My Top 10 Money Saving Tips

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Money. It is my one most hated – and I mean passionately hated – things. You can’t live without it yet it typically makes people miserable.

Let’s be real. I am always on the hunt for money saving tips.

Before we started making changes in our home, I didn’t realize there were so many things we could cut out, do without or change to save money.

Here are my top 10 money saving tips to help you evaluate to see if you could be saving more money each month!

Disclosure: Experiencing Parenthood received some form of compensation (promotional code, product, monies, etc.) in exchange for this post. Compensation received does not impact the thoughts and opinions expressed in this post.

1. Rent. Unless you have plans to move, I wouldn’t focus on this one a ton. If you already have plans to move, pay attention to cost. Yes, a 5 bedroom house would be awesome, but can you get by with a 3 or 4 bedroom? Bunk kids in the same room? Turn a den into a bedroom?

Pools can increase cost; garages rather than carports can increase cost; large yards can increase cost – pay attention to all the little details and shop around.

Pay attention to the utility company that provides services to the place you are moving to as well. We have a particular company in Arizona that services a particular area. Their costs are much more expensive than their competitor so when I am looking to move, I pay attention to stay out of the costly area.

2. Electricity. This goes hand in hand with the above – comparing companies prior to moving. But once you are settled in, you’re stuck with what you have. We have a “beepy box” that goes with our electric company. Essentially, we put money on a card which in turn, let’s us use our “beepy box”. When the money starts to run out, it will beep (hence “beepy box”) letting us know we need to add more money to keep our electricity on.

This works for us for three reasons. (1) I don’t have to pay a huge lump sum of an electric bill once a month. Especially in the summer months, that can be a huge challenge. (2) It makes me more aware of what electricity we are using and what electricity we are wasting. (3) It helps me budget. I know that our summer months will cost us a good $40 per week to run our “beepy box” but in the winter, we can get by on $20 for a week and a half.

If you aren’t home during the day, turn off the air or heater. If you have animals, keep it on, but keep it cooler/warmer than you would if you were home.

Unplug things that aren’t in use! Even if it’s just plugged in, not being used; it is still using electricity!

3. Water. We all know to shut the water off while brushing our teeth, but what about other places? Hubby is our biggest water waster. He has a tendency to turn on the shower and then do a million other things before getting in the shower. By the time he is done, our water has been on for a good 45 minutes to an hour. Wasteful.

If your kids are still young enough, have them take baths. Addy usually showers with me so instead of needing to take 2 showers, her and I can shower together and my routine still only takes about 10 minutes for the two of us.

Make sure your toilet isn’t always running or that faucets don’t drip. Reuse water where you can. If you have a drip, collect it in a bucket and use that to water plants.

4. Car Insurance. Shop around. Don’t just settle. Call around and see where you can get the best deal. Ask your current insurance company for options or recommendations.

Our insurance guy is the same guy hubby and his family has used for years. He is actually the one that informed us of a smaller company that is under a larger company. The insurance was more cost effective for us and had we not talked to our insurance guy, we would have not had any idea!

5. Student Loans. You can’t not pay them. That’s not an option. But, you can work with your lender to have a reasonable payment. Hubby and I both have income-based payments so that we are paying a reasonable amount per month that doesn’t totally put us in the red.

6. Cell phones. Are you on a contract? Is it the best plan you can get for the right price? A lot of non-contract carriers have upped their game. You can get a great phone and pay much less than you would per month with some other companies.

7. Internet. I’m not sure about you, but where I live; we are limited on our choices. Although I can say, with our limited choices; some our cheaper than others. Don’t be afraid to call and talk to the provider and try to get a better deal.

8. Cable. We ditched the cable and I couldn’t be happier. Honestly, we were paying close to $90 a month for a gazillion channels, but only watched the same handful of channels all the time. Instead, we purchased a Roku (a little spendy for the initial purchase, but well worth it.) I already had Amazon Prime and we now pay for Netflix and Hulu. Netflix is roughly $9 a month, Hulu is $8 a month and when you split the $99 yearly fee for Amazon Prime; we are paying roughly $25 a month. That’s saving us $65 a month that we can put towards another bill or savings.

9. Groceries. I wrote a post 2 years ago on how we grocery shop. We literally did that up until I learned that I didn’t have to price match myself! Walmart has an app that has a savings catcher.

The savings catcher works by shopping, scanning your receipt with the app, and then Walmart price checks for you. If they find a cheaper price, you will get an e-gift card for the difference! Magic!

10. Groupon Coupons. Groupon Coupons has a wide variety of coupons and coupon codes that you can use to help save money!

Have you ever gone to make a purchase online and then all of a sudden remembered to check for a coupon. You Google ‘xyz coupon’ and all of these coupon sites pop up with coupon codes.

I don’t know about you, but I get concerned with some of these sites – not knowing if they are reputable or not, but having been a Groupon customer; I feel pretty comfortable using Groupon Coupons (plus they have tons of stores that I frequently shop!)

Let’s be real, every coupon helps; “a penny saved is a penny earned!”

Money saving and budgeting have been my goals for the past couple of years and they are still a work in progress! My money saving tips have definitely helped, but if you have more to share – please do! Leave me a comment telling me how you save money!