Take a Step Towards Saving Money

This is a short but sweet way we save money in our family step-by-step.  My husband, like most men, owns only a few pairs of shoes and he wears them for years before buying new ones. He has his favorite pairs and he literally wears them to the ground.  Recently, he wore a hole through the bottom of his most favorite pair.: they are broken in, they have conformed to his foot, the rest of the shoe was worn, but nothing a little polish couldn't fix.  Instead of buying a new pair of them, which costs around $150, he took them to our cobbler.  Yes, we have a cobbler. It only cost $3.00 to get them fixed!  He even put a couple of holes in my belt for free!
Check in your area for a quality cobbler shop.  There are a lot of things they can do:   stretching shoes, fixing handbags, reconditioning leather, polishing shoes, fixing zippers, repairing straps, making adjustments to leather jackets, and more.
Total savings for this year: $150

Cheers! Here's to Saving Big Bucks for Wine Drinkers

Cheers! Clink.  I love a crisp white on hot days with cold grapes and a hunk of Vermont cheddar.  In cooler months, it is a warming red with dinner, by itself, or with a piece of dark chocolate while sitting on the couch in front of the fire.  My husband and I together, on average, drink 3 bottles of wine per week, depending on the week and depending on if we have company or are throwing a party.  For this instance, let's just stick with 3 bottles per week, or 12 bottles a month.

My favorite red is from Chocolate Box.  The first time I sipped it, I thought I had gone to grape heaven in a beautifully woven hand-basket.  The thing is, Chocolate Box costs around $20 per bottle, but it is so yummy! Since moving closer to the coastline, my white of choice is a lovely bottle of Beach House: a perfect "house" wine for us since we have gone from concrete to sand.  It has a more palatable price of only $10 per bottle.

Just for example's sake, let's say that we drink white May-September and red October-April.  Our white cost per year would be $600.  Our red consumption would add up to $1,680. Total Yearly Wine Purchases:  $2,280.

The simple solution, of course, is to cut back on drinking or to find a wine you like that costs less.  Let's start with cutting back. We looked at our consumption and cut back to 2 bottles per week.  If we stuck with our current wines of choice--Total Cost: $1520. Yearly Savings: $760.

OR we could find less expensive wines to drink on a regular basis while not cutting back.  Our friends introduced us to Black Box Wines.  I can hear the collective inhale:  yes, wine in a box.  Remember those from college years?  BUT Black Box Wines are good; the flavor is satisfying for weekly consumption and we actually enjoy them on special occasions as well.   Each box costs around $20 (yes, I said $20) and contains the equivalent of 3 bottles of wine.  It comes in a sleek, black box that fits nicely in a corner--whether on the counter, in a pantry or in the refrigerator for the whites.  With the bag sealing, the flavor lasts for up to four weeks.  There are more pluses: its box doesn't break when you transport it, it is lighter than 3 bottles of regular wine and it is recyclable.  If it isn't available at your local liquor store, ask them to order it (Sometimes you get a discount for buying cases.  Just ask.) or try to find it on line.  A couple of things to remember: some states do not allow the receiving of liquor through the mail and the cost of shipping.  If you look long enough, you may be able to find it with free shipping.  Total Cost: $960.  Yearly Savings:  $1,320.

Now,  IF we cut back to two bottles a week and drink Black Box Wines, our Total Cost:  $620 with a Yearly Savings: $1,660!

Now that is something to cheers about!  Lift those glasses!

Save Money While Cleaning Up

In my experience, the job title "Stay at Home Mom" is synonymous with "Cleaner of All Things Dirty."  One way I have learned to "earn" money by saving money is by cutting back on my paper towel usage.

It is easy to whip through several rolls per week without even thinking about it.  Is this mindless wiping?  In search of MY most favorite paper towel, I would have to say the quicker-picker-upper Bounty wins.  One does lasts through several wipes and you can rinse it out and use it again.  I couldn't believe how sturdy this paper towel was! You simply save money by not using as many.  I like to use the select your size type so you can use the smaller ones for little messes.

Which leads to an additional way to save money and "earn" yourself a little extra cash:  use cloth napkins and kitchen towels instead of paper towels. I try not to use paper towels unless it is obviously something that needs to go straight in the trash cash or will completely ruin my kitchen towels.

Let's start with the cloth napkins.  There are several ways to save on these if you don't already have some.  You can buy them from a consignment store or garage sale, buy them in bulk, or make your own all you crafty ladies.  If there are several people in your family, you can do something so everyone can tell them a part and use them more than once if possible.  I've tried several ways and all of them work great:  have a different colored napkin for each person, or a different napkin ring for each person, or have each person keep their napkin at their usual seat at the table, or have the names put on them. You can get white ones and have the family decorate their own with Sharpies!  At Linen Table Cloth, you can buy napkins in sets of twelve for as low as $6.69 for a dozen.  I've also purchased mine at Target  and Home Goods when they are on clearance.  BTW: I never iron mine!  What's the point?

Use your kitchen towels for everything else until you drive them into the ground! By far, my most favorite type of kitchen towel is the flour sack.  It is big, absorbent, sturdy, inexpensive, and I can bleach them.  I have about 2 dozen and use them to pick up spills, dry hands, as place mats for the kids, for washing and drying dishes, and cleaning off counter tops and out refrigerators---just about anything I would use a paper towel for.  I purchased mine on clearance at Target about two years ago and they are still ticking!  I also just found a set of a dozen for $16.99 at Amazon and they come with free shipping for a purchase of $25, so it is a good deal if you buy two sets.  (I have not tried this specific brand, but it has a  4 1/2 star rating).

Once you wade all through that, here is your total yearly savings on papers towels:
A bulk roll of 12 costs on average (without tax) $14, so each roll costs $1.17.  So, if I cut back and only use 1 roll per month instead of 10, I would save approximately $140.40 per year!