Becoming Thrifty

Since I’ve become a SAHM, and since we’ve gone from two really good incomes to one pretty good income, I’ve done a lot of things to try and save our family money.  It’s been a ‘baby-steps’ process for me, but it’s coming along, if I do say so myself.  I was inspired by this post by a woman who’s blog I’ve read for a year or so now.  She listed how her grocery list has become shorter (and therefore cheaper) because of all the food she’s making from scratch now.   Here are just a few things that I do to save us money.

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  We use cloth diapers.  I LOVE them, and I could go on and on about how adorable, easy, and practical they are,  but I’ll spare you my spiel.  After just a year, we’ve already saved money on diapers. 
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  I am starting to make my own bread now.  I have gone through spurts of making bread, but they never seem to last.  I usually get discouraged, because we eat the bread so quickly, that I end up making bread every other day. It seems the time I save from having to make it every other day is worth the cost of the healthy bread from the store.  But really it isn’t.  Bread without high fructose corn syrup is expensive!  Organic anything is expensive!  So, if I make it myself, we get the healthy bread for a fraction of the cost.  Hopefully I’ll stick with it this time.
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  I’ve finally figured out how to make yummy garlic bread on my own.  It may be a no-brainer, but it took me a bit of experimenting to figure it out.  I add a couple cloves of minced garlic and some Italian seasoning to melted butter, brush it on my bread, then broil it until toasted.  SO SIMPLE!  But I couldn’t get it figured out for a long time.  Garlic powder just doesn’t work the same.  I imagine it would be even better if I roasted my garlic, but who has the time for that?
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  My newest adventure is making my own pasta.  I’m not there yet.  I have only tried it once, and it needs some work.  But I can tell that this could become a good thing for us.  It’s fun to make it, super fast and easy, and I’m hoping worth the effort.  We’ll see.  I may have to get back to you on this one.
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  Rick has always made his own cocoa mix.  He uses cocoa powder and sugar.  Imagine that.  It really is simple, and he makes it by the glass, so I don’t have to worry about storing it.  It’s a small thing, but in the winter time, it saves us a bit of change.
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  I make my own pancake mix.  I’ve found a yummy Buttermilk Pancake recipe mix that I love.  I suppose it’s not all that healthy, but it’s homemade, so it saves us money.  I should make a whole wheat recipe, but that’s going to take a little time.  Saving money is my first priority, then eating healthy is the second. (at least when it comes to yummy pancakes!)
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  One big thing I try to do is not eat out at all.  Dinners are easy enough for me.  I meal plan and have a good dinner every night.  But lunches are another thing.  Jack and I go out almost every day, and it’s such a temptation for me to stop at a drive thru and get something quick to eat.  I take it one month at a time.  I don’t stop for anything for a month, reward myself with a fast food lunch, then do it again for another month.  I know, it’s a little corny, but it works for me.

This list seems simple enough, but I think it’s helping us in the long run.  Rick said we came in under budget for the month of January!  Now, I could go through another list, just as long of how I’m NOT saving us money –like every time I return something to Walmart I spend even more money on other things.  But let’s not focus on the negative, and stay proud of the positive. We may switch to cloth napkins someday and even stop (or cut WAY back on) using paper towels.  That’d save us money, right?

What else can I do to save us money?  Any suggestions?

If you read this entire post, you should be rewarded…so here are two pictures from Jack playing (really he just stood there) in the snow yesterday.