Spending Savvy from a True Saver
This is from several years ago.
Recently I spent the weekend with a friend of mine. We’re separated by two hours of highway travel, and so see each other only a couple times a year. While we watched TV and ate popcorn, we talked like girlfriends do when they don’t see each other often. I revealed that the first thing I did when my husband and I returned from our honeymoon was pay off his car. And this was only a month and a half after putting a generous down payment on our first house.
Since I used to work for the state government, just like my girlfriend, she knew I wasn’t raking in a big salary when I got married, and she asked me how I had the funds. I told her simply, “I save my money.”
She asked me to write her a plan, some rules to help her manage money better. If my girlfriend can benefit, so can you. Here are the top 10 money-saving rules I live by (most of the time). Cut out this page and make copies. Post one by your computer to discourage frivolous on-line purchasing, put one in your purse or wallet so you’ll be reminded of the rules as you retrieve cash or your credit card, and put a copy on your refrigerator just for reinforcement.
1. Buy clothes only from the sales rack… The only articles of apparel I’ve ever bought “in season,” for which I paid full price, were my prom dresses my junior and senior years of high school …in fabric you can wear year round. No corduroy for me, thank you. I’ve gone to interviews in winter in a white cotton T-shirt, dressed up with faux pearls and a jacket. The same T-shirt I wore with cut-offs to my nephew’s ballgame the previous summer.
2. Buy only what you need or will use... My mom hasn’t realized that she’s no longer cooking for my brothers and me since we’ve moved; when she sees chuck roast on sale, she buys two. My mom lives alone in a big house with two refrigerators and a 17 cubic foot freezer—all stuffed until the doors nearly pop open. She throws out, at my best estimate, over 50% of the food she buys because it gets freezer burnt, dries out or spoils before she uses it. Even though it’s a good deal when you buy it, if you don’t use it, it’s a waste of money.
3. …but only if you will need or use it within a reasonable time period. For years my girlfriend has bought furniture for a house she doesn’t own just because it was on sale. Her tiny condo is stuffed to the gills. I know lots of people have bought exercise equipment that is used only by the dust bunnies under the bed. Before you invest in a large item, be honest with yourself. Are you going to use it? Do you really need it? Right now? A “large item” varies for different people. Many times I end up reasoning myself out of an $8 T-shirt from the sales rack let alone passing on the $350 vacuum with all the fancy attachments.
4. Stay home and cook more than you eat out… Sure, this is easy for me since my husband does most of the cooking, but if I had to cook, I would, simply for the savings. …and eat your leftovers. My husband’s a good cook, but some meals, like his minestrone soup, made in a big soup pot, become less tastefully aesthetic after the fourth time eating it in a week. Yet he and I eat up until it’s gone, just to save money on fixing something else or going out.
5. Get a subscription to your favorite magazines rather than buying from the newsstands. The newsstand price for most monthlies ranges from $2.50 to $5.00 while a year’s subscription can cost as little as $12. If you like the magazine enough to buy it more than three or four times a year, it just makes sense to subscribe.
6. Pack your lunch. That minestrone soup? I have it when my husband fixes it for dinner, eat it for lunch and dinner on the next day and lunch and maybe dinner on the following day. It’s almost more than I can take, but it does save money. Another girlfriend used to eat out every work day, just so that she could spend time with her coworkers and they could complain about their employer amongst themselves away from work. A stress-busting lunch. Since she lives so close to where she works, I suggested she invite her colleagues to her place one day a week and offer up her microwave and dining room table. She liked the idea, and now the lunch bitch-bunch has a new Friday afternoon venue.
7. Wash your own hair right before you get a cut. This saves me $5 since my hair dresser doesn’t have to do it. It also saves on the tip.
8. Invest in some home equipment rather than spending $500 or more a year for a gym membership. You can start out small; you don’t have to buy all at once. And remember to consider rules 2 and 3. A dozen years ago I started out with a video and six-pound dumbbells. Now I have a complete free-weight rack, a step, Swiss ball, medicine ball, resistance bands, a stationary bike and about 20 exercise videos, which all together cost thousand$. Spread out over 12 years, it didn't hurt at all.
9. Buy DVDs or videos only if you’ll enjoy them over and over again. Some of you reading this should consider, “When was the last time I watched ‘Speed,’ and do I really enjoy it any more?” If you answered “over two years ago” or “no” then gather up those tired tapes and DVDs and trade them for cash at the local buy-back/resell place.
10. Go to matinees. My husband and I see only two or three movies a year at the theatre. I don’t even know what the full, evening price is, just that it’s more than the matinee price. When we get an inkling to see a show, we visit the local video rental place, and those visits are few and far between too because the shows on TV and cable (yes, we do dish out for basic cable—I am married to a man who needs his ESPN) don’t cost extra.
Little savings add up. Be diligent. By trimming your costs, you’ll grow your savings.
Recently I spent the weekend with a friend of mine. We’re separated by two hours of highway travel, and so see each other only a couple times a year. While we watched TV and ate popcorn, we talked like girlfriends do when they don’t see each other often. I revealed that the first thing I did when my husband and I returned from our honeymoon was pay off his car. And this was only a month and a half after putting a generous down payment on our first house.
Since I used to work for the state government, just like my girlfriend, she knew I wasn’t raking in a big salary when I got married, and she asked me how I had the funds. I told her simply, “I save my money.”
She asked me to write her a plan, some rules to help her manage money better. If my girlfriend can benefit, so can you. Here are the top 10 money-saving rules I live by (most of the time). Cut out this page and make copies. Post one by your computer to discourage frivolous on-line purchasing, put one in your purse or wallet so you’ll be reminded of the rules as you retrieve cash or your credit card, and put a copy on your refrigerator just for reinforcement.
1. Buy clothes only from the sales rack… The only articles of apparel I’ve ever bought “in season,” for which I paid full price, were my prom dresses my junior and senior years of high school …in fabric you can wear year round. No corduroy for me, thank you. I’ve gone to interviews in winter in a white cotton T-shirt, dressed up with faux pearls and a jacket. The same T-shirt I wore with cut-offs to my nephew’s ballgame the previous summer.
2. Buy only what you need or will use... My mom hasn’t realized that she’s no longer cooking for my brothers and me since we’ve moved; when she sees chuck roast on sale, she buys two. My mom lives alone in a big house with two refrigerators and a 17 cubic foot freezer—all stuffed until the doors nearly pop open. She throws out, at my best estimate, over 50% of the food she buys because it gets freezer burnt, dries out or spoils before she uses it. Even though it’s a good deal when you buy it, if you don’t use it, it’s a waste of money.
3. …but only if you will need or use it within a reasonable time period. For years my girlfriend has bought furniture for a house she doesn’t own just because it was on sale. Her tiny condo is stuffed to the gills. I know lots of people have bought exercise equipment that is used only by the dust bunnies under the bed. Before you invest in a large item, be honest with yourself. Are you going to use it? Do you really need it? Right now? A “large item” varies for different people. Many times I end up reasoning myself out of an $8 T-shirt from the sales rack let alone passing on the $350 vacuum with all the fancy attachments.
4. Stay home and cook more than you eat out… Sure, this is easy for me since my husband does most of the cooking, but if I had to cook, I would, simply for the savings. …and eat your leftovers. My husband’s a good cook, but some meals, like his minestrone soup, made in a big soup pot, become less tastefully aesthetic after the fourth time eating it in a week. Yet he and I eat up until it’s gone, just to save money on fixing something else or going out.
5. Get a subscription to your favorite magazines rather than buying from the newsstands. The newsstand price for most monthlies ranges from $2.50 to $5.00 while a year’s subscription can cost as little as $12. If you like the magazine enough to buy it more than three or four times a year, it just makes sense to subscribe.
6. Pack your lunch. That minestrone soup? I have it when my husband fixes it for dinner, eat it for lunch and dinner on the next day and lunch and maybe dinner on the following day. It’s almost more than I can take, but it does save money. Another girlfriend used to eat out every work day, just so that she could spend time with her coworkers and they could complain about their employer amongst themselves away from work. A stress-busting lunch. Since she lives so close to where she works, I suggested she invite her colleagues to her place one day a week and offer up her microwave and dining room table. She liked the idea, and now the lunch bitch-bunch has a new Friday afternoon venue.
7. Wash your own hair right before you get a cut. This saves me $5 since my hair dresser doesn’t have to do it. It also saves on the tip.
8. Invest in some home equipment rather than spending $500 or more a year for a gym membership. You can start out small; you don’t have to buy all at once. And remember to consider rules 2 and 3. A dozen years ago I started out with a video and six-pound dumbbells. Now I have a complete free-weight rack, a step, Swiss ball, medicine ball, resistance bands, a stationary bike and about 20 exercise videos, which all together cost thousand$. Spread out over 12 years, it didn't hurt at all.
9. Buy DVDs or videos only if you’ll enjoy them over and over again. Some of you reading this should consider, “When was the last time I watched ‘Speed,’ and do I really enjoy it any more?” If you answered “over two years ago” or “no” then gather up those tired tapes and DVDs and trade them for cash at the local buy-back/resell place.
10. Go to matinees. My husband and I see only two or three movies a year at the theatre. I don’t even know what the full, evening price is, just that it’s more than the matinee price. When we get an inkling to see a show, we visit the local video rental place, and those visits are few and far between too because the shows on TV and cable (yes, we do dish out for basic cable—I am married to a man who needs his ESPN) don’t cost extra.
Little savings add up. Be diligent. By trimming your costs, you’ll grow your savings.
posted by Elizabeth Evans Fryer at 9:22 AM
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