The Sewing Mom

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PBM Products. All opinions are 100% mine.

The last 12-18 months have been pretty tough on our family, personally.  I was hired for a part time job and laid off 2 months later.  Fortunately, I did get rehired the beginning of last year and that’s been a big help, but we still have had to cut back on many things.  Things our family has cut back on include going out to dinner, to the movies, shopping less, cutting back on home utility expenses (as much as we can), and even cutting back on our grocery bills.

Recession, Recovery & Store Brands are 3 things that go together when trying to save money. I am among the 40% of supermarket shoppers who think the economy may actually be getting worse instead of better.  In fact,  8 of 10 supermarket shoppers see no improvement in the economy according to the Private Label Manufacturer’s Association (PLMA).  Grocery shopping is a huge chunk of our family budget, so I’m always looking for ways I can cut back on these expenses without cutting back on the quality of the food that I’m purchasing.  Obviously, I can use coupons, but I don’t seem to find the coupons I need for the items I want, so this really isn’t the answer for me.  It’s important to still be able to purchase the foods my family enjoys, even though there are some items like chips, and even ice cream that I’ve either stopped buying all together or I’ve cut back on the frequency of those purchases.

PLMA has found that 62% of consumers plan to buy more Store Brand products as they deal with the tough economy, a big increase over previous years, and I am one of those shoppers! 43% of shoppers are purchasing store brand items for the first time on products that they’ve regularly purchased national brands. Almost all of the shoppers who have switched to a store brand product have been pleased with their purchase. In fact, PLMA states that 49% say their new tore rand selections compare “very favorably”, an increase from 35% of store brand shoppers in June 2009.

There are so many product categories that carry store brands, everything from tomato sauces to ice cream to Parent’s Choice baby formula. I have definitely stocked my pantry with store brands, what are doing to help your family budget recover?

Why is it that at this time of year, money becomes an even bigger issue for household budgets. We’ve all got the regular day to day items and bills that still need to be paid like mortgage payments, car payments and utilities. But, on top of all of that, there are extra items such as home insurance, property taxes and homeowner’s association dues. All of these items really take a cut out of our budget, even will all the advance planning we do with our family budget.

With the economy the way it is, and me all ready having been laid off, we have seriously been looking at ways to cut back. We’ve all but stopped going out to eat at restaurants and when we do, it’s a special occasion. We cut way back on our holiday shopping, to the point where it was almost non-existent! I’ve spent this morning reviewing all of our insurance policies, life, car, and home, to see if there is anything we can do to still be covered, but pay less in monthly premiums.

I’m definitely checking for home insurance discounts because that’s an area we tend to just not look at once we purchase a policy. The policy just gets paid annually and I never really review it. There may be discounts that we’re eligible for that we’re not aware of unless we review it now and again. I do know we all ready get a discount for having our home and auto policies with the same company. That’s a savings of up to 20%! There are other discounts I’ve discovered that I need to make sure we’re getting like being non-smokers, having smoke detectors, and even having dead bolts on all our exterior doors.

So no, I’m not sewing today, I’m managing the family budget and hoping to find discounts that will save us money.