Saving Money

I’ve gotten some great deals at our local discount stores lately. I came home with an entire cart full, underneath t with 4 cases of Zavia for only a $1 each and we still carried eggs at a dollar a flat and 50 pounds of onions.  Here’s How you can get great deals discount store shopping too. too.

Different Kinds of discount Stores

I shop at several kinds of discount stores. I’ve found clothing, furniture and groceries depending on where I go. And knick knacks. Definitely, too many knick knacks.

Thrift Shops

You can shop at Goodwill or Salvation Army for clothing, dishes, artwork, bedding and so much more. Don’t forget to check out churches that have stores in your area too. Some may have limited hours but usually great deals.

Home Goods

Habitat for Humanity had Restores where they sell house furnishings and things to make your home better. I’ve had great deal on rugs there. hey regularly get hotel furnishings like headboards and nightstands. Office furnishings like desks are plentiful and even appliances. They also have boxes of flooring that are usually new. Just buy extra because when you go back it probably won’t be there.

Grocery Discount Stores

These are my favorite. Probably because I buy more groceries than furniture or clothes. You need to know normal sales prices in your area because sometimes the prices at the discount store as in your regular grocery store. But you can find tremendous deals. I just found out that our discount grocery store marks produce down on Friday afternoons. They are only open half day on Saturdays and not open again till Tuesday. So I got aparagus for $1 a case and strawberries at $1 a flat.

Tips for Shopping at Discount stores

Buy now if you want it. It’s not like department stores where they’ll get another shipment in. And it probably won’t be there when you go back.

Buy extra if its there for a project but…

Returns

Check their return policy. Some places they have a no returns, some have store credit only. You need to find out when you buy it.

Budget

Set a budget. There are some days I sdee so many great deals I would definitely go overboard on my spending. need a budget amount I can spend. Now, I also save it if I don’t find anything there for the next time.

Days and Times

Know your hours and days. Most discount stores have more limited hours than regular stores. So always check ahead.

Learn Their Sales Cycle

Learn their sales patterns. Goodwill always have half off dsys. Salvation Army has different sale days by category. So if you want a certain category go on that day. Leqrn when they mark down items, like the grocery discount above where they mark down produce on Friday. I do that in regular stores also by asking when they mark down their meats.

Make list

Make a list of what you are looking for. It’s great to browse and fihd great deals but you may end up with a lot of things you don’t need just because it was so cheap. Like I have 20 cans of coconut milk in my cupboard when they were 5 for a dollar. Then I looked up recipes. But make sure you find what’s on your list first and then add in those great buys.

Be Flexible

And although it seems to be counter to the last tip, you need to be flexible. Because you never know when you can get strawberries for $1 a flat.

Have a Space for it

It’s no good to buy all these great deals if you don’t have a place to put it. I have seen so many deals I’ve had to pass up because  I just don’t have room. Even worse, I’ve had stuff spoil because I didn’t have as much freezer room as I thought. But I have bought things in mind by just giving them away. I’ve gotten things so cheap even with what we gave away what we had left was still cheap and I was able to bless others.  Tuesday we got a box of 20 pounds of doughnuts for $2! I was able to give more than half away and we still have a great treat!

Pray before you go.

I pray over my list and ask God to help me use our money in the best way possible. I know I have been blessed many times because of it.

There you go. Many more ways to save money. How many of you have used discount stored? Please put which is your favorite in the comments below. Or put your greatest find there.

Meal Planning

I actually love to meal planning. I have all kinds of meal plans, including 6 weeks of Trim Healthy Mama meals plans, 2 months worth of Weight Watcher meal plans, not to mention all the meal plans I have previously made. My problem is follow through. I love to make meal plans but I don’t follow it. Part of it is that doesn’t sound good today  Sometimes I lose them or forget to check it.  A lot of it is lack of discipline but I think most of it is just because I learned it differently.

Organize

In my previous post Cutting Cost in the Kitchen – Meats    I talked about following sales cycles and buying meat for rock bottom prices. Now I know I have more freezer space than the average person and right now they’re messy. I try and straighten them out about once a month but it’s been about 3 due to surgery. I have 2 fridges with small freezers on the top and a small chest freezer that I hate. What I really want an upright freezer since they would be so much easier to organize. In my mind, it is always looks organized and styled with pretty bins and I can find everything. But since I don’t have one, I keep an inventory list. I keep a list with boxes with a line through it for inventory and had a line to make an x when I use it. Then,  I add in boxes or a new line with the item when I buy more. I also keep ( what is actually for photos) a book with index cards for meals. I use this for my kind of meal planning.

My KInd of Plan

As I said I don’t plan anymore in the traditional sense but I do plan ahead. I keep freezer inventory of main dishes and meats since that’s what we use for dinner. I have my little “photo planner” that is filled with index cards. My first one says menu plan. Serve 1 main dish category, salad, side or starch, vegetable,  and bread. Now, this may seem excessive to you. In fact, I am trying to serve less and simplify a lot of things this year and am starting with this. I was taught this by my grandmother and she was a farmers wife. And the menu for thrashing parties and hay balers was twice as much. But we don’t need to eat like farm hands.  I saw Gordon Ramsey’s Ultimate Home Cooking on Hulu. He only serves 2-3 dishes per meal. And he’s a chef!!  So I decided if he did that small for meals I could at least try to do that also.

Menu Index Book

My menu index card also has “suggestions” for each day of the week. Example- Monday-Chicken; Tuesday- Pork or Fish; Wednesday- Italian; Thursday- Mexican; Friday is Pizza and movie night; Saturday we try and do a big breakfast, the same with Sunday. Saturday is beef for supper and Sunday dinner is chicken, usually something in the crockpot. For lunch or supper on the weekend that I don’t make a big meal, we usually have leftovers or soup. I make a big pot on the weekend and freeze the rest so we can always have soup. I have 4 different kinds in my freezer now.

Anyway, I have index cards for categories with our family favorites in each.

Salads

Main Dish Salads

Soups

Sandwiches

Lunches

Snacks

Sides

Bread

Chicken

Italian

Mexican

Beef

Pork

Fish

The last cards are for hospitality. And I covered that here.

 

Daily Meal Routine

So then that day, while I’m cooking dinner, I think about the next day. And I pull out of the freezer whatever I want for the next day. Then I cross it off my list. Somedays the children pull what they want for the next night. I do have a plan as listed above that I sometimes follow but I have the flexibility to change.  I keep both my pantry and my freezer stocked so that I can plan meals from the staples and meals I have in there. Since I have the main ingredients it makes it easier. Now I know doing this all at the beginning of the week would probably be the smartest thing to do. I have read books on meal planning.  I know it makes sense. But if you’re like me and have trouble following it, try this way of “planning”.

What do you do for meal planning?