I think sometimes you have to spend a little to save a lot.
I bought a hot air popcorn popper today. It was $15 and for 2 lbs. of popcorn it was another $2. We go through so much microwave popcorn! We will honestly recoup the invenstment in less than 3 months.
I also spent $8 to buy the Not Just Beans cookbook. In the week that I have had it from the library I have used the simple, from scratch recipes 6 times saving me the inflated cost of items such as frosting, cookies, and pizza. I must also factor in the impulse items I did not buy from not making extra trips to the store.
Which leads me to the next way I am going to try to save more-stocking up on sales. So far this summer we have gone to or hosted a BBQ at least once a week. I am going to start stocking up when the stores have sales on things we cook and take regularly. Also on the meals we often choose to cook at Bear Lake.
I was also thinking about my Costco membership. As much milk as my Monkey's drink, I am pretty insistent on organic milk. Costco has organic milk so much cheaper than anywhere else. I save my membership just in milk within 6 months. Nevermind the savings on bananas, eggs, cheese, organic lettuce mix, spinach and diapers.
Another great example is going to the dentist regularly. Because Big Rich is self-employed and I stay home, we don't have dental insurance. Our agreement was to take the kids every six months and go ourselves every year. Well, one year leads to another and we hadn't been in 3 years. As a result, Big Rich has one cavity, I have 2 and Elder Monkey had one. Big Rich also needs a root canal. We are looking at about $1200 in dental work. I am sure the cost of regular dental visits over time pays by eliminating expensive dental work.
I'm sure there are lots of other ways to save money by investing a little up front. I'm trying to keep this in mind when I go over the $100 I have budgeted each week for spending. I may give myself a little more wiggle room to try to "snowball" my savings, even if I go over budget some weeks. According to Amy D, it will bring my monthly spending down in the long run.
Spending Money to Save Money
June 15th, 2006 at 08:41 pm
June 15th, 2006 at 09:53 pm 1150408414
June 15th, 2006 at 11:12 pm 1150413124
June 16th, 2006 at 12:36 am 1150418165
All survived, the budget benefitted and no one even complained. The biggest change was no more cold cereal. That was a bigger event all round!
June 16th, 2006 at 12:53 pm 1150462400
June 16th, 2006 at 03:05 pm 1150470308
Our Costco is about 8 - 10 miles from home and in the opposite direction of everywhere else I seem to go, but I'll make a trip over there in the near future to see what they have. I never would have thought about checking there for organics - thanks for the tip!