Being thrifty can mean different things to different people. Some people have a lifestyle that is well above their means, and when they see a sale they will go and buy all the stuff they can, but is this always the best? Buying cloths or food on sale can be a good thing when you need these things. I will take my budget for example, Me and my wife have 2 kids and as kids grow they outgrow their cloths (it feels like every month). Well if you have ever bought kids cloths it can be as expensive to buy them clothes as it is to buy yourself cloths. I budget for about $75 every few months to get them new clothes. When we first started a budget we got excited that we were able to put money away just for clothes but when we went to the store that we usually shop for we realized quickly that $75 dollars did not last long even when there was a sale. We needed to find a different way to find the kids new clothes without shopping a thrift store. I felt that if we needed to I would buy my own cloths at a thrift store but i wanted better for my kids so I wouldn't do that to them. Well after a little research and talking to other people who have kids, we found what we were looking for. There was a kids store that sold clothes from newborn to about 10 year old, the best part is that you could sell your kids old clothes and get money or store credit. Not all of the clothes in the store had been worn before, some still had the tags on it, and all of the clothes were very discounted. $75 never lasted so long. This store also sold toys, car seats, bikes and all the other things that kids want or need. Some people, like myself, get skeptical about places like this, but after trying it i understood that i was buying my kids better clothes than if I had bought them on sale at a department store.
Food is one of those things that you have to live with and when you go shopping you get to the check out and the bill adds up and your only thought is, well we have to eat so i have to spend a little more. Most people when making a budget and sticking to it forget this part, making better shopping lists for the grocery store. Im sure you all have seen the TV show "Extreme Couponing" I watched this show and took notes. But soon found out that if i was going to save like these people do I would need to quit my job and do that full time. So I took some of the ideas they used and applied them were I could. My wife started to clip coupons and we told our family that if they aren't using and coupons that when we see them if they could give us their magazines. newspapers and coupon packs that they got. After a few months of trial and error, we were able to save a lot on food and body care products. We also started shopping at places that accepted manufacture coupons, this helped because if can be stacked on the stores coupons. On top of all of this we started to buy the store brand food, which is a very big difference even if you didn't use coupons.
Im going to talk about things that I pay full price for (but always look for deals). I might be tight with my money but when you start to budget and see what money you are saving, then you will hesitate to buy things that you once looked at and didn't think twice about. But there are still somethings that I didn't want to buy store brand. My poison was toilet paper and underwear. My wife asked why do you need to care its the same thing, well I didn't think so, plus when you are budgeting you are going to want to buy some of your old stuff. With this being said, you need to understand that you cant say this about everything or you will not be budgeting. If you can live with store brand everything like my wife then great you wont have any problems. But remember not to get out of hand with this. If you happen to be in the military or have access to go the commissary then do so.
I hope this gives you some ideas on saving more money. If you have any questions or have anymore ideas let me know at Thetightdollar@gmail.com and dont forget to follow me on Twitter at @Thetightdollar for more ideas and saving tips.
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