One, get out of debt. And two, go to India this fall.
"Getting out of debt" is a somewhat lofty goal. And it's hard to make any visible progress (especially when you're in as deep as I am). So far, I've been doing ok. Not anything major, but ok. Funding a trip to India is much easier to measure. And finding ways to cut back and save money has definitely become a new hobby of mine. And once you see how much I can save, it encourages me to do more. Recently, I have made some (although minor) cutbacks:
- I called my cell phone company and switched to their lowest plan, because I don't talk a whole lot on the phone. For me, as long as I have a large text plan, I'm good.
- I cut our Netflix to a smaller plan and changed my commute a little which I wrote about here.
- I also called our cable company and got rid of one of our (3) premium movie channels and the sports channel. I would have liked to cut back even more in this department, but C is home more than I am, and he likes his TV. Baby steps.
Here we go:
- Do not buy things from vending machines
- Buy in bulk (I tried this, but found it was not worth it for a 2-person household with absolutely no storage space!)
- Use Compact Fluorescent bulbs
- Use natural light
- Open the windows (when it's not freezing out, yes)
- Order free samples online
- Use candles (we use candles for the nice smell. I thinks he was talking about using candles as an inexpensive light source)
- Turn off unused appliances
- Make my lunch (to be fair, C makes my lunch! Thanks hunnie!)
- Pick up pennies
- Automatic savings plan
- Pay bills online (apparently this saves in stamp and envelope prices. i was just doing it to be more green, and because it's done faster than mailing!)
- Reduce interest rates (on what?)
- Take the bus, walk, or carpool
- Cook for multiple days (We're lucky if we cook 3x a week!)
- Use coupons (I don't go anywhere without using coupons. I even search for coupons before buying anything online, and use cashback sites! See the side panel if you want to as well!)
- Buy generic
- Keep extra money in high yield savings instead of checking (I am going to open one March 1. For rel this time!)
- Use the library (I don't use the library because I have a Nook. But I was using it before.)
- Wash dishes by hand
- Re-use plastic shopping bags as trash bags
- Use a water filter (like Brita? We have one of those pitchers...)
- No cable (HA. No.)
- Use paypal for purchases (Why?)
- Make lists…and stick to them (I'm assuming grocery and shopping lists; we do that)
Wash and reuse zip top baggies
Make it a concrete rule to put 20% of each paycheck into a savings account (I will start doing this with my next paycheck)
ALWAYS search for online coupon/discount codes when shopping online
Use an online budgeting tool, such as mint.com (I started this, but I need to update it because right now it's not being very useful)
Use group discount websites, such as livingsocial, groupon, yippit, buywithme (I can't even begin to explain how much I LOVE these sites!)
Cut back on eating out (we are working on this...)In what ways do you save? Or what tips and tricks have you learned along the way? I would love your feedback!
For number 13, if you have a credit card that you're in good standing with, you can call them and request a lower interest rate. I recently got Discover to lower my rate from 18.99% to 1.9%! I try not to keep a balance anyway, but it's good knowing that if I have to, it's lower.
ReplyDeleteRegarding number 20, I'm not sure it's really cheaper to wash dishes by hand. My dishwasher uses 6 gallons per load, which is supposedly less than I'd use if I were doing them by hand. I also don't have to leave the kitchen lights on to run the dishwasher like I would if I were doing them by hand, and the unit we have is an Energy star unit that supposedly costs $50/YEAR to run, if we run four loads a week. The little extra I *might* save by doing them by hand is worth me not having to do that yucky chore! :)
Wow! That's a huge difference in interest rate! I currently don't have any credit cards, but it's good to know you can lower the interest rate. I wonder if that wrks on past due/ old cards?
ReplyDeleteWe have an EnergyStar as well. Which is great, because dishwashing is my 2nd least favorite chore to do (right behind vaccuuming!). I think I was scarred by it as a child because that's the chore I always got stuck doing!
One thing I do is when I'm on my days off from work, I only make one trip out. That way I save on gas. I get all my errands done in one day or trip and park the car.
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