It goes by many names...cheap, thrifty, penny pinching, tightwadery, frugality, etc....This post is VERY basic info...but you have to start somewhere, right!! Just a little disclaimer here.....in NO WAY am I telling readers of this blog that you have to do things "my way"....we all are our own unique persons with our own unique situations....I only hope to share things that have helped me out and hope along the way others can glean some useful information.
First things first....you have to get to know your money...how much you have....what are your fixed obligations with it and then last....what you are spending it on. How much you have may or may not be able to change....or you may choose not to change it for what ever reasons ( maybe you want to stay at home w/ the kids or you'd actually like to work less and learn how to live within those means). Fixed obligations are bills that you cannot change right now like~ rent, car, insurance, utilities... etc ( although some of these may be addressed and changed if you are in a dire situation...like moving to a smaller house to pay less rent....etc...we had to move from a rather large lush nice farm house to a tiny in town house for a few years back when a car sales job dried up into nothing...thankfully the kids were small so it fit us well at the time.) The last thing about your money is KNOW HOW YOU ARE SPENDING IT!!
Just something as simple as paying attention to it can stop extra expenses in their tracts. I'll only sight small examples here....if you seem to always need coffee and a snack on the way to work....get up 15 mins earlier and eat at home...if you typically do this every day and spend only 3$ ....that's 3$ x 5 (days)=15$ a week or 60$ a month, $720 a year....that's a pretty big loss for just not getting up earlier enough to eat at home.... You'll see me calculate things out a lot because little things don't seem like much until you actually do the math and add it all up....money is a numbers game! And it's a game you CAN win with thought and preparation!!!
Like pop... We choose generic and liters (I know some of you don't like generics... so by all means buy what you and yours like, but understand what it's costing you!) We get our liters at .59 cents each and typically buy 5 a week ( so we spend $2.95 a week, $11.80 monthly, $141.60 yearly on our pop....I could get really hard core and say NO POP EVER...but we choose the pop for now. Name brand liters are about $1.89 in my area....so lets see the math. $1.89 x 5 (liters) = $9.45 a week, $37 monthly, $453.60 yearly. So by choosing generic I save $312 yearly on our pop. It may not seem like that much but remember that's only ONE item out of my cart. Plus with the four children that $312 could be better spent elsewhere or simply saved with less hours obligated to work each year. When you face the fact that whomever provides the money in your home is trading their life for your purchases....well that sheds a whole new light on your spending habits....at least for me it did.
I can get all nerdy about the math but LOL it helps me to see the value of my purchases!! That's it for today except I'd like to mention two of my favorite resources if you have them in your area check them out right away..... Craigslist has a free section and Freecycle.... both of these groups can be found on the internet and offer free items by locals in your area....only your time and gas is needed to pick the items up.....not much is better than free....especially when trying to save money! Be sure to check out some of the books in my sidebar frugal book list (free from the library, of course).....they are all filled with great tips that will be sure to get your inner creative frugalite juices flowing!!
First things first....you have to get to know your money...how much you have....what are your fixed obligations with it and then last....what you are spending it on. How much you have may or may not be able to change....or you may choose not to change it for what ever reasons ( maybe you want to stay at home w/ the kids or you'd actually like to work less and learn how to live within those means). Fixed obligations are bills that you cannot change right now like~ rent, car, insurance, utilities... etc ( although some of these may be addressed and changed if you are in a dire situation...like moving to a smaller house to pay less rent....etc...we had to move from a rather large lush nice farm house to a tiny in town house for a few years back when a car sales job dried up into nothing...thankfully the kids were small so it fit us well at the time.) The last thing about your money is KNOW HOW YOU ARE SPENDING IT!!
Just something as simple as paying attention to it can stop extra expenses in their tracts. I'll only sight small examples here....if you seem to always need coffee and a snack on the way to work....get up 15 mins earlier and eat at home...if you typically do this every day and spend only 3$ ....that's 3$ x 5 (days)=15$ a week or 60$ a month, $720 a year....that's a pretty big loss for just not getting up earlier enough to eat at home.... You'll see me calculate things out a lot because little things don't seem like much until you actually do the math and add it all up....money is a numbers game! And it's a game you CAN win with thought and preparation!!!
Like pop... We choose generic and liters (I know some of you don't like generics... so by all means buy what you and yours like, but understand what it's costing you!) We get our liters at .59 cents each and typically buy 5 a week ( so we spend $2.95 a week, $11.80 monthly, $141.60 yearly on our pop....I could get really hard core and say NO POP EVER...but we choose the pop for now. Name brand liters are about $1.89 in my area....so lets see the math. $1.89 x 5 (liters) = $9.45 a week, $37 monthly, $453.60 yearly. So by choosing generic I save $312 yearly on our pop. It may not seem like that much but remember that's only ONE item out of my cart. Plus with the four children that $312 could be better spent elsewhere or simply saved with less hours obligated to work each year. When you face the fact that whomever provides the money in your home is trading their life for your purchases....well that sheds a whole new light on your spending habits....at least for me it did.
I can get all nerdy about the math but LOL it helps me to see the value of my purchases!! That's it for today except I'd like to mention two of my favorite resources if you have them in your area check them out right away..... Craigslist has a free section and Freecycle.... both of these groups can be found on the internet and offer free items by locals in your area....only your time and gas is needed to pick the items up.....not much is better than free....especially when trying to save money! Be sure to check out some of the books in my sidebar frugal book list (free from the library, of course).....they are all filled with great tips that will be sure to get your inner creative frugalite juices flowing!!
No comments:
Post a Comment