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You are here: Home / Archives for life hacks

life hacks

10 Ways to Dramatically Lower the Grocery Bill

November 13, 2018 By Joni Kinney Leave a Comment

Like most families, one of our most significant monthly budget line items is our groceries. Trying to balance necessities and what we want is always a challenge when money is tight. It only makes sense that we try to lower the grocery bill.

If you are like us then talking about budgets and expenses is scary. To try and help make things easier for you we’ve created some FREE resources just for you! We really hope you enjoy our Free Budget and Expense Tracking printables.

10 Ways to Dramatically Lower the Grocery Bill

  1. Check unit Prices
  2. Buy in Bulk
  3. Buy Generic brands
  4. Only Pay with Cash
  5. Buy seasonal fruit
  6. Shop Online
  7. Shop the store sales
  8. Meal plan
  9. Shop Alone
  10. Eat Before

Check unit Prices

A lot of times buying the biggest box of cereal makes sense. (If you eat a lot of cereal). Purchasing those big boxes or largest item is typically the cheapest method to getting the best bang for your buck.

However, if there is a sale on a smaller box, the unit price may be lower for that smaller box. The unit price is the price per serving. Check the unit prices and try to get them lower, sometimes you will fix buying two smaller size items is a better deal than one large box.

Buy in Bulk

Buying large quantities of something you use often is typically the best deal. If you can purchase a case of green beans, you may get a discount. Check those unit prices and try to buy in bulk whenever you can to stack those savings and help you lower your grocery bills.

Buy Generic brands

Let’s face it; most store brands are just as good as name brands. You can typically save yourself some money just by swapping out that name brand for the store brand. Now even I will admit there are some things we don’t buy generic because it isn’t quite the same. However, you need to consider swapping out whenever possible.

Only Pay with Cash

Paying for your groceries with cash ensures you stick to your budget. Ideally, you have set aside a specific amount to use and can stay within that budget. Not taking credit cards or paying with other methods makes you less likely to grab those items you think you needed but had not planned on purchasing.

Buy seasonal fruit

We love fruit because we make a lot of smoothies. Let’s face it though; fruit is expensive. You can help curb these costs by only purchasing in-season fruit. There are different times when berries are on sale vs. melons. Take advantage of those differences to add variety and get a better deal on your grocery bills.

Shop Online

Many local and online stores such as Amazon will allow you to make grocery purchases online. Shopping online is great because you can stack savings, but also because you are then not tempted to make those last minute and not necessary purchases.

Shop the store sales

Every local store including Walmart, Aldi‘s or Save A Lot has store sales. Strategize before you head out to pick up your weekly groceries where you will go and which store you will purchase from.

Meal plan

Meal planning to help you save money on your grocery bill helps you to know what you need. This will help you maximize your savings as you visit local stores and purchase the in-store sale items.

Shop Alone

Taking kids and husbands to the store can be expensive. Leave them home and shop alone. This way you can stick to your strategies and make your purchases without extra pressure from the littles.

Eat Before

There is nothing worse than grocery shopping when you are hungry. Additionally, this is hard on the grocery bill once you get to the register. When we are hungry, we tend to feel as if we need items we had not planned on purchasing. You are way more likely to test your willpower if you enter that store hungry than you are if you just ate a fulfilling meal.

Filed Under: Money Saving Tips Tagged With: groceries, grocery bill, life hacks, money saving, money savings tips, saving money, ways to save

Travel Hacks

July 9, 2018 By Joni Kinney 1 Comment

Whether you are traveling on an airplane or making a road trip this summer; I’m sure you want to make your journey smooth. If you would like to find ways to get flights for free or find ways to earn more reward points to take advantage of travel deals make sure you check out our previous articles.

Here are some of the very best travel hacks to help your vacation be more enjoyable!

Travel Hacks for Flights

  • If you type into Google any flight number. You can see exactly where the flight is at any given time.
  • Use your browsers private or incognito mode to purchase tickets.

Airports

  • Need to know the airport wifi? There is a Google Map that will show you a whole lot of airports and their wifi passwords: www.KinneyChaos.com/airportwifi
  • Bring an empty water bottle. This allows you to fill it without paying for a water bottle at the super high airport prices.
  • Need to get through Security fast? If you are in an area with multiple lanes, try to use the path all the way to the left. Most people are right-handed and tend to move towards the right naturally.

Packing

  • Put a dryer sheet in your suitcase to keep it smelling fresh.
  • Put rolled up socks inside shoes to help them keep their shape.
  • Snap a quick picture of that luggage before you send it to your destination. That way you know what your luggage looks like in the event it gets lost, and it can help you speed up your paperwork.

Road trips

  • Need Directions? Skip the gas station and find a pizza delivery place. They know their way around town better than a gas station attendant will.
  • Need a quick travel cup? Use Press’n Seal over the top of your cup and pop a straw through it.
  • Fill up with Gas in the mornings as often as you can. Gas contracts and it’s at the smallest point in the colder morning temps. This gives you the best road trip gas value.
  • If you stop somewhere turn your steering wheel 180 degrees before parking in the sun. This way you won’t burn your hands when you start driving again.

Other

  • When you have to take a taxi, put the destination into your phone map so you can ensure the taxi driver doesn’t scam you.

Have other travel hacks? We would love to hear about them! Just leave us a comment and please share so others can enjoy our tips too!

Filed Under: Travel Tips Tagged With: free travel, life hacks, travel, travel hacking, travel hacks, travel tips

The Ultimate Guide of things to Teach your Daughter

March 13, 2018 By Joni Kinney Leave a Comment

As most moms I try to do my best to instill some basic principals of life to my everyday interactions with my daughter. She’s at an age where she’s had to deal with mean kids,  and yet isn’t old enough to really understand how some of these interactions will truly shape who she will become as an adult. So I made a list of things that I want her to know and learn about herself and life in general. This is my ultimate guide of things to teach your daughter. I mean really it’s the same for all kids… but I only have a daughter. 🙂

Ultimate Guide of things to teach your daughter

  1. Do not ask questions if you are not ready to hear the real answers. If you don’t really want to know the answer to “Do you Love me?” if the answer is NO. Then you should not ask the question. Sometimes we think we are ready for those answers but we really are not.
  2. A Few best friends are better than lots of friends. Knowing who your friends are when you are going through your worst moments is so much more important than having a lot of friends who won’t truly support you when the going gets tough.
  3. Basic Budgeting – and sticking to it even when it sucks. Budgeting can suck, because I really WANT this thing I haven’t finished saving for… but in a year you will thank me for having self discipline when your car breaks down or your tv goes out and you have money set aside to fix it or repair it.
  4. Fighting is ok, it’s how you resolve it that determines how good of friends you are. If you’ve never had a fight with your boyfriend, or a girlfriend then you aren’t really as good of friends as you thought. Now obviously this doesn’t apply if you just met or just started dating, but at some point you are going to disagree. Disagreements are ok, and normal. How you resolve them and that you can resolve them determines what happens next.
  5. No one else is you… don’t let their opinions decide what you like. If you love to sit around and watch cartoons on Saturday or  you love to watch that tv show from 3 years ago no one else liked. Those are totally ok things and you should do them. Don’t let others decide how you feel about something. Own your feelings, they are yours!
  6. There is always something new to learn. Even when you are 90 you will not know everything. Technology changes, people change, our world is ever evolving. Learn that you will never know everything.
  7. Don’t judge others, you don’t know what they have endured. It’s so easy to say – oh that person stinks or why don’t they just wash their hair, clothes, etc. BUT… you don’t know if they are going through a bad spot in life or if they are truly choosing to be or act that way. They may have a medical condition or they may need help.
  8. Your choices today may determine your future. Posting pictures, picking on others or just anything will stick around forever. If you post it, think it or say it assume everyone will forever be able to retrieve it.
  9. Being kind and respectful is more important than being popular. As the saying goes, stay humble and kind and help those behind you on the line. There is always someone who knows less than you, and if you see them struggling stop and help. You never know when someone will repay your kindness.
  10. Being beautiful on the outside may bring people to you, but being beautiful on the inside is what keeps them coming back to you.

Please feel free to contact me and if you agree with all or some of these please share!

Ultimate guide of things to teach your daughter #lifelessons #girlpower #fightlikeagirl #teachyourdaughter

Filed Under: Mindset Tagged With: daughters, life hacks, life tips, mindset, teaching

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