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Is it REALLY 2016?! I was just getting used to writing 2015 I'm all messed up! Hubby and I got to talking about our budget and what changes to make for 2016 and we started looking back on all the ways we saved this year and I want to share all the ways we saved last year! Somewhere things we started to do or things we stopped, others were lifestyle choices and others were simply changing our way of thinking!

165 Ways We Saved in 2015

Of course first things first, we tackled our budget and it did take us a bit to find our groove but we found that spending 10 minutes week together saved us a bunch! Throughout the year. I was dead set on adding more to our budget as possible without too huge of a change to our every day. This promoted me to over 45 ways to earn free Amazon Gift cards online. This let to me getting about $100 of free groceries every month. So after messing around with my different techniques, I finally nailed down my routine and started earning $210 a month is free Amazon Gift Cards.

The beginning of 2015 we tackled our laundry. Our first way we started saving actually came from my son having a reaction to the laundry soap we were buying. So we started making our own laundry soap. Seeing how much we saved then promoted us to find more ways to save on our laundry. Since the laundry soap was such a success I started making my own foaming hand soap and my own Febreze.

Then we tackled our utilities. We wanted to get our $400 electric bill under control. Granted a big part of this was our heat being in Pennsylvania in the middle of winter. I started with 5 tips to keep your house warmer. Then I really dove into my utilities and I was able to get my electric bill down to almost half! Check out the 55 tips to save on my electric bill I used.

Next we worked on family entertainment. We came up with cheap winter date night ideas, along with spring, summer and fall. Then we started saving on family entertainment, we found 5 ways to save on that budget.

One of the biggest things we did was starting to use Digit ( see how Digit works ). This allowed us to save money without thinking about it. We used it for less than a year and it helped save us almost $900!

Then I had a revelation, apparently I'm not every frugal. Shocking I know but it's true! I had to get organized, I started organizing my desk so I could find a sharpie when I needed. Then I grabbed some metal shelves and got to organizing my garage.

I spent a whole week on Amazon, I knew I had a lot to learn and since I was getting all the free Amazon Gift Cards I wanted to maximize my savings. This led to me finding my 10 ways to save money on Amazon. My biggest savings on Amazon had been my Amazon Prime Membership. Free 2 day shipping is the best when you already have a free order. Add in the Prime Movie and TV it made a great addition to Netflix and Hulu when we ditched cable. To make some extra cash, not jut Amazon Gift Cards I used Quick Rewards. I used them to earn $100 for Christmas gifts! Some months I'll only earn $5 depends how much time I put into them.

Next we tackled our phone bill. We were paying almost $200 with Verizon for 2 phone lines and 10 GB of shared data. So we started looking around for another option and stumbled across Cricket Wireless. I got the same plan we were on with unlimited text and talk PLUS we each got 10GB of data. Yes, we got 10 GB EACH, so 20 GB total. We also each got unlimited International texting which we did NOT have before. Great when hubby's military buddies are overseas. We pay $55 for our first line and $45 for the 2nd line for a total of $100 a month. So we got a data upgrade and saved $100 a month and I was able to keep my iPhone I love. SCORE!

With 4 growing kids, we go through kids clothes like it's nothing. So, I had to find ways to save. I started with freebies for the baby, including baby leggings. Then Halloween came around and I was able to score my kids Halloween costumes for free! Then I shared how I had figured out how to score my kids clothes free as well!

Then I started tackling how to save money while I was shopping elsewhere. I started with Ebates so I was getting money back everytime I shopped online. Then I focused on what type of phone apps could be saving me money and I found 15 of them! That turned into getting paid to run my weekly errands. I also figured out that the dollar store isn't always the best way to save money, check my list of 7 things to never buy at the dollar store. There were also several things I stopped buying and started making to save money.

But by far the biggest way we saved money was to move. We got rid of our electric bill, our water bill, our cable bill, and our internet bill. We cut our ‘rent' costs in half and started traveling this time. How? We gave up our ‘stick and bricks' way of life and moved into an RV and as a bonus? We get to travel fulltime!

So what ways did you save money in 2015?