Most everyone I know enjoys a treat out from time-to-time. I know my family and I enjoy going to some of the local coffee shops and bakeries for a sweet treat. However, as you all know, this can become quite costly, and frankly, some of us don’t have room in the budget for it. Today I’ll be sharing three ways our family has used to earn that little bit of extra cash in order to take our family of 5 out for an occasional treat.

3 Ways to Save Cash For The Extras

Save the Difference

One “game” hubby and I started playing back in our college days was “save the difference”. Basically what ever our “total saved” was on each receipt, we took that same amount (rounding is OK) and saved it in a big glass jar. We use store sales, coupons, and other deals to hike up our savings (just remember NOT to buy for the sale if you don’t need it). Even if we only saved $0.25, we still put it in the glass money jar. This is where we can get money for treats every now and again. We’ve been playing this for over 15 years and it never gets old for us. The children get super excited as well and love to see the pile grow.

Stack up on Rebates

Every now and then we’ll run across a great deal for a product that we love and use – or one we’ve been waiting to try out – that has a manufacturer’s rebate. When we find these, we mail them in, and within 4-8 weeks, we’ll receive a check. Over time, you start to forget about them, then one day you check the mail and a nice little surprise is in it. We save them up and use them for outings.

Recycling

I know that recycling varies from place-to-place, so this information may or may not be relevant to you. We recently moved from Germany to California and discovered that we could turn in our water bottles, glass bottles, or cans for cash at Target. We always purchase a lot of water bottles so this works out very well for our family. Each time a trash bag is filled, we find ourselves getting between $4-$5. This adds up quickly. We are able to take this voucher inside of Target and get it cashed out in the customer service area. This has paid for many-a-coffee trips!

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