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This blog post is going to outline exactly how our little family of three saves over $4,000 each year! With me working at home, my husband having a salary from the lowest paying state in the nation for teachers, and us wanting to save money – this is how we do it. Here are our six family money saving tips that we follow each month that add up to over $4,000 annually.
Switch to DIY Laundry Products
Another way our family saves money is by switching to all natural laundry detergents. We currently make a washing soda laundry detergent that costs about $2.50 per gallon to make. (That’s actually pretty expensive in the DIY world, but it’s what is working best for us and our family’s needs right now.) This DIY version ends up costing about $0.02 per ounce. The store bought brand we used to use cost around $0.10 per ounce. If we go through twelve gallons a year, that means we save about $100.
But we also stopped using fabric softener. The one we used to use cost around $0.08 per ounce. Now we use straight vinegar which is about $0.02 an ounce. That’s a savings of roughly another $100 each year. Add in the fact that we now use these DIY wool dryer balls instead of the $0.03 each dryer sheets. So we save another $15 per year on those. That makes our total yearly laundry savings roughly $215 each year. (And I should also add that I only used half the recommended amount of store bought laundry. So our actual savings might have been closer to $315 if I had used the amount called for on the bottle of store bought detergent.)
Start Meal Planning
We have also been meal planning for roughly three years. We used to just ramble aimlessly up and down the aisles grabbing what looked good with no real rhyme or reason. We ate well, but we also ended up throwing away expired food, spoiled fruits and vegetables, and we made a lot of impulse buys. It’s hard to know exactly what our grocery bill was three years ago because we weren’t yet married, but we are conservatively estimating that meal planning has saved us $100 each month. That means we are saving $1,200 each year! You can learn more about how we meal plan and get a free printable template here.
Cut Hair at Home
We cut our hair at home. As you can see in this post, this saves over family roughly $335 each year.
Cook at Home
Going out to eat is something we very rarely do. For starters we live in an area where they just aren’t many options. We can go to a local restaurant, order a local pizza, or head to the local sub shop. That’s about it. If we want an actual sit-down meal or any type of fast food, we need to drive at least 30 miles away. With that being said, we hardly eat out. There’s about one day a month where we do. When we first started dating we ate out at least once a week. Cutting out three eat out meals a month has saved us at least $60, which adds up to $720 each year. And that’s a conservative estimate saying that it only costs us $10 per adult to go out. We all know that a nice meal out can cost $50 or more for two adults who order a drink, appetizer to share, and a meal – let alone dessert!
Switch Cell Phone Plans
Andrew used to pay about $80 each month for his cell phone. I honestly don’t really remember what I paid because I’ve been with Straight Talk for so long. Now we pay just $50 per month for unlimited call, text, and data. So instead of a $160 or more cell phone bill, we pay just $100. With a savings of $60 each month, that’s $720 over the course of a year. {The one drawback here is that we have to buy our phones outright. However, we just go with older models because we don’t need the most fancy gadgets on the market.}
Cut Cable
The last main area we save money is by cutting out cable. That used to run us about $70 each month for a basic package. That’s a savings of $840 each year!
Total Saved = $4,030
That’s awesome, Heather. I think we are on the same page in a lot of area. Aside from cutting my own hair, which is a no go for me as a curly gal, we pretty much do the same. I love people finding new ways to save money! I suppose the next logical question is how your reinvesting those saved funds! 🙂
I hadn’t even thought about our investments! I will be sharing those at some point too. Thanks for the idea (that I can’t believe never crossed my mind!).