I find that without even fully realizing about it, my little family and I have continually had to make finances and saving a priority simply for survival sake. I got married young and my husband was in progress of gaining his Education degree at the time. Figuring out student loans, how much groceries we needed on top of rent, the amount of money we needed to have coming in vs going out - this was our normal. We had to be careful with what we were spending our money on. We had to be wise about the amount that we placed on our credit card. Some years were easy, and some were hard. Sometimes mistakes were made and we had to adjust or tweak things so that they could work better for us.
Over the years things changed. Degrees. Jobs. Cities. Our little Lovebug entered into the world. Regardless of it all, we continually needed to figure out what worked best for us when it came to saving our money. Whether student loans, rent, groceries, a nice vacation, a new baby - whatever the year brought us - we had to ask the questions of what needed to be done and how we could make it work for us specifically.
Financial responsibility was a huge learning experience for me and it still is. I still continually need to tweak and figure out works best for us. Sometimes its a chore and sometimes I feel like its more of a game. We play the game of balance: what can we do to save here so that we can spend there. We weigh our options, we test the waters, we dive in. Sometimes our plans fail, and sometimes they thrive.
When I came across Credit Card Insider, I was challenged to write about my tips to save money. Credit Card Insider is an educational website that helps people understand credit scores and what credit card is right with them. Today I wanted to share with you some of the ways that we save our money. I am still not an expert, but there are little things that I do that save us money and that make me happy all at the same time. Now seems like the time where a bunch of my friends are talking about taking vacations or buying a new home, I feel like the topic of money is on everyone's mind. They are talking about financial plans, ways they can be frugal and fruitful, and ways that they can clean up some of their spending habits in hopes that the money can go towards something else. I know that these tips have worked with me over the past and that is why I wanted to share them with you. They are the ways that encourage me to grow more, to try out new things, to expand and be the frugal woman that I want to be for our family.
The 5 Ways We Save Money:




When we decide to make a coffee drink at home, I will write down the amount (ish) that I believe it would cost if we were to buy it, and we contribute that amount to our savings. I keep a book or a list on my computer and I add in all of the entries. I can use this tool for anything that we are saving our money on (think carpool, choosing to eat at home rather than the splurge of fast-food, getting something from a garage sale instead of new . etc)


One of our decisions this year was to get rid of Netflix. It was just something that was becoming too much of a daily habit, so we made the choice of getting rid of it in hopes that we could find more creative ways to spend our time. This challenged us to think outside of the box, to find ways around us that inspired or encouraged us. As a family we have been drawing more, playing with lego more, doing more puzzles, and reading way more than we did before. I don't want to say that Netflix was keeping us from doing all of these things, I honestly just think that the act of cancelling it helped our eyes see all of the potential that was around us. There are so many ways to have fun and be creative in our home.
Another thing that my husband and I do is a "home date." It is an evening where we will just spend time together playing a game, talking, reading side by side, or even making popcorn and watching a movie. This was another challenge that we started when we have had to save money, and it kind of just stuck with us. My husband and I can have so much fun together being in our house, spending time together without needing to go out on the town. I love the creativity that comes from our home dates and I especially love that we can do things as a family together without it costing us anything at all.




This year, I have challenged our little family to explore the city in which we live. It is definitely not near mountains or an ocean, but the concept that I ultimately want to learn is that we can still have fun, still explore, still be immersed in nature without needing to travel miles away. We don't need to spend money on hotel rooms or camp grounds. We can walk around our neighbourhood, explore the river valley, find treasures in gardens, and laugh in parks.
I was angry last summer because I felt like we didn't do much of anything. This year I would love to see all that our city has to offer, and if that also means that we are saving money by staying close to home, how excellent that sounds.






I also had the absolute privilege of watching my friend's son. She needed someone to watch him so that she could go back to work, and I thought, 'why not me?' It was so nice knowing that I could help her out, that the little boy could help me out by playing with my little girl, and that I was bringing it a little bit of cash to help my family out.
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I really hope you enjoyed these little tips that we use to save our money. There are so many things that can be done in order to help financially, to help reach a goal such as vacation or paying off credit cards. These were just a few of my favourites. This was a very fun post to write and it has ignited my passion on ways that we can be even more responsible with our money. I would absolutely love to hear about some of the ways that you save your money, feel free to leave your tips, suggestions, and thoughts in the comments below. xo
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