A year ago, I had a girlfriend tell me months after she lost her job that she actually has more money than when she worked!
I believed her and agreed that cutting out truly not needed expenses would make a difference, but I was comfy in my routine expenses and didn’t change my spending habits.
Imagine in your mind that today is your last day on your job. What extra living expenses do you not really need? What utilities could be reduced by a phone call to the provider? What services could you remove from your lifestyle that isn’t necessary but you pay for every month? How would you adjust your spending habits? What better cost effective choices would you make?
- By changing my cable provider, I am saving $70 per month with the same stations.
- No longer do I make one convenient stop for groceries paying whatever price, Aldi’s has great off-brand products from prices that still make me happy when I walk in the store. I get what I can there, than finish at my favorite place for specialty items, Sam’s Club.
- Do you know it is cheaper to bake cookies? I will bake cookies right before my girls get home so the house smells like fresh baked cookies. The scent of hot & fresh baked cookies walking in the door says, "welcome home!" Hands down better than store-bought packaged cookies.
- Instead of buying pricey sweet tea, I make mint flavored green tea with no sugar. Healthier and for the same price I pay for the sweet tea ($3.00), I can make five pitchers of mint green tea.
- Cutting out commuting gas costs alone save me over $200 per month!
- Entertainment by dining out … whew, that gets really expensive! Cook at home and enjoy a park, go on a picnic, listen to live outdoor music, play tennis, go mountain bike riding. Being outdoors is more fun than being in a busy restaurant eating food that costs 4 times the amount to make to be only subpar.
- Why pay movie rental costs? The library has hundreds of movies to check out for FREE!
I can go on giving example after example and believe me, all the little savings add up as fast as all the little charges on a credit card! I simply don’t spend like I have an endless pool of money anymore.
In only two months, I have found myself with the same perspective as my friend.
