I don’t know how money saving some of these tips are, but they certainly make me feel better! I can be pretty cheap at times. If I shop at Target, nothing should cost more than 20 dollars (unless I really, really want it), and when I am at Old Navy, I refuse to pay full price since stuff goes on sale every other hour.
1. When shopping for kids clothes, pay decent money for the nice stuff (within reason) and for play clothes, be as cheap as you can be. Most of my kids play clothes are from Kohl’s where everything is about 4 cents and reeks of the sweat of a Tiawanese sweat shop. I don’t feel the need for my kids to be fancy when they play in the dirt outside. Most of Eric’s clothes are from Kohl’s because he grows so damn fast I refuse to spend too much money. Ally’s play clothes are from there too. But my biggest deal comes in the way of holidays. You know how stores sell holiday shirts for 5 dollars? They sell them for about 1.50 after that holiday. Assuming you can find your size, you can get pretty cheap shirts and nobody cares if you are wearing a thanksgiving shirt in June, especially when it’s covered in mud.
2. Store brand food. Store brand food is often so much cheaper than the name brand. I buy a lot of store brand, especially in staples. I don’t need name brand spices. Store brand will do. I like to buy as much organic food as I can too, so I buy the store brand organic version. Some things need to be name brand (pasta, cereal) in my opinion, but a lot of things can be purchased as a store brand.
3. Don’t shop at Target. I know- crazy right? I mean for groceries. Groceries really aren’t much cheaper at Target. You would have better luck buying at the grocery store when things are on sale or when you have a coupon. There are a few things cheaper at Target, but not enough to be worth the trip to the store. And if you don’t buy groceries there, you are less likely to buy other things there, like clothes, shoes, unnecessary supplies, etc.
4. Cars- buy Japanese, not German! If you have kids- listen up. We all want luxury cars. Hell, I am itching to get myself into an Audi, but I am realistic. Buying a luxury car when you have children is the WORST thing you can do. Unless you will NEVER let your children drink or eat in the car (yeah right) you are destroying any resale value that it might have. I have a friend who is a Mercedes girl. Within one week of buying her Mercedes SUV, her daughter spilled an entire cup of milk on the floor. It smells like shit. You are much better off buying something cheaper, like a nice Japanese car, or even something American made. Something that costs half as much and you won’t care if it gets trashed. If you bide your time now with your Pilot, you can get that Mercedes later in life when you can enjoy it and not freak out if the kids get their muddy shoes on the seats.
5. Leggo that Eggo…they are quick, they are easy, they are TERRIBLE for you! Eggo makes the best pancakes, french toast, etc for kids. They also contain ingredients that are not good for you ( read: unpronounceable). I buy the heart healthy Bisquik at about 4 dollars a box and make my own chocolate chip pancakes. I can get about 6-8 dozen decent sized pancakes out of one box. I spend about 30 minutes one day a week making pancakes on my griddle (double the recipe and add mini chocolate chips, no butter when grilling) and then I place wax paper between each one and freeze them. When it’s time for breakfast, I pop them in the toaster oven. Voila! They are yummy and delicious and I get to lick the bowl. I am also cutting down on packaging and saving myself lots of money per month since Eggo comes with 12 to a pack. I figure each pancake I make costs a couple of pennies. You can make waffles or toaster sticks too and freeze them.
6. Kids parties…goody bags. Biggest waste of money. EVER. I hate the goody bags. They are usually filled with crap that kids don’t use and just gets thrown in the trash. I don’t like to be wasteful and fill our landfills with things that don’t biodegrade or are unnecessary to even purchase, or spend money on crap. When my kids have a party, the goody bag is something they will actually use. One year the kids got a bucket of chalk that I found in the dollar bin at Target. Another year, they got coloring books and crayons. most recently at Eric’s birthday, the kids got educational magnets that you can stick on your fridge and fruit snacks and a bendy straw. Think ahead- would your kids use what’s in the goody bag? If not, don’t just fill the bag to fill the bag. Make cookies and send the kids away with a treat. Don’t send them away with a plastic ring and a bouncy ball that will get lost in ten seconds.
7. Diapers- there is no need to buy Pampers. Having two children with equally explosive bowels and large bladders, I can safely tell you that Costco diapers do the trick. Pampers, and even Huggies don’t hold as much pee and definitely not the poop. Pampers are the worst. I had to change my kids more often when they wore pampers. The only place I say buy name brand is in nighttime diapers…buy Huggies. They are the best.
8. Formula- if you really want to save money- nurse your kid, but if like me, that was not a year long solution for you, formula is the next best thing. After I finished nursing my kids, I used formula. Because they both had allergies, I had to use the CRAZY expensive name brand (but I was fortunate they had it at Costco), but when your kid can use any formula, store brand works great. I asked my pediatrician and he said that baby formula is all highly regulated so one is not better than the other. I personally am against Nestle because they used to specifically market formula to African families whose kids started dying because they were watering down the formula to save it or using dirty water. (just something to keep in mind).
9. Fast food is not cheaper than a home cooked meal!!! A happy meal costs what- 3 dollars? (I wouldn’t know because I refuse to let my kids eat it). I have a bag of frozen chicken in my freezer that cost 10 bucks and contains at least 12 chicken breasts. A bag of rice costs a couple of bucks, and frozen vegetables also cost a couple bucks (and can be found even cheaper than that sometimes). You can make a healthy meal that is less than or equal to the price of sodium filled pink slime a happy meal.
10. If you are REALLY hurting for money- get rid of your iPhone. If I need to explain that one more, go ahead and let me know and I will. But seriously- if you’re hurting- you don’t need an iPhone.
