Saving Money with Common Sense

A couple of my friends have asked that I make a list of the things I do to save time and money around the house. I actually thought that they were just a little bit crazy until I really thought about it. The things I do are really not that difficult or even that unusual, but I guess if you are used to every modern convenience and having a store close at hand, it is a little bit different.

So, I will try to list the things I do to save money, and hopefully it will be in some useful order.

1) DON"T USE CREDIT CARDS! I am not sure some people actually realize just how much they depend on them for everyday spending. From gas cards and department store cards all the way to your Visa Platinum Plus card, they are all evil. Every time you think you have found an awesome deal on something and you buy it on credit, you need to figure in the interest rate and the number of months it takes to pay it off into the purchase price. That great deal on the 37" plasma TV will wind up costing you a lot more than the sticker price. And do you really need it anyway?

2) Learn to cook. Every time you eat out, you are spending the money you could be using on something else to pay a salary, insurance, electricity, manager bonuses, etc., in addition to the actual cost of the food you eat. Why not just make your burgers or steaks at home and enjoy a little family time in the process. Not only will you be saving a bundle every month, but you will know exactly what you are eating, without all of the preservatives and added fat and salt.

3) CFLs. We have changed most of the light bulbs in the house out to CFLs and it has made a difference in our electric bill. Yes, they cost a little more up front, but they do use less electricity to run and they last a lot longer. With the price going down on them, they are actually getting to be a reasonable option.

4) Clothesline. I was astounded at the money we have saved using a clothesline instead of the dryer. I know that a lot of people don't want to have to mess with it, or it is too much work, or "what would the neighbors think?" or whatever, but if you are serious about saving money, put up a clothesline. It takes me about 10 minutes to hang up a load of clothes. Usually by the time the next wash load is finished, the ones on the line are dry, or are at least close to it. In the hot summer months, they will dry in about 30 minutes. I can wash an entire week's worth of clothes for my family of 4 in 1 day without adding any heat to the house from the dryer. So the AC doesn't have to work any harder either. Which brings me to the next point...

5) Open the windows. Homes have window screens for a reason. Just because you have an Air Conditioner doesn't mean you have to use it all of the time. If you have windows on opposite sides of the house, open them and prop open any doors between the windows. It will create a flow of air through the house that will cool off the inside even when it is 80+ degrees outside. Ceiling fans will help even more. Any time you have air circulating through the house, even if the actual temperature us higher than you are used to, it will feel cooler. If your windows are covered by a porch or awning, even better. The outside air will cool off before it ever hits the window. Another option is to put a box fan blowing out on one side of the house. This will suck the warmer air out of the house while pulling cooler air in. This is especially good for kitchen windows when you are doing a lot of cooking or baking.

6) Make an investment in food storage options. This could be a freezer, a pressure canner, a dehydrator, a new pantry, whatever. Just do it. With grocery prices climbing upward, it just makes sense. When fresh produce is in season, buy a lot and preserve it for later use. When non-perishables are on sale, buy a lot.

7) Buy in bulk. You might be surprised at just how much toilet paper you actually use every month. If you can find it on sale, buy as much as you have room to store. That will be just one more thing that you will not have to run to the store for (saving gas too) every week. All paper items can be purchased in bulk and just stored until you need them. This works with soaps, shampoos, canned goods, even things like socks. Look at prices at dollar stores and retail closeout sites. If it is cheaper to buy them there, do it. You may have a case of socks stashed in the back of your closet, but you won't have to buy socks again for a really long time. As long as you have a spot to store it, go ahead and buy it.

8)Just because it is on sale doesn't mean you have to buy it. This one was kinda hard for us. We had gotten into the habit of scanning the shelves for closeouts and super sale prices. We wound up with a couple of cans of gooseberry pie filling( that we hated), scone mix (that sat on the shelf for months), some weird chipoltle pepper paste (that we still haven't used), about 20 boxes of Hamburger Helper( they were on sale for $1 a box and we had coupons) and some rice mixes. If it isn't something you will actually use, don't buy it. You will just be wasting money. Even the best sale isn't worth the shelf space if you don't use it. Only buy the things you know that you will use in a reasonable amount of time. No point in tempting the ants and other critters into getting in your cabinets.


I know that #7 and #8 seem to contradict each other, but actually, they really don't. Things that you will use, buy. Socks wear out fairly quickly so it just makes sense to get enough to last a while if you can get them at a truly good price. And most adults will not outgrow them so they will still be useful to you even years later. But you shouldn't buy a case of socks just to be buying a case of socks. If you don't have a place to store 50 pounds of beans you shouldn't buy them, even if that is the cheapest way to purchase them. Or if you have a place to store, say 20 pounds but not 50, split them with a few friends. That is true of just about everything. Just make sure that everyone will use what you are buying. Don't get 50 pounds of beans just to find out that you buddies don't want them.

The thing to keep in mind when you are trying to save money is to use common sense. Look around your home. Is there anything you can do to change your buying habits?

Debt, Debt, and more Debt

For the last several months I have been scouring the web for tips on how to live well on less money. I have found a lot of good ideas. And some that are a little bit out there. But they all say about the same thing. Get rid of your debt.

I know that for some people that sounds nearly impossible. As a society, we have all gotten used to the instant gratification that comes with being able to buy whatever you want on credit. You find that great pair of shoes that are on sale for only $75 and you whip out the Visa or "Store" card and buy them on the spot. But if you don't pay off the balance every month, and how many of us can actually do that, you wind up with interest that will make those $75 pair of shoes cost well over $100 in the long run. And did you really need another pair of strappy black heels anyway?

With the way the economy is headed (and the credit crisis, housing crisis, and unemployment going up) a lot of people are beginning to realize just how over-extended they really are. If your house payment, car payments, utilities, and credit card bills are more than your income for the month, you are in big trouble.

Credit card companies are the world's biggest scam. They offer credit to just about anyone on the hope that people will buy more than they can afford to pay off every month. They make billions of dollars a year off of the interest. And the real kicker is that if you are ever late getting your paying in, they can legally double, or in some cases, triple your interest rate, making it even harder to get it paid off. Trust me, I have been there. And it really sucks.

I have found a couple of ways to get out of debt that don't involve bankruptcy. I will use our situation as an example of what not to do, or how to fix it if you already have.

When my husband and I first got married, we each had a credit card(visa) and I had a department store card. We didn't use them much, only for necessities like getting the cars worked on or replacing worn out clothes. Then I got pregnant with my daughter and my husband got a new job in a new town. So we had to move. No one would hire a pregnant girl so I couldn't work and we had the expenses of moving and setting up a new household. Visa time. Well, since I was pregnant before he got hired, the new insurance considered it a pre-existing condition and wouldn't pay the doctor visits. So that was $200 a month out of our already slim budget. Utility deposits, rent deposits, moving expenses, gas back and forth to get everything moved, all of that left us eating mac and cheese and ham sandwiches. And it also raised our credit card bills. By the time my daughter was born, we had bought the house we were renting, so we also had closing costs and insurance to pay. We were almost $2000 in debt in a matter of a couple of months. Now we had diapers, formula, baby clothes, doctor visits for the baby in addition to my hospital bills for the delivery on top of the student loan payments that were coming due, house payment, car payment, utilities, and the credit cards. So more credit card debt was building up.

By the time we finally decided that it just had to stop, we had 5 credit card with high interest rates (almost $22,000 in debt), 2 gas cards, 2 department store cards, a car payment, a house payment, and 2 kids in daycare. Even with minimum payments on the cards, the total everything combined was more than our monthly income. Then we discovered the Debit Card.

That was actually a wonderful day for us. It allowed us to completely stop using the credit cards. If we didn't have the money to cover it in the bank, we simply couldn't buy it. We were 13 years into a 30 year mortgage so we refinanced the house for a lower interest rate, cashed out enough equity to pay off 4 of the 5 credit cards(boy was it fun to cut up those cards) and continued to pay on the last one until we got the truck paid off. Then we began to apply the amount of the truck payment to the payment we were making to the credit card ( an extra $334 a month) and finally started getting that one paid off. A large cash gift from the Mother-In-Law took care of the rest of it.

Wow! No more credit card debt.

I know that most people cannot expect a large cash gift, but there are ways to get out of debt without going crazy.

1) STOP USING CREDIT CARDS! If you cannot afford to pay cash for it, do not buy it.

2) Actually sit down with all of your bills, bank statements, loan payment books, and a calculator. Make 3 columns, one with income amounts with every dime that comes in from every source for the month, one with the payment amounts due for the month not counting groceries, and the last column is for the amount of outstanding debt left on that bill. Add up each column and see if your bills are more than your income. Also compare your income to the balances due on all of that credit. You may be shocked to realize that you have $15,000 in credit card debt and that if you only make minimum payments every month, it will take you 12 years and $50,000 in interest to pay it off, if you don't add any more to the balance. That is an eye opener. And a real motivator for getting out of debt.

3) When you pay off a debt, you do NOT have extra money each month. Use that payment on another debt. If you paid off a debt that you were paying $250 a month on, like a car payment, you now add $250 to the highest interest payment that you have. Keep doing that until that debt is paid off. Then you take the combined payment amount (say...$550) a month, and add that amount to the next highest interest bill. And you keep doing that until everything is paid off. This is actually a fast and rather painless way to pay off your bills. You are not used to having the extra money anyway, so why not use it to get rid of debt.

Now, this is not a step by step guide for getting out of debt. There are a thousand different ways to do that, and just as many opinions on which way is the best. But you cannot get out of debt by using credit to make all of your day to day purchases. You have to make the decision to get out of debt all by yourself. No one can do it for you. If you are not willing to give up those shopping sprees or eating out every night, then no one can help you.