One of the things I stress in my seminars is that frugal living is not about doing less – its about doing more! When you aren’t passing all of your hard earned money over to the cashier at your local grocery store you have more money for fun! We are in the process of making our own patio this spring. We’re removing an old above ground pool, digging up the ground and placing in stones that I scored completely FREE. I want this to be a really fun place where my kids can roast marshmallows in the fire put, swing on the swings, or jump on a trampoline. Now I already have patio furniture but I don’t a picnic table or trampoline. To keep costs down for this new expense we’re purchasing gift cards on sale this week at ACME (I belive Safeway has the same or similar sale & many other stores too). For every $100.00 I purchase in select gift cards, we’ll receive a coupon for a $20.00 at ACME. That means I can stock up on groceries and it just makes this deal a little bit sweeter! So…. My $500.00 some dollar trampoline at Toys R Us will come with $100.00 in FREE groceries at my local ACME and my picnic table ($88.00 at Lowes) will come with another $20.00 to the grocery store. I’m always looking for a deal and I think I found a great one with this promotion. To top that off, we charged our gift cards on our Rewards Visa so we’ll also be gaining rewards that we can use for perks. I charge everything I do, including my electric bill, groceries, gas, braces for my kids etc. I alwasy pay it off at the end of every month faithfully. Last year I accumulated enough points for $300.00 in Toys R Us gift cards and $300.00 in Home Depot gift crds. It completely paid for Christmas gifts for my youngest 2 kids and paid for the materials to do a self renovation on our play room.
These are just some of the ways you can think out of the box and make frugal living work for you. Have fun this summer – set your savings goals and decide what you’re planning to do with your new found riches! Keep couponing~It really will change your life!
That’s a great idea! We hope to me moving into a new home soon and buying the Lowe’s gift cards at Acme now makes perfect sense! Thanks for the tip!
You have to use the $20.00 off pretty quick so I’m just planning a big shop and I’ll stock up and put stuff in the freezer etc. Its a great way to save that most people would never think of!!!