By now (and if you've met the besties Sallie & Perkins) you know Caleb and I are trying to get out of debt as FAST as we can. Aside from him working overtime where he can, and me booking extra photography gigs where I can...there ARE other ways to save money.
So I decided to come up with a list of crazy things that Caleb and I do to save money! Remember...when you have that "Gazelle intensity", who cares if people think you're weird?
Weird is good.
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| Among many other things, Caleb! |
- Sometimes (this is slightly embarrassing), I'll cut open the bottom of the toothpaste tubes to get the last out of it. Same with my foundation...this usually adds a couple weeks onto the life of my products!
-Caleb's cousin works at a local pizza shop, and he's allowing Caleb to deliver pizzas on the side for a few months...to throw extra cash towards debt at a rapid pace.
-Entering giveaways. Typically on blogs, I love those. I recently won an adorable necklace off of my girl Ashley's blog! My favorite kinds of giveaways are the gift card/cash ones...so that way my man & I get FREE date nights instead of having to cut into our own budget. I also sign up from websites like Woman Freebies, that have sweepstakes almost daily, and tons of free stuff to win!
-Downgrading our cell phone minutes/data plan, read about that here! We saved over $40/month!
-"If you're not using it, unplug it" ... get CRAZY with this. Phone done charging? Unplug it and leave it right under the outlet. Done with the toaster? Unplug that, too. You don't have to get AS crazy as I do (even Caleb thinks I take it a little too far), but hey, its kind of fun.
-My crazy husband likes to keep the temperature on 68-69 ALL summer which didn't make me very happy when Duke delivered our energy bill. So I try to keep it around 71 now! The higher the temp, the cheaper your bill.
-Manufacturers coupons, those are AHH-mazing. Typically each one saves you about $1.50+...and that stuff really adds up.
-Kroger has "Freebie Fridays" (thanks to a college friend for this tidbit! Heey Sierrah!), and if you sync your Kroger Plus Card online, they let you upload freebies on the card...you can walk in, grab your stuff, check out and walk right out with FREE stuff. Last week was $6 shampoo/conditioner! This week its toothpaste!
-Take advantage of social media, follow companies on Twitter and talk about their products or things you love. I recently talked about the long weekend trip we were taking to Arkansas, and Gillette sent me a new razor with TWO replacement bars to go with it... (a value of over $13!)
-Shop out of season. You can get things for up to 70% off sometimes! Caleb and I joke that we should start celebrating holidays the week after they really take place, so we get a better deal.
-Downgrading our cell phone minutes/data plan, read about that here! We saved over $40/month!
-"If you're not using it, unplug it" ... get CRAZY with this. Phone done charging? Unplug it and leave it right under the outlet. Done with the toaster? Unplug that, too. You don't have to get AS crazy as I do (even Caleb thinks I take it a little too far), but hey, its kind of fun.
-My crazy husband likes to keep the temperature on 68-69 ALL summer which didn't make me very happy when Duke delivered our energy bill. So I try to keep it around 71 now! The higher the temp, the cheaper your bill.
-Manufacturers coupons, those are AHH-mazing. Typically each one saves you about $1.50+...and that stuff really adds up.
-Kroger has "Freebie Fridays" (thanks to a college friend for this tidbit! Heey Sierrah!), and if you sync your Kroger Plus Card online, they let you upload freebies on the card...you can walk in, grab your stuff, check out and walk right out with FREE stuff. Last week was $6 shampoo/conditioner! This week its toothpaste!
-Take advantage of social media, follow companies on Twitter and talk about their products or things you love. I recently talked about the long weekend trip we were taking to Arkansas, and Gillette sent me a new razor with TWO replacement bars to go with it... (a value of over $13!)
-Shop out of season. You can get things for up to 70% off sometimes! Caleb and I joke that we should start celebrating holidays the week after they really take place, so we get a better deal.
So there you have it, just a few tips I can give you to lower your monthly expenses and KILL DEBT faster!!
Remember, imagine what you can do with your money (and the kind of wealth you can build!) when you have NO DEBT PAYMENTS!!!
What would you do with all that extra cash??
Thanks for all the tips!! I'm definitely going to do some of these :) With all that extra cash I would buy lots and lots of clothes :P
ReplyDeleteI had no idea about Kroger's Freebie Fridays! I have a necklace giveaway on my blog today...go get it. Haha!
ReplyDeleteWe're keeping out house at 75-77 and surprisingly our power bill for June wasn't to bad! I dont mind the warmer temps but its been a struggle for Brandon. I need to get better about unplugging items. I use my credit card during the 5% cash back months for gas and gas only, its something I have to have and I pay it off monthly plus I'm making money.
ReplyDeleteI heard the unplug tip a few years ago, and have been doing it ever since. I didn't know about Kroger's Freebie Fridays...so I'm glad you told me about that. Like you said in your last post, I think taking your lunch is the way to go as well. It's crazy how expensive meals out can get. I'm going to try and get better about coupons. What's your take on those?
ReplyDeleteAWESOME list!! I am a little crazy about unplugging appliances...but it definitely makes a difference!I used to keep our house at 77 and would feel generous by turning it to 76 when Ben would complain--now that I'm pregnant, it's at a constant 74!
ReplyDeleteKroger Freebie Friday?? What?! I need to check into that!!
ReplyDeleteLove the list!! I'm posting my own "Frugal Friday" tip tomorrow... to give you a preview, it's not something you can use anytime soon! HA! (you'll see what I mean tomorrow). Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteWe definitely use some of those tips. Coupons! We don't use our AC unless we're dying and it's 80 in the house. Or we use a fan to cool down the room that we're in and sleep with the window open so we don't have to have the AC on. We used a space heater to heat the room we were in and hardly used our heater during the winter. it was a little extreme and would be like 65 in our apartment. I've never heard of freebie fridays before, but we don't shop kroger much.
ReplyDeletefantastic tips! We've been big on unplugging everything lately - I think that it really does add up!
ReplyDelete