#SingleMomChronicles: Spendthrifty

As a single mother, I am always looking for ways to save money, a penny here or a nickel there. Especially with the way these prices is rising every second out here. Children always need things. They gotta eat, have shelter and have clothes to wear. You gotta pay travel expenses like car payment or Uber or maybe the bus. However you and your children travel, there is a price. After all the bills are paid, I still want to take my kids out to have some fun sometimes, you know, create memories`and stuff. Here are a few things I do to save money:

THRIFT STORE

When I was a kid, it was extremely uncool to shop at the goodwill store. People who went there were made fun of and called poor. You would be shamed mercilessly: "you so poor that you gotta wear other people old clothes!" Well, in today's world, thrifting is a society of its own. There are upscale thrift stores. There are online thrift stores. There are thrift stores with themes even. The thrift store I go to offers 10% off on Thursdays. I can find a shirt for my daughter for $4 and then get a 10% discount on top. I got my 7 year old a 3 story Barbie beach house with an elevator and working doorbell for $6. Yes, you did read that right. I paid six whole dollars for a doll house that retails for $99 at least! I got an $80 shag rug for $11 from my favorite thrift store. I'm telling you, check it out mamas. Some thrift stores also offer in store credit for donating there. That is another way to save.

GROUPON

Groupon is a gem. Make sure you read the fine print though. It includes any restrictions or limitations to the discount. So, I took my two daughters, my mom and my oldest daughters best friend Go Kart riding and to play a round of mini golf. My youngest and I rode the Go Kart twice. My oldest daughter and her friend rode twice together and once separate. My youngest was able to ride once on the kiddie track by herself. I paid $52 for a groupon that included 6 Go Kart rides and a round of golf for us all. There were 5 of us total. The regular price of one Go Kart ride is $12.99. I did the math. Well, I used my calculator lol. Just for Go Kart rides alone, the regular total price would be $77.94 plus tax (I am in America). I saved over $25! Check it out mamas.

APPS

There are lots of apps out here that can save you money. Like for instance, my kids and I use the McDonald's app. You can earn points for free thing. You get random free things. There are codes that discount certain items. Acorns is a good saving app. Every time you swipe your card, the change goes into an account. You can also set up transfers to save even more. Checkout 51 is a coupon app that saves the money you get from discounts and you can withdraw the money when it is over $20. They have coupons for grocery items, pet stuff, health and beauty and gas. I use the gas savings probably once a week at least. I've gotten up to 24 cents a gallon off.

Prices are steadily rising and they are showing no signs of stopping or going the other way. Things are costing more and the product amounts are less. Like how the Shasta soda company had 3 liter sodas for $1. Well, they are still one dollar, the bottles are two liters now though. It is insane, so we need all the help we can get.

As always, I hope this helps or inspires someone. Until next time mamas!

*MUAH*