We all think of saving money as something that is very difficult and very sacrificing. This can be true and in some cases it really is true. It really can be hard to do a few of these things because of convenience and more often times than not, it's more about remembering to do it. Habits are hard things to break, especially if you don't have someone reminding you to do it. I believe this is when investing in sticky notes could prove essential.
This is my list of ways to save money. Some of them may seem very obvious but it wouldn't be wise to leave them off the list simply because they seem obvious to me.
- Stop buying water bottles. It seems as though people are so concerned about that. If you invest in a Brita Water filter and just get something reusable (that you can easily wash), this will cut down on your costs. If you live in an area where there is hard water and you don't have a water filter, then bring a jug of water to a place such as a friend's house and ask if they would mind if you filled it up there.
- Brown bag it. This is one that seems very difficult for people to do. It's a matter of convenience. Not everyone is able to keep food in a group fridge. We also tend to run late for work so we never have the time to make our lunch before we go. Not everything "stays" when make it the night before. I know this one first hand; sandwiches do not taste good if you try to make them the night before. Mayo and mustard will soak through the bread and make cheese mushy. It's pretty much inedible then.
- Stop buying books. There are those, like me, who insist on having a personal library. You could just rent books from the libary instead. Keep notes of books you liked (after you got it from the libary) so you won't be wasting your money on books you didn't particularly care for.
- Stop buying movies. Once again, I am guilty of that. If you were to see my personal collection, you would wonder why we keep buying movies the way we do. You could always use Redbox. It's a dollar per movie. You could watch movies on Hulu (which I still haven't figured out how to do), you could invest in Netflix which is a set amount each month for unlimited movies, you could borrow dvds from the library or you could simply swap with friends.
- If you feel the need to read, you could do it by candle light. Chances are women have a ton of candles. This is great if you lose power. I remember there was a time, when I was 18, that I lit all my candles in a power outage and it almost looked like I didn't lose power at all. A few of my apartment neighbors decided to hang out at my place for a little over an hour until power came back on. If you have enough candles, you won't need to turn the lights on.
- Don't leave lights on if you aren't in the room. Turn everything off if you leave the room.
- You don't need a gym membership to exercise. There are ways to use your body weight to tone up. Just look up ways on the internet or invest in at home work out dvds, such as Insanity, P90X, 30 Day Shred etc.
- Grocery shop so you can cook at home. Trust me, it may seem expensive, but it's much better than paying $10 for food that is smaller portioned. I can cook a decent sized plate for a total of $5 if I can get good sales.
- Make your own bread. Of course this works if you have a bread maker.
- Grow your own herbs. This isn't hard. If you cook with a lot of basil and oregano, it's much cheaper (and fresher) to grow your own.
- Take away your home phone and down-size your cell phone plan. I know, I know. Smart phones are wicked. You can do practically anything on it. I have a fancy phone now, but I pretty much just use it for photos, texting and facebook.
- Who needs cable anyway? I didn't have cable when I lived in FL....which is why my movie collection is so extensive. Yes it will suck not watching my favorite tv shows, but I always end up buying the season anyway.
- Car pool. This actually takes effort. You have to see who lives in your area and who works the same time as you. If you can pull it off, you save so much in gas.
- Take all your loose change, put it in a jar and when the jar is full put it in to a savings account. It's a slow process, but you only go on vacation once a year, right?
- Do your own hair and nails. Look, having your hair done once or twice a month is cool and all but it's pointless. I color my own hair once a month. Yes I know box color (metallic dyes) are bad for my hair, but my hair is still really soft now that I finally grew out all the fried ends back when I bleached my hair and put hot pink streaks in it. I pay around $6 a month to color my hair red. And I don't do acrylic nails. I just grow mine out....for free!
- Stop drinking and smoking. We all know it's unhealthy, but beers are around $4, mixed drinks are around $6 and a pack of cigarettes are about $7. Think of the money you will save if you only drink occasionally and stop smoking all together.
- Only carry cash and a limited amount per day. Put yourself on a daily allowance. Start with $30 a day and if you find that you spend less, then lower your allowance. Of course you take into effect gas and whatnot.
- Take baths instead of showers. First off, it's really relaxing. I love to take long, hot showers, but I tend to spend less time if I am in a hot tub. Not only does it save me on time, but I'm not wasting water.
- Brew your own coffee. Starbucks is expensive! Besides, it's mostly sugar and flavored creamers. You can do that at home and if you tweek it right, it will taste the same.
- Buy what you need through clearance racks, Craigslist, garage sales, store sales (BOGO). Why pay full price for anything?
- Grow your own produce for things you know you use the most of. If you eat a lot of tomatoes, grow your own tomatoes. If you love oranges, get an orange tree.
- Ask your family and friends to invest in a single peice of livestock, from a farmer, and split the meat.
- Go to a communal vegetable garden, volunteer time, and reep the benefits by getting produce you need.
- Only buy produce in season. It sucks when you and your family loves eating grapes and strawberries, but that gets to be expensive. It also sucks trying to plan meals around what is in season, but it's worth the effort.
- Buy artificial plants and flowers. It's expensive at first, but so is buying a dozen roses. Not only that, but they last forever, you don't have to change the water and you don't have to deal with wilting plants. Just make sure your pets don't chew on the....
- Use cleaners that you can make at home. There are tons of green ways to make your own cleansers. You just have to google it. Most of the time, vinegar and water goes a long way.
- Make your own hair and face masks. Once again, google it. There are so many "recipes" to work with oily or dry hair. You aren't putting tons of chemicals on your hair or face, and sometimes the recipes taste good.
- Stop waxing and start shaving again. I know it sucks shaving a few times a week, but so is ripping hair out by the shaft and taking the roots with it. Rrrriiiiiipppp! Take the convenience factor out of it, look for some good razor deals, and the cost will amaze you.
- Collect points for stuff such as Pampers, Huggies, Coke, Nature Made vitamins, Disney etc. I'm not saying go out and buy this stuff because you aren't saving money (unless you already buy a lot of cokes and whatnot). A lot of products now offer codes that you can collect. Once you collected points, you can redeem them out of a selection of stuff. Personally I like coupons.
- If you like magazines, get free samples of magazines. There are many sites and pages on FB that you can "like" that tell you when there is a free offer on magazines. It may not be the one you subscribe to, but there are quite a few cool ones out there.
- DIY home projects. Yes it would be so much easier to have someone tile your bathroom for you or put hardwood in your living room, but it's also a lot cheaper to just do it yourself.
- Get a group of friends together and offer to each babysit each other's kids. If there are four moms, then each mom gets to watch the other's kids once a month. Take turns so that each one can have at least one night to herself (and her husband) so she can have some time to calm down.
- Make your own gifts for holidays. You can knit, bake, scrapbook or do whatever you wish to make gifts for other people. If you know for a fact they love oatmeal cookies, bake some for them.
- Buy gift cards. It's not an inpersonal gift. Who the hell said a toaster was the way to go? And when did a sweater become an appropriate way of saying "I love you honey. Happy holidays!" Buy them a gift card for a store you know they love.
- Clean up your own house and save on the maid service. Besides, it's far less embarrassing to clean up your own garbage than to admit you use a maid service and to have someone else see your mess.
- Invest in a washer and a dryer. In the long run, it's cheaper than a laundry mat. You can use it as often as you want. Besides, you already have to buy bleach, detergent, softeners and dryer sheets to use at a laundry mat.
- Coupons and stock piles. Trust me, this is the way to go.
- Sleep. You can't spend money if you are sleeping. Besides, sleep makes you sane. It makes you healthier and who the hell feels like punishing their bed by neglecting it?
- Wash and groom your own pet. It's a great bonding moment.
- Open the windows in early spring and late fall. The cooler weather is worth opening up the windows and getting fresh air in. Besides you will save on your electric bill.
- If you have a fireplace or a franklin stove, I suggest using it. It's romantic, it's cozy, you can still curl up in a blanket and read to it, you can drink a glass of wine to it, make love to it and it's cheaper than running the heater. Besides, if you search often enough, you can make a stock pile of wood for free. Lots of people end up cutting trees down in their yard or you will see wood on the side of the road.
- Drink more water. Shoot, tap water is good for you and it's cheaper than getting beer, soda and other garbage. Now I'm not saying to not drink milk and juice, but water is key!
- Do your research. If you are going to move somewhere, you research places to live and see if your job is close to it, right? Why not do the same when you are on vacation? Look for the cheapest place to stay, the cheapest restaurants to go to, see if they have deals/specials and coupons available. Research where you will go, how much it will cost and the quickest way there so you aren't wasting money on gas.
- Just don't shop. Yeah it sucks but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
- Invite others over to your place to hang out, have dinner, whatever it is that you do. It saves on gas. If you are having people over for dinner, they can each bring a dish. Not only is it cheaper, as I discussed earlier, but you will be enjoying company, you will be safer and shoot you may even spend less. It beats clubs, fancy restaurants, coffee shops and whatnot.
- If at all possible, work online or sell stuff online. Or shoot, figure out a way to do both.
- Get a roommate. If you don't want to do that, then find a cheaper place to live....when one pops up.
- If you have babies, you can do cloth diapers (unless you don't have a washer/dryer) and you can puree your own baby food. It is a bit of a hassle, but it's better for them, better on the environment and cheaper in the long run. Just make sure you invest on the good stuff.
- Get free samples. They make great travel items like shampoo samples. Travel sized items get expensive if you are going ton a trip. Plus you never know when you will be stuck in an airport overnight....or longer and can't get to a hotel.
- When you are getting close to the end of milk, detergent, shampoo or whatever it is, put some water in it. It will help get the last bit of it out and it will still work just as well. Better yet, when you have used 1/4 of the item, put water in it to fill up the rest. Sounds weird, but everything already has water in it. What's a little more?
There are so many ways of doing this. I really could do it, and I really should, but right now I don't have the need to go to such extremes. A lot of these are things that I already do and I hate spending more money than I need.
It's just an idea as to how one can start saving money. Does anyone else have any suggestions?
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