So you all know that I am a homemaker and we are basically a one-income family. I make a teensy amount of money from my digital media freelance gigs, but not anywhere close to when I was working full time.
Our pennies are precious! We have a dog, two vehicles, a home, and student loans, but we also have fun, travel, buy gifts, and have a nice home. How do we do it all?
By saving money EVERY SINGLE WEEK. I've outlined the top ways we do this below: I hope you enjoy it!
1. I Limit My Driving
This simple change has helped us save AT LEAST $25.00 on gas a week. We try not to take unnecessary trips, and I run all my errands at once at the CLOSEST grocery store. This means Walmart is my best friend! And if I'm going to drive to a different town for something that can only be bought there, like a haircut, then I'll try to pair that trip with meeting a friend who lives in that town too. The less driving the better!
2. I Buy Generic, Not Name-Brand
So I wouldn't recommend this tip for EVERY product: there are some things that you just can't get generic. But usually, the store brand is the exact same product as the name-brand. In most cases, these products are even processed at the same factories, but eave with different labels. I buy generic groceries, bathroom items, and cleaning products. If I save 1 dollar a product, and buy 20 products a week, I'm saving $20!
3. I Make All Our Meals
I can get all the supplies for all of our week's meals for the price of two dinner's out a month. Seriously! A dinner out for us costs at least $40.00 with gas, food, and sometimes alcohol. For $80 a week, (and that's being generous,) I can make ALL our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners at home. The bonus? I've been able to control our sugar and salt intake by making everything from scratch! Frugal AND healthy!
4. I Re-Work My Current Wardrobe
So this Friday I have a Christmas party coming up and my immediate instinct was to go scour the stores for a new piece to wear! This is natural: we all want to look fresh for important occasions. But since becoming more frugal, I decided to "shop my closet" this week. I took some time and creativity and pieced together a super cute outfit! For free!
5. Freeze Your Leftovers + Cook "Double Batches"
Isn't cooking for two so hard? Do you live in a house where no one really eats leftovers? This can be SUCH a money suck! To combat this, I TRY to make leftovers. I cook "batch" meals like pastas, stews, and soups, intentionally making 4 portions. We eat half for dinner, and then I freeze the other half. Often people don't like leftovers because they JUST ate that meal last night. When we're ready for those flavors again in a couple weeks, I pull it out of the freezer for dinner!
6. Host Others In Your Home: Avoid Restaurants
Saving money doesn't mean the end of your social life. If you have a nice living room, you basically have a private VIP room for hosting! I love hosting friends in our home; making a simple meal and playing music in the background. Even if we were to buy all the supplies for the evening, it might cost us $30.00. If we went out to eat and drink with friends, we could be spending a minimum of $50.00 on two meals, drinks, gas, and mileage. Be cozy, practice Hygge, and save money!
7. Cut Out Alcohol
So This tip can really save you a TON of money! When we buy a bottle of wine and a set of 6 beers a week, we're spending around $25.00. Now that we've cut it out, we only drink on special occasions or at dinner parties. This makes alcohol more of a treat, and is also WAY healthier for us! Frugal and healthy: win-win.
8. Mend Things On Your Own
There is a Youtube tutorial for fixing almost ANYTHING! Seriously. I've recently got into mending things because I was constantly replacing pieces like tights, socks and undershirts. Just this past week I noticed ANOTHER hole in the toe of my black tights. Instead of throwing them out, I stitched the them up and went on my way! If something can be mended, DO IT. Don't buy new!
9. Max Out Your 401K
A lot of Millennials don't even know what a 401K is, but it can truly help you get on a good foot for retirement. I'm not sure how it all works, but it's basically putting away a percentage of your salary to be invested over the course of your lifetime. A company will handle the funds and ensure that it is being invested into stocks and bonds that can pay out huge by the time of your retirement. Ask your dad if you're not sure about it. It's a REALLY good thing to do.
CONCLUSION:
So there you have it! We do these things every week and they have truly helped us save a TON of money. It's not always easy to live a traditional single-income lifestyle in our modern age, but these changes can help you grow your wealth over your lifetime.
xoxo
Cait