Trying to Save Money

So I guess its been about a month since I last updated.  I am sitting in Panera updating for a few reasons. I'm a stay at home mom and we are trying to save money.  I'll share with you a few things that we have done or haven't done.

1. Coupons can be great. I've not been very good at clipping coupons-there haven't been many coupons we can use anyways because we like to buy alot of fresh produce and we buy some stuff at Costco. But I know alot of people that can save alot of money by using their coupons, I dont' know how they do it.  I even took a class on it.But haven't mastered it.

2. We find really good deals at an international market and Aldis on our produce

3. I know we are like dinosaurs for 2 reasons- we don't have cable and we don't have a smart phone.
I'm not being critical/judgmental for the people that do have them, it just doesn't work for our family.  We have an antenna to get the local channels plus we don't watch that much TV.  We actually get a better signal using our antenna.  We have found there isn't much on worth watching anyways.  We dont' have smart phones- Brian has a computer at work and we have an ipad with cellular service.  So we can take it anywhere we need to go. We just didn't want to spend the money and didn't want the distraction to be hooked to our phones/internet all the time.

4. The fact that we moved right outside the city and it takes a little bit longer to get to places, makes me not want to go shopping alot, especially having to bring Jaxon with me, sometimes it just takes longer to go places.

5. We use cloth diapers- which is not that bad- just 2 extra loads of laundry per week. I've actually enjoyed it. Some people think I'm crazy.  But it works for us especially since I am at home.

6. Making my own baby food. Its easy and soo much cheaper and doesn't have the extra chemicals and preservatives.  I steam or bake the vegetables and use my food processor to puree them and then put in ice cube trays and freeze.  Then when I am ready to feed Jaxon I just pop it in the microwave.  Bananas, pears, avocados- I just mash them up.  Apples I have made my own applesauce-thanks to a friend who showed me how to do it.

7. We dont' have Wifi at our house and we have a celluar data plan with our Ipad which means we know we have a limit of data per month and we can take our ipad where ever we go.  Its a little inconvenient but thats why I use Panera that has free Wifi and I'm not tempted to stay on it for a long time while I'm at home.

8.We try not to eat out as much.  Some months we dont' stick to our budget, but we try to anyways.

9. We love Redbox- so when we are in the mood for a movie- we just pay a little over $1

10. We have a budget that Brian has designed in Excel- similar to Dave Ramsey's budget and we try to stick to spending a certain amount of money for certain categories (vacation, grocery, gas, restaurant, entertainment). The budget has kept us on track and we know what we are spending and know what we are saving.  So if I am tempted to buy something for myself or go grab a yummy milkshake from Chick Fil A that I don't really need it keeps me accountable because then I will have to turn the receipt to the hubby.  He doesn't mind that I buy things, but it keeps me from spending too much.

So thats what we do to save money.  It works for us and it may not work for others. Its so worth it to stay home with our little guy.