It’s been a crazy few days around here and I haven’t had a chance to think about blogging. As things started to slow down some thoughts about finances came into my head. Sometimes you have to get creative when it comes to finding ways to save money.

Here is my humorous {yet somewhat true} list of 10 ways we save money:

• We don’t have a housekeeper…we have children. Prior to having kids, my house was spotless. Now…not so much…until I realized that I had indentured servants in my midst.
• Save money on medical expenses…by marrying a nurse. My husband is a nurse and can take care of most mishaps {while calming my hysteria} with ease. Tonight he saved us a trip to the emergency room when my youngest discovered a wayward popcorn kernel and stuck it up his nose. He got the tweezers and had it out in an instant. (Disclaimer-We are not responsible for any attempts on the reader’s part for nasal passage object removal)
• Go out to eat…at someone else’s house. There are days I’ll call up my mom and say, “Whatcha makin’ for dinner?” Or, I’ll call my grandparent’s and ask if we can come over for dinner. *Note to self* Must try this with aunt. Maybe she’ll even offer to babysit.
• Go out to eat…with someone else’s money.When my husband is out of town and I know my mom is out of town for work, I will sometimes call up my dad and ask, “Wanna take me and YOUR GRANDCHILDREN out to dinner tonight?”
• Don’t go to Blockbuster… “rent” from someone who IS a Blockbuster. My parents LOVE movies and they usually have the most recent blockbusters in their collection. We go over and ask to borrow a few and then hope that we’ll remember to return them.
• Save money on furniture…become a furniture removal service. Know someone who has a piece of furniture they want out of their home? Offer to remove it for free and then put it in yours. We have plenty of mismatched furniture in our home and frankly, I’m okay with it.
• Skip vacation…go to the beach without leaving your couch. We recently returned from a beach trip and I discovered that I SMARTLY took a 12 second video of the waves crashing. I am going to figure out how to loop that video and burn it to a DVD. I’m sure the big screen in the basement and the surround sound will make me feel like I’m there! It’s a free vacation and no sunburn!
• Get free veggies…from your neighbor’s garden. Our neighbors went to the beach for a week and we kept an eye on their cat. We also kept an eye on their garden for veggies that were going to go bad if we didn’t pick them.
• Stop solicitors…by putting your BIG black lab on your front porch. Every so often we have people come around to try and sell us booklets, coupons, or vacuums. I accidentally discovered the solution to stop them. I put my dog on the porch just to get her outside. Suddenly she was barking like crazy. When I looked outside to see why, the would-be salesperson was heading the opposite direction of our house.
• Save on laundry…stay in your pajamas ALL DAY. When school breaks come around we would always take a day to just lounge in pjs all day. I have realized that maybe we have done this one too many times this summer when I told my son to go get dressed. His response, “Why, where are we going?” Ahh summers….gotta love them!

And with that…I’ll leave you with my 12 second beach video…