These are times wrought with the tension that money's too tight to mention (old school reference... young'uns google it.) Now's a good time for brushing up on ways to save money, and find ways to still enjoy life at the same time. I want to hear about how you manage to entertain yourselves, how you manage to eat well, and all your favorite ways to save money on all kinds of different things that we homosapiens consume. Please add your "Two Cents Worth" after reading!
Here's my short list. I hope somebody out there finds something useful in it!
1.
Online banking and
making purchases with my atm card.
Now you may wonder what that has to do with saving money. I'll tell you! (lol) First of all, time, we all know, is money. It used to take me a couple of hours every month to balance my bank accounts, going through receipts, double checking transactions, writing checks, remembering to drop the bill payments in the mail... Not only was it taking up time I'd have rather spent doing other things, but it was also costing gas, stamps, paper, and the avoidable late fees, overdrafts, and over the limit charges I would incur because of procrastinating staying on top of all of that. I used to have laundry baskets full of procrastinated mail pertaining to my personal affairs. (lol... yeah... i'm that chaotic... shut up... i know i'm not the only one...)
But I found a great relief for the madness. No more!
I have been banking online for several years now and besides the fact that I've saved about $4 a month on stamps, it takes me about 3 minutes to pay all of my bills. Yes, 3 minutes! My credit card accounts all show up on one online report on my bank's website and I pay all of my monthly bills at one time in 3 minutes!
I do it from my bank's website, and it takes about 10 clicks. My account stays balanced and I've saved hundreds of dollars on those pesky fees I was encurring for being the chaot that I am.
My bank also has a plan where everytime I make a purchase with my atm card, it rounds off the amount to the next nearest dollar and deposits the difference in my savings account. without me even thinking about it! In other words, if I buy somthing for $3.76 my bank with round it up to $4 and transfer the $.24 into my savings account account. If I'd paid cash, the change would have ended up under the seat of my car or distributed around my house, or some other way lost in the abyss. If it stayed on my checking account, I would no doubt eventually spend it. This way I save money every single time I use the card. I'm not good at saving. This happens without me even thinking about it. I don't have to "do" it myself. I don't even miss it, because it's just simply not on my checking account any more to spend. It seems kinda silly, if you think small, but I've saved hundreds of dollars over the last year this way. Enough to pay for going to movies or a pair of shoes I wanted, and more! I paid for a flight to New York last year with money I saved this way. Yeah, I eventually spent this money. But I would have nickel and dimed it away needlessly and I don't even miss whatever those nickel and dimes would have been spent on.
2.
Buying fresh foods at farmer's markets and International GrocersNot only is it wise for nutritional reasons to buy locally grown produce direct from the growers, it's also cheaper. Any way you can remove the middle man from how you spend your money the better. I won't go into a big long preaching about why you want to buy local. Let's just say this much about the benefits: supporting your local economy, you can know what's going into your fresh foods (pesticides, hormones, and now frankenfoods: cloning), fresh from the farm foods that taste better and haven't been put through being shipped hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles, which brings us to the ecological benefits...
You've all passed by those little ethnic "bodega" type grocery stores that exist all over. I am a hobby gourmet so I have been going to these stores for years to find rare spices and ingredients for the international foods I enjoy cooking. But I would by-pass the fresh foods because... well... I'm not even sure why... there was this subconscious fear of the small spaces and whether or not anything sold fresh in them was actually fresh at all! But since then, I've become enlightened.
First of all, I was shopping for my family's Christmas meal (I planned to cook Moroccan food), in this little arabic international grocery store and was floored to pass by an enormous barrel of
sweet lemons that were selling for something like 68 cents a pound. Regular lemons in the normal grocery store I frequent cost 99cents each! For ONE! And they're those thick skinned fruits with the extra sour, and less juicy insides. These were similar to thin-skinned, extra juicy Meyer lemons which you pay a pretty penny premium for in Whole Foods or gourmet chain stores. I looked at them closely. I put one to my nose and inhaled. It smelled like lemonade. I couldn't help but let out a little "mmmmm...". I asked the produce man why they were so cheap and where they'd come from. He said his brother has a small orchard and he gets them direct from him. They use non chemical pest defenses, and the lemons are left on the tree till they are full of juice. YUM! He told me that most of his produce came from farmers he knows personally.
In the middle eastern cultures what you put in your body is still a very spiritual consideration. They don't have it down to perfection... but they're a lot closer than we are in the western world where we've become so concerned with how to make more money that mass production became more important than quality.
In my family we don't have it down to a science either. We're not vegans, and but I am conscious about what we eat because I know too much. But it's a myth that this practice has to cost more money. Don't rely on Whole Foods. I repeat DO NOT RELY ON WHOLE FOODS. This chain has made its success by taking advantage of our naiive years when most of the population had no clue all of the perversities in our mainstream food industry... when those who were in the know were few. Now most grocery stores have organic sections and yet even there you might be getting janked.
We drink lemonade and organic iced tea instead of sodas in my house. I buy those lemons and juice them and freeze the juice. (we have a foodsaver sealer machine... another money saver... you can buy bulk, vaccuum seal and freeze twice as long as the packaging foods come in) I buy organically grown teas from an online tea merchant... in bulk... I brew some up every few days and keep it cold in the fridge, unsweetened, (if it's a fruit blend tea), or sweetened with the least amount of honey it takes to knock the edge off the bitterness. I buy honey from the ethnic grocers and farmers markets too. Buying locally farmed honey not only supports the local bee population, but ingesting locally grown honey is believed to help to ease pollen allergies as there are small traces of pollen in the honey. This means you are likely to be less sensitive to the varieties of pollen in the area where your honey came from.
Besides all of this, these ethnic grocers usually have small delis where they sell fresh made items like hummus, breads and pitas baked on the premises (or locally by a small baker), marinated olives, and all sorts of goodies that we KNOW we love to buy at places like Trader Joes. Try your local ethnic grocers. They are cheaper and you'll be supporting your local economy and small family owned businesses.
I could go on and on in this section. lol... I'll save some for another blog. I'll do one soon about meals on a budget. Cooking is one of my favorite subjects, so that will be a fun one!
3.
Stay Home Do you get ants in your pants? Do you find yourself going out and spending money just because you're bored or have cabin fever? Do you spend money when you're lonely?
Here's a simple solution. Once a week. Just try it. Once a week when you get the urge to go out and spend money, simply stay home. Reward yourself with a pay-per-view movie. Invite some friends over or go and visit a friend. Think of someone you can do a favor for. Sometimes this feel-good act will over rule any urges to self-indulge.
You spent your hard earned money on that computer. There's all kinds of online venues for movie downloads, music, videos, tv show archives, games, puzzles, blogs, news commentary, and more.
Read a book. When is the last time you did that? We could all benefit from reading a book. Get them from your local library or borrow one from a friend. I have a library full of books I've read during lean times when I opted to stay home and read an interesting book.
Play board games! Invite your friends over or just play with your family... Or get to know your neighbors! We played the new version of monopoly for 6 hours one afternoon/evening and had a blast! Didn't feel like we missed anything! We just popped up some popcorn, made some turkey burgers, and had a monopoly tournament, just the three of us! Dirty jokes, and all!
If you hate being at home, I'd say it might be time to consider stewing in it long enough to save some of that frivolously spent money and revamp your home life... paint the walls, buy a new poster and frame it for your wall, add some living plants to your environment, open the windows everyday for at least and hour. You'd be surprise how much less likely you'll be to have that itch to escape if you improve your home life. This is an outward twist on a well known inner philosophy that you'll always be running away but you'll never escape until you get rid of the problem. If it's really really bad, it might be time to seriously consider where you've been placing your priorities. Is this just a place to lay your head or is it a home. If it is not a home, then maybe you really should consider letting go of some of the other things you spend money on for a while or adjust your priorities and compromise in other areas so that you can upgrade in some way to a better place. That's not going to apply to all of us, of course, but I would bet money on it being a large number of us, because I've been there, and I know a LOT of people who live like this. They hate their home life so they spend a lot of time and money getting away from it. If they'd put a little of that money into making a better home life for themselves, the investment would pay for itself because the urge to go out and spend to pacify the dissatisfaction would be reduced.
This principle works on your inner home as well. You would not believe how much less money you will spend if you are happy inside of yourself. (yet another blog to be written...)
If it's a person at home that you're trying to get away from.... welll..... :0) you don't need me to tell you, one way or another that needs to be improved upon.
Whether it be the environment or the company, if you are unhappy at home, you have some serious issues to consider in regards to not only your money, but also your emotional well being.
If you absolutely MUST get out, try something old school. Pack a meal and go sit on a park bench and eat it. If you live near natural evirons such as a forest or hills with views, take a walk, find a lookout point and eat your lunch or dinner there. Invite a friend!!!
It's not about isolation, it's about just simply making better use of what you've already got. If your escaping is social, then maybe you should talk it over with your friends because more likely than not, they're feeling the money crunch too, and would be more than willing to do some rotating at home visits, or alternative ways of hanging out that doesn't cost money.
Check your local events calendars online to find free or all-inclusive low-cost activities such as fairs and festivals that you can enjoy.
Get out into the sun and find some flowers to admire. Take a walk on the beach or by the lake.
Drinking and Cavorting: Now, maybe I'm just getting old, but right now, when the dough is hard to come by, I am not too keen on going out to a bar or club, spending $10 on parking, $10 to get in, and then $6-$10 for one drink. For WHAT? I like to tell my son "This is a sucka-free house!"
What kind of hypocrite would I be? lol... All for the sake of standing around in a bar with a bunch of strangers. If I'm there to support a band, that's another thing. But just for the sake of hanging out? Eh. It takes a lot these days to get this rock n' roll chic to hang out at a bar. Sorry to all my dj friends... it's just not a wise way to spend my money when money is tight.
No. Again, how about hanging out and having drinks with friends in the comfort and privacy of home. Liquor store prices on alcohol happen to be phenomenally cheaper than buying drinks at a bar! Hellooooo! We've all got iPods now. We don't really have to go find that perfect dj. We can be our own. I hook my iPod up to my stereo and.... What? Instant Party!!!
Matter of fact you could make it a rotating tradition that once a month you and your friends trade off, and have a lil' exclusive house party like back in the day when we hadn't lost our sense of reality!
Disclaimer: I only invite people I know VERY well, and I only allow them to bring people who know how to act.
This doesn't have to cost a bunch of money. Everyone can pitch in. You can either have folks put money equally in a pot, and one person prepare or you can simply just do potluck.
This can be a lot more fun that a bar where you can't hear yourself think, let alone hear each other talk.
I'd rather spend that money from barhopping on a dinner at my favorite Japanese restaurant where I know I'll walk away feeling like the experience was worth it.
4.
Thrift shops, Alleys, and Flea Markets Appropos for improving your home environment!
It's ironic how in the early adults years most people will go out and buy things because they are useful and inexpensive but low in quality because their money is limited, and then when they become more financially affluent, they go out and spend a fortune on new stuff at higher prices with quality standards that are often very deceptive.
They don't make things like they used to. That goes for many things.
Okay, most electronic gadgets you kinda have to go with the new. But many other things you can find if you really want to.
I learned this from my auntie Anita who was a degreed professional and lived in an affluent neighborhood in L.A. One of the more sought after zip codes, actually, for those in the know. But regardless of her income she was always about quality when it came to what she purchased.
Even in her college years when all her income went to pay for her own schooling, she would never go to Ikea (or even the more expensive stores, for that matter) and buy a table that would be falling apart or out of style in 4 years, without first checking out the local flea markets, thrift shops, and yes! the alleyways of so-called "upperclass" neighborhhoods around L.A. It's amazing what she made of her home. It looked like the home of a millionaire. It looked like old money. She would find the most beautiful perfectly built pieces of furniture in these places that were being thrown out (because that's what some people do when they don't know what to do with their money). Sometimes she would have to re-upholster but she had tens of thousands of dollars worth of vintage designer furniture that she MAYBE spend a couple thousand in total collecting. She did the same with dishes, silver, crystal, china.... She was an interior decorator's dream. You can live like Martha Stewart without spending all of your money on buying things that only look like the real thing.
I started a few years ago by buying a 80 piece set of vintage mexican Tonala dishes that are hand painted, and signed by the artist. In an antique or collector's store they would have cost close to $500 and I paid $35 for the entire set!
I have over the years bought quite a few really beautiful pieces of furniture that are useful in my everyday life, like a gorgeous rustic glass-doored cabinet I use for storing liquor... I paid $50 for it. I made the rule that it has to be useful and are strikingly beautiful at the same time...and now, most of the furniture in my home is vintage stuff I bought or inherited from her home.
Vintage home furnishings come in all different styles. From modernistic to country, from european influences, to far eastern. You will find all kinds of beauties for your home if you take the time to actually look.
If you aren't sure what's quality and what's not, check out some magazines or books to see what artisan work looks like.
One thing I encourage everyone to do in general... wait... that'll be my last one on the list... heh-heh...
5.
Be and Educated Consumer
There is no excuse for a perfectly intelligent person to continually find themselves squandering their blessings. Money is not everything. But it is a component to living that can help you to live your life the way you want to live it. Let's be real about this point.
I'm not suggesting you should be obsessive over such things. But you will find that the more you know about the things you buy, the less you'll waste on things that were not worth what you paid. A cycle of squandering can not only cripple you financially but it will chip away at your self esteem and put a tinge of distaste in you subconscious mind that will color every moment of your waking hours.
At very least you will find information that will aid you in avoiding misuse or mis-care of your purchases. This goes for everything from how to store fresh tomatoes (if they are uncut don't put these in the fridge! they go bad faster) to how to oil a wood cutting board so it lasts longer, to how to make sure you're not paying too much for your cell phone bill. You can learn about buying quality and where to find it at prices that are often lower than not buying quality...and in the bigger picture, what we all know through common sense is that quality is almost always a better bargain!
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This is an interactive blog. That's right! You don't get to sit back
and just absorb what I've written this time around. You have to
participate, because fact of the matter is, I don't have all the
answers!
So share some of the ways that you save money and improve your life at the same time. I'm dying to know!!!!! So add your "Two Cents"!!!