Op shopping for clothes can be a great way to save some money. Many op shops are great and have low prices or specials. Others are really expensive (which is ridiculous when they get everything for free!!) I recently went to one to buy a handbag. Generally they are from $2-20 each. I was shocked at one when I saw the $60 price tag (they were all over $20) The person working there said they were half price at the moment. No way would I still pay for $30 (half price) for a second hand bag. The op shops can also have good priced girls clothing. Unfortunately boys and men’s clothing are scarce.

Arrange play dates with friends at your local park – it’s a cheap way to socialise and the children have fun.

Budgeting and not going to expensive places. You don’t need a new outfit for every day of the year, food on the table is more important and so is a roof over your head. Shop for bargains. If you can afford things still budget and put the extra money you would normally spend aside so that it banks up. Make the most of free things

Why do you need to shop to have fun? There are plenty of other, free or cheap options for having fun with your kids

Nothing major. I’m just generally conscious of what I do and use to try keep a lid on things

Shop when items are on sale with household goods,clothing, food etc.Don’t impulse buy though because it is on sale,make sure you need it!

Try not to pay full price for anything and bargain and with food especially go for the sales and brand names to save .

buy in bulk, try not to shop everyday, deep freeze stuff

We have gone from a large income to a fixed income, fortunately no mortgage and we do have some savings so we are not under pressure if large bills come in, but we manage better than we did when we had heaps more money, I put $100 per week in a high interest savings acct for big bills when they come in, $100 a week in a goal saver account that pays a high interest if you don’t withdraw, and $10 in another acct to stop them closing it, this works out to $500 each Christmas which is a bonus for all the extra things that you want to do at Christmas, I pay bills as they come in, and budget to ensure that I have the money to pay them, I try and avoid withdrawing money from my bill paying acct and I find it builds up quickly and we can buy big things that we want, We cook everyday we do not have takeaways, I bake cakes, cookies, etc, we do not gamble and do not drink, sounds boring but we used to go out to dinner several times a week, gamble and drink, we do not miss this and in fact wonder why the hell we did it, we spend our time around our home and bargain shop, I check all the catalogues especially for the half price specials and keep stocked up on non perishables so we could probably eat for many months without going shopping, I think it is a matter of planning and doing low cost activities. And enjoying what you do have and not worrying about what others have. embrace your family and life,

make the most of free activities like going to the park, beach, go for a walk, dance in the lounge room, movie night at home, window shop etc

meal plan and shop the specials

have a garage sale for quick cash

lol the lady at the shop gave me an empty water cooler because i had a friendly chat with her and she said that she had been saving change for about a year and filled the container so counted it all and there was $5000. she wasn;t trying to save so she was so amazed. she encouraged me to do this too

I like to hide away a little bit of money each week that no one seems to notice, and then it adds up and when you want to have that treat or do something fun with the family, it doesn’t hurt the bank account as much.

I shop a lot at op shops we have a shop here called Savers its the biggest type op shop you can get a discount of your shop when you do a bag of donations so you are cleaning out some clothes to recycle through their store. I join a few facebook groups too for buying things cheap and join some ‘free’ sites too.

I’m a bargain shopper and never buy clothes at full price, I also love op shops..

sacrifice – sometimes we just need to sacrifice and only have fun sometimes

buy only what is needed so there is no wastage and try and save money on utilities

only buy what you need, cut down on meat and get the kids to help saving water and electricity to lower your bills, giving you money to waste

Have a clothes swapping party for yourself and your kids – new wardrobes without the pricetag. Also, there are a lot of sites out there that offer discounts and special offers. I managed to pick up tickets to a local attraction for the family for 60% off (not sure if it’s right to name the companies on here, so I won’t) but if you google deal sites you will soon work out which ones I’m on about

I’m a huge bargain hunter so will never buy things full price!

I love using lay by it helps me to budget but still get the items I want.