Five Ways We Saved Money In June

The person who makes an extra $100 may have to pay certain costs associated with earning that money, such as the expense of committing to and from work an extra day, and will almost certainly have to pay taxes out of the extra earnings. It would not be all unusual for a worker who earned an additional $100 to net only about $65 after paying taxes and costs related to earning the extra money. On the other hand, if you cut your spending by $100, you will have the full $100 to show for it. 

-James Parker, The Weekend Real Estate Investor

I came across this quote a few weeks ago, and thought it fit perfectly with what we’re trying to do here. Truthfully, it gave me a lot of encouragement. It’s easy to want to just throw in the towel sometimes, and go mainstream. Corporate jobs, credit cards, and daycare would be so cut and dry. So easy. 

But once you pencil it out, it’s not as worthwhile as it first seems. A penny saved is much, much more than a penny earned today. 

Also, daycare isn’t really an option for me. Ever. 

So, here are a few ways we saved money this month. 

1. Slaughtered a pastured hog. Granted, we did send it to the local butcher for processing, (seriously, I’m not up for hog slaughtering in 90+ degree weather) but it was still much more cost effective than buying even conventional  pork, and so much more healthy.
2. Pulled car parts from a junk yard. Our handyman/friend sent some parts from our car to a machine shop where (long story short), they ruined them. We honestly thought we were going to have to scrap the car because buying new parts would have cost us literally more than the car itself is worth. But (handyman to the rescue), he was able to pull parts from another Volkswagon in a junk yard. Its was a different model car, but they fit, so I guess now we’re driving a hybrid. 😉 Also, big shout out to O’Reily’s auto parts for being going above and beyond, warrantying wheel bearing that had been broken by the afore mentioned machine shop. How does that line go? Oh yeah, faith in humanity restored. 
   
3. Picked up a free swing set. I’ve been monitoring both Craigslist, and a few local Facebook groups for swing sets, and several have popped up here and there either free, or cheap, but you pretty much have to be the first person to see the ad, because they get picked up fast. After months of no luck, low and behold, a family in our neighborhood sat one out on the curbside with a FREE sign on it. Yay! It’s an older style – almost exactly like the one we had when I was little, and the kids love it! That was an easy couple hundred bucks saved!
4. Joined Netfilx. Up until now, we’ve downloaded the occasional movie on Amazon. Okay, more like once a week, which costs the same or more than a $7.99 Netflix account. We’re still on the free trial, but I’m leaning toward keeping it for now.
5. Bough tea leaves in bulk. We drink hibiscus tea, and peppermint tea almost exclusively which, of course, is far cheaper ordered in bulk from Herbalcom, or sometimes, Amazon.

It really is encouraging to keep track of all the pennies saved throughout the month. they add up fast!