When trying to save money, I truly believe that all of the little things add up. All too often, we focus on saving on big things like cars, homes, and appliances, but ignore the little things we can do to save each day.
Ways I’ve Saved Money This Week
1. No coffee shops. This is a tough one for me. But, I’ve been waking up early and brewing coffee at home, so when I’m out and about in the mornings, I take coffee with me, or I’m done with my coffee for the morning. I prefer to drink organic coffee, so considering the health benefits of the coffee we have at home is another way I’m keeping myself away from the coffee shops.
2. Working the budget. We finally created a spending plan last week. This week we’ve been tracking things on our new spreadsheet from Simpleplanning.com. It’s terrifying, but it’s good to have a more realistic idea of where our money is going. It’s prevented me from spending a few times, because I didn’t want to add something new to our budget spreadsheet.
3. Meal planning around what we already had. I shopped our fridge and pantry before making our meal plan this week. That lowered our grocery bill considerably for the week. I’m still finding lunches for munchkins to be a challenge. They are dying to go to McDonald’s all of the time. DYING. As a girl who is trying to watch her budget and her figure, I find this quite challenging. Suppers were great for the budget. Lunches, not so much.
4. Cash back apps. I’ve earned a small amount on my Ibotta, Snap, and Checkout 51 apps. A lot of times these apps offer a wee big of cash back (like a quarter or fifty cents) back on staples like bananas, apples, or bread.
5. Swagbucks. I’ve been crushin’ it on Swagbucks this week! 
Maybe I’ll have enough for a $5 Amazon gift card by the end of the week.
6. Returned sweater. One of my boys’ school uniform sweaters got a hole in it after wearing it once. I’m returning it and asking for a replacement. I don’t know how to sew, so the bigger that hole gets, the more the sweater becomes a sunk cost.
7. Cell phone trade-in. I’m not quite ready to go to a budget carrier like Republic Wireless, but my phone has been having some issues. So, I ordered a refurbished iPhone and traded in my old one to Gazelle. I should get $115 back from Gazelle, which about covers the cost of the new phone I bought. I’m sticking with my iPhone for now, because my parents love being able to do FaceTime with the boys. And, I love being able to do FaceTime with my relatives too. We live far away from them, and I miss them!
What have you done to save this week? Doesn’t matter how big or small the savings. Every little bit helps!
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