What are you doing to add to your savings this Summer?  I know it’s summer and full of fun, but that doesn’t mean that you have to blow your savings, you can actually add to it during this busy time of year.  But how?

Well, I can give you a couple of ideas, but I think you probably have some of your own.  Here are my 5 tips to help you save money this summer:

1. Have a yard sale.  Summer is the best time of year to hold a yard sale because that’s when more people are out and about.  Holding yard sales is great because not only do you make money, but you also are getting rid of clutter. You will be quite surprised by how much money your old clothes and household items can bring.
2. Take advantage of free and cheap summer programs.  From library reading programs, to $1 movies and kids bowl free, there are tons of fun and super cheap things to do this summer.  Take advantage of those and you won’t be out your hard earned money.
3. Pack lunches.  Regardless of what activities you do, be sure that you pack lunches for your days out.  This will keep you from blowing a bunch of money on restaurant food.
4. Head to the beach/park/lake.  When you spend days at the park, the beach or the lake, these are often days full of fun that don’t really cost you any money.  These are lifetime memories too! I will always remember the summer days spent at the riverbank with my mom.
5. Day trips.  You can fit lots of fun day trips into the summer.  Plan these types of trips instead of vacations away and you will avoid the expensive cost to stay in a hotel or rental house.

We have been talking a lot about different ways to save money, and those tip lists almost always say to stop eating out.  Let’s get real here though, sometimes you want to splurge and eat out, sometimes your oven stops working, sometimes you simply don’t want to cook.  And sometimes, you have been on the road for hours and cooking at home means you won’t be eating until 10pm (sports parents, I’m talking to you).

If you fit into the above list, this list of 5 Tips that Will Help You Save Money While Eating Out is for you:

• Coupons.  Check in your Sunday paper for coupons for local fast food joints.  I often see Carl’s Jr. Coupons in my paper, many of them being BOGO deals, etc.  This is a great way to save on your costs.
• Value Menu. The value menu is great for those times that you swing through the drive-through last minute.  Be careful not to fall into the trap of driving through and eating from the value menu all the time, it is not cost-saving to eat there all the time.
• Download the app.  Many restaurants such as McDonald’s has an app that gives you discounts for using it.
• Sign up for rewards programs.  Many restaurants offer a reward program.  My family, for instance, always enjoys Red Robin when we go out to eat and we are a member of their rewards program.  We get a free birthday burger, plus every 10th burger is free. Because there are 5 of us, that means that every other visit we get a free burger.  We don’t go out to eat often, but the restaurant rewards program helps us save when we do.
• Kids eat free nights.  When you take the family out to eat, be sure to go to a restaurant that offers kids eat free (or cheap) nights.  Oftentimes it is 2 kids per 1 adult meal. This is a great way to save!

Okay, so we have talked and talked about some of the things that are helping to keep us broke, but now it’s time to get to the nitty gritty.  I mean the real deal down to earth reasons that we are staying broke. These are the things that are most important to change in our lives in order to change our financial future.

So, my friends here are the biggest things keep you broke and how to turn that around:

• Intimidation.  When you are not used to having enough money, the mere idea of having more than enough money is a very intimidating thought. Many people don’t understand this mindset, but it is a very real thing.  I highly suggest reading up on some money management books, or listening to podcasts just to get you more comfortable with the subject.
• Fear.  What if you fail?  What if you can’t make enough money to get things right?  What if you screw up and fall back into your bad financial ways?  Listen, all of these can happen, but if you believe in yourself they either won’t happen or you will turn it around and change!  I’ve recently been following several budgeting groups on Facebook and finding that like any other thing, sometimes people fall off the wagon, but as long as they are ready to make a difference, things really can change.
• YOURSELF.  This is the biggie folks.  YOU are keeping yourself broke.  You are the one making the decisions to hit the drive through or to not meal plan or budget your income and expenses.  YOU alone have the power to change this, but you have to be willing to make a difference in your financial life and you have to want this change for yourself and your family.  

YOU can do it!! I believe in you!

Do you feel like you are always broke?  Like no matter what you do, you are going to be in the same situation all the time?  I know it seems like it never gets better, but I promise you it can change. You just have to change your mindset.  That means that first, you need to realize that there are things that are making you broke and until you change those things you are unlikely to change your situation.

Over the next couple of days we are going to talk about the things keeping you broke so that we can then talk about the things that can help us thrive:

• Keeping up with the Joneses’ – This is not just a saying, it’s a real thing that is keeping millions of people from being truly successful.  You are too worried about appearing as though you have money to actually put your money to good use for you. Instead you buy a house you can’t afford or a car that you struggle to make the payment on.  It’s time to stop this.
• Not budgeting.  I have said it time and time again.  You have to keep a budget and follow it so that you can see where your money is going.  You control your money, it doesn’t control you. Don’t forget that.
• Not planning.  This kind of goes along with having a budget, but you can’t go blindly into life spending and doing whatever without some kind of plan for the money you have.  It’s time to sit down and plan your future, financially and otherwise.
• The drive through.  A while back I realized that I was honest to goodness spending $10+ per day every time I was running errands with my kids (literally daily) on fast food.  I was always hearing “I’m hungry, mom” or I, myself, didn’t think to eat before we left the house. That was equally HUNDREDS of dollars that was being spent every single month on food that wasn’t even good for us!  I had a good heart to heart discussion with myself about this one and now I always have snacks on hand for those moments. No more drive-throughs for me.

What are the things that are keeping you broke?  Be honest….

The other day we went over five of my favorite tips for saving money.  I knew that I would be addressing some more tips soon so I really paid attention to my spending habits this weekend while I was out and about and while I was home and I was reminded of a couple of things that I had actually forgotten.  As it turns out much of what I do throughout my days is focus on how I can save money.

So, if you are still looking for tips on saving money, here are my next top 5 rules for saving money:

1. Utilize leftovers.  I use to throw away leftovers all the time.  Not to intentionally waste food, but because it would sit in the fridge long enough to forget about and then it would be time to toss it.  Now our leftovers go to either lunches for the next day, the same thing for dinner tomorrow or, it goes straight into the freezer for another time.  Honestly though, the kids and my husband all enjoy leftovers in their lunches over PB&J, so this is what typically happens.
2. Drink Water.  Whether we are talking about during a restaurant meal or at home, it is much, much cheaper to just drink water. For example, when my family of 5 goes out to eat we have discovered that if we all choose water as our drink, we tend to save $10-$15 on our meal.  
3. Shut off lights when not in use.  If you leave a room, be sure that you are turning off the light switches as you go.  No need to use up electricity for a room you aren’t even in. Energy costs are one of the biggest household expenses that people face, so this is a good one to remember.
4. Combine trips.  Don’t get in your car to drive for simple little tasks.  It’s wasteful on your gas mileage to do so. Instead, why not combine your trips to one or two weekly?  You’ll save time and money doing it this way.
5. Just say no to cable. Cable and satellite TV are a luxury that many of us have somehow come to believe is a necessity.  We used to pay over $100 per month for cable alone and my friends, this has been one of my favorite things to cut. Not only did we gain $1200 per year, but we also gained a lot of family time together.

I would still love to hear all about your favorite savings tips!  Do you have any really unique ones?

Are you struggling to save money?  Does it seem like no matter how much money you have, it is always gone by the end of the month?  I know that for the longest time I struggled with this. I work for myself and sometimes I do well, sometimes not so much, but my husband makes pretty decent money and we were finding ourselves in the same financial position all the time.  Until we decided that enough was enough. It was time to get serious about saving. I decided to make myself a little rule sheet to keep me going when I would start to fall behind in my savings goals.

So, if you could use a little help in the savings department too, here are my first top 5 rules for saving money:

1. Stop eating out.  Restaurants are a budget killer, there is no two ways around that.  This goes for fast food $1 menus too! You may think they are cheap, but the truth is that it just makes it easier to convince yourself to drive through.
2. Meal plan.  Meal plan, meal plan, meal plan!  I cannot stress the importance of meal planning to your budget.  It will make all the difference in the world.
3. Just say no. I know it is hard to feel left out when you get invited places, but just saying no to invites is the only way to get your mind in the right frame to make good money decisions.
4. Just say no to emotional purchases.  It’s so easy to spend money, so easy.  But do you really need those new shoes, or that shirt that you aren’t actually going to wear (c’mon, you know it’s just going to sit in your closet).
5. Turn off the lights.  Okay, not literally, but energy savings = money savings.  Do an audit of your house to see where you can save.

These are not my only savings tips, just some of my favorites.  I will be back with more soon!

What are your favorite savings tips?