I am always amazed at the unique ideas for saving money that people come up with. Here’s two examples of my own.

1. Of course, I coupon, but it’s what I do with the money that I save in coupons that is different. Each time I go to the store and save in coupons, I keep track of it on a spreadsheet. At the end of the month, I transfer that amount into savings. Once I accumulate enough for a goal I’ve set, I use the money. This is an excellent way to pay extra money on a debt or save for new furniture, crafting merchandise, super fun curriculum stuff or maybe even a leather coat or something you’ve always wanted!

2. When our kids outgrow their clothes, we donate them if they can still get some good use. If they are tattered or have been too well loved to be passed on, I re-purpose them! I love scrapbooking and there are some fantastic fabrics, embroidery, patches and embellishments that can be used on page layouts! Also, you can go to second hand stores and yard sales and find some old clothes that are super cheap and you can use them for crafts too.

What creative ways do you save money? I would love to hear your thoughts!

We have money from each paycheck automatically deposited into savings. That definitely helps us save money!

That's awesome Suzanne! We are paying down our credit cards from having moved to Japan in March, but once that's done, we'll start our savings allotment again. Thanks for sharing!

When you have the chance check out http://momgiveaways.com/ There are giveaways you can enter on a fairly regular basis! Good luck!

How fun! I was surfing around the web and found these really cool and frugal craft ideas. Some may be just the thing you've been looking for as Christmas gifts. Enjoy!
http://www.frugalvillage.com/2009/08/21/easy-homemade-gifts-for-kids/

My husband just bought me a small chest freezer. I am so excited about the possibilities. I've already cooked up about six lbs of dry beans and put them in the freezer. (Yes, that's a LOT of beans!) Beans are a wonderful meat stretcher, and thankfully my family likes them.

And the other frugal part of the freezer is now I have a place to store those leftovers that no one wants on day 3. Instead of throwing them away on day 5 once they are getting funky, I plan to take more of the day 1 leftovers and immediately freeze them. After 10 days or so have passed, no one seems to notice that these are leftovers. Sneaky.

Jimmie,
What an excellent way to live frugally! I so miss our freezer! We love beans in our family too, they definitely help stretch the food budget. Thanks for sharing!

I would love to have a freezer. Currently we have a regular refrigerator and I know I could do some real money saving if I had storage. I am so excited we have all these frugal post I am teaching a coupon 101 class in January at our church. And I am noting all these ideas on being fabulously frugal too!