How We Live On A Very Small Budget

Hey there guys!! I share a LOT about how we make our food budget work well for us but there are other things I haven't shared with you yet. These things are ways we make a small budget work for us and not feel like we are deprived. I share this with you as I am actually working on tweaking our budget to get it even tighter believe it or not :) My goal is to try to live on half our income, my first stop along the way will be living on just my husbands income and then trying to go down from there. This will NOT be easy but I really think you can do anything you want to if you believe, work hard and pray.
Anywho I digress..... the point of THIS blog post is to talk to you guys about how we save money in every way possible. You can actually check out 10 ways with the collab video I did on youtube here.

So here are some extra ways we save money. These are not all of them but they are some of the ones that save us the most.

Household items such as shampoo. soap, toothpaste, feminine products, toilet paper, lotions and etc. We don't ever buy anything like this without coupons. I usually go to Target or Walgreens to get all these kinds of products and I check thekrazycouponlady.com and hip2save.com every Sunday to look for the best deals when I need them. They do all the work for you and the sites are completely free! I can usually count on at least 1 good sale every month or so, I buy enough (or a little more if the budget allows) to get us through until the next sale. Sometimes I really luck out and can buy enough for months!

We give ourselves spending money. I know that sounds counter intuitive doesn't it? Trust me, if you leave no room for fun (or in my case bubble bars, bath bombs and coffee) in your budget you are headed for disaster. We tried the no spending money thing when we first started budgeting. Eric and I were so frustrated we blew our budget a LOT.

We take advantage of free days for museums, zoos, etc. We like to get out and do things as a family and we don't like to pay a lot of money to do it. We do our research and go to as many free events and free days as possible so we can have fun and not break the bank. The library is such a great resource for family friendly activities, I know I sound like a broken record but seriously! Story-time, crafts, movie nights so many fun free things to do at the library. They even have teen activities!

We shop yard sales. We look for almost everything at yard sales but especially clothes for us and the kids and toys. Xander does not care if the toy he has just gotten has been previously loved, just if it's fun! We try to go to neighborhood yard sales in very nice parts of town to get the best products. We buy furniture, small kitchen appliances and dishes, books, records you name it!

We don't have expensive hobbies, enough said :)

We participate in a program that pays us 60.00 a month. This was something I hesitated to talk about because the program is invite only and it appears it's now closed. However, it is a way we save or earn money. We participate in something called screenwise panel. They monitor your internet usage for google. You can sign up to earn a little (I think it's like 6.00 a month) a month by installing an app find out about it here. (Please note I am not affiliated with them, this is not a referral link I don't earn anything if you join. I'm just trying to help :)  )They pay us by visa gift cards which we use for a variety of things most of the time groceries sometimes for family nights. We receive the same amount as our internet costs a month, that  works out pretty well.

We live in a small house we can afford. Our house is very small for four people but we make it work! Luckily we have a finished room in the basement that we use as an extra bedroom. Living in 742 Sq feet helps me (the most disorganized person in the world possibly) to be organized. In a small place you really have to organize. It also helps us not overbuy. We have to think about most purchases before we buy them, do we have a place for it? We usually only buy things to replace something that has broken or been grown out of. Another way a small house helps us save is heating and cooling. Most people we know pay twice or three times what we pay for our gas and electric bill.

We only have one car. Yup, sometimes this is annoying. Honestly though? We are used to it and it doesn't bother us at all. It saves a ton on only doing maintenance and gas in one vehicle. Eric usually takes it to work and luckily enough for Xander and I there are just a ton of different places we can walk to including the library!Can you tell how much I love the library yet? ;)

I use swagbucks (<-----this one is a referral link I will get some points if you sign up.  Here is the regular link that is not a referral if  you would rather go that route)  to buy a lot of birthday and Christmas gifts. I turn my points in for amazon or target gift cards. It's a fantastic way to buy gifts without having to have it come out of your normal budget. I use a couple other survey sites to earn money for presents too (none of these are referral links) https://www.globaltestmarket.com/ , http://www.i-say.com/  and https://www.mysurvey.com .

We have a positive attitude. This one doesn't seem like a money saving tip, does it? It is! If you approach life with I an"I'm so happy we can do this" attitude rather than "I can't believe we can't do that "attitude it helps you stay on task, stay on budget and be HAPPY about it. I am not perfect and sometimes I have to stop my bad thinking in it's tracks. The best way I have found to do this is find 10 things I am grateful for. I can usually do this in less than 2 minutes, and I am back on track.
If your family can only afford to visit the local park rather than Disney world take the approach of I'm so happy we get to enjoy time together at the park, Disney World isn't going anywhere and some day I can get there. I CHOOSE to enjoy today rather than think of what I can't have. Happiness really is a choice, choose it! (read about the science of choosing happiness here)

Anyways guys if this helps in even the smallest way, it will have made my day. Tell me your ways you save money or ways you would like to start trying. Stay awesome!