Here are some of the things we did last week to save money:
1. Made homemade pizza and dessert for Family Game Night
We had a subpar pizza experience this time due to a new brand of flour, which yielded a really thick dough, but everyone ate it anyways and we finished up with homemade oatmeal candy.
2. Lowered our electric bill by $50
We heat with wood downstairs, but use wall heaters upstairs during the winter. I have found if we only turn the heaters on after 7pm and turn them off around 3 am, we still stay toasty and our electric bill is considerably lower this way too.
3. Upgraded our guinea pig house
We have a really chubby guinea pig named Waffles that knocks her house over all of the time because she likes to jump when she is scared. To solve this problem, we have been putting a small hand weight on top of the house, which has worked out fine, but I have always feared that it will somehow roll off and crush the poor little darling! I really did not want to spend $20 on a new guinea pig house when technically the one we already had was just fine, but luckily we saw a really big one at the thrift store for just $1.99 and scooped it up:)
4. Bought used children’s books
I picked up four used children’s books this week for only $1.75. Whenever I come across a book that is both in great condition and one we have really loved, I always pick it up and add it to my gift stash that I collect throughout the year to give to my neices and nephews for birthday/Christmas gifts. They always love the variety and I know they are really great stories because my kids have read them again and again.
5. Found a dry dog food that our dog will actually eat!!!
This was probably the best money saving thing I have done all week. Our beloved dog, Sadie, had been sick for a few weeks and would only eat small amounts of soft foods at a time. We finally got her to eat again by offering wet dog food, but that was quickly getting expensive when her appetite came back, so we tried to switch her back to her favorite dry food to no success. This past week, I came upon a small bag of Gravy Train dog food that apparently makes its own gravy when water is added, so I decided to try that….it worked! She was a little unhappy at first because she thought it was dry dog food but then she realized it had a gravy coating on it and promptly gobbled it up:)
So what have you been doing to save money lately?
The Thrifty Educator 