I won’t lie I haven’t been much of a saver during my life. When I married Andrew or rather when we started dating his immense financial responsibly started rubbing off on me. When we purchased our first home back in April we had a long list of things we wanted to buy for the house and things we wanted to do in the house. Because of this crazy free spending had to slow down and we started to really examine needs vs. wants. Here is the thing though; there will ALWAYS be thing I want. I wanted to share with you the ways we have been saving money and the 5 best money saving tips that work for us.
1. Sell your stuff: When I want new clothes it’s really easy to drive to the mall or pull out my laptop and just buy away. Instead of this I won’t let myself buy something new until I get rid of something I have. So a few weeks ago I spent an entire Sunday cleaning out my closet, drawers, extra closets etc and putting huge piles of clothes, shoes and accessories together. From this pile I did two things. First I listed stuff on local Facebook Garage/Yard Sale sites. I can almost guarantee your area has something like this. In Dallas there is one for basically every neighborhood and suburb. The great thing is you can usually get a pretty good price if your stuff is in good/like new condition. I made a good chunk of money there then took the rest to Buffalo Exchange which is a local resale shop. The money I had from the two sales was enough for me to get anything I wanted for the Fall/Winter months with some leftover. Tons of new clothes without spending a dime!
2. Rewards programs: I am a member of almost every reward program you can think of: Starbucks, Sephora, Ulta, CVS, Walgreens, Target, iPic(our fav movie theatre) the list goes on. This past weekend we wanted to see the movie, Train wreck(hysterical btw) and when I went on to purchase tickets I noticed my account had two free tickets because of rewards/loyalty points. Our movie going experience was FREE! I had no idea I had two free tickets just sitting there. It was such a great surprise and we had a fun, guilt free date.
3. Matinee it: Sometimes I like to see movies alone. Usually these are days when I really need some alone time out of the house. On Friday I wanted to see Paper Towns(super cute). So after my morning workout I grabbed a Starbucks(free thanks to rewards) and headed to a matinee movie. At a lot of theaters if you go before noon the movie is majorly discounted. I believe mine was $6. I would never pay full price to see a movie alone so I always always do this when I see movies alone. Sometimes if I meet my mom for a movie we do this too!
4. Clean out your drawers: I bet you have tons of coupons and gift cards you forgot about right? Whenever we clean out our “junk” drawer in the kitchen we always find random gift cards, coupons etc that can be used. We still have a ton of gift cards left from our wedding which is great whenever we need new kitchen stuff! Give it a try I bet you have a lot of gift cards you forgot out!
5. Ignore the date: If you get those bed bath and beyond gift cards in the mail like we do you will always notice a date on them. Here is the thing they will still take the coupon after the expiration date. I know right mind blow! Since most of those coupons are 20% off one item if you save all the ones you get and go in there they will use each 20% off on each item. 5 coupons? 5 items? 20% off each one! Lowes does this too. We get Lowes coupons in the mail constantly. Just give it a try I am pretty positive other places will take expired coupons too. The thing is you are spending money regardless and the worst they can do is say you can’t use it. But they probably won’t!
So there you have it my 5 Best money saving tips. I would love to hear any that you have too!
What are your best money saving tips? Share below!
I follow your clothing mantra (although I cheat a little). Instead of local groups, I use the Poshmark app. I list an item as soon as I buy it, and it does the selling itself. By the time someone swoops it up, it’s probably time for me to get something else anyway!
Great ideas Neely! I should definitely be better in the area. I have a ton of stuff I could sell if I would just get inspired to do it! Thanks for the encouragement!
Great tips! I am always looking for ways to save money. Thank you for sharing. I always do #1. I am using an app called Spreesy to sell me once-loved clothing on instagram. It has made selling so much easier.
I always forget about rewards programs. I’m signed up for a few but I should do more, especially because they’re totally free/no commitment. We get great rewards points on gas through our local grocery store.
Yes to #1!! If I want something new, I always make sure to try to sell something. I usually use eBay and have decent luck on there. The Facebook groups in my area are pretty awful when it comes to selling things (as in, people say they are interested in your item and then never respond back when you try to set up a time to meet with them). Coupons are another big thing I use & always try to have one when I’m buying stuff. Great post!
Great savings tips! I actually do four of these and especially selling items and rewards programs. I try to do a clean sweep of my closet at least once a year. It makes a huge difference. Also, I wanted to add to be careful with using expired coupons. I worked for a grocery store for almost 10 years and some expired coupons do not go through.
Bed Bath & Beyond coupons are my FAVORITE. I stock-piled them before I moved, so when I moved and was doing major shopping, I had like 12 coupons to use all at once. It was awesome.
Selling your stuff is such a great way to get money – I need to get organized enough to do this more! And – whenever we go to the movies – we almost always go to a matinee! Thanks –
These are great! I’ve got an entire keychain for my savings cards. Mm Starbucks, I want one now! I need to clean out my closet & do a little selling too. I hope you & A had a great weekend!
I do the same thing with movies when I like to go alone….well when I used to go alone before baby lol I tried to do the coupon thing with Buy Buy Baby because someone told me they would take them past expiration date. I went in to buy a rather expensive carseat for me son and they said they wouldn’t honor it so I walked out with nothing. Not really smart on their part honestly. Thanks for posting these tips! 🙂
I don’t have personal experience with this suggestion but have heard plenty of people say it’s true, I just haven’t had the chance to test it out yet…apparently Kohl’s will also accept expired Kohl’s cash. I guess you just have to be smart enough to either hold onto it long enough to expire & then remember to go back during a redeeming session which seems to be a crazy never ending cycle almost. You’ve listed a handful of good money saving tips though, good for you!
I love these tips!!! I’m SUCH a sucker for matinee movies thanks to my parents back in the day only taking the fam out when it was matinee (because hello, expensive!). And my mom lives by that exact same fashion rule: only get new when you get rid of something, too!
I just did number one – we don’t have a lot of spare cash right now so I sold a bunch so I could buy some key wardrobe pieces!
Love all the tips, especially #2! There really are so many creative ways to save if you’ll try them out!
I follow your clothing mantra (although I cheat a little). Instead of local groups, I use the Poshmark app. I list an item as soon as I buy it, and it does the selling itself. By the time someone swoops it up, it’s probably time for me to get something else anyway!
Love the first idea! I do that all the time too!
Great ideas Neely! I should definitely be better in the area. I have a ton of stuff I could sell if I would just get inspired to do it! Thanks for the encouragement!
I had no idea that expired coupons could still be used. It makes sense though!
Great tips! I am always looking for ways to save money. Thank you for sharing. I always do #1. I am using an app called Spreesy to sell me once-loved clothing on instagram. It has made selling so much easier.
My fiance and I love going to matinee movies… but mostly because we are “old” and get too tired for the late ones! 😉
I always forget about rewards programs. I’m signed up for a few but I should do more, especially because they’re totally free/no commitment. We get great rewards points on gas through our local grocery store.
I have one tip:
Ask someone to hide your wallet! haha
Pao
http://unfoldedgirl.com/how-to-survive-with-no-money/
I’m terrible with buying new things without getting rid of the old things! thankyou for the tips, im moving house soon so these really help!
sophiejc.blogspot.co.uk
xx
Yes to #1!! If I want something new, I always make sure to try to sell something. I usually use eBay and have decent luck on there. The Facebook groups in my area are pretty awful when it comes to selling things (as in, people say they are interested in your item and then never respond back when you try to set up a time to meet with them). Coupons are another big thing I use & always try to have one when I’m buying stuff. Great post!
Great savings tips! I actually do four of these and especially selling items and rewards programs. I try to do a clean sweep of my closet at least once a year. It makes a huge difference. Also, I wanted to add to be careful with using expired coupons. I worked for a grocery store for almost 10 years and some expired coupons do not go through.
Bed Bath & Beyond coupons are my FAVORITE. I stock-piled them before I moved, so when I moved and was doing major shopping, I had like 12 coupons to use all at once. It was awesome.
Selling your stuff is such a great way to get money – I need to get organized enough to do this more! And – whenever we go to the movies – we almost always go to a matinee! Thanks –
These are great! I’ve got an entire keychain for my savings cards. Mm Starbucks, I want one now! I need to clean out my closet & do a little selling too. I hope you & A had a great weekend!
Thanks for the tips! I’m really into travel hacking right now and trying to travel for free from rewards programs!
I do the same thing with movies when I like to go alone….well when I used to go alone before baby lol I tried to do the coupon thing with Buy Buy Baby because someone told me they would take them past expiration date. I went in to buy a rather expensive carseat for me son and they said they wouldn’t honor it so I walked out with nothing. Not really smart on their part honestly. Thanks for posting these tips! 🙂
We have reward cards, but I never check to see what I am rewarded. I need to research that more…Thanks for this post.
I don’t have personal experience with this suggestion but have heard plenty of people say it’s true, I just haven’t had the chance to test it out yet…apparently Kohl’s will also accept expired Kohl’s cash. I guess you just have to be smart enough to either hold onto it long enough to expire & then remember to go back during a redeeming session which seems to be a crazy never ending cycle almost. You’ve listed a handful of good money saving tips though, good for you!
I love these tips!!! I’m SUCH a sucker for matinee movies thanks to my parents back in the day only taking the fam out when it was matinee (because hello, expensive!). And my mom lives by that exact same fashion rule: only get new when you get rid of something, too!
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