Spring Into Savings With These Money Saving Tips
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I love March! How could you not? March means Spring Break. It means NCAA March Madness. Best of all, March means that the cold, long, dreary days of winter are numbered and spring is almost upon us.
I’ve always found that the start of a new season is a great time to take stock in your life. In terms of our financial life, it provides a chance for reflection, and an opportunity for us to look for ways in which we can do better. Now that March is upon us, here are some money saving tips that you can use to sturdy your financial ship and help you reach your goals this spring and beyond.
Money Saving Tips for Spring
Coupons
Have you been taking advantage of all the discounts that manufacturers offer? Why not try clipping some coupons this spring? You can find great deals on everything from groceries and restaurants to car washes and movie tickets. These days, you don’t even have to pay for a Sunday newspaper. There are plenty of websites online that provide coupons for their readers. Simply go to these websites to print your online coupons, or even download them to your smartphone. With technology like this, coupon shopping has never been easier.
Open the Windows
Guess what! The cold is almost gone…and so are those pesky wintertime heat bills. As the weather gets warmer, instead of turning on the air conditioning, open up those windows. Breathe in the scent of the fresh spring air while keeping your house cool at the same time!
Plant a Garden
Are you tired of paying an arm and a leg for fresh vegetables at the grocery store? Are the store-bought vegetables that you buy lacking in flavor? Take care of both of these problems by planting your own garden. All it takes is a little water and some tender loving care. We have tried to make this a priority ourselves over the last few years, but – alas – we have yet to succeed. Maybe we can motivate each other to do better this year!
Get Out of the Gym
For those of us who live in cold weather climates, the winter makes it difficult for us to exercise in the great outdoors. Now that the frost has broken, ditch the gym membership (and those ridiculous payments) in favor of exercising outdoors. The scenery is much prettier to look at, the air is much cleaner to breathe, and the best part is that it is free.
Ride Your Bike
Gasoline prices continue to rise, and as the spring and summer holidays get nearer, they will only continue to go up. Instead of driving a block or two to the grocery store, why not walk or ride your bike. You’ll get some great exercise, and you’ll save money. Better yet, you’ll be doing a little bit to save the environment as well.
I was able to open my windows yesterday for a few hours. It was great to finally have some fresh air in the apartment.
Yes! I have cabin fever….
Happy to be co-hosting with you guys again! Definitely ready for Spring/Summer. Biggest thing for us is lower heating bills…that was the one “shockingly high” expense of having a home we discovered this past winter.
In the spring, summer, and fall, my gas bill is only around $12. I’m really looking forward to that!
After we just got 8 inches of snow and freezing rain dumped on us yesterday I am more than ready for it to be Spring! Great tips!
I can’t wait for the weather to finally warm up, Greg.. This weekend was supposed to be the time, but then it ended up raining the entire time!..
Daffodils are one of the few things that we don’t have in FL that I miss from my time up north. They really are a sign that better weather is just around the corner!
except our daffodils are confused…. They have been coming up since the end of January!
Great ideas, I think I might go ride my bike this weekend if it’s sunny.
Great ideas. I was just talking to a co-worker earlier today about how I would love to plant a garden, but we do a few camping trips in the summer, and vegetables tend not to like getting ignored for that long, so it probably isn’t going to happen just yet. Yesterday it was 65 here, which was a nice reminder that spring is coming eventually 🙂
Good ideas one and all. Spring comes early to our part of Texas, but I did see frost out there this morning! Love the extra daylight now at the end of the day.
Saturday and Sunday we went on a couple nice little runs and it was great! The good news for us is out little guy loves these runs too and his little legs were pumping like crazy in his stroller encouraging us to keep going!
Too bad yesterday was a tease and we might get some snow tomorrow!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
I love opening the windows and we were able to do so yesterday. It was so nice here. We also just found a new greenway trail that they opened near our home. We plan on getting out with our bikes and taking it for a ride.
You guys are content-creating juggernauts! I can barely keep up! We’re planting our own victory garden this spring, both for the financial and health benefits, but also to help educate our kids about getting their hands dirty and growing things.
I sold my car last year and ride my bike, walk, or run back and forth to work and I’ve saved a ton of cash that way; this is cash we’ve used to eliminate debt and build assets. Plus, I admit that I like being human powered during every possible weather condition!
Spring also means spring cleaning and gathering up all your unnecessary “stuff” and selling it or giving it away. We’re getting ready to do just that and then apply the proceeds to something positive!
It helps that there are two of us, Mike!
It was so nice this weekend to finally turn off the heat and use some of the nice fresh outdoor to circulate throughout our house. Feels like spring is almost here. It was nice to get out and get fresh air too, it works wonders for feeling rejuvenated and our kids get out and run around to tire themselves out.
Great tips! I started the seeds for the garden 2 weeks ago in fact I posted a blog post this morning with all my tips and photos! I love gardening flowers and vegetables because it not only reminds me of home it gets me out of the house and doing something I’m passionate about! Cheers
Spring is my second favorite season. Fall is the best!
I love fall too!
We ditched both of our gym memberships and created a very modest home gym. It has been one of the greatest things that we have done. We save a ton of money each month and we can work out in the convenience of our own home.
Good ideas! I think it is always a good idea to look st your expenses and see where you can changes.
Winter has been holding on with a tight grip, so right now, spring seems very far away. But when spring does arrive, I`ve been thinking of growing some vegetables outside. We have a tiny space outside, where the sun shines a lot, so it might just work! I`m still sticking to the gym, because icy roads isn`t the best way to exercise, but I`ll probably freeze my gym membership during summer.
Sigh…I really need to ride my bike more often to the beach. I just know I get there quicker with the car. lol! I think it’s a good idea to at least look at everything in your financial world at least once a quarter to examine how things are (of course you just read my post and know I do this every damn day). I love those days too where you can open all the doors and windows and let the warm breeze in. Yes, even in Cali we get excited by this! 🙂
I can’t wait for spring! My apartment has paper thin windows, so when it’s cold outside, it is the same temp in our apartment 🙁 Ugh…
I am giving the garden another try this week. I have the reverse problem, it has been too hot to sow!
I always say I’m goint to start a garden, but only plant one thing and then some critter seems to eat it, and I turn into Bill Murray from Caddyshack. I’ve heard bell peppers are easy, so that might be my attempt this year.
I would be happy to just plant a few tomato plants!
I hope in the future we have a backyard to have a garden, but for now I’m trying out some herbs since fresh ones are so pricey. Great tips!
Kiddo and I went for a nice long walk today, it was great!! I’m sick of the treadmill. I can’t wait to see the spring flowers bloom on our walks, our bulbs are starting to poke out of the ground so just a few more weeks!
I love exercising outdoors much more than indoors. When I’m on the dreadmill all I think about is how much time is left. When I’m outdoors I actually lose track of time.
I recently started exercising outdoors and so far it has been great. Fresh air is always good for you. There is outdoor gym on the beach where I live and I think this might eventually replace the gym I go to .
Cabin fever has hit here too. On Friday we went upnorth and the weather was nice. It was great to get out of the house for a few hours. Now I can’t wait to get my hands dirty.
Thanks for co-hosting the giveaway as well.
Opening windows, great way to get fresh air and keep costs down a bit. It’s just a bit cold here to get into it in full swing, but soon enough it will be!
I’m all about the garden! I started getting the beds ready this last weekend and hope to have some raised bed ready by next week. I’m also big about raising the windows and getting some fresh air into the house. So much so that in the past, I’ve looked into seeing if there was a way that I could “modify” our hose ducting so that when the temperature was right, the system would just suck in fresh air from outside (Luckily, I never quite got to the point of trying to do that).
Greg, love these new and fresh ideas! We’re planting a huge garden this year in hopes of supplying many of our own veggies for the fall and winter months.
Excellent down-to-earth points; thanks for this! Looking forward to more Spring-related posts.
Hello! I really love this blog. Tell me please – from where do you have information for ths post?
I pay $10 a month at Planet Fitness and go five times a week. The diversity of exercise besides running makes the price worth it.
I would hold off on cancelling the gym membership just yet. You should check with your employer what options they may provide for your or reimburse. The company I work for actually pays for my gym membership year round. I also get an allowance for food that is organic or sustainably produced. A friend of mine who works for the city gets an allowance to buy a certain amount of new clothes for the office on a monthly basis. A small but growing number of companies are putting their money and effort into these initiatives and it is as simple as asking what the policies and allowances are.
I was planning to get out of my gym subscription to save some money, these are useful that I could apply on, like planting my own vegetable garden so that I won’t have to get in the car and go to the grocery to buy those things.