Ways I save!!! How about you???

This last year has flown by. Since getting out of college and moving to the treasure valley of Idaho a lot has changed. We had our 3rd child, had to upgrade to a bigger (gas guzzling) car, we bought our first house, the two older kids being in school brought tuition dues, school lunches, school clothes, sports and dance classes, dental work and doctors appointments. Not to mention losing a job and starting our own business. Everything just seems to be getting more expensive and more is needed from us just to get by.

Over the last year I have been really big on extreme couponing and have dropped our grocery/household items budget down to around $250 a month. We used to spend that at just costco (which I now don't really shop at anymore) These are the 2 blogs I follow if you want to learn more about extreme couponing.

http://fabulesslyfrugal.com

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/

citysmart.com , groupon.com , and livingsocial.com are a few websites that offer great coupons for your local areas. I have been following and using them on occasion to save money. They usually have 1 nice big savings coupon each day. A few I have gotten were: I got our sprinklers blown out for $10 (normally $25-30). I got Kaydence into some dance studio classs, I got my hair cut/colored and styled from a nice salon for $35, I also just got a $20 amazon gift card for only $10

Another way I have found to save money is swagbucks. It's an online search engine like google or yahoo but you earn points (swagbucks) for searches, surveys, redeeming coupons, shopping online, ect. I have been doing swagbucks for about 6 months or so and have earned well over $100 in amazon gift cards which I have used for diapers, christmas presents, cell phone case, amazon movies, grill, ect. You don't earn swagbucks very fast but 15-20-$25 a month really adds up for doing nothing more than you normally do on the web. And after a few months of saving up that $25 a month you really have some nice extra spending money that doesn't have to be found in the month to month budget.

Here is a link to swagbucks if you are interested in learning more about that.

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/katyanneatkinson

Just recently, Soren's preschool teacher introduced me to another great money saving program. My Harvest America is a membership program you join that allows you to purchase walmart giftcards and visa prepaid cards at 25-40% off. Your only allowed 2 walmart cards, and 1 visa card per month so to get the most bang for my buck I bought the highest limit possible. (which I don't have a problem spending) I get the $300 visa card for only $225. I turn around and pay off the $225 (plus 29 monthly fee) and walk away with a free $45 visa gift card each month!!!!! I also get (2) $200 walmart gift cards for only $120 each (plus 35 monthly fee) $400 worth for only $275!!!

I had to buy walmart gift cards anyway to be able to use the old samsclub gas pump, so this really helps save on our gas bill. I don't have to do anything extra, I don't have to buy and sell products or hold parties. What's nice about this is, you can use the visa gift cards anywhere, even pay utility bills online! If you don't spend $400 at walmart a month you can just take them to walmart and use it to purchase other gift cards (lowes, restuarants, ect) The initial start up and montly fees are paid for with the savings you recive with the gift cards and you just walk away each month with a little more in your pocket than you would't have otherwise. You just buy the cards and save $170 a month....I was like why not??? So I tried it.

You can find out more about them by going to http://www.pennypinchercards.com/ and watch this little 4 minute video and then go to myharvestamerica.com and join by clicking "join now" and entering katyatkinson as your referring representative.

Another great program we have discovered is MINT.com It's not a money saving/earning program at all but has really helped us budget and get our finances all straightened out. It's a program you can put all your accounts into and be able to see them all in one place. You can set budgets and it follows your transaction trends and alerts you if you have gone over any of your budgets and sends you weekly reports. You input everything!!! from student loans, home loans, credit cards, cars, checking, savings, stocks, ect. It keeps track of the value of your home and lets you know how much equity you have vs debt and gives you ways to save. It's a really safe, secure program that Craig and I researched and have been using for a few months. It's been awesome!

anyway...

if anyone else has any money saving tips, or programs you have found helpful let me know.