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Economies of scale are usually reserved for large corporations, but this cost-conscious working mom has used a similar idea
to save money for her large family. With four children, ages 10, 8, 6 and 3, as inspiration, our Frugal $ense February contest winner has
quite a few ideas on how to save money. Bonnie Pineiro, of Weymouth, Mass., won $100 for her idea on saving money on her kids' lunchbox snacks:
"When packing kids lunches, it is much cheaper to purchase a large box or bag of a snack item and package it
yourself into snack-size zip-close bags than buying the prepackaged snack-size packs. This is true for any snack, from Goldfish crackers
to potato chips. It only takes a couple minutes, you'll spend less money and end up with many more homemade snack packs. This holds
true for canned fruit as well, rather than buying pre-packed fruit cups, you can make your own using small reusable plasticware.
Bankrate: How did you come up with your savings tip?
Bonnie: I have four children, that would do it. They're in school and they each require two snacks
a day plus lunch. So that starts to add up rather quickly as each one entered into the school arena. I had to find a way to save money,
cut costs.
Bankrate: Do you have any other cost-saving tips for a large family?
Bonnie: We have a clothing train with a large group of my friends. I have two designated
friends, one who gets my girls' clothes, one who gets my boys' clothes. And on the other end of the train I have three or four people who
give me clothes for the kids. I definitely have that going which saves a lot.
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| February’s Frugal $ense winner: Bonnie Pineiro |
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Bonnie Pineiro, the winner of the Frugal $ense contest for February, says she saves by re-packaging her children's
snacks from foods bought in bulk. Congratulations, Bonnie!
Save on children's snacks
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Bankrate: With four kids,
things must get costly. Where else do you trim your costs?
Bonnie: I also cut their hair, which is a huge cost savings because their hair grows very
quickly. I would have to pay $15 every four to six weeks the way their hair grows. I have two boys and two girls. For the boys, we bought the buzzers,
and the girls just have regular haircuts where they just need trims. They're young enough where they don't need any fancy styles. And that
saves a huge amount of money.
Bankrate: How do you stay frugal for family vacations?
Bonnie: Every summer we go camping. The kids love it. We load up the car and head to the
hills. We actually camp in a tent, no electricity for four to five days every summer. We do everything outdoors, lots of swimming; they have
fun. We'll see how many more years we can get out of it before they start getting older. But for now they really enjoy it.
Bankrate: Do you have any other tips to save money?
Bonnie: I've learned
with the way I've raised my kids that they don't really expect too
much, they're happy with the little things. We do little things
in our house; we do little sleepovers in different rooms of the
house. They have individual pop-up tents, so we'll camp in the living
room, you know on a winter night when there isn't much else to do
we'll pop up all the little tents and have a campout. Little things
like that.
Bankrate: Sounds like your life is very rich.
Bonnie: We have a huge group of friends and family that makes everything worthwhile.
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