Originally I had thought to do this post on ways to save money with twins. When I sat down to write, I realized, most people are trying to save money either for that vacation you’ve been dying for, the new car you need, or let’s face it just to pay the bills. So, here are a few of our tricks we stick to in order to save some dough.
Freezing- ok, kind of common sense that you can get things on a good sale and stock up. But, often, were not positive what we can actually freeze. We looked up what are big items in our house and found that we could freeze almost all of them!
Buttermilk- butter, milk, and buttermilk
Veggies- peppers, corn etc
Fruits- grapes, fruit purées are super convenient with the kiddos too.
I found this handy when deciding what I can freeze!
Discounts- we love to do activities with the boys but they can be so expensive. Many zoos, museums, aquariums etc have days that they offer discounts in addition to the school, military/veteran or senior discounts they offer. In many bigs cities they usually offer a free day to residents. If you can handle the crowds, that’s your best bet. If you’re like me and want to sterilize the stupid parents letting their kid hang over bars into the bear enclosure then I would suggest the student, military type discounts and a slow day/time 😉
of course DIY
Some things are cheaper to do yourself-others will actually cost you more in the long run. So, list all supplies and what they will cost you. We have a few on the docket right now (including making toddler beds and growing our garden) and will be making good use of the tools Scott stocked up during college:) We also make our own butter, yogurt and house hold cleaner among others! This goes hand in hand with repurposing but keep in mind it is sometimes way cheaper to buy something retail than to make it, do the math first.
Repurposing
Pretty simple idea but often we forget what projects we have going and just want to reduce clutter resulting in something reusable being tossed. So, we’ve started a project binder with correlating totes. Each has a place and when we have an item it gets put with other items for that project and saved. Right now we have the old swing set off to the side in our yard torn into pieces. The monkey bars from that will become a trellis for our garden peas! The rest will be the foundation for a garden box! Saving us about 100$
Wants vs Needs
In an effort to eliminate frivolous spending we have also begun keeping a bill organizer. We save all receipts and tally them as we spend, making us more mindful of where and what’s we spend. you would also be surprised what isn’t absolutely necessary for example, and being another. Now, I’m not sure if I could commit to the TP…but, I have stuck to the anti-shampoo regiment for about a week at a time. I do agree with the link, for the first few days it feels greasy and gets MUCH better over time. Now a bottle of shampoo lasts about 4 months, and my hair is a lot healthier!
Resale
When you are ready to part with certain belongings see if you can sell them first-Craigslist, Ebay and local resale shops are always options. Depending on what it is you may be able to get a few bucks back. Old water heaters, tires and-most recently for us-outgrown baby items! That 30$ pays for a movie tickets on date night
Meal planning
It goes without saying that if you spend 5$ on coffee & 10$ on lunch that by the end of the week or month the cost really adds up. But, if you’re like me eating the same thing every day will get pretty boring. So to tackle that we meal plan different things every week, ie week 1 is salads, week 2 is sandwiches and so on. We also plan for lunches and dinners for 2 week periods. This means we only buy what we need for those meals and since we don’t ever plan for junk food, we just don’t have it in the house:) a win win when trying to eat smart and be budget friendly.
Share your money saving tips!!
The Indigo Hen Homestead 