A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned- A Short Guide to Saving on Stuff You Buy Every Day

We all like to save money on things, because that means we will have more money to spend elsewhere, even if it is just to help with bills. But sometimes it just seems like a lot of work! Here is some awesome ways to do it that really work well and also can save you a lot of time.



You may want to save money, but it seems like it takes so much time to go through all the coupons and look for the best sales. Even signing up for the discount card at the local grocery store can be a bother of time consumption when you are tired or in a hurry to get home and relax for the first time that day. Let me show you why you might reconsider.

Consider if you spent 6 hours a week budgeting, searching for deals and sales, signing up for the discount cards at the grocery stores and printing good coupons that you would use in your next shopping trip. That is about one hour a day, or an hour and 15 minutes Monday through Friday. With the budget you have made for the week, and the deals, sales and coupons you have found, how much have you saved your family? In 6 hours you can get a lot accomplished, savings wise! It can easily equal $100-$200 depending on what you needed to get for your family that week, especially if you know where to look. We will get to that in a minute.

So you just spent 6 hours saving $100. What does that mean? It means you earned $16.60 an hour searching for ways to save money on the stuff you need that week. Not a bad income for a stay at home mom or dad! This is what is meant by "a penny saved is a penny earned".

Now that you are excited about saving money, where can you go to begin your 5-10 hours of "work" a week earning money for you family? You can start in the local ads, clipping coupons, by going to the big discount grocery stores, and shopping at consignment shops instead of the mall. Making a budget for you family can help you manage how much you spend on each thing you need without spending extra on stuff you will regret. Also, making a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack menu for the week or month and determining exactly what items you need from the grocery store is a great way to save money by knowing what you need and not getting extras you don't need.

When you have made a budget and a menu, complete with shopping list, here are some great places on the internet dedicated to saving tons of money for your family. Happy saving!

To save up to 90% on clothes:
Zulily, a site that host amazing sales from hundreds of different name brand womens and childrens brands. You will also find awesome sales on cosmetics, home decor, and more here.
ThredUp, a site that works like a clothing and toy exchange, except online and you do not have to give anything in order to get anything! You do have the option to give clothes or toys you don't use anymore if you want to make a little money from them, which is an added bonus.

To save an unlimited amount on groceries:
Coupons.com, where you can browse coupons by category or all at once to find coupons on the products you need, choosing which ones to print out together once you are done browsing and ready to go shopping.
(Be careful when searching for grocery coupons online. Most grocery coupon sites are spam, and will take your email and run. You are safer going to coupons.com or directly to the website of a specific product on your grocery list to see if they are offering a coupon.)

To save 50-90% on going out:
Groupon, a site that, to explain it easily, does the eqivalent of selling you gift cards to restaurants, spas, fun places to go, and more, for cheaper than the gift card amount. They call them vouchers, and you can often get $20 worth of something for $10 on Groupon.

To save 20-90% on gifts, shoes, electronics, and much more:
Savings.com, a place that tells you all the latest sales and coupons codes for shopping the internet. They also have printable coupons and let you know about in-store deals as well. You choose what you would like to save on, and they send you the latest deals and coupons on those products and brands.
Jasmere,  a website similar to Groupon, but with a little different spin. They focus on up and coming websites that they think people don't yet know about but would really enjoy and find useful, and they give you a great deal on it. A fantastic and very interesting place to save money.