The holiday season is always so exciting! With all the magic that the holiday season brings, it also comes with a hefty pricetag. From buying presents for everyone on your list, to the added groceries to prepare for parties and special holiday meals, to the cost of traveling to visit family and friends, this season can cause quite the financial burden. But, if you’re like me, when everything slows down after Christmas and we begin a new year, I look for ways to recoup our expenses after such a busy spending season. This year, I’ve taken some extra steps to help our family save money after a financially busy season. Here are some ways you can save too:
- This one may be obvious, but controlling spending is definitely at the top of the list. For our family, eating out less is a helpful way for us to save. Also, if I unfollow or temporarily hide posts from online shops, this removes the temptation for me to spend money on things I don’t need.
- Meal planning. Planning out meals and using some of the same ingredients in multiple ways for different meals is a great way to get your money’s worth from your groceries and stretch your dollar on your grocery bill. For instance, you save money when buying a large family pack of chicken. You could use this one pack of chicken and prepare it in several different ways or freeze what you don’t use.
- Cleaning out your cabinets. I guarantee if you clean out your bathroom cabinets and pantry, you will find things you forgot you had! Use those before buying new.
- Compare prices during grocery shopping. I understand having a particular brand that you prefer for certain things (it’s only Heinz ketchup or Brawny paper towels at our house), but if your open to trying other brands, it could save you money. Recently we swapped coffee brands, and it saved us $9 per canister, that’s a big cost savings!
- If you’re like us and still have cable, it’s worth checking their website or calling customer service to see if they have any promotional deals happening that you qualify for. A simple phone call to our cable provider recently cut our monthly cable bill in half!
- While we are talking about contacting customer service, checking with your cellphone carrier about discounts and/or promotions may save you money on your cell phone bill. I recently changed cell phone providers because it cut my monthly bill by $50!
- Inexpensive family date nights are a fun and creative way to spend time with your family. When it’s chilly outside, building a fire and roaring s’mores are a big hit with my kids. Also, having picnics are always a hit with my crew! It’s fun to get creative and see how much fun you can have with little to no money.
- Lastly, if you have a hunter in your family, that hobby may come in handy. Deer meat runs about $3 per pound, and it’s healthy too! Win, win!
Hopefully some of these tips can be helpful to your family as well! Happy savings!
Great ideas! We recently switched to T-Mobile Home Internet which is $50/month and cut our internet spending in half. I also joined Kroger Boost for $59 (annually), which has paid for itself in fuel perks and also gives me free grocery delivery, which means I don’t have to make a trip to the store (an hour round-trip from my house). It’s also about to be consignment sale season so I can swap my kids wardrobe and make a little extra money by selling the toys they no longer play with.
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