Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Are the "good deals" eluding you when you do your shopping? On today's Home School Heartbeat, author Jonni McCoy shares her shopping tips with you.

Mike Smith:

Jonni, many moms feel they don't have time to search for the good deals when they do their shopping. What tips do you have for them?

Jonni McCoy:

Well, we do all have a limited amount of time in shopping, so there are some ways to cut corners. But even though I shop at several stores each week looking for the sales that whole thing only takes a couple of hours a week. But there are little things people can do. They can plan their meals around things that are on sale at one store. Just that one little step alone can save maybe $30 off of each shopping trip. Maybe plan to stop in at a sale on your way home from a sports event with your kids. There's lots of little ways that you can quickly take advantage of the different sales that are going on.

Mike:

Jonni, birthdays and holidays tend to be times of extravagance. How do families keep them meaningful yet still cut expenses?

Jonni:

Well the birthdays and holidays I definitely want my kids to feel very special and very loved, but having been on a very tight budget in the past, have had to make sure that they understand that that love cannot be defined with money. And so we have some good family time. We have some friends over; we do some fun games. We might have a craft for the children and the children actually make their own item that they end up taking home with them as a gift. There are many books out in the library on how to have birthdays very inexpensively.