Before I moved out of my parents’ house and got married, I didn’t really think about saving money at all. I was living under my parents’ roof for free, not paying any bills, but making money that I felt I could spend the way I wanted to because I could. Little did I know I was creating all of these bad spending habits that I would want to unlearn a few years later. Don’t get me wrong, I was still pretty cautious with my money and wasn’t going into debt, but if I could go back with the knowledge I have now, I would have put that money right into savings.
My husband is really the one who instilled this money saving mindset into me. Like I said I wasn’t going into debt, but I wasn’t thinking of the future either. I was just living in the now and making purchases that I wanted at the time. I was making a lot of impulse purchases and purchases that were way overpriced for what they were, such as anything from Starbucks.
Flash forward to now, I wouldn’t consider myself a penny pincher, but I love to try and think of little ways I can save money here and there. I am very cautious about my purchases and really sit on things before buying them. I believe the more I stay in this money saving mindset, the easier it will become to save money and it will make me more conscious of every purchase I make.
I have made a short list of seven things I no longer buy to save money.
Let’s get into it!
- Take Out/Fast Food
I have mentioned food first because this is the category most of my money went to in the past. I loved my daily iced coffee from Starbucks and a good Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, but this is something I have seen prices skyrocket on just in the past few months. That iced coffee is now over $6, as well as that chicken sandwich. Just do a little bit of math and that daily coffee costs you over $2,000 a year!
Our family hardly eats out at all anymore because of this. We have breakfast, lunch, dinner, and coffee all at home. It costs me less than $6 a week for coffee this way and it honestly tastes better, too. This may be a hot take, but Starbucks is overrated.
I never thought I would be the mom saying, “We have food at home.” But, now it’s 2024 and here I am! You’ll only catch us at a restaurant if we have a gift card, someone invites us, or if it is a very special occasion. Even this year for our anniversary, I made a special steak dinner at home that cost less than one plate would have at a restaurant.
Yes, grocery prices are out of control right now, but take out, fast food, and restaurants are so much worse and not worth the money. I can make delicious food at home for so much less money and in my opinion the food ends up tasting better at home most of the time, too.
- Impulse Purchases
If you have been to Target, the first thing you see when you walk in is the $1 section, which I’d like to mention that nothing in there is just $1 anymore. I could probably tell you that more times than not, nothing in that section is the reason you went to the store. You may have needed milk or batteries or shampoo, but not another cute holiday sign or small, cheap toy for your kids that will break the second it gets home.
Now, I’d also like you to think of how many times you may have justified a purchase by saying, “Well, it’s just $5 (or less).” Those $5 impulse purchases of stuff you didn’t know you needed until it was in front of you have probably cost you quite a bit of money by now. Some of these things may have lasted years after you bought it, still brings you joy, and still has a prominent spot on your bookshelf. However, I could bet most of it is nowhere to be found, at a Goodwill somewhere, or even in the landfill.
The main way I avoid these impulse purchases is I don’t go into many stores anymore. For my weekly groceries, I do Walmart grocery-pickup. The app shows me my usuals, I add them to my cart, and I don’t shop around. About once a month I go into Costco with a list. I buy what is on the list and I go home. I will say Costco does have new food options I try from time-to-time, but I avoid any other sections of the store unless there is something specific I am looking for.
- Toys/books for my kids
Now, I do save money from not buying toys, but that is not the only reason for it. Toys accumulate like wild fire in our house and I don’t need to be contributing to that. From birthday and Christmas presents to hand-me-downs and birthday party favors, the toys just keep coming. We have very generous family and friends that love to spoil our children, which I am perfectly okay with, but because of this, I do not need to add to it myself. The less toys there are, the less toys need to be picked up at the end of the day.
Along with that, children tend to thrive with less. Your child may be overwhelmed if there are too many toy options and end up not playing with any of them. My son and I have also used things around the house to make our own toys to play with, using things like empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls, empty egg cartons, and printer paper, which I will be sharing in a separate post eventually.
For books, we have plenty of books we have accumulated from gifts or hand-me-downs. However, we also go to our local library once a week for Storytime and each of my kids gets to check out two books for the week. With this free option available for us, it feels completely pointless to me to purchase new books. Maybe at a thrift store if we absolutely love a book, but for sure nothing new.
- Birthday presents for my kids
I mentioned in the last section that toys accumulate in our house from birthday presents, but those are not coming from us. Right now we do not buy our young kids birthday presents, but instead we throw them a party with friends and family and that is considered their birthday present. They are already going to be getting presents from their party and we don’t need to add to that.
Our children are still very young, but in the future we assume our children will ask for something specific for their birthday. We will consider it depending on the price. If it is something small, they could get that as well as the party, if they still want a party. But if it is something expensive, we could say it’s either this or a party and let them decide.
Christmas is a little different. They get a toy from Santa under the tree, a small toy from Santa in their stocking, and a few things (not necessarily toys) from us. I like to keep our Christmas presents minimal because again of our generous family and the amazing gifts from them.
- Disposable dishes for everyday use
We almost never buy paper plates, bowls, cups, or plastic utensils in our house. The only time you will see us buying those things is if we are throwing a party. We buy these in bulk at Costco, so they always last more than one party. We never use these for everyday use. We have plenty of actual plates, bowls, cups, and silverware, so even if we have a few people over, there are enough for everyone.
To me, it seems like such an unnecessary purchase if you already have these things at home. Yes, it will reduce your dishes pile at the end of the day, but most plates, bowls, cups, and silverware can just go straight into the dishwasher anyways. The plates in your home don’t cost you anything to use it and everytime I use a paper plate and throw it away, I feel so wasteful and hear that “cha-ching” sound in my mind.
- Fast fashion clothes/accessories
I have never really been into fashion. I tend to wear the same kind of thing everyday, which I have come to call my “mom uniform.” On a warm day, I wear jean shorts or pants with a tank top or t-shirt (mostly black). Cooler days, I wear jeans and a sweater or sweatshirt. On Sundays for church or other special occasions, I dress nicer and usually wear a dress or nice blouse with my nice jeans.
I wear the same necklace, rings, and earrings every day. They are high quality jewlery and will last forever if I take care of them. A lot of the fast-fashion clothes and especially accessories are cheaply made and get worn out or break much faster. I believe in this case it is better to buy timeless, high-quality clothing and jewlery that you like.
I feel like everything I wear is pretty basic and timeless, not really up with what’s trending. Some people may see this as a negative, but it can honestly save you a lot of money. Those trends or fast fashion change so frequently. You can end up spending a lot of money if you are trying to keep up.
Finding what you like to wear and feel comfortable in and just sticking to that is honestly also so freeing. I feel like I don’t feel worried about what others think of what I am wearing anymore. One less thing to worry about? Yes, please!
- The next big thing
How many of you have a Hydroflask? Now, how many have a Stanley? Did you really need another water bottle or did you want the next “in” bottle? I jumped on the Hydroflask train and still use the same one I bought in 2017. The only reason I have a Stanley was because I got it as a gift, but I would have never bought it for myself unless I had absolutely no other cups to use. My Hydroflask worked just fine and I liked using it. Just because everyone else is getting something, doesn’t mean you need to get it.
Recently, also this Ninja Creami ice cream maker has gotten popular and I have seen so many people even in my close circle getting it. This is a fun thing to try, but if you are trying to save money, an expensive single use appliance is not something you need unless you are going to use it enough to get your money’s worth. Store bought ice cream is cheap and delicious, I don’t see a need for something like this in my stage of life.
When the hype goes down and you’re still thinking about it, then it may be worth the try. By that point, you may be able to find the thing at your local thrift store. That would be the first place I would look for something like that! If you look now, I’m sure you can find a ton of air fryers there. I feel like everyone I know jumped on that train and now the thrift stores are full of them.
Basically, what I will say for the past two points is you don’t need to keep up with the trends. Companies keep pushing out products so they can keep making money. Most of these are things you never knew you needed until you saw it, which really means you don’t need it!
There are many other things that we do in our household to save money, which you can find here. However, this is just a short list of things we don’t buy. I’m sure after posting this I will think of a few other things we don’t buy, but these are the main things I can think of right now.
I hope you found something in here that you can try to stop buying in your own household to help you save some money. These are things that I have gradually stopped buying overtime and I feel like there are more and more things I will be adding to this list overtime. Don’t be afraid to try something just to see if it works and if not, you can always bring it back if you miss it.
With love,
Victoria O’Brien