Working together as a family we save money and have fun!

Since the beginning of recession we, as a family, have been diligently trying to save money but to make it fun. We live in an apartment so we have taken to container gardening.  We are lucky to live in Florida, which really makes this a year-round enterprise. We also shop using coupons and try to take advantage of the deals that are in the weekly circulars. We preplan our trips but I always bring along my coupon binder to catch those unexpected deals. I follow a few, select blogs, like Mommysavers and Target Savers.  These save me time by identifying great deals out there.

At home, we keep the lights off, unless needed, turn of the water heater during the day and unplug all unnecessary appliances, especially cords with a power supply that drain energy even when the appliance is turned off. Doing these things have made a big difference and we are able to splurge on the occasional trip to the nearby theme parks as well as allow us to donate food, time and money to our local food bank.