A Month of Saving Day 2

Well, today brought a simple money saving decision. We cancelled our gym membership. We have been members for over 1 year and have probably utilized the gym about 20 times between the 2 of us. We have a treadmill in our basement and we both prefer to run outside during the spring, summer, and fall. We also attend a church that has an elliptical and a walking track that is free of charge. At the end of the day, the last thing I want to do is go to the gym. If I can't walk downstairs or out my front door and begin my workout, it is too much of a commute for me at this stage of life. I am sure at some point having a gym membership will be a benefit to our family, but for this season of life, it is $57.25 that is not going to good use. So, we just saved $687 over the next year by recognizing that working out at the gym is not practical for where we are in life right now.

Now, that does not mean we will not be working out. Ryan and I are considering taking part in a half-marathon again a little later this year. We find we are much more motivated to stick with a training regimen if we are actually training for a specific race. We will see how it goes.

One other money saving tip we have started is loading coupons onto our Kroger card. Ryan does a good deal of the grocery shopping for us, so he can take the credit for the money saved. By spending 12 minutes the other day looking through the ad and searching for coupons online, he saved us over $25 at the grocery yesterday. I am sure this is amateur savings compared to many of you, but we are also being very adament about sticking with a list at the grocery and only buying things we actually will use/need. We are now the proud owners of 82 rolls of toilet paper, so I would say we are stocked up for awhile. If you need to go to the bathroom, we can accommodate your paper needs!!!

It is simple things like this that are saving us money. We don't intend to change our lifestyle a great deal. I don't intend to be "weird" about being green or so frugal that we are not realistic, but by investing a few minutes in loading coupons and recognizing where our family is in terms of working out and going to a gym, we have the potential to save over $1300 this year. I can't wait to see what else we can do that will enable our family to reach out more and make a bigger impact on our world!!!

Have a great day!