Basic Ways to Save

  Many people today just assume they have to pay a certain price to have everyday things.  They are wrong!  People just need to get back to basics.  I make several things from scratch, and it saves us quite a bit of money over time.  Along with couponing and doing a few things from scratch, we actually have more money now than when we both worked.  It's odd to add money to savings at the end of the month instead of taking from savings.  I'm still learning how to make more things from scratch, but here's a list so far:

 Bread-- homemade 80 cents vs store-bought $2.50
 Laundry detergent-- 1 cent a load vs 10 cents a load
 Baby wipes-- 1/10000 cent per wipe vs 1/10 per wipe
 Yogurt--2 cents per ounce vs 30 cents per ounce (I'm trying this for the 1st time this week)
 Dishwasher soap--less than 1 cent a load vs 20 cents a load (I'm still perfecting this one; right now it leaves streaks)

Here are some basics that I don't know how much it costs but saves money:
  Eating and cooking at home AND cooking from scratch.  I cook all 3 meals, and we eat cheap and eat well.  All our meals are less than 500 calories (unless we purposely choose to made an unhealthy meal)
  Making Bisquick from scratch
  Not washing your hair everyday.  This saves a lot of money.  Not only with shampoo costs, but you don't have to cut your hair as often.  I didn't cut my hair for 6 months, went in, and told her to cut off all the split ends.  She only had to cut a half inch!!  So, if you like long, healthy hair, this is a great way to save money.
 Put your crockpot to use!  Not only does it make a lot of food and not as much hands on time, but it also saves a lot of electricty.
  Make a monthly food calendar and only go to the grocery store only once or twice a month and stick to your list!  It saves a lot of money just not constantly going to the store.
 Get a deep freezer or a second fridge.  Freeze leftovers!  We have a couple of weeks worth of food in our freezer just from leftovers.

I know there a lot of other ways to save money, but this is all I can think of at the moment.  Keep things simple, and you will save money.  Nevermind the fact all the perservatives they put in food these days.  Simple IS better.