February 28, 2023
If you want more financial freedom, and you want to reach your financial goals, STOP SPENDING UNNECESSARY DOLLARS!
"It's not about how much money you are bringing into the household, but how much money you are taking out of the household."
Here are some Top Tips to saving your dollars!
1. Stop going out to eat too much! I'm not saying to never indulge on a nice meal out occasionally, but not every week! You just went grocery shopping and spent $200. On the way home, you are too tired to fix a meal with the groceries you just spent $ on, so you swing into a fast food place and spend another $50 bucks on a family meal. What just happened? Even eating out once a week can add up to $200 to even $400 bucks a month x 12 months - that's $2400 to $4800 spent on eating out a year! What just happened?
2. Make your own darn COFFEE at home! With the rising Coffee prices nowadays, it is very expensive to buy coffees out! It costs those expensive retailers just 10 cents a cup and they are charging anywhere from $2 and up for a cup of coffee! Why spend $2 and up for a cup of coffee, when you can spend the same 10 cents or less by making your own coffee at home?
And don't waste your money on those disposable coffee cups either! Get yourself a good travel coffee mug and save yourself some more $ and the environment to boot!
Want to save even more money on coffee?? Stay away from expensive K-Cups! Yes they are easy and way convenient - but so is buying coffee beans and grinding them yourself the night before and setting your coffee pot to brew! Fresh ground coffee at home tastes so good and is way cheaper than K-cups for sure!
3. Do you really need that new blouse or T-shirt? You already have like 10, or 20 or more, don't you? Stop wasting your dollars on new clothes and shoes that you most likely do not need! The clothing retailers are making a crap-load of money off of you! And what do you do with your unwanted clothes, you get rid of them sooner rather than later! Yes, donating them to thrift stores and peeps in need is a great cause. But also saving $ in your household is a great cause too! Would you rather have $50 to your vacation fund, Christmas fund, or college fund - or a $50 blouse? Think about it. Want great inexpensive clothing finds? Go to that thrift store you used to donate too!
4. Cable T.V. Prices are unreal! I mean do you really watch 100 + channels? And just how many T.V. Apps do you need? So many choices, so many options! Why do you feel the need to watch so much TV? Hulu, Netflix, Disney, HBO/MAX, etc. Do you really watch every single one of these channels and Apps? Let's get back to family time together! Turn off that TV and play a board game with your kids, go outside for a walk and play time! Look for other entertainment besides the "boob tube"! HBO/MAX costs $15 a month right now, that's $180 bucks a year! Spend that $ in board games or a "Wii" where you can have family time together and your investment will last a life-time not just a year!
5. Bottled Water - pleaaassseeee! Don't even get me started on the effects of our landfills and environment. But seriously a bottle of store-bought water - some not even from a Spring, can cost anywhere from $1 to $3 a bottle! Drinking one every day for a year - that's $365 to $1095 a year! Can you believe these numbers? Drinking those Energy drinks? Not only are they loaded with a ton of sugar, they are bad for your health! And expensive!
Get yourself a good drinking container and filter your own water at home if needed. But stop buying bottled water and bottle your own! Save your dollars!
6. Vacations. Yes everyone needs a vacation I agree. But do you really need one three times a year? Do you really need to go away somewhere different every year? Do you really need to go somewhere every year? What's wrong with the occasional "Stay Vacation"? What's wrong with a day trip or weekend trip away? We can't keep justifying our expenditures because we tell ourselves we deserve them - of course we should deserve everything in life that we work hard for - but when we just do not have the dollars $ to fund them, how can we justify them?
We go away, we come back home with less money than ever. We can make the same happy memories by being creative with other vacation ideas!
Ever go camping? Now here's an idea for a cheap vacation! The great outdoors with the family, cooking our own meals, getting back to nature, making up our own fun entertainment. Isn't that what vacations are for? Shutting out the world, turning off our phones and TV? Relaxing and enjoying time together? You can have all this and more and save a ton of dollars to boot! It's a win-win vacation!
7. Stop Buying random stuff! Do you really need that 100th knick-knack for your home?
Do you really think after you are gone, that your kids are actually going to want to inherit your stuff for their own homes? Most children do not have the same tastes as their parents! If they do, I feel sorry for them! All kidding aside, decorations and wall hangings and just general stuff for your home that you think you need just to make it pretty is such a waste of dollars!
The number one rule of thumb is - If you find something you like ask yourself - is it a want or a need? Identify that first. If it is a need, can you afford it right now, or can you save up for it? If it is a want - do you absolutely have to have it? Give it a few days to think about. Do you have the $ to purchase it? If you wait and you do have the funds for it - go ahead and buy it. Chances are after you have had a few days to think about it and the cost, you won't actually want it after all.
If you are making your home pretty, how many people besides you and your family actually see the inside? Over decorating your bedroom pretty that only you and your spouse and children will see, but you think that one day, someone may just stop in and want a tour of your boudoir - is so unrealistic. I mean really, everyone that comes into your home wants to see where you sleep? You probably don't even make your own bed everyday. Why would you load up your room with unnecessary furniture, bedding and just decorating stuff that only you will see? Save that $ for a day trip, or the movies, or the amusement park!
8. We like to look good, right? But do we really need our hair done every month? Do we really need to get our nails done every week? Do we really need pedicures in the Winter months (if you have snowy, cold inside winter months) that is? Men have their hair cuts usually more often than women. Why not invest in your own razor? Have your spouse cut your hair for you? Watch a you-tube video to self-teach! It is around $20 for a haircut with a tip these days! If you are going every 2-3 weeks at $20 a clip (pardon the pun) that's around $520 to $800 a year! Just for cutting your hair! Do it at home and save $!
We women on the other hand think that we need and want, trims, and highlights, and colors galore! Can we put off that cut and color and highlight just a little bit longer? A typical foil can cost anywhere from $125 to $200. To maintain that color or highlight, you have to go more often and spend more dollars than you have or want to. If you go 4 times a year for instance that's $500 to $800 a year just on our hair!
Just leave your hair alone ladies! Your spouse or significant other loves you just the way you are!
9. Grocery Shopping! The one chore no one likes to do! Don't make it any harder on yourself and spend unnecessary dollars when you really don't need to! Take the time to make a list, plan your meals for the week. And... For goodness sake, DO NOT SHOP WHEN YOU ARE HUNGRY! Save $ at the store! You won't have the urge to impulse shop, you won't buy stuff you don't really need, and you will get in and out quicker than ever! Just adding that one, or two, or five extra items you didn't need that week can add up to a lot of dollars! If you don't think the extra $20 you just spent isn't a lot of extra spending - it adds up to $1040.00 a year! Just think if you had that extra money in your Christmas Gift Savings fund?
10. And speaking of Christmas Gifts and the Final Tip! Do not start shopping early online! If you think you have to start online shopping in September, think again. Try not to online shop if you don't need to. It is so easy to just use that Amazon or online retailers credit card for all your purchases. Before you know it, that card has added up to the limit and you are spending 15-24% interest charges! You end up paying so much more because you can't pay it all back in one lump sum the following month! That Christmas gift you just thought you only spent $50 bucks on, now has cost you $75 or more! Same goes to spending in the stores!
If you shop early to save on deals, chances are come December, you will have bought a lot more stuff than you originally planned. Your mindset tells you, I didn't buy enough for Suzie or Tom, I need just a couple more things. Well, those couple things turned into 10 more things, and your budget just got swept out the front door! Being in debt at Christmas time and the end of the year will throw you into a tailspin of never ending debt. STOP IT! You do not want to bring in any more debt to the new year!
My tip - make a list, and check it twice! Set a budget amount for your Christmas Gifts. Open a Christmas Savings Account! Stay within that budget and leave the leftovers in that account! Just because you have $1000 in your Christmas Savings account doesn't mean you have to spend the whole amount! Leave it in there for next year, and the next year, and so on!
Just being together with your family, sharing traditions or having a nice meal together brings more memories, than that Barbie doll you received as a kid! Materialistic memories get lost, thrown or given away, and forgotten. Real memories last forever. Choose your forever!