Ideas on Creative Ways to save Money

This may sound silly, but walmart has a pack of 18 dish rags for $4.00. We bought two, and will never use a paper towel again.

You can cut way back if you eliminate soda, chips, drive thru food stops. Drink water, eat healthy and save for date night, etc. Plan errands for one day and use a route that saves gas. Set A/C at 77 daytime and use fans where you can. Use leftovers creatively and try not to waste food.
You have many ways to earn money staying at home. I cleaned out closets, etc. and sell on ebay or craigs.list. Good Luck!
Cloth diapers really do save you about $700.00 in 2 years. Using dish towels instead of paper and cloth napkins from bandanas is a great idea.

call your electric company and gas company and see if they have a budget plan. That way you are paying the same amount every month no matter how much you use. then at the end of they year they recaculate and then you pay that amount. it has helped us out. Also find out if you have a food store that carrys off brand foods like an Aldi's Some of them have organic food or even going to costco or BJ's and buying paper products in bulk. I aslo refinanced our house to get a cheaper interest rate and shopped around for cable companies until I found one that was willing to give us what we wanted in the our price range. I feel the same way you do that it is my job to find ways to save money. I just collected all my bills and called them one by one and asked how I could lower my bill. You would be surprised how many of my bills I was able to lower just by asking. You never know until you ask.

Get Netflix if you like watching movies and make it your entertainment on the weekends. Also find friends with kids the same age and get together and play games. Lots of fun at no or low cost.

Cancel the paper. Do your own nails. Eat at home. Color your own hair. Don't get a pet. Don't buy a house with a pool and buy the smallest house where you can be comfortable = Lower utilities and no pool. Don't shop unless you really need something. To manage the shopping "urge" go to garage and estate sales. It's fun and you can make great finds.......even clothes. SAVE. See if you can find ways to earn a little extra through crafting, MLM, babysitting, dog sitting, etc... and put away for next summers vacation.

We buy baby clothes from consignment stores--super cheap! I also shop the clearance racks for next year sizes for him, so I can get a $20 shirt for $3.

We rent movies from Redbox--$1 and they are at all of our drug and grocery stores.

We plant our own garden and we are planning to get a water barrel (I know OK and TX are not the best for rain) to use to water the garden and flowers.

We also keep a budget. This helps us to know what we have money to spend on. If we're out of the clothes budget, that means no more clothes that month. We do the same with food and other categories.\

If there's a good sale on food (e.g. on meat) I'll stock up. If it's meat, I'll seperate into meal size portions and freeze them to use later.

And wash your clothes in cold and/or dry outside. This will save on energy. And get a programmable thermostat.

Mamapedia has had lots of good responses on this question. Look them up you can help yourself tremendously.

Clothes can be bought much cheaper at garage sales than at Goodwill, Deseret Industries or Salvation Army. Shop the garage sales in rich neighborhoods. They have the money to buy the best quality and can afford to change with the latest style. (We bought name brand jeans for $2 and less with the store tags still on them.) You'll have much less competition the weekend before the end of the month.

Grow a garden. Plant erect blackberries along your fences. They discourage people climbing over the fence and you get the fruit. Plant fruit trees instead of shade trees so you get the fruit and shade.

Good luck to you and yours.

Plant your own garden. We really try to utilize the space in our back yard. Our garden plot isn't too large, but I am always surprised how much food my hubby and the kids grow (It's their project). We get broccoli, okra, chard, tomatoes, onion, garlic, zucchini, squash, cantaloupe, jalepenos, mint, basil, cilantro, rosemary and much more. Plus we have strawberries in another spot of our yard and out back fence is covered in black berry bushes. It was cheap to start it all, it's a fun family project and it's all organic food. We also compost, which won't save any money, but does help the environment. :)

We haven't had cable in years and years. Instead we have a lap top hooked up to our tv, Mostly, we don't watch a lot of tv, but if there is something we are interested in, we can usually find it online.

I walk and carpool where I can. This saves gas and money.

I trade of babysitting with a friend. We are both SAHMs, but when something comes up where we can't take the kids, we help each other out. So we don't have to pay a sitter or use a drop off service.

We have a digital thermometer on the thermostat. At night while we are sleeping and under the fans, it's set to be warmer.

I split my Sam's and Costco memberships with family and friends, so I can have both for the price of one. Costco will only allow people with the same address to share, but I split that with my neighbor. We either go together and she gives me the cash to pay or I go with a list and have it rung up separate.

I buy used whenever I can. Goodwill and resale shops are faves, but I LOVE craigslist, especially for bigger items. (You can often find brand new items on there for really cheap. My son's radio flyer trike was new. I paid $7 for it. The lady just wanted it gone. My daughter isn't yet 2, but her play kitchen birthday gift is in my closet. It's normally $250, I paid $90 and it's new in the box). Granted people on craigslist can be flaky and unreliable. So I make sure that I try to stick locally for those items. I don't want to drive across town only to be stood up.

You have a lot of great answers. I was going to say some of the same things:

- get rid of cable. Use Netflix - they have instant watch and dvds, www.hulu.com for regular shows. My SIL and BIL don't own a tv. They have a projector and a blank wall in their living room and use their computers.

- cell phone/home phone. Do you really need both? If you can find a cell plan with unlimited minutes, you can get rid of the home phone. Or get magicjack for home phone. $40 for the first year's home phone service. $20 each year there-after.

- keep thermostat higher than usual (during summer) andlower than usual (in winter). We keep ours at 79 when we're in our house and turn it off when we leave the house. We open the windows when the weather is pleasant. In the winter, we keep heater at 65 degrees and wear sweaters and use extra blankets.

- buy food when it's on sale and stock up. I buy 6 chickens when they're on sale. HEB has great deals. Whenever meat is $1/lb or cheaper, we stock up.

- diapers -- are cloth diapers really cheaper? My SIL in California figured it would cost more for a diaper service than it would be to use disposable. Washing them yourself -- well how much is your water bill? Consider the water and electric/gas (to heat the water) and bleach and detergent when figuring the cost of cloth diapers. It may be cheaper to go disposable.

- don't buy what you don't need -- I don't get my hair done very often. I don't dye it. I don't get my nails done. I don't get massages. I buy clothes at Thrift Stores or when asked what do I want for my bday, I'll say a gift card to Old Navy. My son gets hand-me-down toys and we buy very little for hm, as he's happy and content with what he has (and grandparents buy plenty from him). Shop craigslist for used stuff. Often, it's cheaper than buying it at the used-baby-clothes-store.

- We don't go out to eat, but cook EVERY day. We don't use the oven when we don't have to, as it heats up the house. We'll use the grill if it's a really hot day and we need to cook meat.

good luck. You have great advice already. This is what I do every day too, being a SAHM and try to be frugal. I like to shop or just get out of the house. For my bday and for christmas, I often get a lot of gift cards. I make them last a long time and buy only what I really need.

Cook with a crock pot whenever possible. If you use an electric stove it will save you a lot of energy. Also try growing some of your own veggies and spices. This can help you save on the cost of organic foods. Also going to farmer's markets is a GREAT suggestion. You get cheap veggies and support local farmers at the same time.

All very good answers!!! I have one more to add: check out totallytarget.com. It's a web site that tells you the best deals at Target and it also has coupons that you can print out & use. Best of all - it's FREE! :-)

Spend only paper money and bank your change. If you're a plastic user, deduct by rounding to the next whole dollar or $5 amount. You'd be amazed at how fast that adds up.

Do you pay for cable. If so you can cut that. We just did! We got a media PC with a wireless keyboard (mouse built in) and attached it to the TV. Now we get the "free" channels through an antenna and with and $8 netflix subscription we use their "stream instantly" function to watch movies or tv shows they offer. We also go to hulu.com for current TV shows. We can also use the media PC as a DVR. With the cost of the media pc it will take us about 5 months to break even but after that we are saving the money we would have spent on cable. It has been about a month and I have not missed it.

Also, if you buy organic look into Town and Country Foods (http://www.townandcountryfoods.com). They deliver 6 months of organic meats and frozen veggies to your freezer (they can provide one if you don't have one). They have a "sales and marketing" one time fee but even with that factored in we figured that we would pay less than buying organic from the store. It ends up being about the same price as buying regular meat and veggies from the store. We have had their service for a little over a year and have been very happy with the quality. We also had our freezer go out and their warranty paid to have the freezer fixed and the food replaced without any cost to us. If you end up using them tell them C. Almaraz refereed you :)

On a side note, I hope you like your cloth. We switched to bum genius 3.0 when my kiddo was 4 months old and I will never look back. They are no big deal to use and I like them better than disposables. We have never had a blow out in a cloth diaper! They are the best at keeping it all in :)

Good Luck!

So many great answers, and you may have already done this but consider all of the items you won't have to pay for by staying at home..for example, dry cleaning your work clothes, paying for lunch, gas, daycare, cleaning service for your home, etc. Every time I consider going back to work full time, I add up all these expenses and discover it really is cheaper for me to be home (even though my kids are 15 and 11!) Enjoy these days with your little one, there really isn't a price you put on those memories!

budget!!! i love dave ramsey. check out his book the total money makeover.

Join freecycle.com in your area. You can request or offer items. It's all free. It's a great way to help others that need things you don't need anymore and keeps items from being thrown in the trash and into the landfill. For example, if you needed clothing for your baby, you could post a "Wanted-12 month boy clothing" People respond and then you can pick up usually on their porch.

As others have said, cut off cable, gym memberships, anything you really don't need that costs extra.

Ask for samples. I've learned that can save money too.

Look for Kids Eat Free Meals around town. Sometimes you don't have to buy an adult meal with it. We also look for free entertainment for the kids--library, etc.

Try looking into buying your household goods cheaper. I know there are a lot of moms who get free to nearly free stuff at Walgreens and CVS through coupons and rebates. I recently discovered a website to buy household products from at Alice.com. They have free shipping on all orders as long as you order at least 6 items. If you would like a referral link I'd be happy to give you one.

This isn't really a way to save money, but I use Swagbucks to get free stuff at Amazon.com. You can turn in the points you get for using their search engine for giftcards. It's a great way to build up some money for things like gifts.

If you have your home/auto insurance with a company like Allstate or State Farm, find a local independent agent that can shop many companies for you. You don't have to wait until the policy renews, you can switch anytime. I'm an indep agent here in AZ and save my clients on average $100 or more per month on their home/auto insurance. Good luck!

1) I make myself house cleaners. It is much cheaper then buy and I know what kind of stuff I put there and I know that it is not dangerous. You can find lots of recipes in the Internet, for example, http://lorettawallace.net/clean_green.html
2) Laundry. I use soap nuts. http://www.sapindusmukorossi.com/
http://www.mvstylenaturals.com/shop/soap-nuts-mother-natu...
You can buy a bag in Whole Foods store for $15, online it is cheaper. One bag works for 100-130 laundries and it is chemistry free.
3) I make myself creams and lotions for myself and my family. It is MUCH cheaper than to buy and I KNOW what I put there. If I spent several hundreds of dollars for ingredients and essential oils, but it will last at least 3-4 years. And it is without harmful ingredients!
4) Diapers. Ladies were right, cloth diapers are not cheaper if take into consideration water/electricity bills and your time. Your time has price as well. I have a subscription for diapers on Amazon. I set up myself when I need them, I can order later or sooner it depends from our needs. It allows me to save about $15-17 on case pack. In addition, free shipping and again it saves a lot of time, you have them when you need them! http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_353435...
We love Natural Choice environmentally-sensitive Diapers
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3...
5) For buying supplements, vitamins and even some organic food I use these two web sites: www.luckyvitamin.com and http://www.vitacost.com
6) And last because I am a student I always buy half-price books or rent them.

And like said ladies before, we do not regular TV also, it only destroy children's brine by its commercials and movies with violence, blood, and sex. We use Netflex, we have a Blue Ray DVD player and watch via the Internet some movies and some movies simply order.

we our going through a difficult time finacially like a lot of people right now so my mom bought us this book about saving money around the house. one of the suggestions is turning down your water heater to save on your electric bill or wrapping the water heater in a thermal blanket. you say you buy mostly organic foods so try farmers market, right now it is a lot cheaper than buying in the stores. also keep your freezer full, even if it is with just ice. a freezer uses less electricity if it is full.

I am sure you have looked at farmers markets for seasonal organic veggies and fruits. You could also look into a food co-op. honestly, I have been trying to find a true co-op in this area for years, so good luck, but you may have the time to research:) My in-laws did coop for years everything from cereal to vegetables and swear it saved them a bundle.