Frugal Friday: Top 5 ways that I save money for my family

When my maternity leave ended and I decided not to return to work, I knew that my new job (in addition to taking care of my children of course!) would be to save my family as much money as possible so that we could begin living off of just one income.

Here are the top five things I do to save my family over $800 a month:

1. Clean my own house (Boo!).
When I was working full time before we had children, we decided to hire a housekeeper so that we could enjoy our weekends and focus on larger projects like home renovations and yard work. Around the time P and D turned one, she told me she was pregnant and would not be able to clean for us once her daughter was born.  This was good timing for us, as it has saved us $220-$330 monthly, and now that the twins are older, I find it easier to find the time to do it myself.

2.Get Organized
The largest part of our monthly spending that I could actually exert some control over was our grocery bill.  At $1200-$1500 a month, I knew I could do better.  I began planning out our meals two weeks in advance and making very specific grocery lists.  This was helpful for two reasons.  Firstly, we are rarely tempted to order take-out or go out for supper, because there is never a moment of "I don't know what to make for dinner and there's nothing in the fridge!".  I always know what I'm making, and the ingredients are always in the fridge well in advance.  Secondly, I never buy ingredients I don't need or won't use up, and I can take the best advantage of sales and coupons.   Now, our grocery bill is in the range of $700-$1000.  This saves us a whopping $500 a month!  In addition, instead of eating out once a week, we eat out only once a month, as a treat.  This saves us at least $100 a month.  Check out my post about getting organized

3. Make my own bread

I had been unsatisfied with the quality of bread at the supermarket, and the bread I was willing to buy was almost $4 a loaf, but the flavour did not compare to the homemade bread of my childhood.  My family eats about 2 loaves of bread a week, plus specialty items such as buns, baguette, bagels or cinnamon rolls (and these will run at about $5 at the grocery store).  I can make all of these things for under $1 a loaf (or batch of buns, bagels etc.)  This contributes to the decrease in our grocery bill, and it saves us about $40 a month.
Check out my bread recipe

4. Make my own yogurt

When P and D started eating solid foods, yogurt was one of their instant favourites.  By the time they were one, they could go through three 500 mL containers of yogurt a week!  Plain Greek yogurt was what I liked to feed them, sweetened with maple syrup or honey, and topped with a spoon full of hemp seeds.  At $9 for a 3 pack of yogurt at Costco, this was costing us $40 a month! Not only that, but I knew I could pack it with even more nutritional value if I made it at home.  I started doing that(using my in-laws' recipe with a few tweaks), and it saves us about $25 a month. Check out my yogurt recipe.

5.  Eat less meat
One of the most expensive items on our grocery bill is always meat.  In order to save money, I knew we needed to eat less of it.  I also knew that eating less meat is better for the environment and better for our health.  What it means for our family is that we skip meat two nights a week.  On one of those nights, I prepare an egg based meal, and on the other night, it is strictly vegetarian.   This has contributed to the decrease in our grocery bill, so I wont count it twice, but i suspect it makes a difference of $50-$70 a month.
Check out my favourite egg recipes

I hope you've found this helpful and that it has inspired you to save money for your family too!  Stay posted for more specifics on how Saskatchemom can save so much money, including more details on what I've discussed today, and tons of recipes too!