Here are just a few more ways we’ve saved at least $100 per year:
17) Switch to cloth diapers. When my husband was in law school and we had our first child, I was wondering how on earth we were going to afford to pay for diapers. This was a year or so before I discovered CVS and I was still learning how to stockpile and we had a very meager budget to work with (think $17-$30 to spend on groceries and household items each week).
God has always been faithful to provide for us, though, and one of those ways He provided was through some friends giving us a whole stash of Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers shortly after our daughter was born. Once I’d used up the disposable diapers we’d received as gifts, I switched over to cloth diapers exclusively.
Since we didn’t pay for the diapers, we mostly definitely saved much more than $100 for the two years our daughter was in diapers. However, from the calculations I’ve done, if we had invested in them ourselves, I’m still quite sure we would have saved at least $100 per year–even if I were buying diapers on sale with a coupon. And if you use the cloth diapers for more than one child, the savings really can multiply.
If you are interested in reading more on cloth diapering, go here and here.
18) Buy contacts online. If you’re like me and you much prefer to wear contacts as opposed to glasses, you can save a bundle of money by ordering your contacts online instead of buying them from your eye doctor. In fact, by using the tips I’ve learned below, you’ll likely save somewhere between 20-60% off what you would usually pay at your eye doctor.
Almost every brand of contact is available online. I’ve purchased contacts through VisionDirect.com as well as 1800Contacts.com. Their prices are pretty comparable, but each site seems to have a little bit of variation in what they carry and the specials they offer.
When checking out prices online, be sure to consult RetailMeNot.com or another such online coupon code site to determine what specials and coupon offers are available for that particular online store. You can usually save at least an additional 10-15% off by using an online coupon code when you checkout.
In addition to finding the site which has the lowest price when
using an online coupon code, also make sure and purchase your contacts
through your Rakuten link so you’ll get a little cash back for your
purchase.
Note: In order to order contacts online, all you will need is an
up-to-date prescription. The online site will not process your order if
they can’t verify with your eye doctor that your prescription is valid.
19)
Skip grocery shopping every 5-6 weeks and challenge yourself to use
what you have on hand and put the extra money into savings. This is something we routinely do, as many of you probably have picked up on from following along with my Super Savings Saturday posts or my Eating From the Pantry Challenge this week.
If you are regularly stocking up on items you’ll use over the next few weeks or months when they are at their lowest price, it should be relatively easy to take a week off from grocery shopping once a month or once every other month. In fact, you may find it’s almost a necessity to do so in order to wisely use what you have on hand!
And just think, if you regularly spend $50 on groceries per week, taking a week off from shopping once every other month will save you $300 per year!
If you missed the first parts of this series, you can read them here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
photo by Refracted Moments