22) Trade babysitting nights with a friend so both of you can still enjoy time alone with your spouse.
21) Call your cell phone provider and ask if they offer a military discount.
20) Go old school and use a drying rack or clothes line to dry your clothes.
19) Use your blender and ice cube trays to make your own baby food. A quick web search will give you instructions and tons of great recipes.
18) Carpool like crazy. Carpool the kids to school and events with neighbors. Carpool with your friend to the grocery store. Even service members can carpool to work.
17) Plan your weekly menu based on meat and veggie items that are on sale in your local area that week.
16) Cook one big meal (such as pulled pork or chili) eat half of it for dinner and freeze the other half for later or turn it into 2 separate meals (cheese and chili enchiladas, shredded pork tacos, baked potatoes topped with chili or pork, etc.)
15) Swap hand-me-down kids clothes with a group of friends.
14) Date in Daylight – Instead of going out to dinner and a movie with your sweetie, go out to breakfast/lunch and a matinee. It will save you at least $30 on the date!
13) Find out what the requirements are at your military treatment facility to receive over the counter medications for free. At some installations, simply taking a short class, will allow you a certain number of OTC meds per month at no cost to you.
12) I love my Kuerig, but will bust out the old coffee pot and save $5 in a couple of days by brewing a whole pot for pennies instead of one cup with the K-cups. Or purchase the reusable cup that takes your own coffee.
11) Kids need new clothes? Find a consignment store locally that will take your kids gently used (but outgrown) clothes in for trade. Use the credit to buy the sizes they need.
10) Get rid of your home phone. You can save $15 today by only using your cell phone. We did it and we don’t miss it at all.
9) Instead of buying individual snack size portions, buy the big bag of snacks and make your own snack packs with little baggies.
8) If you buy organic products, stop. Organics are usually 15%-40% more expensive. I love organics, but when money is tight, I’ll switch to regular for a few weeks.
