How Long Can You Hold onto the Same $40?

Here's a trick to help you hang onto more of your money - how long can you hold onto the same $40? Okay - here's how it goes. The aim of this game is to figure out creative solutions for real cash demands, as opposed to constantly pulling out your wallet. If you employ this tactic often enough, you will have an essential tool for frugal living and budgeting will become a whole lot easier.

I'll give you an example. Let's assume for the moment that you need tomato sauce for a recipe. You reach into your wallet for the money. Then you suddenly remember that you have a bag full of tomatoes in your fridge that are okay to use now, but in two days or so, won't be. Voila! Chop 'em up, sautee them with onion and garlic, or whatever spices are required, and you have used up an ingredient that was destined to go bad (and stinky). I can't tell you how many times I have bought the same food ingredient over and over again without having a need for it. Ingredients like ketchup and mayonnaise are okay to overbuy - I mean, you can always put those on the shelf for next time - but items like tomatoes and bananas have a relatively short shelf life.

You can do this with lots of life situations. Your son needs binders for school work. You're about to dash out to Office Depot, until you remember that you have some old tax records stored in binders (ten years old, for example) that really should be shredded to free up extra shelf space. The binders, however, are in perfect condition. (I did this in September for my son, and he was delighted with the new binders, which were rather nice-looking.) Binders cost a fortune, in case you haven't priced them lately. This was strategic because I freed up valuable shelf space and saved money on the binders.

I first tried this trick a few years ago, and I was shocked to discover that I was often able to hang onto the same $40 for a long time (and sometimes even add to what was originally in my wallet). What's going on here? The truth is that we often either waste our money or spend it in ways that are not rooted in strategy. Money expands with creativity. (In fact, creativity often spawns money.) The connection between money and creativity has often been noted, by entrepreneurs such as Paul Hawken and Anita Roddick (The Body Shop). And the less we consume wastefully, the less of an impact on our environment.

If you do this often enough, it will change your life. For starters, you'll have a lot more money. And the creative choices you make will transform your life. The trick here is not just to pinch pennies but to make all of the life situations around you more fluid and manageable. Try this out and see if it helps at all. Remember: the challenge here is, how long can you hold onto the same $40? Good luck!

http://www.blessedunrest.com/ (on Paul Hawken's latest book, Blessed Unrest)

http://www.anitaroddick.com/aboutanita.php?PHPSESSID=da5a34540875ed33cada2160183c3fb0