Get ready for the mother load of money saving tips! {Part two!}
In case you missed it, last week I started a two part series on Easy Ways To Save Money. I shared my best money-saving secrets on food, home maintenance and decor, personal care, and parenting. This week I’ll continue the mother load of money saving tips with a few new categories!
We are a one income family of four. The one income we have is not a big one, either. We have four people, two cats, three cars, a mortgage, and somehow we make it each month.
How is that possible? Two reasons.
- God has been so good to us by providing what we need
- Finding a LOT of little ways to save money
Today I’ll be sharing more easy ways to save money!
How To Save on Medical Expenses
Pay bills in full to get a discount. Medical bills can really make my stomach turn. If you are able to pay a medical bill in full, sometimes you can qualify for a 10-20% discount! One time we had a $550.00 medical bill. I offered to pay it in full and I got a 20% discount! Just asking that one question saved me over $100! Call the number on the bill and ask if they offer any discounts. It never hurts to ask!
Change your health insurance plan. Since my family is blessed with good health, we changed our insurance to a higher deductible plan so that our monthly premium would be lower. We always have to pay the monthly premium, so getting this cost down was more important than getting coverage we didn’t really need. (This tip is only for people in good health. Be aware that this will make your trips to the doctor, Emergency Room and hospital a little more expensive, so be prepared.)
Take care of medical problems over the phone. When you have a non-emergency medical issue, call your doctor’s office and try to take care of the problem over the phone instead of going in to the office. Often times I just want to ask the doctor or nurse a simple question that can be answered easily by a phone call. If you don’t go into the office, you won’t have to pay your co-pay or co-insurance. However, your medical condition may require you to go to the office for a visit, so if they advise you to come in, please follow their advice!
When given a prescription, ask for samples. If you don’t have prescription coverage, see if any local grocery stores offer free prescription drug programs. Schnucks offers a free generic antibiotic program that I have used several times and am very happy with.
How To Save Money on Cars and Car Maintenance
Consider doing your own oil changes. If you don’t know how you can ask a friend to teach you how to do it. An oil change at a shop or the car dealer will cost you at least $25 to $50 dollars each time. If you do the work yourself, you can save a good amount of money over the life of your car. If you don’t want to change the oil yourself, by all means please have it done at the recommended times. Changing the oil will help protect the most expensive part of your car!
Keep up on car maintenance. Doing regular maintenance on your car will end up saving money in the long run. If you take good care of your car, it will take good care of you! Bare minimum, make sure your oil gets changed, tires are rotated and changed when needed, and ensure fluids are checked and filled. To find out what kind of maintenance your car needs, consult your owner’s manual.
Don’t buy a new car–buy a good used car. A brand new car will lose it’s value as soon as you drive it off the lot. Your money will stretch further on a good used vehicle. If you like expensive options on a car, consider buying a model or two older and you’ll be more likely to afford those pricey options!
If possible, buy a car without a loan. Buy a car that fits your needs but doesn’t force you into a car payment (if possible) Not having a car payment on any of our three vehicles has allowed us to live off of one income. If you do get a loan, get a small one that is easy to pay each month.
Pay cars off early. If you do have a car loan, try to pay if off ahead of time (as long as there’s no penalty from your loaning institution). In the past we’ve paid off our cars early and that step saved us a lot of money in interest!
How To Save Money When Dining Out
Order water. Not ordering drinks is a great way to save & then you can enjoy your meal! Just one drink costs at least four dollars so if everyone orders water the bill can be reduced significantly.
Share big meals. Split your favorite meal with someone else. Most portion sizes are pretty huge so this is doable for most restaurants. Plus if you’re sharing the meal you’re saving some calories, too!
Take advantage of kids promotions. Many restaurants offer a kids-eat-free-night. This will help create more quality time with kids and save a little money!
Use coupons and promotions. We love to eat at a Thai restaurant because the food is awesome and they frequently offer a $20 gift card for $10. We rarely go to an expensive restaurant without a coupon.
Have an in-home date night. Instead of eating out, order take out from your favorite restaurant and bring it home! The hubby and I did this a lot when our kids were young and it was too hard and expensive to get babysitters. You can make your own drinks at home and you won’t have to tip!
Speaking of tips: as a former server I urge you to be cheap on your meal but NOT with your tip! Make sure that you tip your servers well! If you use a coupon for your meal, make sure you tip off of the original cost of the meal.
I hope these easy tips have inspired you to make a couple changes. What little changes will you make to save money?
This post linked to: Inspire Me Please, Saturday Sharefest, Skip The Housework Saturday, The Makers, Thrifty Thursday, DIY Sunday Showcase, and Link Party Palooza.
Thank you so much for urging people to tip, I love you blog, I just recently started reading it, and as a server that made me so happy when I know people are most likely to skimp for their buck there. Thank you!
You are very welcome. I have been in your shoes and I remember how much it made my day when customers treated me with kindness and generosity!
Great ideas!! We don’t go out to eat often (although we love it!) but when we do, we try to use groupons, drink water, and if we can go on a night where kids eat free, even better! My husband and I used to share an entree, but now that we’re expecting baby #4, I don’t see being full off of that for a while 😉
Congrats on baby number 4! That is wonderful! Yes I can see where sharing meal at this stage is not a good idea! Using groupons is a great idea! Maybe that will help make up for not sharing meals.
These are great tips, Carrie! I didn’t know that about medical bills.
That tip has saved me quite a bit of money lately. Unfortunately we’ve had a lot of medical bills this year but at least I can still save a little on them!
I love saving money. We also use a high deductible plan and paid for our used car with cash. It is so helpful to be able to not have those monthly payments!! Thanks for sharing your tips! Great ideas.
Yes I agree! Not having a car payment has been one of the top 3 reasons why we can afford to live off of one income!
Great tips, Carrie! I am always looking for more ways to save, and this is an awesome list! Thanks so much for sharing!
~Abby =)
It was a lot of fun compiling all these tips and I’m thrilled so many people are getting inspired from this!
Great ideas! I agree with the tipping thing too, especially if you eat out with your kids!!
Yes! Kids really do make it a more challenging job for restaurant staff so I completely agree with you!
I’m so pinning this. Here lately I’m bring a little more frugal with my money. I’m trying to save all I can, which is no easy task. I’m a horrible save, great spender but a horrible saver. I’m stopping by from SITS & hope your having a great weekend!
The best advice I have for you is to do a couple changes at a time. Once you start saving a little, you’ll be excited to save more and it will become easier over time. Thanks so much for pinning this too!
Great ideas! Now …. if I could only get the rest of the family to drink water when we go to restaurants!
One tip I heard from someone was to bring some of those flavored water packets to restaurants. That way you still get a free drink but you can also have some flavor. I hope that helps!
Thank you for sharing this! I’m really trying to find ways to save money at home so this is very helpful.
You’re welcome! It’s so great to know these tips are helpful to others!
I am loving all these great tips! My husband always changes the oil in our cars – saves us saves us quite a bit!
Isn’t it great having a husband that can do things like that? I’m so thankful for all the things my Hubby can do!
Great minds think alike, Carrie! I am enjoying this series… We are a one income (and a half I guess), and we live by so many of your tips! We eat out when kids eat free, NEVER order pop, don’t buy new vehicles, and our son gets his hair cut at home, etc. Our friends are always, always amazed how far our dollar stretches…. All these tips help, plus we are so blessed! Have a great day tomorrow, friend! 🙂
I’m so glad you’re enjoying this series! It took me a good six months to get all those ideas complied so I’m glad I took my time on it because it seems to really be helping people. It’s so fun to have so much in common!
Great tips … Thanks. We eat out a lot, so your suggestions will help. Need to look for more coupons.
Blessings,
Audrey Z. @ Timeless Treasures
I love eating out too! If you follow a couple of these tips you’ll be able to do it more often with the money you save!
Thanks so much for these tips! I love them all 🙂
You’re welcome! I’m hoping this post makes a difference for a lot of people!
I’ve never been one to keep a car for too long. I bought a brand new Kia last year & I love it. I think I’ll keep it long after it’s paid off. I ove your series. I’m all about saving money now a days.
So glad to hear these tips are helping you! I totally agree–if you love the car keep it as long as you can! That will save so much money!