This post was written by contributor Chelsea Becker

2019 was the year that I saved the most money. It was also the year that we bought our first house and had our first child, yet our savings grew substantially. My husband and I are making the same salaries and nothing has changed in our income, but I will say that we worked REALLY hard to manage our money well this year. Here’s how we upped our savings game:

I bought out of love

While I’ve never learned the official Marie Kondo Method, I started using my own version to assess what I was purchasing this year. It was actually inspired by Geri’s article on it here! Instead of buying items and keeping a cardigan or pair of boots that “worked,” I got reallyyyy picky. Unless I COMPLETELY loved something, I returned it. Same went for more affordable items too, like a coffee pot or a set of socks. If the item wasn’t something I was 100% sure of, I didn’t spend money on it. Not only did this save me thousands of dollars, but it felt amazing living life out of the “do I truly love/need this?” mindset. I tried to use the same idea for drinking alcohol, eating sweets, saying yes to events, etc.

I waited for sales

Now that I’m getting older, I notice fewer trend pieces in my wardrobe. In fact, most of what I wear consists of leggings, jeans, simple shirts, sweatshirts, and sneakers. #Momlife. And because I’m not trying to snag the latest handbag or bodysuit too often, I’m able to wait for major sales before stocking up on essentials. I usually wait for Shopbop or Nordstrom to open up a sale – which happens fairly regularly. 20% off goes a long way…

I grocery shopped more often

This might sound like an oxymoron, shopping more often, but for us, it wasn’t. My husband and I got in the habit of going to the grocery store 2-3 times a week so that we were wasting less food (a recurring problem in our home). We’d make a short list every couple days and simply shop for dinners for 2-3 nights at a time.

When you’re going often, not only do you waste less food, but you’re buying fresher items, and the trips are short when you only have a handful of things on your list. I also made a conscious effort to at least make and freeze what was in our fridge if it was about to go bad (or to freeze fruits/veggies before they expired). This can be annoying, but it really does help with wasting food & money.

Do you have any money saving tips that helped you in 2019??