Penny pincher in me part 2

After writing my last blog about how I budget I felt like I only hit the surface of what I actually do and tips I have learned. 

So here I go digging deeper into how I save. 

I want to first start with grocery shopping, last weekend as we were hiking it hit me that I didn't touch on all that I do on that shopping trip. 

Along with starting to use coupons and the grocery store membership card,meal planning and making a list I do research before I leave the house. 

Along with coupons that I get in the mail are store ads. I have started reading them finding more deals than I had first thought I had found. If your store has fuel perks sometimes you can get more perks buying certain brands. For example buying 2 loafs of the store brand this month gave me a extra 10 cents on my fuel perks. Not to mention the store brand was the cheapest price. 

At the store I take my time shopping I have found that not being a rush saves me money in more ways than one. 

When shopping for items there are normally more than one brand of that item for example condense cream of mushroom cost 1.09 when buying Campbell's brand but when I looked around, the store brand was selling it for 69 cents. 

Some times you have to look at the very bottom of the shelf but taking that time will save you money. I have learned this lesson when my parents sold beef jerky in stores. 

Companies are at war with each other when it comes to where their product is placed on the shelf. Some companies actually pay just to have their product placed in eye level view. They know how important it is to have bright labels and have them placed where you see it the fastest. 

So most of what I buy is either on the top shelf (I have learned how to climb shelves) or I'm down below getting stepped on but it's worth it when saving a extra buck or two. 

Sometimes all it takes is time to search the shelves and price out each item. 

As most everyone knows we have just moved and even though I love having a new house that is more than double the size of my first home I do not like the increase in my utilities so here things I do to save. 

The best way to save engery is to use the engery that Mother Nature gives us for free. 

Do you have cats or dogs? Do you ever notice how they love to lay by windows and soak up the sun? 

Well let me get to that but first lets start with where I keep my thermostat. 

They say you should during the winter keep it at least 68 during the day to save about 15 dollars. And as low as you can during the night. So I keep my house at 67 during the day and turn it down to 63 at night. And to my surprise I am not freezing like I thought I would. 

We also have a upstairs that is Emma's play room and joes office. That thankfully is on it's own thermostat so I have it set to 60 and keep the door closed that goes upstairs to keep my downstairs heat from going up. I have found that heat travels fast, as when we do play upstairs I keep the door open and in 15 minutes the upstairs heats up about 2 degrees. 

Like I said before to save engery I use Mother Nature and what is given to us. 

The best ways I have learned to do this is keeping track of the weather and be prepared to switch how you will do things during the day to be around Mother Natures plans. 

A great investment is buying some good thick curtains. My mom always says it helps keep the heat in and the cold out. 

In the mornings as the sun is coming up I open my windows facing east. Okay I really open all my windows. Thank goodness most of them face east and I let my house soak up the morning sun. They say the rays from the morning sun are worth more to plants than the rays from the evening so it can't be much more different with warming the house right? 

Living in North Carolina it isn't below zero all the time our winters are pretty mild other than one crazy week in January so this may not be able to apply to everyone but hopefully it can give you ideas. 

After opening windows and getting my tea started along with breakfast I only do chores that don't cause a lot of engery as in laundry or starting the dishwasher. These things really do warm your house. I see my thermostat go up at least a couple degrees when I do these things and since it isn't very cold during the day and my heater isn't having to work so hard I save those activities for the evening. 

At night even though my thermostat is set at 63 I try to give my house a boost. 

I start laundry and when cooking if I know it's going to be a cold night I make sure to cook with the oven and after I'm done cooking I open the oven to let out the heat. Then I do dishes before we go to bed. This gets the house normally to 72 and I know it will be awhile before my heater has to kick in. 

During the extra cold week we had in January I did lots of baking to also help keep the house warm and now I am trying to work it all off my body. 

One of the biggest things you can do to cut the electric bill is keep lights off. Like your mom used to say if you aren't using it turn it off. We are constantly checking the house for lights. 

It's the little things to think about when saving money and engery. If you need to get something done think about if it can wait a couple hours and be done when your heater will working harder and can that chore be a help with heating the house? 

Now for summer time, things are a little different. 

In the morning instead of opening your blinds from the east to let in the sun directly try to wait till around noon to open them. Unless you are like me and have to have sunlight in your home try opening your windows from the west so the sun isn't coming in directly. 

One thing I'm excited about in this new home is new windows that are easy to open. Since my husband wakes up for work at 4 am I am excited to try opening windows to let the cool morning air in before the sun comes up. This works great if you live in a dry area we did it all the time growing up in Colorado. But living in North Carolina I won't be able to do it all the time but the mornings where it isn't to humid you can bet my windows will be open. Just make sure you close them before mid morning. 

When it comes to doing chores that cause heat try to do them at night as well or if you can, think about hanging wet clothes on a line outside to dry. I have done research that says you can save 40 dollars a month on your utilities not using the dryer. Also in the summer when I start cooking at night I keep the fan on above the oven and place another fan in the kitchen and open and shut the oven quickly to make sure the heat doesn't leak out. 

In the summer I try to set my thermostat at 77 during the day and at night bring it down to 74. 

I'm sure as the summer heats up I will remember other ways to cool the house and if so I will repost in the summer but for now my mind is stuck in the winter.

Being a stay at home mother I have learned that every penny saved is a penny earned and I have the time to go out of my way to save in the smallest ways because small savings turn into big savings. I hope I was able to help you learn new ways to save or spark new ideas that I have yet to see. If so comment and tell me how else you save! I would love to hear it! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

-kristina 

Penny pincher in me

I have been asked a few times how I budget and keep a growing savings, this is a constant learning experience for me and I feel it should always be a changing growing experience for all as well. I feel we should always be making new goals financially and because of that, how you budget and save will change as well. 

I have also come a long way in my financial growth as well. Starting out I married very young and my husband kept the bills since he had been doing them all his adult life so far. But once he deployed all those bills landed on my feet and I had to take charge, mangage and save as much as I could during his deployment. I learned a lot from that experience and continue to learn and I am the one in control of our financial goals since being military he is hardly home. 

So what are some lessons I have learned and am learning? 

I grew up in the poorest county in Colorado and as a daughter of a rancher who struggled with the draught I learned early on how to live even below what little earnings my family made. So even now I still live within those means and do have to remind myself I am not nearly as poor as I tell myself I am. 

But this is not a bad thing to tell your self. It helps keep you from going shopping and buying things that you don't really need. 

So when should you start a budget? 

It is always good to start one anytime! But when I decide that my budget needs readjusting or we have fallen off the track I always restart it at the end of the month. 

The end of the month is the saddest your budget will look and you need to see what your budget reality looks like. 

For my story we had just moved four months ago and have been paying two house hold bills with one income. We did it because we saved enough money for unexpected adventures that the military would throw our way and this was one of them. But because of that we did see our budget shrink more than I would have liked. But thankfully this last week we were able to finally sell that home! Now that extra 1,000 dollars can start going back where it belongs. 

So what do you do with extra money after done with a payment or in our case a house?

First off it is not extra money. This is money that you have lost and now it's time to in my case play catch up. I have notice that it takes twice as long to catch up on money that you have lost. So if you spent 4,000 dollars out of budget in 4 months then it will take 8 months to get your budget on track. 

How do you keep track of your budget? 

Some banks offer online a budget plan and I love the budget plan my bank offers but I also love www.mint.com. I personally just started using it on my newest budget plan and this app helps keep me focused on my goal. 

On the budget app you need to sit down and go through your bills. How much is your rent? What is the average utilities bill? Go through your grocery recites, how much do you normally spend a month? And go through all other bills and debt you have that you have to pay monthly. Now add all those bills up. Then subtract it from how much you get paid monthly. Hopefully you have some money left over.   If you do it's time to make a new account and have a automatic withdrawal into that new account which will be your hidden saving account. At least put 50 dollars of every paycheck in there. 

Do not look at this account or add it with your checking account. 

If you want to save money for trips or something special then make another account and add more to that one as well. But never use your savings account unless it is extremely important. 

So now you have your bills taken care of you have started your savings for emergancies and you have some left over that my friend is not your carefree money. It's time to build up your account and time to make a goal. For me I want to see at least 500 more in my account at the end of next month. So plan your month according to how much you have left over. If that means not going to to movies or dining out making these cuts will make a dramatic change. 

So how do you save money? 

I am learning how to coupon and no I am not a crazy couponer. I make a list of groceries for the month and then go through the coupons I get in the mail and have been surprised to find a lot of coupons for things I do really need. 

Also to make a successful shopping trip only once a month or maybe you need to split it into twice a month, you need to plan out your meals. 

Not only do I use coupons from the mail but I found a awesome app that I will soon see if it works but it is called checkout 51. They also have coupons and after you buy, you take a picture of your receipt and claim what is on the list. After at least 20 dollars they will send you a check in the mail. 

How else do I save money on food?

I do not buy at Walmart. Yes they say they match prices but they do not have the same type of deals that other grocery stores have. Depending on where you live there are grocery stores that have member cards for you to get an even better discount on items. I know for Colorado area King Soopers does this and on the east coast there are a few that I use. But my favorites are food lion and BI-LO. 

BI-LO though has become my favorite place to shop. Not only do I save using their card but they also help me save on gas. Every 20 dollars I spend is a cent I get off a gallon of gas and you can save up to 50 cents using shell gas stations. 

The more experience I get with couponing and buying items on sell or using the buy one get one free I have been saving at least 60 dollars when I go shopping. Plus once I save about 50 cents on gas I fill up saving even more at the pump. 

How do I stay on track when clothing the kids? 

Thankfully I only have one child to clothe but it can still be expensive! 

I look for deals and crazy 8 has some really good deals so do other stores but you have to wait and watch for the sales though. Before I go shopping on sale racks I take in Emma's clothes she out grew to Once Upon A Child. Make sure you wash the clothes first and there are no stains.clothes they don't buy I take to goodwill and ask for a receipt. You can use that as a tax write off.  I always feel they buy her cloths for good prices. Then that cash I made I take and only spend that much on her new wardrobe. Sometimes you need to spend more but the cash from the resale usually is a nice start. 

Now time to talk about the little things. As you begin to go through your budget and see where you spend the most you see the little things like stopping at Mac Donald's for dinner or that pair of shoes you had to buy start to add up. It's time to stop making these purchases. 

We have a rule when it comes to these types of purchases. 

We make a monthly plan and if by the end of the month we surpassed that goal then we will treat ourselves to something we wanted,for me that treat is Dunkin' Donuts or lunch at our favorite BBQ diner.  Do not spend a lot. Just enough to treat yourself. But only treat yourself if you surpass your budget. After making your goal for a few months then maybe go buy shoes or that xbox game but keep in mind those purchases need to be saved for when you have kept up with your budget for awhile. 

And once you are able to stay on budget and start paying off your debt it's time to set your budget up higher and add more  to your savings account. At least add another 50 dollars from every pay check. This takes time and years to do but the trick is stay on track. 

This is what I have learned and I hope it gives anyone reading this ideas and maybe you can give me tips that I haven't found yet. 

Happy savings!!!

-kristina