Mom Blog: Four Tips To Save Money And Reduce Daily Spending

Here are four money saving tips that my family follows regularly to save money and reduce daily spending:

1. We pack a small cooler for our vehicle everywhere we go in order to save money for the day.  For example, when I know we will be gone from the house for over 45 minutes, I pack a cooler with drinks and a snack for everyone.  This is so much cheaper than stopping at the gas station because everyone is thirsty.  This will also keep your ice machine cleaned out and you will always have fresh ice.  How much money would you save if you stopped buying drinks and snacks at the gas station or fast food restaurants when you are on the go?
2. Save those plastic “Wal-mart Sacks.”  I put a handful of these plastic sacks in the side door of our vehicle and use for all our trash while we are in the car.  I also have small trash cans in our bathrooms that have a spot to “hang” the plastic sacks on the outside of the trash cans where the bag stays put.  If your kitchen trash can doesn’t fill up too fast, you can even use these small sacks for kitchen trash bags.  I can’t remember the last time when I actually bought a bathroom trash bag, so I know that these sacks have definitely helped my family save money.
3. Start trying a few generic brands at the grocery store in order to save money on your grocery bill.  For example, if you buy Tostitos chips, save the old bag and refill it with the off brand chips and don’t tell your family.  I did this with the Wal-mart brand tostitos chips and no one c0uld tell the difference.  Many of the Sam’s Choice Walmart brands are just as good as the leading brands, but you can’t tell the difference once the wrappers are off.  My son loves the Sam’s Choice Nutty Bars and also the Sam’s Choice Nutra Grain Bars.  Since he cannot read yet, I just told him that the wrappers had changed and that was it.  Since a lot of the leading brand names and generic brands are similar, such as household cleaners and paper plates,  you can definitely save money once you find the generic items that you like.
4. Buy a Sunday newspaper and “study” the weekly grocery coupons.  These grocery coupons are primarily the same and run in cycles.  Save all the grocery coupons that you would normally use, and keep them handy, in your vehicle or in your purse.  It becomes very irritating to know you have a coupon, but it is at home on the counter.   As you “learn” the grocery coupons, you will know which items you buy that have coupons available.  For example, I know that I can always get a grocery coupon for Toaster Strudels, French’s Mustard or Soft Soap.  If you begin using these regularly, the savings from the coupons will definitely outweigh the price of the Sunday Paper.  In order to save time with this, you can have the Sunday paper delivered to your home without having to subscribe to a full weekly subscription.

Try these mom blog tips and start saving money today, the Blog With Mom way!  If you have money saving tips, please send them to the mom blog to share with mom’s everywhere.