Money Saving Tips

Any of you who follow Kelly's Corner know that every Friday she does a post on show us your life. This Friday's post post was about money saving tips. I thought I would participate in this one since it is one of my favorite things to do. I have a few money saving tips that I use on a regular basis. This will probably be my longest post ever. I could ramble all day about good deals.

1.) The most effective way of saving money for me is to remember Palms 119:37 in the Bible. This verse can have several applications for our lives, but I often use these words as a prayer before I want to buy something or before I know I'm going shopping, and yes, even before going to garage sales. Palms 119:37 says "Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things. And revive me in your way". It is very easy to have an emotional void filled temporarily when buying something. It is exciting to get something new or go out to eat. I mean face it, spending money is just fun! Am I alone here? There have been times I have bought something and got it home and thought that it was the most ridiculous purchase ever, not to mention Josh wasn't exactly pleased about it. That would be worthless to me. I think everyone has to decide between themselves and the Lord what is worthless. Some people are blessed with more resources than others. To them, some things would not be considered worthless, whereas it would be to someone who has less. I also try to keep in my mind that I am just a steward of what the Lord gives me. God gives and he can take away. I remind myself of this. I just say, Lord, if you want your money to go "HERE" it is fine with me. Sometimes I could think of a thousand other ways I would like to spend my money but that isn't where the Lord wants it to go right now.

2.) This is my favorite and I have two words for you. GARAGE SALES. I love to shop, but when on a budget, it isn't always possible to go and shop as much as I would like. With garage sales, I never know what I could find, but it is rare that I come home with nothing in hand. I have bought so many useful things from garage sales that I probably wouldn't own other wise because it saved me money, at least in the long run. I have bought everything from nursery furniture, home decorations, clothing, and toys. I'm tempted to go through my entire house and take picture of all the different things I've gotten at garage sales over the last several years. One of the easiest things for me to find is clothing for my kiddos. I will buy Jackson and Jordan clothes up to a year or year and a half out if they are a good deal and super cute as well as clean. I have bought Jackson several pair of nice, name brand jeans anywhere from $1-$4. Count the savings there. Even on sale, jeans for him are around $15. That usually doesn't include brands like Gap, Old Navy, Levi, and so on. I also try to find sweaters and church shirts for Jackson. Usually the dress clothing for kids is always in super great condition. Momma's don't let their children get dirty in the nice stuff. I also get khaki and denim short for Jackson. These are also easy to find in good condition. The only thing that is hard to find without stains at garage sales is the t-shirts, but really those are fairly inexpensive at the stores. I've even found him things like cowboy boots and rain boots for as little as 50 cents. That is just crazy. I saw a pair of rain boots the other day at a store for $20. They were cute, but I just have to chuckle. I can't help but think, wow .50. I got a really great deal. For Jordan I like to find dresses. This is the big $ saver when I'm shopping for her. Every time I go to a store and look for this girl a really pretty church dress, I start having anxiety. $20 and up is pretty much what it takes to find church dresses. I just can't do that. I have found several dresses for Jordan for $4 and under. You can't go wrong with deals like that.

3.) Craigs List, Helping Hands, Goodwill. These are also good place to find things you are needing or wanting but not really willing to spend a load of money on. I recently found Jordan her new "big girl" bedroom set on Craigs list. I will save that for a later post though.

4.) Shop around and shop at change of seasons. I have already bought Jordan's Christmas dresses for this year. I bought them for $3-$10 went regular prices were $12-$48.

5.) Walk around for a while with the item you want to purchase. I can usually talk myself out of anything I do not need if I just walk around the store for a little while. Doing this gives me time to think about whether I need this and yes, even sometimes pray if it is a wise purchase. If when it is time to check out I'm completely convinced I need or really want it, I will make the purchase. This usually keeps me from impulse buying.

6.) If your husband is anything like mine, you got one of the best money saving tools at your disposal. I just ask him if I should buy something or not and I usually get the answer I need to hear....not always what I want to hear though, but I bet it saves us a lot of money.

7.) I have to throw this in for kicks. I saw on the internet the other day how to save money on laundry soap. It was my making it yourself and they gave you the recipe. I haven't tried it, but I thought about it. It sounds kind of fun to me. I think I would feel like I was on the Little House in the Prairie. I always admire people who do these sort of things. I like it when people have gardens and can and so forth. It is my goal to have my own little garden one day. But for now, I will tend to my little "sprouts". I will involve them in a gardening project when they get a little older.