Money Saving Madness

We only recently stumbled upon a recent find that will save us close to $100/month and we are excited. This plus a couple other savings here and there save us short term and long term. I love to save money, but I am just not an "Extreme Couponer" nor can I do much in the way of budget eating (a fact that Sierra more than anyone appreciates....she told me yesterday that when she has kids, she is going to be like me and cook good food).

So, about a week or so ago, Matt was talking about a guy at work who just cancelled his cable (I think he had U-Verse like us) and is now doing Hulu+. Hulu+ is a service you can pay $7/month for and acts a lot like Netflix Instant Watch. Now, we do Netflix Instant Watch a LOT now. We can watch NIW through our Wii and with it we can watch some current shows and a lot of older shows plus a fair variety of movies. A favorite for the family is The Cosby Show. My kids love it and of course we do too.

We did not know much about Hulu+, so Matt researched it. While it is a lot like NIW, Hulu+ offers more in the way of currently on air shows. A show might air a new episode on Tuesday and be available on Hulu+ that day or mere days later. He got REALLY excited about this. The only issue is you either need to use a Roku box (sold in stores for about $80) or a blu-ray player that can play Hulu+...and Amazon Prime and You Tube and Pandora and many other apps. This excited him more because our blu-ray player has issues and he would like a new one anyway. HOWEVER, we discovered that CBS will NOT stream their current shows and CBS is the bulk of the current shows we like to watch (Survivor, Amazing Race, NCIS, Criminal Minds, etc). All the other networks allow streaming, but CBS refuses (don't get me started). So, Matt decided maybe the thing to do is to find a different cable/sattelite system (we have had our Uverse issues).

THEN he heard of another option...one that excited him more. It is called Amazon Prime. It works a lot like Hulu, but the selection of current shows and movies is much greater (still no CBS...we can just watch these via website and hooking laptop to tv) and the benefits of it far outweigh Hulu! You pay a flat $80 for the year which averages to $6.50/month (according to Matt) AND being an Amazon Prime member, you get FREE 2 day shipping on any order you make on their site...no matter how little you spend. AND, he will get his new blu-ray player. AND, we will stay current on our shows (except CBS...don't get me started) WITHOUT commercials. AND, best of all, we will cut out the $86+ a month we currently pay for cable!! Am I excited?? You BET!!! We haven't started this yet. We have to first buy a new blu-ray player....which will cost a chunk (and we have to buy Sierra's curriculum)...and will also have to pay that $80 amazon prime fee. We hope to in the next 2 weeks.

Another money saving tip we got is at Matt's work. His work has a clinic in it. Matt thought they only handled precriptions (if we have a generic prescription, we can order it through the clinic and get it for free). He just found out that they have a PA there and Matt can go to the clinic for FREE. Well, he had a dermatology appointment set for next week ($40 co-pay) where he needed to get a new prescription for his skin meds ($50). He thought to himself...I wonder if I could see this PA for free and get a prescription. So, he made an appt....saw the PA. The PA informed him that his skin meds come in generic form and though Matt had been told that the generic was not as good as the "real", it was, in fact, exactly the same...AND they gave him a physical. SO, Matt got an exam (free) and, due to the generic, got his meds (free)....all in his office building!! SUPER YAY!!!

And a final money goodie...this one is more future savings. As you know, I homeschool Sierra, but Daniel is still in public school. It is my ultimate goal to homeschool Daniel, too, but Matt is resistant. I think a big part of it is the cost of homeschooling....Sierra's curriculum is costing us close to $500 and it is HARD to pay for.....REALLY hard. Well, the other day a lady in my homeschool group posted that she was giving away curriculum sets for 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 11th. I saw that someone already claimed 7th & 11th, but I emailed asking for the 4th-6th. Today, I got an answer...I got it!!! Now, it is not 100% certain that I will be homeschooling him at that time and if I don't I will pass the freebies on to someone else. I plan on keeping her curriculum from here on out, so it will be there for Daniel. The best part is this curriculum I just scored is the same program that I am buying for Sierra now!! So, it will be consistent!! I am SO excited!! (Now to afford Sierra's curriculum without having to stand in the soup line)!!

Other added savings we have had....we now have 2 cars so Matt takes the gas guzzling van to and from work every day and I drive the far less gas eater sedan on my little errands. It is AMAZING how much LESS gas we use each pay period!!! Due to having 2 cars, it is FAR easier for me to COOK each night which equals healthier eating (no last minute drives out to McDonald's for dinner)and money saved in meals that often can be served twice in one week (added benefit to this is Matt is FINALLY on a diet...one that I am confident will be showing rewards soon). Summer is over (not officially, but movie wise)...so less outings to the movie theater. Sadly, our heat wave is causing incredible spikes in our electric bill....we are unplugging all the devices we possibly can, but with Sierra and I home so much of the day, it is hard not to have multiple electrical things going at once.