A Change in the Tide...

As I've been writing this blog, I have been writing from the perspective of a stay-at-home Navy officer's wife where my husband pulls in a paycheck of an O-3 plus bonuses for being in the submarine community. My husband and I decided recently to resign his commission and he's going back to school to get his Ph.D. As a result, we will be taking a pay cut where will be making maybe half of what he makes now in a given month. So, we are having to adjust how we live to minimize our costs when we move to another state and he begins his program.

I've decided that I'm going to chronicle our challenges and money saving ideas and lifestyle changes here on this blog. I will continue to post other money saving ideas I come upon as I have been doing.

I think I should outline our new situation first to give perspective. We are a family of 4 with a golden retriever. Our two boys are 4 months and 2 years old. We will be moving from Virginia to the state of Michigan for my husband to complete his program. We will be living off of a Graduate Research Student stipend and the housing allowance that my husband receives from the GI BIll. This works out to about half of what we make per month currently. I will write about the challenges we encounter and our solutions as we embark on our new journey here. Hopefully, these posts prove to be useful to others who may be in a similar financial situation as ourselves.

What Do You Do With Your Empty Packages?

I save any packing envelopes, boxes, etc. that I can when I get packages and mail. If they are in decent enough shape, I can reuse them to send out packages. I just carefully open the bubble mailer, USPS envelope, or box and then when I'm ready to mail something, I cover the old mailing stickers with the new mailing address and mail the package. I save money on packaging and I'm saving the environment by recycling :)

Discounts

I was at the mall the other day and saw some pamphlets in one of those little in-mall billboards. After taking a closer look, I realized that the pamphlets contained a listing of all the stores in the mall that participated in a military discount (Score!). The usual discount is about 10% however, the Gap had a discount of 25% off your entire purchase with a military I.D! On top of the extra 25% off sale prices, I was able to get 4 t-shirts for my sons for 15 dollars after tax. Pretty good for the Gap! I also know that if you are a nurse, teacher, military, police, EMT or firefighter, you get a 15% discount at NY&Co.

Moral of this story:
Ask/Find out about discounts for AAA, military, your profession etc. at any place that you shop regularly.

Social Media Discounts

This may be another "duh!" moment but I'm going to post it anyway. If there is a business that you always find yourself frequenting (and buying their goods...), why not check to see if they have a Facebook page? Keep up to date with the latest sale information and perhaps even get some great deals through a coupon or promo code posted exclusively for Facebook fans. Sometimes you can get in on a flash giveaway too (I've won something from them...its so much fun!). Just "like" their page. Might as well save a little (or a lot) when buying your favorite stuff...

Save money and Stay Cool

Save some dough and stay cool with these Eco-friendly tips. http://www.theloveliveshere.com/2011/07/keep-eco-cool-guest-blog-by-going-green.html

Great Deals at Food Lion

Being military, I don't shop at the commercial supermarkets as much since I have access to the Commissary. However, there are some great deals to be had at Food Lion if you do your shopping right! I always scan my MVP card at the coupon kiosk when I go in to the store, just to see what coupons it spits out for me. Today when I went, I got a coupon for a free item (no other purchases necessary!) Definitely worth taking the time to scan your card when you walk in. And if you don't need any of the coupons, leave them there for the next patron who may be able to use them. Good karma all around.

I've also found that you can find closeout items on their shelves. I've gotten tide pens, m&m's and baby food all super cheap. The best is when you can couple it with a coupon and sometimes you end up getting the items for free or "less than free" (the amount the coupon took off was more than the purchase of that particular item). I've done this with baby food and it definitely helps to keep some money in your pocket! Keep your eyes open the next time you go shopping at Food Lion.

Great Article on "Finding" Money

I got our issue of USAA Magazine yesterday and they had this great article on "finding" money. It's written by the guy who writes Motley Fool. Check out how to find some serious dough: https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/usaamag_find_cash