Ways to Save Money

I am going to a seminar next month given by the "coupon lady".  I am pretty excited about it too.  Sad but true.  My husband is taking a pay cut this school year.  It is difficult to survive on two teachers salaries in the area in which we live.  Our kids are involved in a sport every season, and some additional activities throughout the year.  We like to take vacations and I do buy organic.  So, due to this pay cut we will have to tighten our belts and get down to business.  My goal is to have most of our "Disney money" left at the end of the school year so we can go next summer and still live in the manner we have grown accustom to.  This should be somewhat easy in one respect.  We are the biggest wasters on the planet.  We throw out so much left over food it is not even funny.  I have always prided myself on not eating take out on crazy sports filled evenings.  I have given presentations on it at church in fact.  But, I have never been good about saving those leftovers for anything worthwhile.  So, my next endeavor is to attempt to create weekly menus that incorporate leftovers into something we all want to eat.  My sister has done this type of thing in the past, but not consistently.  At least to my knowledge.  My problem is that I don't like leftovers.  This summer has been interesting as I usually cook a lot and experiment with many new recipes for the upcoming school year.  But, this summer has been different.  I think the school year and my knee surgery has taken its toll on me emotionally and I am burnt out from everything.  Nice, when I only have two weeks left before the dreaded return.  Which reminds me, I need to my kids need to get their butts in gear and do their summer reading, a difficult feat for Indy since he has to read books at his reading level.  A difficult challenge to read three books at a 6th grade level for a 4th grader.  Yikes!  Below are some examples of what I have come up with so far for cost cutting.  Let me know what you think!

• American Express Rewards program offers a percentage back on all purchases.  Use the rewards to outfit the kids in clothes (Lands End has a great point for point rate and their clothes are top notch)
• Clip coupons
• Stock up on things when they are on sale
• Cut out non-essentials
• Use leftovers for another meal (ex. use the extra chicken breast that is left over to make a salad for lunch or even dinner

That is it for ideas.  If anyone has any others, I welcome them.