Frugal Friday - 10 things you can do to save $10.00

One important aspect of frugality is that you cannot cut everything all at once. There is very little you can do to make a quick $100.00 - but there are things you can do to save yourself from spending it.


Here are 10 small (painless) things you can do to save yourself $10.00.


Do all of them and you will save yourself from spending $100 (or more)!


--Make your own pizza. This may even save more than $10.00. This used to be a little be scary to me. I was never a scratch baker and anything with yeast just seemed too complicated and time consuming. I found this recipe on Money Saving Mom's other blog and it was so easy, quick, and delicious. You can make it as thin as you want. We like the thin crust around here and this recipe fits nicely in a 15x10x1 cookie sheet! This is a 1/2 pepperoni 1/2 bbq chicken pizza I made recently.


--Shop yard sales. This may also save you more than $10.00. It is hard to say because a lot of the items I purchase at yard sales I would NEVER pay full price for! I love to buy kids books for $.25 each, inexpensive kids clothes, cookbooks, games, movies, etc. I would never have as much of these items as I have if I hadn't purchased them at yard sales. Just purchasing one outfit or toy for your kids would save $10.00 - so the savings here are limitless!


--Check out the library. Pun intended. We are movie buffs around our house and I love the library for movies. They don't always have the latest releases, or even movies I have heard of...but I have found some really fun movies I would not have seen otherwise. Get a library movie once a week for 10 weeks and you saved $10.00 in Redbox fees - but let's be real. It is way more than that because you always forget to return it by 9:00. You know it's true!

--Trade babysitting with friends. Paying a babysitter can be a huge expense, trading with friends who have kids is a perfect way to save a few bucks. You can save $10.00 in one night by trading with friends. Don't have kids? Trade other things babysit in exchange for ironing, cooking, haircuts, coupons etc., etc., etc.

--Make your own playdoh. Playdoh can be expensive, especially if you want multiple colors and accessories. Making your own is so much better. It smells better and you don't get stressed when it dries out, you can just make more. Check out my FAVORITE playdoh recipe here.

--Use coupons! Done correctly, coupons can save you HUNDREDS - not just $10.00. You can save $10.00 or more in one trip! If you don't use coupons now, read more about coupon shopping and why you should do it here.

--Take a walk. Again, this isn't exactly $10.00 that you would save here, but walking is good for you and it saves gas which = saving money. Over time, you can save a lot by walking. It depends on where you live, but I live within about 2 miles of anywhere I would want to go (besides family and friends homes!). For fun, the kids and I have walked the 1.5 miles to Walgreen's to pick up my deals and pushed them home in the double stroller.

--Turn off the lights! Since I started working part time and we have been cutting expenses, I have been careful about making sure the lights are off in rooms we aren't using and trying to be more energy conscious. My goal is that when they re-evaluate our level pay for the year it goes down instead of up. What is amazing is that last year in January we used almost exactly the same amount of power that we did this year in January. The reason this is amazing to me is that last year my husband and I were both working full time and we were never home. I also didn't cook much. Now I cook almost every day and I am now only outside the home at work two days a week. It shows that we have been using less energy, which is great!


--Make things last. I am also big on this. Read my post about my dish soap here and my toothpaste here. I also cut my dryer sheets in 1/2 to make them last twice as long. This doesn't save $10.00, but over time, it will. If I get a box of 50 dryer sheets for $2.00 and I use 10 per week, what would have lasted me 5 weeks now lasts 10 weeks. Just over a year and I will save $10.00!

--Haircuts. I, myself, am NOT a glamour girl by any means. I can go for months without a haircut and be fine. My husband on the other hand must go every six to eight weeks. I have made a few mistakes in the past on his hair, so I am not allowed to do it :). He goes to Great Clips for about $14.00 including the tip. If he goes every six weeks, this is at a cost of about $120.00 per year. If I make him wait until eight weeks (which I do), we spend about $91.00 per year, saving us about $29.00 per year! (every little bit...) I do cut my son's hair for free. He still lets me :).

There are so many more ways to save a few bucks here and there, these are just a few that I have had rattling around in my head. As you can see, though, in a lot of cases a few small changes can save quite a bit - make a few more and you just saved yourself $100.00 - now go put it in a credit union!