This is the second day in my Month of Savings and today I wanted to share with you another excellent way to save your family money.

You might not be getting professional pictures every single month, but I bet you do get them on occasion. I am often surprised by the amounts that people spend on pictures of their children, especially in the day and age of digital photography. I am certainly not knocking the experience of a quality picture and I love to have a couple of these of our children, but I have found that I enjoy the pictures that I take of my children more than the ones that I have had professionally done. You could say that this is partly because I went to a department store versus a private studio, but regardless, it was an expensive process for our family.

The one thing that I found happening, particularly when my children were really little, was that it was hard to find an appointment time that would work with the times that they were the most happy. I would try and schedule it around naps, but it never failed that they would end up napping early/late, that someone got sick, that someone was cranky- you get the picture!

When my daughter was born, I now had two children to work around and I decided that it would be much simpler if I could begin taking my own pictures. I won’t say that this wasn’t just as time consuming, but the experience was entirely different for me.

I would choose the times that my child was most happy (usually when they first woke up) and I would capture these glorious moments that would have been missed if I would have relied on taking them to a studio.

I have a picture of my daughter discovering her toes, a picture of my little boy with his first morning smile, and my daughter with her crazy bed-head curls in her sweet pajamas. I have a picture of my son eating his first leaf and a picture of my daughter splashing her heart out in the bathtub. Those are the moments that I really want to remember, not a perfectly posed child on a pristine white background.

These are some of the useful tools and sites that I have found to help me create great pictures of my kids:

Picasa– This is a great free program from Google that can help you edit your pictures. The software locates all of the pictures on your computer and has simple editing tools that you can use to take out red eye, crop photos, and apply any special effects (black and white, glow, sepia, etc..). This program is amazing and has helped save many of my photos that I thought could never be printed. You can lighten the photos and adjust the colors to make those dark photos viewable. This is a great program for the beginner and I find it much easier than many of the complicated and expensive software programs on the market.

Digital Photography School– I adore this website because you can get schooled on how to take great photos, without paying any tuition! They offer loads of tutorials on how to take great pictures and explain concepts in a way that even a novice could understand. Be sure to visit their how to photograph a child’s birthday tutorial and the ten questions to ask when taking a picture. This website is a wealth of information and everything you ever wanted to know about taking good pictures is right there.

Snapfish– Offers 30 free prints and free shipping using the coupon code SNAPYFRSH07. You can not only save money by not going to the pros, you can also save money on the printing process.

Photoworks– Photoworks customers can get 25 free prints on their first order (using the provided link).

Most importantly, don’t forget to read your manual. The manual will offer all of the tips and tricks you need for operating your own camera and will help you choose the right settings for any situation.

If you need further help, visit your local library and check out some books on photography. You can read through tutorials or just look through pictures that the professional photographers have taken. Looking through books like these might give you some new ideas for pictures to try with your own child.

Potential Savings= $20 or more

Related Readings:

What to Get the Person Who Has Everything
Philips Digital Picture Frame
Adobe Photoshop & Premiere Elements
10 Easy Steps to Great Kids Party Pictures

Sound Off: Do you do professional photos or are you the professional in your house? What is your favorite picture of your child?

Welcome to the first day of our Month of Savings. I hope that you will benefit from some of these ideas and that you will be able to implement some new ones in your home.

When my husband and I were first married, I really didn’t understand the concept of money. To me, it was just paper that floated in and out of my life, but I didn’t appreciate the value of a dollar. We had jobs that paid well, rented an apartment, and we had no children. I had never really thought about how much money we could be saving if I was smarter with the money coming in.

When we moved to the East coast, we found a wonderful congregation to worship in. Unfortunately, there were very few couples our age. When a new young couple joined our church, we were so excited to have another couple to hang out with. We went out to dinner one night with them and they invited us to a local amusement park. We were, of course, interested so we made plans to go the following Saturday.

When we walked up to the booth, to pay for our tickets, the guy that we came with whipped out his wallet. He said a magical phrase that I have never forgot… “How do I get a discount admission?” He proceeded to take out every single card, credit card, and piece of identification he had and was able to score a military discount with one of the cards in his wallet.

Inspired by his demonstration, I walked up and said, “I would like a discount too!” I took out all of our cards and was able to get a discount with our AAA membership.

The moral of the story is that it never hurts to ask for a discount because you might be surprised by the answer. You can extend this further and ask if they are running any promotions or sales. Finally, make sure to ask if they have a mailing list for coupons and future discounts. I have joined many mailing lists, for companies that I frequently shop, and have been able to save a lot of money just by signing up for a mailing list.

Don’t be afraid to disclose information about yourself, if it will help you score that discount. Do you volunteer for an organization? Do you do community service? Disclosing information like this can also lead to discount savings.

In the case of the AAA membership, they have over 147 nationwide listings for savings. Here is an example of some of their best discounts:

Geek Squad: At Geek Squad, AAA Members save 20 percent off in-home service for the following services regardless of where you purchased your computer when you show your membership card: Wireless networking installation, Software installation, Data transfer or data backup, Advanced computer diagnostic with repair, Internet service provider (ISP).

LensCrafters: At LensCrafters, AAA Members save when you show your membership card. Save up to 30 percent off a Comprehensive Eye Exam and/or glasses, sunglasses and eyewear accessories. Save 15 percent off partial eyewear purchases.

Target.com: AAA Members save 10 percent off items for the entire family — items for the home, furniture, toys, sporting goods, designer-name merchandise and gifts.

Potential Savings: My approximate savings for every time I have asked for a discount is around $10 or more. It just takes one question to get the ball rolling on the ways you can be saving with a company. Don’t be shy- ASK!

Sound Off: What discounts have you gotten just by asking for them?