So what are your best money saving tips?

So, since it is eriely quiet and the ad matches are finished...I was thinking about best money saving tips, besides couponing that is.

What do you do to cut corners, save money or otherwise be a tightwad???

I try to do a lot of different things. I really would like to do a coupon co-op(hint hint for you guys!) But I am not sure how that would work exactly. I am always looking for new ways to save.


So here are a few of the things that we do:

On eating out, we will only pick a resturant that we have a coupon for or I have a gift certificate from Restaurant.com to use. We especially love it if we can stack the coupons or gift cards on the kids eat free deal. Needless to say O Charlie's gets alot of our business. By doing this, it allows us to have the fun we want without breaking the bank...and we LOOOVVEE to eat out!

Movie tickets: I mentioned earlier...we normally get the free ones on special. In the rare case that I actually have to pay full price *gasp* I have a little trick I use to help us save some $$. We actually go to Carmike all the time because a)its close and b) we have the refillable popcorn bucket. Anyway, first you go into carmike and purchase their booklet of 25.00 worth of gift certificates. Then go to the very back of the book and grab the coupon that states buy one adult ticket, get one at childs price. Then I use that (saving my 2.00) and the 25 dollars worth of gift certificates to pay for the movie. You can also get discounted tickets through many bank and credit unions.

Other entertainment ideas: we shamelessly utilize our childrens report cards to help us do other fun things. Many kid friendly activities give rewards for good grades. Look for bowling, chuck e cheese, baseball games etc. We use these rewards as a way to do fun things for a discount, all the while celebrating the childs sucess at school. Unfortunately they dont offer these rewards once they get out of Elementary school, so I am just barely making the cutoff for when Zach goes to middle school and Sam starts kindergarden. Whew!

Retail shopping: I dont ever shop without a coupon. Period. Almost every retail store offers coupons on a regular basis. I love to stack the coupons with the clearance obviously. I also utilize SCRIP that I spoke of earlier in order to get $$ back.

Goodwill: I do love the goodwill too. The key to goodwill(and garage sales as well,) is to go in not having to buy anything. Know your kids sizes (and your hubby's too) and have an idea of what you NEED. By overbuying, you arent saving a thing. They are great places to get alot of deals, but you have to have the time to rummage, and be persistant by going back mulitple times. I have found them to be a great place for everything from snowpants to beach towels.

Online shopping: I go through Ebates and earn cash back for all my online shopping. This is great because they also have all the recent coupon codes right there on their website for each store. I team this up with buying the clearance items and if I can I will purchase scrip for the items as well or if I am buying from Amazon I use some of my Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks. By getting cash back, you wont get rich quick, but even a dollar or 2 can add up over time.

I do all the usual too...shop year round for clothing and gifts to buy off season, we do purchase memberships to our local science museum and zoo since for a family of 6 it just makes sense rather than paying OOP everytime. This is a HUGE savings for us. Over the summer, they offer free bowling in many places and we frequent the drive in to get a bit of nolstagia for really cheap. Parks and picnics are our favorite family activity as well.

One of my girlfriends and I take the kids weekly to the free story time and craft time at the local library and then pack a lunch to eat at the indoor playground in the food court or go to the local park. The kids just absolutely LOVE it, and we get some much needed adult time.

So now it is your turn to share..what are your best money saving tips????