Meal planningis one of the two lifestyle changes our family made that has helped us get out of $20,000 in debt and has also helped us avoid overdraft fees and actually stick to a budget! One way we maximize our savings with meal planning is by stacking the savings at the grocery store. So let me tell you about my very favorite, and in my opinion, the very best grocery rebate app.
I use it all the time and talk about it in my monthly grocery hauls and get tons of questions. My very favorite way to get free gift cards using my very favorite rebate app, Ibotta!
Completely blank sits a white wall in my kitchen, just begging for a bulletin board.
I first thought, “Cool, I’ll just go buy a piece of cork board and put fabric over it, call it good.” Well, turns out cork board is not that cheap.
Plan B, keep my eyes open for an old bulletin board to refinish. Turns out, it didn’t take me long to find one at a local thrift store.
Best part, I bought it for only $2! After purchasing the board, fabric, and tacks, I spent total about $8. Not bad at all for a completely custom bulletin board!
Last summer I took on the ginormous task to taking apart TWENTY pallets to make these super awesome raised planters for our attempts at gardening.
Well, I had a little wood left over that has just been sitting in our garage since August. Fast-forward to January 2015 and I have the best idea on how to use some of that wood!
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There is ALWAYS a way to save at Target. Doesn’t matter what department you are in, you can always save some moo-la!
Doesn’t that just make you completely have a Jerry Maguire type crush on Target… “You complete me!” or “You had me at hello!” That is exactly how I feel every time I walk into this blessed store!
With the holidays here and all the shopping you are going to be doing, it’s even more important to save. THOUGH, all of these tips will help max out your savings at Target ALL YEAR long!
When you are really good friends with someone, you want to do nice things for them. Which is why… ta-da! I have put together this meal planning on a budget toolkit for you, my Pearls!
This is the exact method our family uses for meal planning on a budget that has saved us over $6,000 this last year! That is based off of an already frugal lifestyle. If your family is in the beginning stages of cutting your expenses, I am sure you will be able to save even more money then we have!
Dang it! We did it again! Oh no, another $30 overdraft fee! Why are we always over spending?
This scenario was recurring way too often in our bank account. We would think we were staying on budget but the reality was, we really had no idea where all our money was going.
Every month, three days before the next pay day, I would send a frantic text to my husband, “Don’t spend another penny! We only have $18 left!” Then some months, it was too little too late.
Pending purchases would push us over the edge and we would end up paying overdraft fees. Getting us ever further behind on the next pay periods spending! Ugh!
I am so sorry if this dramatic reenactment sounds all too familiar for you.
The good news is that we eventually figured it out! In fact, we are actually an entire month ahead of our bills now! We haven’t had overdrafted our bank account in over a year!
Can you imagine how wonderful that feels? How completely freeing it is to have your spending under control! Looking at our budget no longer provokes tense conversations or anxiety driven swipes of our debit card.
Let’s see… save for our first house, get some new clothes, save for an amazing vacation, or maybe go out on a really fun date night!
What would you do if you could drastically cut your spending?
Get planning because today you can start saving $500 a month with these 5 frugal habits.
Are you ready to stop making excuses and start learning how to save money today? Not tomorrow, not next year, but actually how to save money to-day!
I’m sure there is a long list of reasons as to why these five frugal habits shouldn’t work for our family. But guess what, instead of trying to justify my laziness, I put my head down, do a little extra work, and magically our family has figured out how to save money, even when there isn’t a lot of money coming in!
