Saving Monies

A couple people have asked me what Nate and I do to save money (other than budget like crazy people) so I thought I would do a post about it. None of it is rocket science. Not even close. We don’t do one or two big things to save a lot of money. It’s the combination of many little things that add up. I’m sure we do more than this, but here is a short list:

• Make our own dog treats. Nate and I are pretty picky when it comes to the treats that Mazi gets—we would only buy treats that had a few ingredients that were actual food, so they were more expensive than your average Milk Bone. I looked up some recipes on Pinterest and started making dog treats. Even though I have to spend some time making them, we are saving money and I know exactly what is in the pup’s treats.
• Make my own individual oatmeal packets. I love bringing oatmeal to work for lunch. Call me weird. A couple months ago I started buying big canisters of oatmeal and making my own “packets.” I put a half cup of oatmeal, a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, and then either some pecans, almonds, or cranberries.
• Sunday dinners at my parent’s house. My parents like to have big dinners sometimes on Sundays. It’s such a win! We don’t meal plan for weekends, it’s yummy food (think full Thanksgiving style food, for real), we get to catch up, and we get leftovers for lunch. Score!
• No cable. Nate and I didn’t have cable for over a year, but gave in and got it a couple months ago. But then we cancelled it. It’s expensive and you get caught up watching stupid shows. Sure, sometimes we want to watch shows that are on cable, but we get over it.
• Make do with what we have. For example, our sheets have ripped twice; therefore, I’ve sewed them twice.
• Buy store brands. I used to be one of those people who always bought name brands because I didn’t think the store brands were as good. For some things I still buy name brands because they are indeed better quality, but I’ve found that many store brands are just as good if not better than name brands. Sorry I’m being general, but you know what I mean. 
• Keeping track of what we spend at the grocery store. I do a menu plan for two weeks and put all the food we need on a list on my phone. Nate uses his phone to add up all the items we get at the grocery store to make sure we don't go over our $110.00 budget for food every two weeks. If we go over, we put something back. It's that simple. 

There you have it. What do you guys do to save money?