| Description | Amount Saved Per Year | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Making my own household cleaners |
$130
|
| 2 | Using Soap nuts instead of laundry detergent |
$12
|
| 3 | Using vinegar instead of fabric softener |
$9
|
| 4 | Using the Cartwheel app (Target) |
$32
|
| 5 | Using the Target Red Card (5% off) |
$77
|
| 6 | Using couponing apps: iBotta |
$130
|
| 7 | Using couponing apps: MobiSave |
$5
|
| 8 | Using couponing apps: Checkout51 |
$17
|
| 9 | Using couponing apps: Ebates |
$45
|
| 10 | Using couponing apps: Coupon Cabin |
$32
|
| 11 | Using coupons & Store Rewards |
$500+
|
12
|
Baking my own bread |
$104
|
| 13 | Making my own yogurt |
$58
|
| 14 | Making coffee drinks at home |
$1,017
|
| 15 | Cooking with dried beans vs. canned |
$47
|
| 16 | Making my own soup stock |
$80
|
| 17 | Making homemade Granola vs. Store bought cereal |
$50
|
| 18 | Switching to Scott 1000 TP (& buying from CostCo) |
$230
|
| 19 | Brown bagging our lunches | $1,250 |
| 20 | Switching Internet companies | $480 |
| 21 | Buying used modem instead of renting from TWC | $120 |
| 22 | Buying instant brown rice in Bulk | $32 |
| 23 | Buying peanut butter from CostCo rather than Target | $15 |
| 24 | Limiting our eating out budget to $50/month | $1,200 |
| 25 | Using GasBuddy app to find cheapest gas | $18 |
| 26 | Having an accountant do our taxes** | $1,600+ |
| 27 | Buying real (organic) maple syrup from CostCo vs. grocery store | $32 |
| 28 | Using knit wash cloths rather than sponges | $13 |
| 29 | Keeping our old cell phones and not upgrading | $300 |
| 30 | Asking for a discount on our current cell phone service | $264 |
| 31 | Reducing our grocery budget by $200 / month (we were paying almost $500 / month) | $2,400 |
| 32 | Using the Fetch rewards app (uploading receipts for points towards Amazon, Target, or Wal-mart gift cards) | $12 |
| 33 | Down-grading Netflix to one streaming device | $24 |
| 34 | Designating one month as a no-grocery month & eating from the pantry | $200 |
Total Savings:
|
$10,535 |
**Seriously. I'd been doing our taxes for the last 5 years (via Turbo Tax), thinking we were saving money by buying $60 software vs. paying someone else to do our taxes. Whenever I did the taxes, no matter what I did, we usually had to pay between $1,500-$3,000 to the IRS. When we had an accountant do our taxes, even though we had to pay him $450, we ended up getting a significant refund.
The Little Monthly Savings List:
I keep a running list each month of the little things I've actively done to save money. Most of the savings listed in the Monthly Savings List are small or one time savings—coupons, diy repairs, splitting meals when we eat out, turning off the lights, etc. That said, some of the monthly things overlap with the above list, mainly because I'm just not organized enough to line item everything and separate them (sorry, just not gonna' happen). So you can either do the lazy math and add the two totals together and assume that that's *about* how much we saved over the course of the year, or not.
| Month | Amount Saved | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 2017 |
$86
|
| 2 | February 2017 |
$0
|
| 3 | March 2017 |
$540
|
| 4 | April 2017 |
$657
|
| 5 | May 2017 |
$501
|
| 6 | June 2017 |
$423
|
| 7 | July 2017 |
$476
|
| 8 | August 2017 |
$374
|
| 9 | September 2017 |
$318
|
10
|
October 2017 |
$1,440
|
| 11 | November 2017 |
$519
|
| 12 | December 2017 |
$222
|
Total Savings:
|
$5,556 |
