The Budget Couple

We are the Budget Couple. We make a bi-weekly podcast that talks about life, family, and how to afford it. Join us on our budgeting journey as we explore the keys to budgeting, personal finance, and more.

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Episode 52: Summer Savings

Nate and Danielle discuss the three main ways they saved money this summer.

Show Notes

Car

  • Cabin and Engine Filters ($10 each and takes ~1 min. Dealership charges over $50-100 for each)
  • Recently needed new brakes. The dealership wanted $450 to do brakes and rotors. I looked around and the price was not out of line with other places.
  • I looked into it and found that the parts only cost around $120. I looked online to see how hard it is and found that it was super easy to do. Purchased the needed tools and the total cost was $203.15. Roughly a $250 savings
  • Don’t do things you are not comfortable with and also know the risk. You could end up costing yourself a lot more money

Canada vacation quick savings

  • Eating at least one meal in
  • Grocery store
  • Multi-day public transportation pass
  • Advanced ticket purchases or packaged tickets
  • Hotels vs AirBnB
  • If river cruises are a thing, check to see if there is a ferry. We spent $17 CAN to do a round trip ferry ride in Montreal when the tour cruises would’ve cost us over $150
  • If you have season passes for chains, check to see if they have locations in your vacation area

Six Flags

  • Purchased season passes last November for $50 a person and they were good through all of 2018 and 2019
  • Check to see if season passes make sense. Right now our Six Flags daily tickets cost $52.99 and season passes (not on sale) cost $73.99. If you plan on going more than once, it makes sense to save money
  • We also got a dining plan on sale. We purchased two of them, because the portion sizes are huge, and it costs $40 per pass. The pass includes a meal and a snack. If we were to buy food at the park, it would cost over $40 a visit. 
  • Also don’t buy drinks. Parks are required by law to give small glasses of water if a water fountain is not within 100 feet of the location.

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