Spending Less

Luba · 10-08-2008, 09:55 PM

In these tough economic times, most everyone is trying to cut back. There is another thread about it, but I thought of starting this one because it's a little different.

What can/did you actually do today that you were able to step aside and not spend money on? As an example: that extra fancy coffee, a chocolate bar or bag of chips, or a higher-priced meal with an alcoholic drink, or buying a newspaper instead of getting your news from TV or the Internet.

How about putting what you saved today in a jar to collect over the week and post about it to give others incentives to save. It's savings you never think about but seeing money in a jar gives it more meaning.

Weiser · 10-08-2008, 10:42 PM

I'm actually saving for a trip to Dubai in 2014. Sounds like a long ways away, but it's going to be an expensive trip. My cousin is about to buy a house as an investment property down in Arizona and I think I am going to be putting money towards that instead of putting it in a savings account. The US economy has nowhere to go but up (well, it'll probably tank a little bit more before it starts heading up).

I am buying less though. One coffee in the morning as opposed to 3 during the day. Eat lunch out on fridays instead of every day. Grocery shopping and cooking dinner instead of ordering food. The toughest thing is drinking less :/

I'm also cutting out my december trip to Calgary which I am not very happy about, but it has to be done.

Luba · 10-09-2008, 08:31 AM

Good for you, Weiser!

It's hard at first but once you see that you are Saving, that will totally outweigh what you are giving up; eventually you won't even miss those things.

It was our Savings what helped get our home and vehicle paid off when the Company he worked for went down in the 80's and I wasn't working. Of course, we had to start all over again, and it was years before we were able to save at a consistent level. Things always seem to crop up; but we always managed to scrape by.