Money Saving Monday

I have been talking to a lot of people lately about saving money. And each and everyday, I find myself trying to save my family money. Not skimping on nessecities, but cutting out or reducing things we don't really need. Or just changing the way we do things!

On problem I had for several years, is that I knew how I had been taught how to do things, then when I got married, we did things a certain way. When you continue to do things ONLY in this way, then you may not be doing yourselves any favors!

For example, 2 years ago, I thought I was saving my family money by shopping Wal-Mart and Aldi's and buying generic. Now I know that I can save my family money in other ways.

Saving Money is a challenge for me. It is my "job". And I DO take it seriously!

So, I thought I would start a Money Saving Monday, where we can come and share our frugal tips each week. Do you make all of your own cleaners, do you shop at certain stores, do you go somewhere special for you coupons, do you by in bulk, do you shop garage sales... Whatever you do, share it with us. We are all looking for ways to "grow" while shrinking our budgets!

Here are some Money Saving Tips that I have learned over the years. Today, I am going to share on CLOTHES:

• We don't wash our clothes after wearing them just once. Did I hear someone say "EEeww!!!" ? I mean like, if we wore good clothes to church, came straight home, we don't throw these clothes into the laundry. We save them for another day. I usually wear a pair of jeans 2-3 times before washing them. And a shirt 1-2 times. If we get something on them, or you were around smokers, or if you went to a restaurant where you smell like the food... wash the clothes. But if not, save 'em for another day!
• We have "Play clothes" or "work clothes" and then we have "good clothes". Do not allow your children to wear good clothes out to play! If you are eating something like spaghetti (or other messy food), have your child take off their good shirt (when at home), and put on a play shirt. So, if they drop something on the shirt, it won't be as big of a deal. If I wear my "work" pants out to the barn, then if the cat snags my jeans, I won't be mad. As soon as my boys get hoem from school, they know they are supposed to put on " play clothes".
• Use cold water as much as you can to wash your clothes. I DO wash with warm or hot water when I am washing a load of underwear, or towels, or bed sheets. Other then that, we use cold!
• Save your clothes from child to child. This seems like a "given", but some people don't do it because they don't want to store the clothes. I have all boys, and I have clothes that I am wearing on boy#4 that I wore on boy #1. I keep each size of clothing in different LABELED totes. Like I just pulled out the 18 month tote for my #4. This has saved us a TON of money!

So, it is your turn. Do you have a Money Saving Tip or tips you would like to share today? Link up! Make sure you give the link that goes directly to your Money Saving Tip(s). And if you would, please leave a link for people to some back here and check out other people's tips!