2014 New Year Resolutions...it's not too late!

Can you even remember your 2014 New Year resolution?  Good intentions are often abandoned by the end of January.  Well, its December 1 so there is still one more month to work towards that resolution.  The Cheapers have not let our resolution fall by the wayside.  We set the lofty goal of eliminating $300 of monthly expenses from our budget!  Yes, that is a big number. Yes, I am still feeding the family(and with the same food budget).  We haven't smashed that $300 mark yet, but we haven't given up either.

Here is where we have saved:

• Gym Membership- $74/month
  Cancelled that sucker! We just had a baby, so we are pretty busy.  I'd rather plunk him in the stroller and take a walk as a family than spend my time alone on a treadmill just staring at the wall.
• Car Insurance-$37/month
  Our insurance agent was able to find us a policy that cost less and included more things. Ask your agent about possible changes.  They are experts in their field(if they aren't, find a new agent), so use their experience to your advantage.
• Internet Service-$17/month(we do not have cable)
  First, look at your bill and see what you are actually being billed for.  We were being billed $7/month for the use of the internet provider's modem.  We were able to purchase a compatible modem for $30 with shipping and return the company's modem.  We also called to make sure that we were receiving the absolute lowest price possible for our monthly service.  
• Cell phone service-$83/month
  We switched to Ting.  Read about it here. 

That is $211/month so far!  We hope to pay off the last little bit of credit card debt by the ending of the month and smash our 2014 resolution.  Stay tuned! I cannot wait to celebrate the demise of our credit card debt!!!!

How to get things for FREE and Betty's Black Friday shopping

The ads have been perused and just about all the deals have been deemed not essential by Betty.  There was just one place deemed worthy of a venture out in the cold-my beloved CVS!  I LOVE CVS! I can usually save about 80-90% during a trip to CVS.

How do I save so much and score free stuff? Shop the weekly ad and use your store loyalty card!  Yep, you don't need to spend hours clipping coupons. I do often use coupons and even stack them with CVS store coupons(check out their coupon center right in the store). But today I did my Black Friday shopping early and didn't even need to clip a single coupon.

Check out all the stuff I got!!!!

(not pictured Peanut Butter M&Ms...mmmm)

CVS featured their Black Friday sales in two parts- Sunday-Wednesday and Thursday-Saturday.  We spent $16.63 out of pocket on Sunday and received $18.83 Extra Card Bucks, referred to as ECBs.  These are essentially store credit at the bottom of your receipt and can be redeemed on a future purchase.

Free with ECBs!

I stopped in this morning while the turkey was roasting(returned to a smoky kitchen...oops!).  I picked up all the sale items I needed, paid with my ECBs(just paid $1.27 in sales tax), and was out the door in just minutes(woot! woot! no lines!).  And I went home with $13.76 in ECBs that I will use on sale items next week(EVEN MORE FREE STUFF)!

$$$...Ting,Ting,Ting...$$$

Yes, you read that correctly. Ting, Ting, Ting...not cha-ching!  Ting saved us lots of cha-ching!

 What is Ting you ask?  Our incredibly low-priced cell phone service.

How low?  Switching to Ting dropped our phone bill 67% for the same exact services we were paying for with one of those popular national carriers that drops a LOT of money on advertising.  Our big box service was even considered an incredible deal after Mr. Cheaper's employer discount of 22%! But paying just a third of that is indisputably more INCREDIBLE!

How much can you save? Check out their website!  It has an easy-to-use calculator that will use the information from your last three months of cell phone usage to give you an estimate of what your bill could be and how much you could save over two years. Ting estimated that we would save $1680 over two years(Our bills have been less than the calculator estimated!).  Sign me up!!!!

http://www.ting.com

Seriously, I cannot praise Ting enough!  It is one of the best changes we made this past year.

Bonus: You can pay with Amazon.  I pay our bill with Amazon gift cards that we earn. ALERT: Future post teaser! You will have to come back next time.

Lesson: Sometimes, there is a much better deal out there than the one you are getting.  Research is key to living cheaper.

The Cheaper Bunch

Here's a story, 
of a thrifty lady, 
who was bring home savings like no other,
all of them great deals.
Like many,
she was a stay-at-home mother.

Here's a story,
of a man name Cheaper.
who was busy with his family 
They were four,
living all together,
yet they were lacking money.

Till one day when the lady had an idea
and they knew it was more than just a hunch
that this family might somehow form a blog
That's how we became thee Cheaper Bunch!

The Cheaper Bunch...
The Cheaper Bunch...
That's the way we became the Cheaper Bunch!

haha....I know you sang that in your head.

Betty-Vice President and COO of Cheaper family, Mom

Mr. Cheaper-President and CEO of Cheaper family, Dad

Lil' Miss Cheaper-Kindergartner, Big Sister

Cheaper Jr.-Baby on a budget, Little Brother

Welcome to our story!  We are here to share our journey. Come along with us as we figure out how to live cheaper on one income and assorted miscellaneous income. Miscellaneous income? Piqued your interest, didn't I? Stay tuned and I'll share(my experience, not my income!). Come on in, have some laughs, and save some money with us!

Yours truly,
Betty Cheaper