Money Saving Mom®

Classic View

Grid View

Shared Jan 22, 2016 comment

500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 10 (It’s a Comfy Pant Day!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 22, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #10 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge. Today’s assignment was to tackle the laundry room.
Our laundry room is pretty sparse, so I went through our two cleaning products/household products closets.

Yes, we have two. Yes, I know that’s not #KonMari approved. Don’t judge.

I ended up coming up with 30 items we no longer need or use — or that needed to be tossed!! Yay! And yay for a Snow Day so I could wear my comfy pants!!

Today’s total: 30 items decluttered

Total for the entire challenge: 437 items so far!

I’m keeping a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

P.S. You can read more about the Decluttering Course I’m going through here. If you’d like to join me in going through it in January and get the videos, information, and printables every day, you can go here to purchase and get it for just $5.99 right now!

Shared Jan 22, 2016 comment

How to Earn Money as a Legal Transcriber

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 22, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Amber of ALM Transcription LLC

There are quite a few options to earn money from home as a transcriber these days, but legal transcription is one field that won’t be going away anytime soon.

Compared to medical transcription where you must take a long, expensive certification program, general transcription which pays less, and braille transcription where you need to learn to read and type braille (you can take the course for free), legal transcription is the field of choice for many.

Here are a few things to take into consideration if you are thinking of a career or earning extra money through legal transcription.

Education

While you don’t need a formal education in legal transcribing, you do need to be familiar with transcripts, depositions, and the parts of hearings and trials. Having knowledge of legal terms will be extremely helpful and being able to follow formatting directions is imperative — a difference from general transcription where you are just typing in paragraphs for the most part.

There are online courses that can help you learn the ins and outs of legal transcription. You’ll also want to get your typing up to par in order to earn as much money as possible (you are paid per page, so the faster you complete the work, the more you earn.)

Time Commitment

The best part about being a legal transcriber is that you can set your own hours and work from home. The reality though is that attorneys and court reporters are notorious for not sending work until the last minute, or ordering overnight work because a deposition took place the day before the hearing is scheduled.

The good news is that you earn more money by doing transcripts that are due faster, for instance a normal transcript might pay $1.50 per page if it is due in 7 days and over $5 per page if it is due the next morning. The bad news is that you are going to miss some sleep if you want to take that assignment.

Being able to adjust your schedule as work comes in is important.

Finding Work

Most legal transcribers work for multiple court reporters and agencies in order to get work consistently. Getting in with just one court reporter and doing excellent work for them will usually get your name out as someone that is reliable.

Agencies tend to have tests that you must complete before being considered, these are usually hard audios where the sound quality is poor or there are speakers with hard-to-understand-accents that must be transcribed perfectly. It is extremely important to follow all directions on these tests, especially the formatting.

Other companies also use legal transcribers — like insurance companies that record claim interviews and police departments that record suspect interviews. With the skills of a legal transcriber, you can also pick up general transcription work on the side.

Interesting Cases

Unlike general transcription where you might be typing up an interview, training session, or meeting, legal transcription generally tends to deal with someone’s actual life problems. This could be anything from a divorce and custody issues, to a police brutality case, or even a murder witnessed by someone.

Being able to listen to graphic descriptions of violence, hearing someone that you believe is lying get away with it, and often times not knowing the outcome of the case because you only got part of the audio can be frustrating. There are very few dull moments as a transcriber though, and since you are at home you can yell or roll your eyes, unlike the court reporter that had to listen to everything in person!

Working as a legal transcriber is fulfilling work and will essentially always be needed. Everyday our courthouses are filled with attorneys, and individuals like yourself filing for divorce and other issues.

With court reporters switching over to digital recordings there will be more need for legal transcribers than ever, so it’s a great time to get started — especially if you’d like to make money working from home!

Amber Reynolds is a stay-at-home mom that has built a career as a legal transcriber. She now helps train the team for ALM Transcription LLC.

photo source

Shared Jan 22, 2016 comment

Brigette’s $68 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan for 6

Published: by Brigette on January 22, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Aldi

Cabbage – $1.29

Cauliflower – $1.99

10-lb bag Russet Potatoes – $3.49

3-lb bag Sweet Potatoes – $1.79

2-lb bag Carrots – $0.78

2-lb bag Onions – $0.98

3 cans Chicken Breast – $5.07

Mini Sweet Peppers – $1.99

1 pkg Zucchini – $2.49

24-oz Cottage Cheese – $2.29

5-lb bag Grapefruit – $1.49

Spicy Mustard – $0.99

Romaine Hearts – $1.99

Artisan Lettuce – $1.99

Frozen Strawberries – $2.09

3-lb bag Gala Apples – $3.39

3 bags Rice Cakes – $3.37

Bananas – $1.34

Egg Whites – $1.99

Whipping Cream – $1.69

3 dozen Eggs – $4.17

Total: $46.35

Harris Teeter

2 Gerber Graduates – $2.67, used 2 $0.75/1 printable (doubled) – FREE after coupons

10 cans Libbys Vegetables – $5.56, used 2 $1/4 printable – $3.56 after coupons

3 Larabars – $3.00, used $0.75/3 printable (doubled), plus receive $0.75 back from SavingStar – $0.75/3 after coupons

2 McComick Taco Seasonings – $0.67, used $0.50/2 Mccormick Taco or Chili Seasoning Mixes, exp. 2/28/16 (RP 01/24/16) (doubled) – FREE after coupons

10 bags Shredded Cheese – $13.16

4 boxes Uncle Ben’s Rice – $4.00, used $1/4 Uncle Ben’s Rice Products, exp. 3/6/16 (RP 01/10/16 #2), plus $1/4 evic – $2.00/4 after coupons

1 64-oz carton Blue Diamond Almond Milk – $2.50, used $0.50/1 Blue Diamond Chilled Almond Breeze, exp. 3/20/16 (SS 01/17/16 R) (doubled) – $1.50

Nasoya Organic Tofu – $2.00, used $0.75/1 printable (doubled) – $0.50 after coupons

2 Birds Eye Frozen Veggies (Protein and Flavorful) – $2.69, used $1/1 Birds Eye Steamfresh Protein Blends Variety, exp. 2/28/16 (SS 01/10/16 R), and $1/1 Birds Eye Steamfresh Flavorful Variety, exp. 2/28/16 (SS 01/10/16 R) – $0.69/2 after coupons

Total: $22.16

Weekly Total for Groceries: $68.51

Weekly Menu Plan

Breakfasts

Oatmeal with Fruit x 3

Cereal x 2

Toast and Scrambled Eggs x 2

Lunches

Baked Sweet Potatoes, Cottage Cheese, Bananas

Tossed Salad (with Chicken, Cheese, Fresh Veggies), Apples x 2

Almond Butter on Rice Cakes, Carrot Sticks, Oranges x 2

Leftovers x 2

Dinners

Three Cheese Baked Spaghetti, Homemade Breadsticks, Tossed Salad

Lazy Cabbage Rolls, Easy Whole Wheat Bread

Venison Roast in the Crockpot, Steamed Carrots, Baked Potatoes, Rhubarb Crisp

Soft Tacos, Mexican Rice, Roasted Cauliflower

Macaroni and Cheese (For the kids; Eirik and I have a Wedding Rehearsal Dinner)

Leftovers x 2

Shared Jan 22, 2016 comment

Get Up Early Challenge: Day 10 (I gave myself a Grace Day!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 22, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Good morning!!! It’s Day #10 of the Get Up Early Challenge and I gave myself my first Grace Day of this challenge… I was supposed to be speaking at a local event this morning but that got cancelled because of the school closings and the snow. Which meant my entire morning is now free!

Jesse didn’t get back home from being out of town until close to 10 pm last night, so I decided this was the perfect morning to have a Grace Day!

I just got up a little while ago and saw that it really and truly did snow! Now I’m off to have my quiet time and get ready for the day. I’ll be on Periscope for my usual morning show at a much later time this morning — probably 9 am CT. We’ll be doing our Q&A Friday today! I’d love for you to join me or watch the replay (just download the app and search for @MoneySavingMom).

Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.

We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!

P.S. Read more about the Get Up Early Challenge here. Need some help and inspiration to use your mornings well? Download Day 1 of Make Over Your Mornings for free (scroll to the bottom of this page to sign up for it!)

Shared Jan 21, 2016 comment

Why I Set the Goal of Handlettering in 2016 + My 6 Favorite Resources

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 21, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

A few weeks ago, I posted my goals for 2016 and the goal that people have asked the most questions about is my goal to “Spend 5 Minutes Handlettering Every Day.”

Because I’ve been receiving the same questions over and over again, I thought it was high time I write a post to explain more what handlettering is, why I chose this goal, what my end game is with picking this goal, and six of my favorite handlettering resources so far.

What is Handlettering?

Handlettering is basically just perfecting an artistic style of writing. It could be using a pen, markers, a brush, or calligraphy pens. There are a million different variations on styles — and they are all right because handlettering is an art form, not a systematic way of writing.

Why I Chose the Goal of Handlettering

I’ve long admired the beautiful handwritten quotes I see on Pinterest, on walls, Instagram, and on products. But I always felt like that wasn’t something I could ever do, “because I’m not artistic”.

And I let that belief hold me back from even trying handlettering. I was so afraid of not being able to do it, that I didn’t try.

But then I realized how silly that was. If it was something I wanted to do, why should I let the fear of failure keep me from jumping out and attempting to learn something.

Why I’m Putting My Imperfect Out There

So I’m jumping out and getting brave. Not only am I publicly posting this as my goal, but I’m also putting my imperfect progress out there on Instagram and here on my blog.

This is kind of scary for me because I’m a perfectionist, by nature. But I hope that by putting my imperfect out there — and sharing my progress and practice attempts — it inspires you to pick an area of your life to get brave with.

We will miss out on so much in life if we’re always holding back and saying, “I’m not going to put it out there until it’s perfect.”

My Longterm Goals with Handlettering

Truth be told, at first I felt almost a little bit embarrassed to put it out there that I had set a personal goal to do 5 minutes of handlettering every day. When I was thinking about goals, though, I realized this was something that would not only be fun and really inspire me, but it would be something I could use in many different ways.

I can use lettering to write cards to people. I can use it to make signs to put around our house. I can use it to make graphics for social media. I can even use it to write pretty to-do lists every day!

Most importantly, it’s a gift I can give myself: to be intentional about taking time to sit down and quietly focus on creating something beautiful. I also love that it encourages me to exercise a different kind of creativity than I usually am exercising — which I think is a very good and healthy thing to prioritize.

My longterm goal is to practice and improve in handlettering so I can write out quotes in a very artistic form so that these words would inspire myself and others.

My 6 Favorite Handlettering Resources (so far!)

CreativLei — I credit Lisa with first sparking my interest in handlettering… I watched her on scope and was so intrigued that I started to peek into what it was. And little by little, I started to get the itch to try it and perfect it.

Hand-Lettering for Everyone — This book was a Christmas gift from MacKenzie and it’s what really inspired me to set the goal of daily handlettering in 2016 the first place. I had been toying with the idea, but when this book showed up, I knew I wanted to go for it. If you are looking for a beginning book to inspire with dozens of different ideas and handlettering styles, definitely check this one out. I love it! I love how they break things down so it feels so much more doable!

Tombow Dual Brush Pen Art Markers — These are BEST markers! They are pricey, but they work so well and are so fun to use!

LissLetters — Some of my readers recommended I follow LissLetters on Instagram and she’s really inspired. She posts a plethora of handlettering photos and videos and her work is amazing!

The #Handlettering Hashtag on Instagram — There’s a wealth of inspiration by checking out the hashtag #handlettering on Instagram. Many creative folks not only share pictures but short little video tutorials –which I find highly helpful and instructive!

Dawn Nicole — She offers a free online Art & Handlettering Class, too. Check out her Pinterest board here for more inspiration.

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

Click here to sign up!

Shared Jan 21, 2016 comment

500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 9

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 21, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #9 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge and today we were supposed to be working in our family rooms.

Since we don’t really have a family room, I decided to spend time in some other parts of the house that need some TLC. So I went through our bedside tables, as well as our DVDs and CDs.

And would you know it?! I came up with 79 items to get rid of!!!!

Today’s total: 79 items decluttered

Total for the entire challenge: 407 items so far!

I’m keeping a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

Shared Jan 21, 2016 comment

Do It Yourself: A Rolling Kitchen Pantry

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 21, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

DIYpassion.com shows you how to make homemade rolling kitchen pantry.

Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Jan 21, 2016 comment

Get Up Early Challenge: Day 9 (it was hard to get out of bed this morning!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 21, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #9 of the Get Up Early Challenge and, truthfully, I struggled to get out of bed this morning — even lying there for awhile considering the possibility of going back to sleep!

But I got up anyway… And now I’m so glad that I did because I had such a soul-filling time preparing my heart for the day, reading God’s Word, recounting my blessings, and planning for the day ahead!

I’ll be hopping on Periscope around 7:30 to 7:45 a.m. to share some Morning Motivation encouragement and to some thoughts and insights from The 5AM Miracle book. I’d love for you to join me or watch the replay (just download the app and search for @MoneySavingMom).

Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.

We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

How I Found Time to Write a Book

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

When my last book came out, many people asked me how on earth I found the time to write a book. That’s a great question!

As many of you know this blog gets 1.5 to 2 million unique visitors each month. If you are a blogger, then you know a lot of work goes into keeping up a website. Because of this, I knew if I was going to find the time to write another book, it was going to take some serious re-arranging of our schedule and my business/work time to make it happen.

Here are 3 strategies I employed that allowed me to find the time to write a book:

Strategy #1: I Made it a Priority

We had decided that writing another book was a priority for me and for our family, so we made the time for it — with some effort and creativity and the support of my family!

If you want to actually follow through with anything, you have to say, “I’m GOING to make this a priority” not “I WANT to do this”. After you have committed to making it your priority, then, you have to look at your schedule and figure out how it’s going to work.

Jesse and I got out our calendar and found a three-month period where I wasn’t going to be traveling much and our family commitments were relatively low. We blocked that entire period off on our calendar and basically said “no” to almost everything during that season.

Strategy #2: I Hired a Ghost Editor

Once I knew when I could take the time to write the book, I hired on a ghost editor. A ghost editor is someone who works alongside you in the writing process.

I worked with my editor on every single section of every chapter. I would write down all of the concepts I wanted to talk about in each section and my editor would ask me a lot of questions about it.

She would send back an outline and some content ideas to me and I would go in and re-arrange things and expand on her suggestions. Then we would talk more about the order, she’d do more tweaks and give more suggestions, and I’d write more content. And on and on it went — through every chapter and every page and every paragraph of the book.

Every step of the way, she would guide me in the process and be there to give feedback, constructive criticism, and encouragement. Having AJ work alongside me really helped me to stay focused and kept me accountable. Not only did she help me come up with exactly what I wanted, she significantly reduced the amount of time I had to spend researching, tweaking, and editing. Best of all, she made the final product so much better!

Strategy #3: I Rallied My In-Home Cheerleaders

It is so important that everyone in your life is on board with the idea of you writing a book. I knew that writing a book was going to take a major commitment on my part, which would impact my husband and kids in a big way, too. So I didn’t say yes to writing it or commit to the timeframe my publishers wanted it written in until I knew my family was wholeheartedly supportive of every bit of it.

Because of their firm commitment to this, they were willing to come up with a pretty unconventional work schedule during the time period when I was writing the book. I would go to bed early and sleep for a while. Then I would get up at 12:00am and work until 4:00am. I’d go back to bed for a while and then get up late and start my day.

The kids and Jesse would get up and around at least an hour or two before me but because Jesse works from home now and took over a lot of the home and homeschooling responsibilities while I was writing the book, it worked for us.

This allowed me to get some quality writing hours in while most of the world was fast asleep and the house was completely quiet and the internet was almost 100% dead. This meant, there were almost no potential distractions and I could fully concentrate on writing.

I don’t necessarily recommend that you try a crazy schedule like this, it was grueling and hard and it took me at least a few months to recover and get back to a really normal routine. But sometimes, in order to hit a goal that you’ve made a priority, you make short-term sacrifices for long-term benefits.

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Click here to download!

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

3 Books I’m Reading This Week + 1 Book I Read Last Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Many of you have requested that I share more book posts — what I’m reading, what I’m reading with my kids, and reviews of books that I’ve read. I can’t promise to do a post every week on this, but I’m going to try to do a better job of more consistently sharing what I’m reading — since I really enjoy getting great book recommendations from others!

3 Books I’m Reading This Week

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis — I’m about 75% through this one and am not sure whether it’s beautiful or weird…. The jury’s still out on that!

Rest Assured by Vicki Courtney — I just started this book and I think I’m going to really enjoy it and it’s going to be perfect for my Year of Rest!

All She Ever Wanted by Lynn Austin — I have really enjoyed many other books by Lynn Austen, but I’ve not read one of her books for awhile, so I’m excited to dig into another good fiction book.

What We’re Reading Aloud

Johnny Tremain — This is our read aloud for our homeschool curriculum (Sonlight) and while it took us awhile to get into it (it starts out slow and takes its time developing the story plot and characters) and there’s a bit of coarse language in it, we’re really enjoying it.

What I Read Last Week

It’s Not What You Think — This book was deep and made me really think and reconsider many different things from a new perspective. I didn’t agree with all of it, but I found so many thought-provoking nuggets throughout it.

What are YOU reading right now? What have you read recently? Any great recommendations?

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

We Paid Cash: A 10-Day Family Road Trip

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

A testimony from Rosanna who blogs at The Four F’s

We hadn’t been on a major vacation in seven years, so we decided to take our family on a road trip to British Columbia, this past June. We spent time seeing many attractions along the way, as well as when we got to our destination of Vancouver, British Columbia.

My husband, Bernd, and I have always enjoyed road trips, and now that our three children are getting older — ages 10, 7, and 5 , we thought we would like to attempt this with our family.

We believe in building memories with our family, but obviously these memories come at a cost. We are a one-income family and my husband is self-employed. That means that he doesn’t get vacation days or holiday pay.

That said, here are some of the things we did to pay cash for our big family trip.

1. We continued have monthly budget meetings and told our money where to go.

2. We have a sinking fund for different categories, one of which is vacations. Though our sinking fund payment wasn’t that high, we hadn’t gone on a large vacation for a long time, thus we had a head start on this one.

3. I sold items we no longer needed.

4. Every time I had extra money left in a budgeted category, I put it into a glass jar and eventually brought it to the bank.

However, our budgeting didn’t stop there. In order to make this vacation work, we needed to be careful on our trip too.

Here are some of the ways we saved money during our trip:

5. We brought most of our food along, stopping at grocery stores along the way to stock up. We only ate out for three meals, not including continental breakfasts in hotels.

6. We booked most of our hotels at hotels.com, which enabled us to get a much better rate most of the time.

7. We chose to bring our tent and gear and camped for two nights instead of using a hotel room.

8. We chose to do the activities that were most important to us, not every single available thing.

9. We were able to visit the Vancouver Aquarium for free because we went with some relatives that had a pass.

The total of our trip came in around $1800, and it was worth every penny!

We look forward to the day that we are completely debt free so that we can do these kinds of trips more regularly.

Rosanna is a wife and homeschooling mom of three. She loves writing, worshiping Jesus through song, and chatting with her husband. You are invited to follow along with her on her journey at The Four F’s.

Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 8

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #8 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge and today’s project was to go through kid’s stuff, sports equipment, and Hobby/Art supplies.

I went through our craft tubs and found quite a few items to get rid of. I was especially excited because I was able to consolidate down to one tub!

I’m thrilled that our house is really starting to look more and more decluttered! For the last few months, I’ve been meaning to get to certain problem areas and then just never made it a priority. But every time I would see those problem areas I would be reminded that I still needed to get to decluttering and organizing that area.

So it feels so nice to finally be tackling and conquering those areas — one day at a time!

Today’s total: 45 items decluttered

Total for the entire challenge: 328 items so far!

I’m keeping a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

Ask the Readers: The Best Way to Sell Books?

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Today’s questions is from April:

I just finished reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and I now have a huge pile of items I no longer want to keep!

I would like to try and get some money out of them, but having a garage sale won’t work based on where I live. One thing I thought I could do was sell my pile of books online, but it doesn’t look as easy as I thought.

Do you have any suggestions (besides ebay) on how I can sell my used books online without doing it as a business or having to pay a monthly fee?

Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Jan 20, 2016 comment

5 Lessons We’ve Learned from Frugally Raising our Kids

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 20, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Sarah of The Jelly Jars

My husband and I have three kids, and every time I hear reports about how much it costs to raise just one child these days, I wince a little (the latest data says close to a quarter of a million dollars per child). But then I remind myself that it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are some lessons that I’ve learned as we try to raise our kids without spending too much money on them:

1. How to get creative with activities.

We don’t have our kids in more than one activity at a time (such as soccer, swimming, gymnastics, etc.), encouraging them to fully engage in where they are, and refusing to believe the lie that we have to push them too hard from an early age in order for them to succeed later on.

Instead, we watch Youtube videos of gymnastics or ballet, for example, and either follow along with a tutorial or turn it into a fun family activity as we pretend our living room is the summer Olympic games.

2. How to find enjoyment through experiences rather than things.

In the spaces of our lives that aren’t taken up by school, work, or activities, we tend to do things together. We will go for a family hike, take a “nature walk” down the street, make muffins, or play a board game together.

We own plenty of toys, but we also try to teach our kids that the most joy in life comes from relationships rather than objects, and model that through how we spend our time together.

3. How to find great second-hand deals.

If you look at your local library, they probably have a section where they sell their old books for a fraction of what it costs to buy a new book. I’ve bought books at our library for a quarter each, greatly expanding our home book collection.

We tend to buy board games at the local thrift store for two or three dollars rather than the fifteen or twenty they cost brand new.

I also find gently used clothes that are still on trend at thrift stores, a huge benefit when kids grow so quickly and need new clothes so frequently!

4. How to make lots and lots of lunches!

I make lunches every day, not just school days. If it’s a Saturday and I know that we’ll be out running errands over lunchtime, I think ahead and pack a quick lunch.

Stopping to eat out add up quickly and I would much rather take ten minutes to put things together at home than get stuck with a big bill because we all got hungry before we got home.

5. How to teach our children about money.

From a young age, kids can begin to understand basic money concepts. By watching the ways we save, spend, and give, they are learning how to do the same.

Our kids have 3 jars labeled “Spend, Save, Give.” When we give out allowance, the kids split it equally among the three jars. The “spend” money can be used however they choose, the “save” money is money they are saving for a specific item, and the “give” is to encourage generosity.

An additional benefit in many of our methods is that they tend to be more relationally geared, creating a special bond in our family as we do life together.

Raising a family can be quite expensive, but these are tactics that work for us as we try to be wise in how we spend money in the process.

Sarah is a mountain-loving, dark chocolate-eating, Frank Sinatra-listening, owie-kissing, truth-telling, freelance writer/blogger who seeks out a passionate life with her husband and two kiddos. She writes at The Jelly Jars.

photo source

Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List

FREE Summer Bucket List!!

Education

Time Commitment

Finding Work

Interesting Cases

Aldi

Harris Teeter

Total: $22.16

Weekly Total for Groceries: $68.51

Weekly Menu Plan

Breakfasts

Lunches

Dinners

What is Handlettering?

Why I Chose the Goal of Handlettering

Why I’m Putting My Imperfect Out There

My Longterm Goals with Handlettering

My 6 Favorite Handlettering Resources (so far!)

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

Strategy #1: I Made it a Priority

Strategy #2: I Hired a Ghost Editor

Strategy #3: I Rallied My In-Home Cheerleaders

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

3 Books I’m Reading This Week

What We’re Reading Aloud

What I Read Last Week

What are YOU reading right now? What have you read recently? Any great recommendations?

1. How to get creative with activities.

2. How to find enjoyment through experiences rather than things.

3. How to find great second-hand deals.

4. How to make lots and lots of lunches!

5. How to teach our children about money.

Footer

Sign up for myHot Deals Newsletter