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Health & Fitness

How To Save Money When You Don't Really Want To

This economy is driving me crazy, but here are some steps I've taken to save money and fight back.

This economy sucks. It’s rotten. I’ve come to accept that now. I’ve come to see that things aren’t going to change anytime soon. And I’m not all that happy about it.

I’m single and independent, which means that my own income is the only income coming in. In the last few years I have drastically changed the way I spend money, not because I want to, but because I have to. But it’s been this year that I’ve made several changes that I’m actually finding to be incredibly helpful in the bigger picture. Here are some of them.

1. The biggest and best thing I have done to fix my finances was cutting up credit cards. I had three credit cards. That in itself is a long, stupid story. I got rid of two of them. How did I do this? I took out a personal loan and paid two of them off.  Why did I do that? Well, the interest rate on those two cards was embarrassing.  The interest rate on the loan is not. Credit cards enable you to spend more money.  Loans do not. Then there’s the whole thing with compound interest that I don’t quite understand. But you know how credit card invoices have to include all that information about how long it would take you to pay things off and what dollar amount you would actually be paying these days? It would have taken 27 years for me to pay off those cards. My loan is for four years. And I’m paying the exact same amount per month that I was paying towards the cards. AND the amount of the loan that I took out is LESS than the total amount of interest alone that I would have paid on those cards if I’d kept them. I kept one credit card for emergencies.

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2. I only spend the money I have. That means taking cash out of the ATM on payday and ONLY using that cash to buy things (except gas). When it’s gone it’s gone. This, by the way, is really hard to get into the habit of doing when you’re so used to being in a plastic culture.

3. I grocery shop like the French now. Cooking for one is hard. Grocery shopping for one is even harder. I waste so much food because I just can’t eat it all before it goes bad. So I stopped shopping on the weekends and stocking up for the week.  Instead I buy what I want to eat on the day I’m going to eat it. And guess what?  I rarely go shopping anymore at all. Partially because when you limit your choices you think more simply and partially because the café where I work allows us to take leftovers home if they’re still in the refrigerator the next morning. Also, if I go out to a restaurant and spend some of my cash (I love going out to eat, so…) then I usually take some of it home and have a second meal. I’ve saved a lot of money on food.

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4. I bought more underwear. No, seriously! I hear you laughing and saying “what?” Because I have just a few more pairs of underwear now I don’t have to do laundry as often. Every other week instead of every week. I live in an apartment. I have to use quarters to have clean clothes. I’m saving about $10 a month doing this, which is $120 or so a year, which is actually very helpful.

5. I bargain shop for entertainment. I don’t have cable or even a TV. I watch things online or from Netflix. Movies are definitely out unless it’s a friend-date thing. Also, my company offers free tickets to sporting events, as I’m sure a lot do, and I take advantage of that. I also am involved in cricket in Philadelphia, which means I go to matches and participate on the weekend, and that’s free. And I’m taking this 10-week yoga class as part of the Hatboro-Horsham School District adult evening school soon, which cost me a whopping $50. That’s an incredible bargain AND exercise!

6. I only clothes shop at thrift stores. Actually, this isn’t new for me. Call me nutty, but I have always liked thrift stores more than retail stores. I like having a smaller selection to choose from arranged in a section of my size instead of an enormous store full of tons of choices that may or may not be in my size. And maybe I have an eye for spotting just the right things, but I have found more awesome clothes at thrift stores than anywhere else. I usually do best at the , both the one in Hatboro and the one in Montgomeryville, but I’m always willing to try new places. Hey! I might be wearing something that once belonged to you!

7. I have learned the difference between “want” and “need.” This was and continues to be the hardest thing to learn. There are a lot of things out there that I want. If I was a millionaire I would keep certain stores in business. But I don’t actually need any of that. Sometimes it’s a supreme effort of will to remind myself of that and to hold back, but I have to do it. Stupid example: My kettle recently died. I want very badly to go out and buy a pretty new kettle to boil water for my morning tea. However, the saucepan that I’m using now boils water just as well as a kettle. And a kettle is something I can ask for as a Christmas present. It’s little things like that that add up to big savings.

So there are just a few things I’ve been doing to fight this economy. I think I’m also going to have to move to a cheaper apartment, but since I hate moving I don’t want to think about it. Hopefully some of these suggestions will work for other people out there.

What have you been doing to save money lately?

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