Saving Money

I have for a few weeks, been on a money saving mission. In light of the current economy, I have been scouring our budget trying to find ways to cut. Not because we are in dire straights, but because there is no reason to spend more that you have to. JM has been cautiously supportive of my efforts. Cautious mostly because he doesn't think I'll stick with it, not because he doesn't want to save. Here is what I have been doing so far to try and cut our expenses.

1. Change TV service. We were paying WAY too much for TV. Well, way more than I wanted to be spending. So I shopped around and found a way to lower our bill. (On a side note: Why can't I only purchase the channels I watch?! I don't need 200 channels, just the 25 I actually watch. It's extortion.)


2. Switch cell service. About a year ago, JM's work started paying for his cell phone. Good for us, but we were in a two year family contract. That contract just expired and we are going to get a cheaper plan with the same carrier as JM's phone. I also talked my mom into switching to the same carrier, so free mobile to mobile. Because really, the two people I talk to most is my husband, and my mom.


3. Go after the grocery bill. This is a huge budget item for us. I signed up for CouponMom to print online coupons. They also have an introductory book that gives ideas on how to save. One of those ideas was to track the price of your staple items so you know what a good price is. This sounds like a no-brainer thing, but I honestly don't know how much some things cost. They are on my list, so I buy them. (If I am out of TP, I'm not going to wait for the best deal!) For three weeks now I have been tracking the price of about 30 items that we usually buy or like to have on hand. Since I usually shop at Wal-Mart, I didn't think the prices would fluctuate much (or at all), since Wal-Mart doesn't usually have sales. I have been surprised that some prices do fluctuate. Not everything, but maybe a third over the last three weeks. So now I have a better idea when to buy chicken stock and what a good price actually is. I am also printing their online coupons for things we buy. I haven't gotten into their newspaper coupon stuff yet, but I might. That would require us to buy the newspaper.

Does anyone else have any great money saving ideas? We are already doing the home energy saving stuff. We have a programmable thermostat and turn it down during the day. We use the energy saving light bulbs. Our W/D is the energy-saving kind. We turn off the water to brush our teeth. If only we could get BG potty trained, we could cut the cost of diapers and wipes!