Wednesday, August 13, 2008

5 Changes We've Made to Save Money in the Last Year

1. Envelope System: I've recently made the switch to an envelope system. I pull out cash from the bank every Friday and put the allotted amounts into each envelope for groceries ($50), diapers ($15), scrapbooking ($10), Starbucks ($5), eating out ($20), laundry ($15), misc. ($10), etc. So far it has been working great and it's so inspiring and freeing to know where my money is going without having to enter a bunch of receipts into Quicken.
2. Drinking less Starbucks. I get a Grande iced Americano with 2 pumps of vanilla syrup, cream and whip cream on top and it costs $2.50 including tax when I use my registered Starbucks card and get the syrup for free. I've cut back from 4 of these per week to only 2, which is a great improvement for me. I'm trying to mostly drink coffee at home and take it with me if I want to have some on the road.
3. Shopping CVS. This has saved me tons of money!! I started shopping CVS because I was inspired by my friend Catherine and the MoneySavingMom website (www.moneysavingmom.com). I have been able to get so many things for free or at extreme discounts - it is awesome! Especially the free diapers.
4. Couponing. I started couponing again back in February and being mindful of store sales. It's been a tremendous relief on our grocery bill and we've also purchased several fun food items we wouldn't have been able to otherwise.
5. Eating out less often. We're really trying to eat at home more often and bring picnics with us when we go out around lunch time. It is so much cheaper!

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