Invitation to Share your Money Savings Story
I recently received a money savings story from one of my readers and wanted to share it with you. I'm always so happy to hear from you with your compliments and eagerness to read more about money saving ideas and tips.
I thought what a great idea to ask my readers to share their money savings story for others to enjoy and learn from your skills of managing a household budget. You can email your story to me and I will post it here for others to read. I hope you enjoy this story from Noemi in Canada.
Hi Sherrykins,
I have also my money saving story to share with others that’s why I am writing to you. I can’t share that story without saying how much a lot of good skills and qualities as a good housewife I have thanks to the example of my Mum. She is a very hard-working person and she can do a lot of things when it comes to running the household properly and using the money she has to use (nothing on credit). Because I moved to Canada two years ago I had to adjust myself to different new circumstances and conditions I had to start doing a good job right from the start with a bigger and bigger success. It took me some time to figure out some things but now I think I keep on doing pretty well now. When I moved in to a new country to live with my husband I didn’t start working right away and it wasn’t caused by my unwillingness (other factors have to be considered like being a foreigner and having foreign credentials). So we lived on one income plus my husband was paying back some debts. I wanted to help my husband by being a smart frugal housewife so we would be able to cover all the expenses we had but of course without big extravagance. I didn’t want to be guilty of pushing us into a bigger hole. So I asked my husband to let me be responsible for the grocery budget. He let me do that and I think that gave me a lot of confidence when I realized that I kept doing pretty well and my smart money choices were giving us a lot of positive things. I felt like I was in control and it was very good. Plus I started going around the new city I started living in and I would say that it was a positive thing too.
So these are my tips I would like to share with others and I hope that they can help others too. I don’t feel like I have discovered America doing certain things but maybe they still can be helpful and fresh for some of us. I am a young person but due to my family background and a good example of my Mum I was able to start right from the beginning and being aware of different things when it comes to running a household was helpful too. But I am still modest and learn even more because probably always there is some room for improvement in different aspects of our lives. So I keep on doing good things and learning on my or others’ mistakes.
First I was using cash for my expenditure but at some point I was able to apply for the credit card with an additional bonus of collecting the points I could use for my groceries just because I was using the card. I actually prefer not to worry about having cash by me or going to the bank to take it out from the bank machine (plus it looks like sometimes banks are not located conveniently and they even charge you extra for certain things). But because I have ‘plastic’ money it doesn’t mean for me that I will go crazy and start spending in a compulsive way. I am very far from that attitude. I am very meticulous about certain things and money would be such a thing for me. So I set a certain budget for my household. I tried to be realistic about it but at the same time quite flexible if necessary. I have grouped my budget into categories: Dairy, Vegetables, Fruit, Meat, Ready Food and Others. In each category I have foreseen the amount money I can spend in so this way I have my subcategories budgets. And I created a kind of table with each category, sums and so on. First I was doing that manually and using a piece of paper and calculator. Then I came up with something more efficient. I have created the same table in Excel and I put all necessary formulas so the program calculates numbers for me. I keep my eye on the general budget limit, particular categories, and my credit card expenses. Every time I buy something I enter particular item in the proper category, the general sum of the receipt. Thanks to formulas I set for myself entering one or two things I know how much money is on my credit card, how much I spent in a certain categories, how much money has been spent from the budget and how much is still left. Even if you have a few receipts it still works pretty fast for me and I know what is going on in my budget and on my card. I keep all my receipts, just in case.
About my shopping habits and things I keep doing in my household. I have found a lot of your shared information interesting but I guess I still have something to share.
I know basically all the prices of the products I shop for so I am aware what is in a good price or not. When I receive the store flyers I go through them to find out what they have on sale and what I am interested in. I make a list of the stores and the products I want to shop for there. I am mostly focused on the products I use on regular basis or things I can stock. I always check the expiry date so I know if I can buy more or just a little as I know how much I can use in a certain time without wasting my money and food.
It seems that meat is one of the most expensive products on my list of food but I have learnt to buy meat in good deals even if normally it is very expensive and I wouldn’t be able to afford it. So I buy in bulk, portion the meat and freeze it. I am usually able to buy enough to the next time when something is on sale again. I am willing to clean the meat from bones and skin to be able to save money. I know that bones and skin will end in the garbage but it is still much cheaper to do that instead buying the clean chicken breasts for example. I was also willing to grind my meat when I realized that if I do that it will be cheaper when bought already grinned by the store. I skipped that convenience but I save the money. I sometimes also buy non sliced deli meat and I slice it myself and that save quite a lot of money or even prepare my own meat if possible in order to save the money. I never buy bread crumbs as I prepare my own both using some dried bread leftovers or even buying bread on sale and drying it as it turns to be cheaper to do that this way than to buy a container of already prepared bread crumbs. I buy vegetables I use a lot in bulk and that prevent overpaying – like onions and potatoes.
I buy in bulk and stock things I need for my bathroom (toilet paper, soap sometimes shampoo and deodorants if I see them in a good price) or doing the laundry (fabric softener, laundry detergent – powder or liquid) so I never really have to buy anything in a regular full price and these things won’t go bad. I do the same with the face tissues, paper towels and dish soap.
I have observed that some things come on sale from time to time while others never. That means that for some things I simply have to pay a regular price unless something is in season and that’s why cheaper. These that keep coming back I simply restock trying to buy much enough till the next sale so I don’t have to pay the full price on these products.
Sometimes I wait until I see some things on sale. It also happens to me if I want to try a new product (rather to me than really new on the market) I will buy it on sale to check how it is like. That’s the best occasion to try it in a reduced price. If I don’t like it at least I haven’t spent more money on that than I could have. So the loss is for sure smaller.
We rarely eat out and always cook fresh meals and that’s for sure save huge money. We don’t buy take out or order food over the phone. A few times instead of ordering e.g. pizza for about $30 we just went to the store and made ourselves a kind of shopping spree for this amount of money we wanted to spend on that pizza, buying things we usually don’t buy but feel like eating/ trying. You would be surprised how much these 30 dollars are worth of. Much more than just this pizza and drinks.
My budget for a month is CAN $250 and I can say that I can buy within this sum everything I need and re-stock my pantry. It is never like that I spent these 250 dollars and I am left with nothing at the end of the month. There are plenty of things for the next month or even longer. I have to shop smart and for sure not in one store but I think I couldn’t do it better. I am selective shopper and will shop even for a certain thing in a certain store, trying not to be distracted.
I keep the same good habits even now when I work so our financial situation is getting better and better. This year we will be able to pay all our debt back apart from our mortgage but this was unavoidable and start thinking about smart savings.
Keep posting interesting articles and advice so a lot of people will be able to live better financial life.
Noemi
I thought what a great idea to ask my readers to share their money savings story for others to enjoy and learn from your skills of managing a household budget. You can email your story to me and I will post it here for others to read. I hope you enjoy this story from Noemi in Canada.
Hi Sherrykins,
I have also my money saving story to share with others that’s why I am writing to you. I can’t share that story without saying how much a lot of good skills and qualities as a good housewife I have thanks to the example of my Mum. She is a very hard-working person and she can do a lot of things when it comes to running the household properly and using the money she has to use (nothing on credit). Because I moved to Canada two years ago I had to adjust myself to different new circumstances and conditions I had to start doing a good job right from the start with a bigger and bigger success. It took me some time to figure out some things but now I think I keep on doing pretty well now. When I moved in to a new country to live with my husband I didn’t start working right away and it wasn’t caused by my unwillingness (other factors have to be considered like being a foreigner and having foreign credentials). So we lived on one income plus my husband was paying back some debts. I wanted to help my husband by being a smart frugal housewife so we would be able to cover all the expenses we had but of course without big extravagance. I didn’t want to be guilty of pushing us into a bigger hole. So I asked my husband to let me be responsible for the grocery budget. He let me do that and I think that gave me a lot of confidence when I realized that I kept doing pretty well and my smart money choices were giving us a lot of positive things. I felt like I was in control and it was very good. Plus I started going around the new city I started living in and I would say that it was a positive thing too.
So these are my tips I would like to share with others and I hope that they can help others too. I don’t feel like I have discovered America doing certain things but maybe they still can be helpful and fresh for some of us. I am a young person but due to my family background and a good example of my Mum I was able to start right from the beginning and being aware of different things when it comes to running a household was helpful too. But I am still modest and learn even more because probably always there is some room for improvement in different aspects of our lives. So I keep on doing good things and learning on my or others’ mistakes.
First I was using cash for my expenditure but at some point I was able to apply for the credit card with an additional bonus of collecting the points I could use for my groceries just because I was using the card. I actually prefer not to worry about having cash by me or going to the bank to take it out from the bank machine (plus it looks like sometimes banks are not located conveniently and they even charge you extra for certain things). But because I have ‘plastic’ money it doesn’t mean for me that I will go crazy and start spending in a compulsive way. I am very far from that attitude. I am very meticulous about certain things and money would be such a thing for me. So I set a certain budget for my household. I tried to be realistic about it but at the same time quite flexible if necessary. I have grouped my budget into categories: Dairy, Vegetables, Fruit, Meat, Ready Food and Others. In each category I have foreseen the amount money I can spend in so this way I have my subcategories budgets. And I created a kind of table with each category, sums and so on. First I was doing that manually and using a piece of paper and calculator. Then I came up with something more efficient. I have created the same table in Excel and I put all necessary formulas so the program calculates numbers for me. I keep my eye on the general budget limit, particular categories, and my credit card expenses. Every time I buy something I enter particular item in the proper category, the general sum of the receipt. Thanks to formulas I set for myself entering one or two things I know how much money is on my credit card, how much I spent in a certain categories, how much money has been spent from the budget and how much is still left. Even if you have a few receipts it still works pretty fast for me and I know what is going on in my budget and on my card. I keep all my receipts, just in case.
About my shopping habits and things I keep doing in my household. I have found a lot of your shared information interesting but I guess I still have something to share.
I know basically all the prices of the products I shop for so I am aware what is in a good price or not. When I receive the store flyers I go through them to find out what they have on sale and what I am interested in. I make a list of the stores and the products I want to shop for there. I am mostly focused on the products I use on regular basis or things I can stock. I always check the expiry date so I know if I can buy more or just a little as I know how much I can use in a certain time without wasting my money and food.
It seems that meat is one of the most expensive products on my list of food but I have learnt to buy meat in good deals even if normally it is very expensive and I wouldn’t be able to afford it. So I buy in bulk, portion the meat and freeze it. I am usually able to buy enough to the next time when something is on sale again. I am willing to clean the meat from bones and skin to be able to save money. I know that bones and skin will end in the garbage but it is still much cheaper to do that instead buying the clean chicken breasts for example. I was also willing to grind my meat when I realized that if I do that it will be cheaper when bought already grinned by the store. I skipped that convenience but I save the money. I sometimes also buy non sliced deli meat and I slice it myself and that save quite a lot of money or even prepare my own meat if possible in order to save the money. I never buy bread crumbs as I prepare my own both using some dried bread leftovers or even buying bread on sale and drying it as it turns to be cheaper to do that this way than to buy a container of already prepared bread crumbs. I buy vegetables I use a lot in bulk and that prevent overpaying – like onions and potatoes.
I buy in bulk and stock things I need for my bathroom (toilet paper, soap sometimes shampoo and deodorants if I see them in a good price) or doing the laundry (fabric softener, laundry detergent – powder or liquid) so I never really have to buy anything in a regular full price and these things won’t go bad. I do the same with the face tissues, paper towels and dish soap.
I have observed that some things come on sale from time to time while others never. That means that for some things I simply have to pay a regular price unless something is in season and that’s why cheaper. These that keep coming back I simply restock trying to buy much enough till the next sale so I don’t have to pay the full price on these products.
Sometimes I wait until I see some things on sale. It also happens to me if I want to try a new product (rather to me than really new on the market) I will buy it on sale to check how it is like. That’s the best occasion to try it in a reduced price. If I don’t like it at least I haven’t spent more money on that than I could have. So the loss is for sure smaller.
We rarely eat out and always cook fresh meals and that’s for sure save huge money. We don’t buy take out or order food over the phone. A few times instead of ordering e.g. pizza for about $30 we just went to the store and made ourselves a kind of shopping spree for this amount of money we wanted to spend on that pizza, buying things we usually don’t buy but feel like eating/ trying. You would be surprised how much these 30 dollars are worth of. Much more than just this pizza and drinks.
My budget for a month is CAN $250 and I can say that I can buy within this sum everything I need and re-stock my pantry. It is never like that I spent these 250 dollars and I am left with nothing at the end of the month. There are plenty of things for the next month or even longer. I have to shop smart and for sure not in one store but I think I couldn’t do it better. I am selective shopper and will shop even for a certain thing in a certain store, trying not to be distracted.
I keep the same good habits even now when I work so our financial situation is getting better and better. This year we will be able to pay all our debt back apart from our mortgage but this was unavoidable and start thinking about smart savings.
Keep posting interesting articles and advice so a lot of people will be able to live better financial life.
Noemi
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