5 Ways We Saved in May

I love learning new ways to save money!  Because of this, I eagerly devour posts in blogs like My Mother Mode and Frugally Blonde where they share how they saved money that month.  So I thought I would start a monthly feature in which I gave practical examples of how our family saves money each month.

Here goes!  5 Ways We Saved in May:

Deer Meat Instead of Ground Beef

Can you believe the price of ground beef right now?  Yikes!  We don’t eat a lot of meat-heavy meals in our house, but even adding ground beef to spaghetti or casseroles is getting expensive.  Instead we have been using ground venison as a substitute for ground beef.  A few months ago a wonderful friend and co-worker generously gave us nearly a whole freezer full of venison.  Her uncle is a hunter, and they had more meat than they could use.  I offered to pay, but she wouldn’t hear of it.  So, we have been enjoying our free meat!

Savings:  $40 (if we eat 1-2 meals with beef per week when beef is around $7 a pound here)

Mend Instead of Throw Away

I am by no means a skilled seamstress.  I don’t even own a sewing machine.  However, I can thread a needle and mend tears in clothing or sew on buttons.  This simple skill (which virtually anyone can learn) has saved us hundreds over the years.  This month I sewed two tears in Big Brother’s bedspread.  It took a total of 30 minutes, and now the bedspread should last for a couple more years!

Savings: $50 (the cost of a new bedspread of equal quality)

Strawberries in Season

One of the best ways to save on groceries is to eat produce when it is in season.  Here in Virginia, it is strawberry season.  A pound of strawberries in the grocery store is running between $1.50 and $2.00.  We also went to a local pick-your-own patch and stocked up on their organic, locally grown strawberries.  Plus, a friend at church had more strawberries growing on his property than he could eat, so he let us come pick at his place!  It has been a delicious month at our house.  🙂

Savings: $20 (the fruit portion of our grocery bill has been at least $5 lower each week than we budget for)

Hand-Me-Down Clothes

My wonderful mother-in-law purchased an entire box of little girl’s clothing from a lady at her church for $20.  She sent it to us for Sister’s summer wardrobe.  Hurray for free clothes!  Sister now has cute dresses, shirts, shorts, and even pjs that will last her for a year.  If you want to save money on kids’ clothes, learning to accept hand-me-downs is a great first step.  I’ve written more about that here.

Savings:  $50 (this is a conservative estimate of how much these items would have cost at our local thrift shop)

Eating Out with Coupons

We have a category in our budget for eating out.  We plan on $50 a month, which works out to two dinners out at locally run family restaurants in our area.  This month we used coupons when we went out for Mother’s Day–a buy one get one free at a frozen yogurt shop and a 25% off the entire meal at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  (It is run by the family of a former student of mine, so we really like to support their business.)

Savings:  $10

Total Savings: $170
How did you save this month?

(Linked to Frugal Fridays, Small Victories Sundays, Tips and Tricks Tuesdays.)