Great Ways to Help Save Money

Alright everyone, let's just get to it. You want to save some money on day to day stuff right? Don't we all? Here are some tips I have been doing to save my family money. I hope they work out for you as well. Well, here we go...

1. Iced coffee-Alot of people can't live without their Starbucks, I know I couldn't. I loved going every morning and getting my nummy caffeine fix. I was telling my husband how we couldn't afford Starbucks and he had a great idea. He bought vanilla creamer and put it in my black coffee with a little milk and about 3 tablespoons of sugar. It tasted just like my Vanilla Iced Latte and cost us way less.

2. Winter hats, scarves, and Mittens-For this, if you have the time and the patience for crocheting, it's the perfect way to make homemade things for your family members that they need and wouldn't rack up your clothing bill. Crocheting a plain beanie/hat is easier than it looks. There are many YouTube videos and free patterns that you can learn and are for beginners. You just have to know where to look and I wrote a few Hubs on them (I will list the links at the bottom for you) and those are a great place to start.

3. Salons-I know what you're thinking, "Gosh, not my hair!" Yes, your hair. I used to pay tons of money for a haircut that would last about 4 weeks and would have to pay for all over again. Who wants to pay roughly 50-100 dollars every month? And it's more when you get it dyed or highlighted as well. There are places around your town (We have a place called Great Clips here) where you can get a haircut for less than 20 dollars. (This is for the women, men you should be able to do your own hair or get it cut at the same place for less than 15.00) So once a month, well more like every 2 for me just to save a little more, I get a haircut and then go to a Wal-Mart or Walgreens, grocery store etc. to buy hair dye for less than 10 dollars. Lots of savings just on your hair!

4. Smoking Cigarettes-For those of you that smoke, or know someone that does, this is a good way to save money on your vice. In the city I live in if you smoke, you could end up spending 60+ dollars a week for a carton of cigarettes. We found that if you go to a smoke shop and buy the tubes (the place where the tobacco goes) and the tobacco (usually in a bag or a can) and with a cigarette machine (kind of expensive-ish but worth how much you will save in the long run) and make them yourself. We end up spending only about 32 dollars for a week and a half of cigarettes.

5. Groceries-They are getting pretty expensive and it's getting harder and harder to save money and get some deals on the food you need. With brand names and food you just have to try and make sure that the generic or store brand is still as satisfying as the name brand food. I have found that other store brand or generic cheese is definitely not as good as name brand cheese. Other things like bread, chips, milk, those are still good as long as you try things out before you devote yourself to buying non name brand food. Look for deals at your local grocery. Most grocery stores have websites where they have coupons you can load onto your savings card or print out to redeem at the store. If they have a website they usually have some place where you can subscribe to weekly deals at the store. This comes in really handy when you have coupons that go along with the savings already at the store. A little looking goes a long way.