Step 26 in saving $10,000 a year.

Skip the 3D.

At Columbus’ Arena Grand Theatre an adult ticket for a normal movie is $9.50, but an adult ticket for a movie in 3D is $13.50.  That’s an extra $4.00 and if you are taking a family of 4 it’s a $16.00 savings.  If you go to the movies 4 times that’s $64.00.  It doesn’t sound like much,  but why throw it away or spend that bit of extra cash on popcorn.

Step 25 in saving $10,000 a year.

Waste less food = buy less food

These numbers are all over the board.  The USDA have done studies as well as various universities about the food that gets wasted in America every year.  I was looking at household waste and the numbers were hard to find, because usable food gets wasted at every stage of production starting at the farm. 

The best figures I could find said Americans throw out between 12% and 25% of food they purchase every year.  Let’s take the high end and say a family who has a food budge of $400 a month can save $100 a month by planning.  This means planning meals, splitting meals at restaurants,  freezing unused portions, taking leftovers for lunch, etc.  This is a savings of $1,200 a year.

Step 24 to saving $10,000 a year.

Extreme couponing.

My wife has always been great at clipping coupons, but the show Extreme Couponing has really inspired her. 

Her grocery bill was $461, she saved $200 in coupons and got $32 in store credit for future purchase for other products.  That’s a savings of about 50%.

These pictures are her cash back items and free products.

In the past 12 months, as of this writing, she has saved $173.92 from their Foodperks program, $1245.67 from weekly specials and $921.76 from coupons  for a total of $2341.35 from just one store.  That’s enough for plane tickets to Aruba this fall for the 4 of us.

Step #23 to saving $10,000 in a year

Let’s talk batteries! I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old and their world runs on AA batteries. Trains, all of their talking toys and stuff I don’t even like takes these batteries. Not to mention our digital camera eats them for breakfast and every remote control in the house uses them.

The best price I can find for these is about $1 per battery. I can find rechargeable batteries at The Home Depot for about $2 per battery. So it would only take two recharges for these items to start paying for themselves.

I found a new charger for $30

If I save $30 a month that's $360 a year.

Step 22 to saving $10,000 in a year.

Spend money to save money?!?!

It’s not as if a person can sit in the house watching network TV or playing cards and never go out, people want to be social. Look into buying season passes or memberships.

A family Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Membership is $84, but one adult admission is $12.99, $8 for children 2-9 and parking is $5 per car.

A Household membership to the Columbus Museum Of Art is $75, but one adult admission is $5 and extra for special shows.

Let’s use the zoo as an example. Two adults and two children without a membership is $42 and parking makes it $47. So, you only need 2 trips to the zoo to start saving.

The museum is a little longer to realize savings, but if you are big museum goers, like Teresa and I, it will still add up, because we also get discounts on their events. The wine tastings are our favorite, it also helps that we live walking distance away from the CMA.

So 4 trips to the zoo plus a trip to their Wildlights Wonderland during the holidays is a savings of $151 if you have a membership. The extra benefits of exercise, education and family time can not be calculated.

Step 21 to saving $10,000 in a year.

Buy your kid’s clothes on line through an auction site.

I shopped a popular childrens’ clothes retailer and found outfits can be and easy $50-$60. The same kind of outfits, winter, spring, etc, can go for $10 on ebay. My kids will not wear these clothes any longer than 2-3 months and will not know the difference.

If they are still in good shape they can be resold at an online auction or at a 2^nd hand retailer.

On the low end, if you buy 3 outfits a month for your toddler/preschooler, at a savings of $40 per outfit that’s an annual savings of $1,440 annually.

20th step to saving $10,000 in a year

Get a preferred customer card that pays you back in gas.

My favorite rebate card is Giant Eagle. For every $50 you spend they let you save $0.10 at the pump on gas at their gas stations, GetGo. For easy math let’s say $0.20 for every $100.

$500 spent = $1.00

$1,500 spent = $3.00

You are allowed to buy up to 30 gallons at one time, this is a $90 savings

You might think this is hard or slow going, but we are a family of 4 and we save over a $100 a month on gas on average. My last receipt stated we saved $1,300 over the past 12 months.

One key is also buying gift cards there. When we needed a new dishwasher we bought Sears gift cards and found a great model on sale. When we needed a new computer we also bought Best Buy gift cards and found a computer marked down. We don’t play games or work on high level animation so there is no need to have the fastest and newest thing out there.

Annual savings = $1,300