My husband has picked out everything we’ll need to add a trailer hitch to our Jeep.

There are lots of things my family does to save money, but keeping a wish list is definitely a biggie. I started a wish list on Amazon years ago, and my husband and I both use it to keep track of the things that we need and want.

When we found a portable air conditioner for the cabin at a thrift store last month, my husband looked up the vent kit and exhaust hose we would need to run it, and added them to our wish list. It’ll still be several months before we need them, but now we have our research out of the way, and we can decide when to order them.

This month, I added a pouring shield for our KitchenAid mixer and leather conditioner for the sofa set we just snagged at Salvation Army. Having a place to keep track of all our wants and needs makes it easier to prioritize our purchases.

Whenever we earn a free Amazon gift card, we review our list, and decide what we should order next. This week we ordered new brake pads for the Jeep.

Placing items on our wish list also gives us an opportunity to save for things. We’d really like a new kitchen knife set, and I’ve been eyeing a Silhouette machine for quite a while, but they’re both big-ticket items, so those purchases are going to have to wait. And that’s okay. Since they’re on our wish list, we know just how much we need to save before we can buy them.

And if the price drops on either item, our wish list will alert us to the price change. Pretty nifty.

Our wish list also helps with gift giving. Whenever I think of something that the kids would love, I add it to our list. Right now, I have a zipline kit and a slackline set on our wish list. Those are big items, so they’ll probably have to wait till Christmas.

I have the hardest time allowing myself to buy books. Fortunately, my mom doesn’t have the same problem.

And I should point out that our wish list also helps other people with gift giving. I always used to be stumped when my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday or for Christmas. I just couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head. Then, one year, I offered to send her a link to my Amazon wish list, and she’s never asked me for ideas again. Now, things just magically disappear off of my wish list and appear in a gift wrapped box. It’s really fun to get some of my want items. Practical me always takes care of the need items first.

Since I’ve chosen to give my extended family access to our wish list, I maintain a second, private list for any gift ideas I have for them. It’s really nice to have ideas at the ready when a gift giving occasion comes up — especially for those hard to buy for family members. Shopping for dads is tough!

And can I just say how satisfying it feels to order something off of our wish list. When you make yourself wait for something, you just appreciate it more. I’ve been saving up for a chain saw for months, and it’s going to feel so stinking good when we finally get to buy it.

Do you keep a wish list? I’d love to hear from you.

Disposable products may be the norm, but they’re not the norm in my house. I like things that are made to last. Things that I can buy once and never have to replace. These permanent purchases, as I call them, save me a lot of money, and they make my life easier, too. Because things that are made well tend to work well.

Sometimes these permanent purchases cost more up front, but they more than pay for themselves over time.

Here are some of the permanent purchases that my family has made over the years:

Stove – Modern stoves are great, but with all the computer components, they can be difficult and costly to fix, so we went old school. We have a 1957 stove. The parts are easy to come by and easy to replace. When the thermostat went out a couple months ago, we spent $50 on a replacement and swapped it out ourselves.

Cookware – Cast iron cookware is indestructible, and that makes it my cookware of choice. We have pieces that we bought when we got married, pieces that we inherited and still others that we’ve picked up from yard sales and thrift stores. Instead of wearing out like normal cookware, this stuff just get better with time. It’s something I’ll be able to pass on to my kids, and that they’ll be able to pass on to theirs.

Porch Floor – When our pine porch floor reached the end of its life, we decided to replace it with Ipe (a type of Brazilian walnut). It was a lot more expensive than pine, but it won’t ever have to be replaced. That means no more lumber bills and no more labor bills. And bonus: we no longer have to paint. We just oil the floor every couple years, and it continues to look great.

Water Bottles – Plastic water bottles wear out, stainless steel ones don’t, so we invested in several Klean Kanteen water bottles when the kids were little, and we continue to use them today. They may have a few dents in them now, but they still work great, and I can buy replacement lids for them whenever they get worn out (i.e. the kids chew up the spouts).

Napkins and Other Things – Paper towels, toilet paper, trash bags, paper napkins, paper plates– go back just a couple generations, and these products didn’t even exist. Now, they feel like necessities to most people. And I don’t know about you, but it absolutely pains me to spend money on items that I’m just going to turn around and throw away. So I’ve done what I can to cut them out. I still buy toilet paper (that habit isn’t going anywhere); and I still buy trash bags ; but the rest of that stuff no longer makes it into my shopping cart. We use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins, wash rags instead of paper towels and real plates instead of paper plates. And you know what? Cutting out all those throw away items means I use fewer trash bags, too.

Do you try to make permanent purchases for your family? I’d love to hear about some of them.