Cut Your Cable For Good!

One of the main ways I have chosen to make cuts in my budget is cutting the cable off.  I didn't come to this decision lightly, but I couldn't get around the fact that I had to pay all this money for a crap ton of cable channels that my family doesn't even watch.  I work night shift, so my favorite shows come on when I am sleeping, working, or getting ready for work.  Because of this, I have to either purchase the higher priced packages for DVR purposes or compensate with online viewing.  Here are a couple of workarounds that can help you ditch your cable bill for good! 

A digital antenna is a one time purchase, no monthly fee!  These antennas give you access to digital channels like ABC, CBS, PBS (for those of you with little ones, I actually get two different PBS channels for the toddler to watch), FOX and more.  Antennas can cost as low as $10, all the way up to over $100.  The lower priced antennas will have to be connected to your individual TVs, while the larger, more expensive types can be hooked up outside your home.  Here is a great article on choosing and installing an outdoor antenna.  Crutchfield.com

Internet Based TV is really popular these days.  For those of you who don't already know about Netflix and Hulu, they are online streaming venues that allow you to watch TV shows, movies, documentaries and so on, over your internet.  You can purchase a Chrome cast ($30) or a Blue Ray Player ($60+) to stream them, watch from your computer or tablet, or hook up your tablet to be viewed on your TV screen.  There is also Rabbit TV.  This little USB can be plugged into your TV and stream in this fashion.  

An easy way to save money on internet TV is to share username and passwords.  Get a couple of friends and or family members to purchase one monthly subscription to Hulu, or Netflix and share.   Now if you have someone in the group who HAS to have cable you can share with them as well.  Using their password information will give you access to premium channels like HBO Go, and Showtime Anytime.  If that person has Comcast, you can use Xfinity online to watch cable shows streaming live!  Sharing passwords for these sites will save everyone money, and allow everyone to watch their favorite shows. Sharing is caring people. 

I do have a few drawbacks that I've come across.  If you go the cheaper route on antennas, you'll need to buy one for every TV in your house.  I started out with one antenna and have purchased two of the cheaper ones since then.  Also, for those who still own a couple of box TVs, you'll need to purchase a digital converter box in order to receive the digital channels.  Cheapest i've seen on this is $30.  

All in all, for as low as $10 per TV, you could be watching American Idol, Scandal, Fox Sports and more!  Keep in mind this is without any reoccurring charges.  You pay a one time fee to start up, and it's very inexpensive to start small.  How's that for saving some big dollars in the long run?

Do you have any tips on saving money on cable TV?  If so, what has worked for you?

Hall Closet Re-Do

Have a new and functional closet at no cost!  Watch how I reuse and repurpose things around the house in order to create a fully functioning space that can fit your needs.

This is my hallway closet.  I guess people typically store coats, vacuums and what not.  I don't know, we've always had a mishmash of things.  I had the desire to have this closet house our daily worn coats.  Sounds silly, but our coats tend to land on the backs of the dinning room chairs.  This has been a completely wasted area in my house.  Clearly a bunch of stuff just tossed in here on the floor.  So I cleaned it up, and took out everything that already had a home elsewhere in the house (ex:  wrapping paper goes upstairs).  I left everything else, and just re-ordered it a bit.  

There is now space to hang coats/and guests coats.  I took this picture after I removed about 7 sweatshirts that no longer fit anyone living in the house (off to goodwill they go).  

My daughters old hanging closet organizer now houses my random collection of bags, including the reusable ones for the grocery store, book bags, and totes.

The file boxes and computer paper box contains old and current items to be filed or shredded.  Thats a whole other project.  

This closet re-do cost me $0!  I just looked around the house for items that weren't being used anymore and re-purposed them.  More to come, check out my closet re-do for my clothes.

Eat Healthy But Don't Bust Your Budget (Re-post/Edit)

Eating healthy can be a challenge all by itself.  Now couple that with limited funds and one can become discouraged fairly quicklly.  It is so easy to get that dollar burger, or low quality frozen heat and eat item.  Many people think that you can't buy healthy food with coupons.  While that may be  true for most coupons, it is not true for all of them.  I have had several coupons that were for vegetables, wheat breads, frozen fruit, low fat items, and so on.  While you may not be able to purchase everything in your basket with a "healthy" coupon, you can most certainly get healthy items for great prices.

For example, stores have fresh produce on sale all the time.  I personally don't buy a fresh veggie or fruit unless they are on sale for $0.99/lb or less.  Bananas are a staple in my house, and they are always cheap!  I use the stores sales that week as shopping list (see my "shopping the sales" post) and just buy whatever fruits and veggies are on sale.

Frozen veggies are another inexpensive option.  I normally spend $0.99 per bag on frozen veggies.  You could also buy frozen veggies in bulk (or larger bags) and double up on your veggies for meals.  If you have cooked a not so healthy side dish that your family loves (this happens often in my house), you can have double veggies on your plate.  Just grab a single serving out of the bag and heat it up.  Simple.

I hardly ever buy canned veggies for a couple of reasons.  The sodium content is usually unfavorable, and they just don't taste fresh at all to me.  However, if that's your thing, you can also find them on sale for $0.50 per can!  Pretty cheap too.

You can get a couple of healthy things from the Dollar Tree.  I recently started to purchase my brown rice from there.  Uncle Ben's would cost me $3.50ish per bag.  I love Uncle Ben's but I need to make cuts wherever possible.  They also sell a variety of dried beans.  My Dollar Tree also has a refrigerated section with frozen fruits and veggies.

For those cereal eaters out there, you are not forced to buy super sweet cereals with coupons.  You have a choice with most coupons.  Several will say $1.00 off any "General Mills" cereal.  I can almost always get Cheerios for $2 or less per box.  Also, I  often times receive coupons for Fiber One, Special K, and Kashi cereals as well.  As far as milk is concerned, well thats just an expensive necessary evil.  However, low fat and skim milks tend to cost less than whole milks these days.  And for you lactose intolerants, there are plenty of coupons for almond and soy milks all the time.

So these are just a few ideas to get you going on your healthy eating journey (on the cheap).  How do you save money on the healthy things you buy?