Baby Steps to Being Thrifty

After a series of unfortunate events right during the holidays, mostly car problems, we found our savings account pretty much wiped out.  So we decided, at the first of the year, we would work to replenish that savings as quickly as possible.  We have received more great news since that is only making saving more difficult!  Grrrr!!!  However, that is really not the point of this blog. ;-) 

Joel and I have always been pretty good at saving.  We keep a budget (thank you YNAB) and would try not to eat out as often.  However, this time, we decided that we would look for more ways to save.  So in true OCD fashion (because I can't help myself), I started watching YouTube videos and reading blogs on thrifty living.  Hours and hours of studying this subject.  Not everything that I heard was revelant to my life at this time, like how to save money on diapers.  If that's a need for you believe me there's a plethora of how to's out there.  I decided to share some of the things that I have learned so far, that I found relevant.

We decided that we would take baby steps toward saving which is recommended.  Our first is to try to use less of our grocery budget and eat at home.  I'm not sure if this sounds like a lot to you; but, we budget $600\month on groceries.  That's for a family of four adults; three of them being males.  However that does not count if we went out to eat and I'm sure you have a pretty good idea how much it costs for 4 adults to go to restaurants.  Especially considering, it was almost never fast food with the exception of Chick-fil-A.

Anyway, my first plan was to go through freezer recipe meal plans.  There are great blogs and videos on how to buy food in bulk to save money.  We had a marathon cooking session last Sunday afternoon making 14 freezer meals.  They have videos describing how to make 50 at a time; but, they recommend starting slow so you don't get overwhelmed.  They also recommend that you don't shop and cook on the same day!  They are absolutely right! We learned the hard way and I'm still exhausted!! 

We believe that our 14 meals will actually last more around like 3 weeks; because some nights we will eat leftovers.  That will take us to the end of the month. We have only purchased groceries once this month. We spent $260.  I am ecstatic about that amount.  What is amazing is that that counts breakfast and lunch foods; as well, we have very few spaces for pantry supplies so it was like starting from scratch. 

It hasn't been perfect!  We burnt the first meal in the crock pot! Let's just say I need to plan better since I don't have a crockpot timer and I work outside the home.  When they say 8 hours on low, they definitely don't mean 9 hours!  The good news was that we did not use that as an excuse to go out to eat.  We found food in the house to eat.

Also, we have been using Walmart Savingscatcher for a while on the nonperishable items. We actually used the money we had saved throughout 2015 to buy our groceries at the end of December.  So I highly recommend that app.  However, through the various blogs and videos, I learned about more apps that I could be using to get money back later.

I added 2 apps to my phone last week.  They both pretty much work the same way.  

First, the Ibotta app.  You unlock cash rebates on groceries that you plan to buy, such as, milk and eggs.  Generally, no specific brands required.  Scan the receipt proving you purchased the item.  They will add the rebate amount to your account.  When you get the minimum required amount, you can cash out through PayPal or get gift cards to Walmart, Starbucks, and many more.  I used a promotional code to set up the app and they gave me an extra $10 when I scanned my receipt.  With only one grocery shopping trip, I have $14.75.  I won't get that high amount again; but, it is nice way to start.  If you want to set up the app, you can use the code jafdror and get that $10, too.  Full disclosure, if you use my code, I will get $5, too.  But, hey they will give you a code to give out, too.

The second one is Checkout 51 that works really similarly.  However it doesn't seem to have as many opportunities to get rebates; but, it only takes a second to scan a receipt and it'll add up over time.  Warning though, you are not saving with these apps, if you are buying things that you weren't going to buy.  I only chose the items that I knew I needed like milk and eggs.

In the future, I will try to update you on how we are doing with our journey to save.  We still have much to learn and in the future, we are planning on tackling a no spend month.  Baby steps, my friends, baby steps!!