Money Saving Duo

Discovering how to live a glorious life on less

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8 Ways to Save Money on Gas for Your Car

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With gas prices on the rise, you may be looking for ways to save on fuel. Discover a few top recommendations we’ve received to help make every dollar at the pump stretch its furthest.

Our family last summer on a camping adventure!

If you want to save money on gas, here are a few simple ways to get started:

Scope out the best price at the pump and get cash back on each fill up. One of my favorite cash back apps, Checkout 51, offers you great deals not only on groceries and prescriptions, but gas too! Pull up the gas tab and you’ll see the price of gas in your area and the amount per gallon in cash back you’ll get. We typically get ~$0.10-$0.15 per gallon, sometimes up to $0.25, in cash back through this app and can withdraw it by either PayPal or check once a $20 balance in cash back is hit.

Be a more relaxed driver. This one might take some practice, but is another great way to save on the number of trips you’ll need to make to the pump. In fact, the US Department of Energy indicates that if you ‘hit the breaks’ on aggressive driving – hard breaking, quick accelerating and speeding – you can reduce your gas mileage by 15-30% at highway speeds and 10-40% in stop-and-go traffic. That’s an equivalent gas savings of $0.36-$0.44 per gallon. Need some help, newer cars have a helpful gas mileage feature on their dashboard console.

Not sure what speed you should go? The most fuel efficient speeds have been found to be between 55 and 65 mph.

Check Your Tires. It may not seem like routinely checking your tires would impact your gas use; however, maintaining proper tire pressure will make an impact on the frequency of your fill ups. Underinflated tires can actually increase consumption by up to 3%.

Clean out your car. If your family is like mine, it doesn’t take very long for things to accumulate inside our vehicle. Those items not only clutter up the inside, but add to to overall weight of the vehicle. The more weight, the harder your car has to work and thus the more gas it has to use. Get rid of the heavy stuff just sitting there.

Park further away. No one likes parking further away. Especially in Michigan, in winter. But if you are able to find a spot more quickly by parking a little further away, do it! Not only will this use less fuel than if you spend your time circling around a parking lot or a street looking for a spot, but walking a little further is good for your body too.

Carpool when you can. This one may not be realistic for every family – I know its not for mine; however, it is when I think about some of the work trips that I take. When possible, I try to carpool with others from my office if we have a meeting outside the office we need to attend together.

Work from home if you can. Again, this one might not be realistic for everyone; but if your work allows you to work from home even just occasionally, this can help you save on gas too.

Join a Fuel Rewards Program. Another way to save a little money on gas fill ups is to join a fuel rewards program. Many gas stations offer them. For example, we save $0.05 per gallon at Marathon gas stations through their fuel rewards program. If you shop at a certain brand of gas stations more often than others, this can be another way to save a little more when you fill up on gas.

Hope this helps you save a few bucks at the pump. Have any additional ways you save? Share them in the comments.

Our Top Ten Money Saving Tips As A Family of Six

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Please note: This post contains affiliate links which means that when you click on them, we may be financially compensated for referring you there. We just thought you should know.

Here’s some exciting news… our family became an ‘official’ family of six in 2020!

The Money Saving Duo Family of 6

And as I am sure you can imagine, with a family of six, certain expenses go up. But of course, as you know, Aaron and I are always looking for ways to spend less, and we’ve discovered a few new tips and tricks to keep things affordable.

Whether you have a family of six or a party of one, these tips should help you keep more money in your pocket without making you feel like you’re giving up on all the fun.

  1. Use reward credit cards whenever possible. We know Dave Ramsey would disagree, but if you are living by your budget and making financially responsible decisions, reward credit cards can be a great way to score free hotel rooms and free air travel for dollars you would have to spend anyway. We have used an IHG rewards credit card and have a Southwest and Hilton Hotels card that we are currently using to stock up on free rooms and travel. Just make sure you pay off the full balance each month so you don’t get charged interest.

Sign up for your own Southwest Rapid Rewards Card using our affiliate link and you’ll earn 40,000 points when you spend your first $1000 on purchases in your first three months.

  1. Eat meals at home. Eating at a restaurant is CRAZY expensive with a family of six – especially when two of those people are pre-teen boys. Our family loves to go out to eat and order in, so this is one area we can sometimes go over on in terms of budget. But we prioritize eating at home and aim to eat at restaurants just once per week. To keep costs down even further we always keep an eye out for coupons to our favorite restaurants and save our receipts. If you scan them with the CoinOut app, you’ll get a few cents back after every meal. Fetch Rewards has also started giving you points for scanned restaurant receipts which you can turn around and use to redeem gift cards.
  2. Skip the theater and host your own movie night at home (or find a less expensive theater). Even before COVID-19, our family preferred hosting our own movie nights at home. We pop popcorn, watch a movie on Disney+ or occasionally rent one. Going to the movies had gotten REALLY expensive – especially as a family of six! But when theater’s do eventually reopen, we’ve found that smaller theaters often charge a fraction of the price to attend a show. For example, the Crystal Theater in Crystal, MI is one we’ve discovered to be much more affordable and has a pretty current line up for us to enjoy when we do want that movie-going experience.
  3. Use money saving apps. I (Kati) currently have 13 money saving apps on my phone. These range from cash back apps I use while grocery shopping to games that pay me for playing with gift cards. It may sound like a lot, but they are so easy to use – often just scanning my receipts when I get home from the store. Last year, I cashed out over $500 in cash and gift cards.
  4. Shop for birthdays and holidays throughout the year. In 2019 we stumbled on an amazing clearance sale in early January and were able to stock up on ~50% of our gifts for the year. I’m not going to lie though, this takes a bit of planning and thinking ahead. But if you can keep an eye out for a good deal and keep in mind who you need to shop for, this can be a great way to stay within your gift budget AND give some pretty great gifts for birthdays, Christmas and other celebrations too.
  5. Consider getting a membership to your local museums and zoos. This is one of my favorite travel hacks – most museums and zoos offer reciprocal memberships to other zoos and museums, which means you can go to a lot of them across the country for free or at a reduced rate. We were planning a spring break trip to Gatlinburg before COVID-19 hit and planned to visit the zoo in Knoxville. With our membership here at our local zoo, we would have gotten 50% off our general admission. Way more affordable than many of the excursions around.
  6. Visit the library to take advantage of FREE books, activities and more. The library is one of my favorite places because its such a great resource for every single person in a community. In fact, I (Kati) am honored to serve on the board of our local library system, the Chippewa River District Library. If you haven’t been to your local library in awhile, you might be surprised to find that they don’t just offer books for you to borrow, but STEM kits and other educational resources too – including digital ones you might be able to take advantage of even if your library is closed right now. When at the library, be sure to check out their calendar of events – there are always a lot of fun free ways to spend time together at the library.
  7. Keep an eye out for FREE family friendly activities in your local community or offered online. Follow local community pages on Facebook or keep up with our posts for events and activities that are easy on the wallet. This is a great way to not waste the weekend and have fun with others whether in person or remotely.
  8. Shop for gently used kids clothes at resale shops or consider setting up a clothing swap event with a local moms group. Kids grow through clothes SO fast and it makes little sense to spend a lot of money on something they will wear for such a short period of time. We’ve had great success finding clothes for our kids at resale shops. You may also save money by connecting with a local moms group and setting up a clothing swap event either in person or virtually. Everyone brings their gently used clothes that their kids have grown out of and swaps them for clothes their kids need now.
  9. Ditch the paper towel. If your kids are like ours, they spill things… a lot. One way to save a little extra cash? Ditch the paper towels for regular towels. Reuse them for all the spills and save a little money in the process.

We’re still figuring out how to make the most of our budget now that our family has grown. What are your favorite family-friendly money saving tips?

Duo Tested! – American Express Launches New Shop Small Initiative

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Do you shop with an American Express card? If so, you can get rewarded for shopping at your favorite local businesses!

American Express Shop Small

Its no secret that we love supporting our local businesses. In fact, we have money set aside in our budget to intentionally spend at businesses unique to where we live. We consider this an investment in our community and a great way to support the dreams of others.

As businesses look to reopen, its even more important to support our small businesses. American Express agrees and is encouraging its card users to shop local through a new Shop Small Initiative recently launched.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Enroll in the program by 7/26/2020 with your eligible American Express (AMEX) card.
  2. Make a single purchase of $10 or more at an eligible small business and get a $5 statement credit. Repeat up to 10 times between now and September 30th, 2020.

Eligible small businesses can be found on the AMEX Shop Small map.

American Express Shop Small Map

We hope you’ll help support your local businesses and enjoy saving a little money along the way.

Update: We enrolled in this program and used our AMEX card to make a purchase at a local grocery store. We received confirmation that a $5 credit will be added to our statement within the next 5 days, so the program does work!

For more details, visit AmericanExpress.com

Free Seminar! Money Questions for Women

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Would you like to get a better handle on your own personal finances? Join Erin Ludwig, Edward Jones Advisor at Mid Michigan College’s Mt. Pleasant campus for a free and informative seminar March 19th at noon.

Money Questions for Women - Lifelong Learning Event at Mid Michigan College

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Are you a woman looking to get serious about your finances? We love that Mid Michigan College is hosting this lifelong learning event for women in our own community!

Whether you’re paying off debt, ready to invest or are simply looking for ways to get started with a budget, this event is for you.

Bring your own lunch and discover how to set financial goals and create a strategy to get you where you want to be.

Cookies and beverages provided.

For more information, check out Mid Michigan College’s Lifelong Learning & Continuing Education web page.

Three Lessons We’ve Learned While Paying Off Debt

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Like most people, Aaron and I didn’t know much about how to handle money when we first got married. Mind you, we were only twenty when we said ‘I do,’ but it took us a good portion of our twenties to even recognize that taking our finances seriously mattered.

Three Lessons Learned While Paying Off Debt

When our oldest turned 10, we really felt the need to get our acts together. Those ten years flew by and we knew the next eight would as well. When we had kids I knew that I wanted to provide some sort of financial nest egg for them once they headed off to college or into a career, but at this point in our lives, it wasn’t looking like that would be a realistic possibility.

So, we got to work. And through this process we’ve not only tackled a huge amount of debt, but we’ve learned quite a bit about ourselves as well. Looking back, here are just a few of the lessons we’ve learned along the way.

We really don’t need a whole lot of stuff. One of the biggest realizations we had early on in this process was that we didn’t need as much stuff as we were typically buying. When we started to look for ways to cut our spending, we began to realize that a grocery trip was never just a grocery trip. We’d shop at Meijer or Walmart and end up buying products outside the grocery aisles we didn’t even need, but would find at a great price.

Once we realized this, we stopped shopping at these locations for our weekly grocery trip and chose a store that primarily had only the groceries we needed. And we don’t really miss all that stuff that randomly filled our carts and our homes years ago.

Life is still enjoyable even when you’re frugal. Actually, it may be even more enjoyable! As we’ve spent less over the years, I’ve found myself more grateful for what I do have. We’ve also discovered that there are plenty of ways to enjoy your time together that don’t cost anything extra. That’s why we’re always trying to highlight free and fun activities for local families to participate in. It is possible to enjoy quality time together without spending a lot of cash.

Cooking tasty meals just takes practice. When Aaron and I first got married, I remember making him homemade goulash… and it was awful! He tried really hard to look happy with the meal, but the truth was, it was TERRIBLE! This resulted in us eating at restaurants way too often early in our marriage. But when we got serious about our finances, we realized that cooking meals that taste great at home just takes practice.

I feel much more comfortable in the kitchen then I did all those years ago and I think my family will agree that I make some pretty great tasting food now.

And if that’s not enough proof that I’ve learned to hold my own in the kitchen, you should probably know that I WON a cooking competition while competing against legit FOOD BLOGGERS just a couple of years ago! Seriously. Me!

Although becoming more frugal may seem like a total buzz-kill, we’ve found the opposite to be true. Its allowed us to get closer as a family, working together to creatively save money and have fun at the same time. Its also allowed us to be more grateful for what we have and enhance skills that we can be proud of.

Overall, this journey hasn’t just been one that has helped us live a more financially free life, but one that has led us to discover all sorts of wonderful surprises along the way.

What have you discovered if on a similar journey? Or what would you hope to see if you embarked on one?

Going to the Movies? Keep It Affordable With These Great Tips

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Who doesn’t love going to the theater? Watching a movie on the big screen is a whole lot of fun, but lets be real… it can be down right costly! Luckily, we’ve discovered a few ways to save big at the movies.

Scout out ticket prices before you go. We’ve recently discovered a few smaller theaters in our area that charge less than the larger theaters do. If you live in Mid-Michigan, you should bookmark these theater options:

Ideal Theater in Clare, MI – Tickets are $5 for each adult, $4 for each child 12 and under.

Crystal Box Office Theater in Crystal, MI – Tickets for the 7pm show are $5 each and only $3 for the 3:30 pm show. Concessions are also inexpensive – you can get a small soda and a small popcorn for only $3.25!

Check for special offers and discounts. Even the larger theaters typically have discount nights or special events where you can see movies at a lower price or in some cases, even for free.

Celebration Cinema, for example, offers a discounted movie every Sunday night and recently launched T.A.C.O Tuesdays (Tickets Are Cheap on Tuesdays). Both specials feature $6 ticket pricing. Celebration Cinema also features the FLICK Family Film Festival at select times throughout the year were kids 12 and under can go and see a movie for free.

NCG Cinemas, with a location in Midland, Alma and Lansing, also features discounted ticket pricing on Tuesdays. Reel Deal Tuesdays allow you to get discounted tickets and concessions. We’re told ticket prices are only $5 on Tuesday; however, couldn’t confirm this on their website.

Sign up for a reward program if its offered. Since Celebration Cinema is the theater in our town, we made sure to sign up for their rewards program. It didn’t cost us anything to sign up, but when we go to see movies we often receive special discounts on tickets or concessions. Sometimes we even get free concession items if we’ve garnered enough points. 

A couple of weeks ago, my youngest and I went to the movies and we received $4 off our tickets. Worth the free sign up if you ask me. NCG Cinemas also offer a customer rewards program.

Eat before you go to the show. We know how hard it can be to resist that buttery popcorn you smell as soon as you open the theater door, but if you’re looking for ways to keep movies affordable, eating at home before you go can be a great way to save a few extra dollars.

What are your favorite ways to save money at the movies? Share your top tips in the comments.