopped the weekly sales did better than the coupon cutter for most things. I hate cutting coupons. Then my sweet husband reminded me of something I'd completely forgotten about: The Dollar Store.
I know a lot of people brush off the dollar store as a place for hoarders to shop for things that will break before you get them home. This is true in a lot of areas. But the dollar store also has some real finds, especially in household cleaning and hygiene. JL loves the little individual use flossers over regular floss, and you can get a huge pack at the dollar store for...$1. Sponges are cheaper. Also, they have an amazing bathroom cleaner. You do have to be careful that you don't get sucked into the $1 attitude and end up buying things you can get cheaper other places.
You're probably wondering what the biggest help has been. JL can be an extremely forgetful person and the biggest saver we've had is packing his lunch together every night. We get breakfast, snacks, and a lunch all thrown into a grocery bag in the fridge that he can just grab and go. No more last minute drives to drop off food or sending him off to pick up a dollar burger. The other huge perk to this is that JL has lost 8 lbs! I'm so proud of him for keeping this up so far!
I'll continue to update you guys on new discoveries I make in my quest to save money. We're so excited to see how much we can save so that we can get out of debt even faster and put more money into savings every month.
One last thing: I've started using cash for things instead of our debit card. I really love this! I take all of my loose change after every purchase (yes, even quarters) and put it into Walter's piggy bank. He loves to hear the clink of the coins and I love knowing that I'm saving money for his future without feeling like I'm making some huge sacrifice!
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