Easy little tips to save money !

You want to save for your summer vacation ? For the next school year ? For a new piece of clothe ?
Whatever your reason to start saving money, here is tips that can help you to start.

1. Make a budget 

First you have to look at your budget. How much money you need to pay your things, to eat, for gaz , for activities etc. Once you know where your money is supposed to go, you can start savings.

2. Analyse for a month all the money you spent 

For a whole month, analyse every penny that go out of your pocket. Keep all your receipts and at the end, look at what you spent. How much money did you spent that was not a necessity.

3. Start cooking and make your own coffee.

A 2 dollars here and there for coffee it's easy to spent and at the end of the month you will easily spent at least 20 $ (or more) on coffee, chocolate bar, soda etc.  This money can be saved. Yes sometimes it's good to treat yourself but on occasion only.  Same things for fast food, start packing your lunch and stop eating in fastfood.

4. Keep your dollar bills and your change  in a Jar

For a couple month, we kept all our change and dollar bills in a jar. Everytime, we have some change we kept it. One day we decided to change them at the bank and we had more than 150 $ dollars in little change!

5. Learn to do it yourself !

Your haircolor, your dog grooming, your nails, your painting job at home etc... We all have access to internet and on you tube, you can find any tutorial you need. There is no way you can't do it yourself. Learn to do small things that is going to save you money. Make some research on how to do it and try! Sometimes it will turn up as a fail (my dog first haircut by me was the proof) but you will be better with practice !

6. Sell your stuff that you don't use

For example you buy a book because you couldn't wait for it to be available at the library, once you read it, sell it. You will not have the same amount of money but it's better than to let the dust get on it.
Your old clothes, old shoes, home decor, toys etc... everything can be sell and there is a public for everything. You can sell on "sell or Trade " of your locality on facebook group, ebay, amazon, kijiji etc.

Save on Grocery Shopping ! Pay less, eat more & better!

It is prove that we spend a lot of our income in grocery shopping. And sometimes when you have  to cut somewhere this is the first place you are gonna cut. In a country where it is more cheap to eat a meal at the fast food than to cook, you have to be creative and have some tricks to eat healthy on a budget. Here is my few tips that is gonna help you save on grocery shop and make your life more simple! Because yes it is possible to save some money when you know where to start .

1. Plan!

I will say that for every aspects of your life : Planning is the key to save time , money , and be less stressed. Instead of rolling your cart like a chicken without a head in the grocery shop, make a menu, then a list classified by aisle (No I don't have OCD). It will make it so much easier to find the things you need, you will save time and you will enjoy knowing where you go. An efficient grocery shopping take me about half and hour.

2. Don’t go shopping with an empty stomach

It is the thing that everyone is gonna tell you, don’t go grocery shop if you are hungry. First you are gonna buy all that sweet stuffs you try to avoid, second you are gonna fill your cart with all kind of stuffs that don’t go well together and third, you will try to go faster and you risk to choose not quality products.

3. Choose the best timing

After work, you have only 20 minutes to go to walmart for your grocery, yeah right like you are gonna be the only one. Lunch break and supper time is the worst time to shop.  It is crowded, you don’t have much time, you are tired, you don’t have enough space to really look at the sale and you have less choice. You need one pound of turkey meat, there is the chance that the only thing left is the more expensive one or the less quality. This is not what you want. Find the best timing for you, when you have no rush and you can enjoy the experience.

4. Look at the circular, the savings apps and the coupons

Couponing is really popular these days and people go crazy about it. It is a good thing, when you need it. Buying 22 bottles of dog shampoos just because it’s 1 dollar, not really worth it.

The best thing with couponing is to make your grocery shopping list and after find coupons for what you are gonna actually buy. Also, look at your local store circular to base your menu on what is on sale. Be careful, most of the time there is a lot of junk food that is on sale and seem attractive.

5. Make it yourself

Cooking your own crust, pastry, cookies, cake, granola bar & desserts are more healthy cause you don’t have preservative in them. They also cost less money. You save a lot when you cook your own cookies and your family gonna thank you for it. They taste better, they are fresh and they are made with love. What can you ask more ?

7. Try to avoid aisle in the middle

Every grocery are build the same. You have the veggies and fruit, the meat and the dairy all around the store. In the middle, you have the processed food. If you have your list in your pocket, try to go only where you need something. Don’t make every line, it will end up with a bunch of cookies that you don’t need (neither for your health and for your budget)

8. Lower your eyes

Marketing make it easy for them, they always put the more attractive (and expensive) stuffs (oooops busted !) in your visual sight. You want to have the best deal, lower or higher (almost where you can’t reach it )your eyes. The best price are really often at the lowest shelf. This is why if you shop when it’s not that crowded you will have time and space to flex your knees and reach the best deals!

9.  Don’t waste

This is so important, if you are paying for food that go into the trash, your losing money and it’s not good for the earth. I always keep my skin of vegetables (garlic, onions, potato), the heart (cabbage, celery, brocoli, cauliflower) and I put them in the freezer. Once in a while, I make a veggie broth with everything that I collect. It is super easy you only put water in a pot with salt and your veggies, you boil for and hour or two and filter it. You got a healthy, free veggie broth for your sauce & soup.  When your fruits is borderline, make a smoothie. When your veggies are close to be rotten, cook them in a broth and mashed them to make a good veggies soup.  It is way more easy that you think.

10. Eat less meat

Meat is a huge part of the price of the grocery. Try vegeterian recipe and get used to eat without meal. Make a bolognese sauce with lentils instead of ground meat, make veggie burger, try tofu! Be creative about it and have fun! It is not true anymore that a meal without meat is boring. With all the resources like pinterest, blogs, TV show about recipes, there is no excuses to try something new!

11. Keep it simple !

A good piece of lean meat, veggies (fresh or frozen) and rice made a good healthy meal. No need to make all kind of recipes that use a lot of ingredients you don't have at home. Keep your meal simple, look for good recipes with few ingredients in it. Pinterest will be your best friend on that!

Really hope it help you guys, do you have any other tip that you want to share ? What is your routine of grocery ?

Can’t wait to hear about it!