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MQAAord · 09-21-2005, 02:01 PM

Here's a few suggestions:

-Sell everything you don't need/use
-Put less 'strain' on your heating/air system by keeping the house a couple degrees cooler in winter and warmer in summer
-Pay bills online, saves on stamps
-Use eBay! I buy almost all my clothes on eBay, Hilfiger, Gap, Polo, all quite affordable
-Use coupons only if the item is something you use
-Be dilligent about turning off lights/appliances in rooms you're not in (this was a bad habit of mine that I've really changed my behavior with)
-Grocery shop at Aldi's, they're an off-brand store that has groceries at literally HALF the prices of the name-brand-big-name grocery stores. Seriously, their products are as good as the big names, and my grocery bill is HALF of what it would be otherwise
-Scour the weekly sale ads at the grocery store, and use their savings club cards
-Freeze credit cards, actually put them in Tupperware encased in water. They'll freeze and then if you want to buy something you'll have to wait for the card to defrost and that gives you time to think about your purchase, eliminating impulse buying
-Sell any CDs or movies that you no longer listen to/watch, there's second hand stores that pay cash
-Use a programmable thermostat to set your house heat, with that you can turn the house temp way down at night (use a down comforter to stay warm) and set it to come back up 1/2 hour before you get up in the morning, it can be set to roll back again for the workday, and warm back up again before you get home from work

We've given up eating out, we seldom travel and when we do it's just to drive to the farm. 90% of the boys' clothes are hand-me-downs, the rest are bought off the sale racks or eBay. I use eBay and Craigslist.org (online classifieds) to buy and sell things. We roll the heat back at night, using electric heaters (oil-filled radiator style, with a tip-over auto shut off feature) in the boys' rooms to keep them warm (babies/toddlers never keep their blankets on). During the day we have the heat turn down 2 degrees from 12-2, especially when it's sunny. We don't notice the difference, and it saves on heating costs.

09-21-2005, 02:01 PM	#5 (permalink)
MQAAord Jetgirls Ol' School Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: A Happy Place Posts: 668 Recipes: Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Trimming the family budget... Here's a few suggestions: -Sell everything you don't need/use -Put less 'strain' on your heating/air system by keeping the house a couple degrees cooler in winter and warmer in summer -Pay bills online, saves on stamps -Use eBay! I buy almost all my clothes on eBay, Hilfiger, Gap, Polo, all quite affordable -Use coupons only if the item is something you use -Be dilligent about turning off lights/appliances in rooms you're not in (this was a bad habit of mine that I've really changed my behavior with) -Grocery shop at Aldi's, they're an off-brand store that has groceries at literally HALF the prices of the name-brand-big-name grocery stores. Seriously, their products are as good as the big names, and my grocery bill is HALF of what it would be otherwise -Scour the weekly sale ads at the grocery store, and use their savings club cards -Freeze credit cards, actually put them in Tupperware encased in water. They'll freeze and then if you want to buy something you'll have to wait for the card to defrost and that gives you time to think about your purchase, eliminating impulse buying -Sell any CDs or movies that you no longer listen to/watch, there's second hand stores that pay cash -Use a programmable thermostat to set your house heat, with that you can turn the house temp way down at night (use a down comforter to stay warm) and set it to come back up 1/2 hour before you get up in the morning, it can be set to roll back again for the workday, and warm back up again before you get home from work We've given up eating out, we seldom travel and when we do it's just to drive to the farm. 90% of the boys' clothes are hand-me-downs, the rest are bought off the sale racks or eBay. I use eBay and Craigslist.org (online classifieds) to buy and sell things. We roll the heat back at night, using electric heaters (oil-filled radiator style, with a tip-over auto shut off feature) in the boys' rooms to keep them warm (babies/toddlers never keep their blankets on). During the day we have the heat turn down 2 degrees from 12-2, especially when it's sunny. We don't notice the difference, and it saves on heating costs.