Thrifty Thursday: Three Budget Busting Habits, A Guest Post

Since today is my 10 year wedding anniversary, I thought I would take a break from blogging.  (Happy Anniversary Baby!) 

The following guest post is from a blogging friend, Sadiah from A Proverbs Wife.

Meet Saidah: Through her blog, A Proverbs Wife, Saidah shares her journey in modeling herself after Proverbs 31:10-31. She writes about how scripture molds her into being a better Christian, wife, and mother.  I have been inspired by reading her blog

As a stay at home mom and wife, one of my primary objectives is to stretch our budget as far as it can go. Being a good steward over our finances takes wisdom and sound judgment in deciding how to spend our money. As our family’s co-financial manager, I have learned a few tips that have allowed us to save money on things that we used to pay others to care for. Here are a few things you can begin doing that will reduce your out-of-pocket obligations, thus helping you to be a better steward over your finances.

Learn to do your own dry cleaning services. Dry cleaning services are an unwanted luxury when a family is attempting to tighten up their budget. One of the best things you can do is learn how to dry clean, mend and iron your own clothes. When you spend money on quality clothing, you want to be sure to follow the garment care instructions. Even though you may not pay full price for designer labels, you should always care for them as though you did. There are resources that will show you how to make homemade spot cleaner and pre-treatment solutions. In addition, you can learn a lot about ironing my searching YouTube for tutorials.

Reuse everything you can. Just about everything that comes in to your home can be re-used or re-purposed. Egg cartons and empty toilet paper rolls can be used for gardening or compost bins. One of my favorite reusable resources is the roasted chicken carcass. After a delicious dinner of roasted chicken, many families throw away the chicken carcass. This left over meat and bones is a prime source of protein and the fundamental ingredient for chicken broth. The easiest way to use the carcass for broth is to store them in big Ziploc bag in the freezer. When you have about 4-5 of them, it is time to make broth.

Make food from scratch. Learning how to recreate meals or products you would normally purchase from a store or a restaurant will not only save you money but time as well. How many times have you run out of an ingredient needed for a dish you were cooking? When you learn how to cook from scratch, you will also learn about food substitutes. Knowing what ingredients can take the place of others will prevent you from burning gas to run to the store to get the necessary ingredient. Another way that cooking from scratch saves money is that it is often less expensive to make meals at home than it is to eat at a restaurant. Plus there are so many FREE resources available that provide you with imitation recipes from your favorite restaurants.

From Coupon Teacher:  I have to admit, I throw away my chicken carcasses.  How about you, do you follow Saidah’s recommendations?

Do you have a Thrifty idea? Did you save a ton of money this week?  Do you have a Thrifty deal you want to share?

If so, please leave a comment or link up below!

If possible, please leave a link back to Coupon Teacher so that we can all share ideas.

This is linked to Life as Mom and Madame Deals.