Saving Money

I was reading a blog post the other night, and the writer said something along the lines of "I could save $10 a day" and my first thought was, "Gee, there's your problem!" If you're trying to save money, don't spend it. It's as simple as that. I cannot imagine how broke we would be if we were spending money every single day. Do people really do that? I'm not saying I'm rich; I'm not: I'm definitely poor. However, we manage to get by with a lot less than other people. We don't go to McDonald's every day to buy coffee (actually, we never go to McDonald's, and we don't drink coffee.) We walk; we don't even own a vehicle. We don't watch TV, we don't have cable service. I have no need to want to go to McDonald's; it would be nice to be able to go for a drive every now and then, but we can walk just about anywhere we need to go; TV is a waste of money, simple as that.

Let me tell you a little bit about how I spend money, because I find it very amusing I've been told I waste money. A certain individual I know, who buys energy drinks, fast food, etc. on just about a daily basis, once told me I waste money. How much is that, 10 - 20 dollars or more a day? Let's be conservative here: $10 a day, wasted on fast food or drinks adds up to about $300 a month. Let's cut that: say you only spend $5 a day on a drink and a candy bar, that's still $150 a month! So while they were spending at least $300 a month more than I, they were telling me I waste money.

My method of saving money is pretty simple: if I don't need it immediately, I don't buy it. If I want something, I typically put off buying it for at least a month although I've been known to put it off for years, haha. If, after a month or so, I still want it, I usually buy it. I eventually talk myself into buying it, even though I hate spending the money. The point is, however, that by doing this, if there's something we absolutely need or want immediately we don't have to sit there and save for months until we can afford it. Last month our computer broke. We didn't have to save for months and months until we could afford it; we just bought it because we had the extra money to do so.

Anyway, here are a few simple ideas to help you save money.

- Abandon the coffee! Yes, I said it! Coffee is addictive, and your body actually gets used to relying upon the coffee for energy. Some people, like me, who are caffeine sensitive, actually may drink caffeine and find that it makes them tired, so they go back for more, and the tiredness continues, and so on. You get the picture. If you don't want to completely give up your morning coffee, at least make it at home. It has got to be healthier for you.

- Walk instead of driving. I've known people who lived just 2 minutes away from a store, literally right down the road, yet drove to the store all the time. I live just 5 minutes away from most of the stores I shop, so I'm able to do almost all of my shopping on foot. Partly because I have to, but I know that even if we did have a car I would still be walking because I enjoy it. I've gotten a lot stronger because I can now carry 4 - 6 bags of groceries at once. Yes, people look at me strangely. But, I'm saving money while doing something good for myself just by doing this.

- Speaking of shopping, when buying groceries I try to only buy things on sale. My store has 10 for $10 sales all the time, as well as a lot of great weekly savings. I buy almost all ingredient type foods. Rarely do I buy things out of a box. Simply by buying food while on sale, I saved $60 on my groceries last week. I typically save at least $20 a week, depending upon how many groceries I buy. I believe it evens out to over $100 savings each month. That's $100 a month I can put into savings, or spend on other things I need or want. For example, this past week I saved $60 on groceries, so I finally bought a few of the things I've been wanting for the past month or so, like CDs. I mentioned before buying ingredients compared to boxed foods saves money, right?

My brain is getting tired, as it's past my lunch time, so just let me close with one more tip which I really believe everyone should follow!

- If you have a computer and Internet service, stop paying for cable! It is such a waste of money to have both Internet and cable TV. I haven't watched cable TV since 2009. I have so much more time to do other things, such as write this and my other blogs, because I'm not sitting in front of a TV all the time. I have more time, and energy, to exercise, clean house, work on my crafts, etc. I haven't completely given up on TV. I watch DVDs on rare occasion, and we watch 1 show on Hulu.com while we eat supper. We watch random weird things on Youtube.com when we're bored or just want to learn something. You can learn just about anything these days by watching Youtube. We've watched videos about my ancestors, how to learn Finnish, Danish, etc., and of course, a multitude of makeup and nail polish how to videos. We've found new music we love, that we just couldn't find on cable TV. It's a big world out there, and Youtube is a great research if you take advantage of it. I also still watch a few TV shows, such as House MD, NCIS and Bones. Most cable networks allow viewers to watch their shows online, with commercials. Some of them even allow you to watch retro shows for free. As long as all of these sources are available, we won't ever pay for cable TV service again.

I'm sure I'll think of some more money saving tips for you guys, so that's about it for now :) I'll post more later!