Cut Your Spending and Enjoy It!

I'm the first to admit - I love shopping. I would marry shopping if it were possible. Mall shopping, online shopping, mail order - it doesn't matter. I love to shop. However, in this precarious time, shopping is not the best choice for our money. If you're managing a family, you know how much everything has gone up in price, everything that is, except your pay. So, let's explore some realistic ways to cut spending without making our lives dreary and sad.

First of all, we have to figure out where our money goes. There is the advice about writing down everything you spend for a week, but you know what? That's not going to work for me. I'll do it for about 10 minutes, and then I'll lose the book or not want to write down the $32 I just spent for yarn. So, let's be practical. We already know in our mind what we spend our money on. We already know what we should stop buying.

What's the first thing you do in the morning, outside the home? Stop for coffee! Yes, how can we start the day without a double vanilla latte! Well, how about starting fewer days with a double vanilla latte? Let's pretend we drive through the coffee shop 4 times a week. And each coffee costs approximately $4. That's $16 a week, $64 a month and a whopping $768.00 a year on double vanilla latte's. Gulp! Let's get coffee twice a week instead, and take the $8 a week we're not spending and put it in an envelope every week until we have about $50 - $100. Should take about 6-10 weeks to save up that money. Now, shop around for the best deal on an Espresso Maker!!!! There are some good deals to be found. You don't want to buy the cheapest one, but you can get by without having to spend $500 on the best one! Check out Consumer Reports and see what they have to say about Espresso Makers/Machines. Now, you're going to make your own double vanilla latte's in the morning. You can even buy the cups with the lids at the grocery store. You'll need to keep espresso coffee and flavoring in your cupboards, and milk. You'll have latte's every morning if you like and you'll also be saving nearly $1000 a year. It's a win/win situation.

The same could be applied to lunches at work. Let's say you grab lunch at the fast food closest to your work. Probably about $8 a lunch. $40 a week, $160 a month, $1920.00 a year. Need I say anything in defense of the brown bag? Putting together a brown bag lunch even 2-3 days a week is going to save you considerable money. Take leftovers from dinner, a PB&J, some yogurt and fruit, or a bowl of cereal! There's nothing saying you must eat a sandwich and chips every day for lunch. Eat what you want, you'll be more likely to keep it up. If you need to wean off the fast food, start by leaving the sandwich off your ticket and just get fries. Bring your own pop to work.

How about the grocery store? The grocery stores know you must buy food. Very few people eat out every single meal. The grocery stores know you want quick and easy and convenient foods. Things you can whip up for your family in minutes. But those foods are expensive. Here are a few examples:

Salad in a Bag - nice, pretty, quick but so much more expensive than a head of lettuce. Get a package of Romaine lettuce, slice it up into smaller pieces, rinse well, run it through the Salad Spinner and voila - you've got Salad in a Bowl. It takes 3 minutes and you've saved $1-$2.
Packaged pot roast with veggies - quick, easy but so unnecessary. Buy your pot roasts when they are on sale. Get 2 or 3 and put them in the freezer. When you want pot roast for dinner, take it out the night before to thaw, in the morning stick it in the crock pot with carrots, celery and potato's and go to work. When you get home, dinner is done. Carrot's, celery and potato's are about the cheapest veggie's you can buy.
Packaged hot dogs IN buns - do I really need to say anything about this? Hot dogs and buns are some of the cheapest food there is - why would you pay someone to put your hot dog in a bun? Are you that rich? Or lazy?
Cracker, cheese lunch packs - seem so fun and easy for the kids. But holy cow, a box of crackers and a block of cheese you slice yourself go a long way and those lunch paks are gone in 5 minutes and the kid is still hungry.

Don't feel bad if you've fallen for these foods. I've bought Salad in a Bag lots of times, and also bought Cracker/cheese lunch paks for the kids. But not anymore. I have 3 minutes in my day to cut lettuce and my kid can slice her own cheese.

What about luxuries like manicures/pedicures? We used to do our own nails all the time. Do we still know how? Instead of scheduling and paying someone to do your nails, what about inviting your best friend(s) over for manicure/pedicure night? Everybody bring their polish, lotions, cotton balls et al and serve some drinks with umbrellas and some fun snack foods and have a party. That way if you have trouble doing one hand, there is someone there to help you out! Lots of colors to try out and helpers if you make a mistake.

Hair appointments? Get your hair cut by someone who knows what they're doing, but coloring and highlighting can be done at home. I do mine all the time and have received lots of compliments on it. I used to have my hair dyed and highlighted at the salon, but it was one 'luxury' I decided I could do without. Doing it myself doesn't bother me at all and I like not spending the money on it.

Clothes shopping. My weakness. Fortunately for me, my love for clothes shopping is combined with a burning desire to get the best possible deal! I search the Clearance Racks like crazy. I also like to shop at thrift shops. If you can spend a little bit of time combing through the racks, you can find quality name brand clothes for very little money. I've had to make myself look hard at how many clothes do you actually need? Well, not nearly as much as I think I do!!! Am I clothed every day? Yes I am. Then I'm good. My situation is a little different because my office is at home. Nobody cares if I'm wearing jammies at noon. If you need to be in an office, then you need some nice clothes.

Which leads right into taking care of those clothes! Once you do purchase clothing, you want to take care of it properly so that it lasts as long as it was meant to last. Learn to sew on buttons, it's not hard. Google it! If something is spilled on your clothing, keep a detergent pen in your purse and treat it right away. If you get a rip or a tear in a seam... sew it up! You can do it with a needle and thread. Fix the hem if it gets ripped out. About the only thing that's difficult to fix is the zipper. Zippers in skirts and dresses are easy enough to fix, zippers in pants... well, I've been a professional dressmaker and even I don't do those! If you really feel that you can not sew, I'm sure you know someone who can. See if you can work a trade with them. Mending for....whatever it is you do!

The trick is to cut your spending without altering your lifestyle drastically. Make decisions about which luxuries are the most important to you and keep those, but give others up. If you need to make drastic changes in your budget in order to stay afloat, well, that will be my next article.