Tips and Tricks on Saving Money – Sarah’s Personal Saving Story

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their Personal Savings Stories and photographs.  I hope by sharing other people’s money savings tips here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all find new ways to save rock our budgets this year.

Today we are featuring Sarah from Western Maryland. Here’s what she had to say:

Hello Mavis!! We are a family of 3 living on less than an acre in the Appalachian mountains in Western Maryland. It is very much small town living here! (Where everyone knows you, your parents, grandparents, etc.!) We have been working pretty hard at living with less and budgeting and blogging about it on littlellewellynhomestead.

Food budgeting:
We set a limit and do our best to stick to it. If we are having a good month, not overspending, we stock up a little for the next month. I have a dry erase calendar that I plan our meals for 2 weeks and take the leftovers for my lunch. And a favorite of ours are whole chickens! We can have chicken salads one night and make broth for noodle soup to have later!! We also grow a couple gardens and can our produce! Not to mention raising our own chickens for eggs.

Clothes:
Yeah, we don’t really care about having the newest fashions. And I’m lucky that my husband has a uniform that is provided! I, on the other hand am a teacher, so I have staple outfits. Khakis, black pants, and skirts that all go together. I also get many outfits for my boy on the yard sale sites online. Name brand shorts for next to nothing, absolutely! I also enjoy going to thrift stores and the goodwill!

Vacation:
Of course!! I figure we are only a young family once and the boy will only be home so long! To save a couple bucks, we stay in rentals with kitchens that allow us to make many of our meals. We also go to pet friendly places so that we don’t have to board the pups! We are also blessed to have my parents and awesome neighbors that don’t mind watching the chickens or watering our garden when we go on a trip!

Goods/services:
We majorly are frugal here! I am our housekeeper and love making my own cleaners from essential oils! I also enjoy doing laundry and hanging it to dry! For house repairs, we can figure out most things. Whatever we can’t figure out, my Dad will be able to do it! I detail my own car and even bought my own carpet scrubber to do all our carpet cleaning. I also take the money that I make crafting to buy things that we want/need.

Entertainment:
We ditched cable and just stream. Haven’t missed cable yet! I think the most important part of entertainment is finding hobbies that you love and can do nearby. I love sewing and make money creating crafts, especially my garden aprons that I use and make for others. I also love taking care of my chickens and in return they give us some yummy eggs.

My husband enjoys working on his historic military vehicles, so that’s what he does with his spare time. The boy loves going to flea markets and digging for treasures, so that’s not too much moolah!

Overall, our family works together to be frugal! We are one cohesive team!!

Sarah L.

If you would like to have your Personal Savings Story featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I would love to feature it on the blog. Just answer 5-7 {or all if you really want to} of the questions listed in the original Personal Savings Story post and submit 3-5 QUALITY photos to go along with them.

Send submissions via email to onehundreddollarsamonth @ gmail.com {remove the spaces} and be sure and put Personal Saving Stories in the subject line.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com. It’s that easy.