Living Well on Less Money
Reduce you plastic stash. If you have more than one credit card, choose one to keep, and call the credit companies to cancel the others. Keep just one for emergencies such as unexpected medical situations or a home repair that cannot wait until payday (like your hot water heater going out). Be practical, a blouse at Macy’s isn’t an emergency.
Use products that mimic your high-end salon products. Go to a discount store sometime and read the ingredients in shampoos and styling products that say “comparable to (your salon product name).” Suave makes a few hair products that are comparable to Biolage and Nexxus, and they have the same ingredients!
Try store brand groceries. Don’t knock it ’til you try it. Some store brand groceries are almost impossible to tell from the more expensive brands. You won’t know until you take the risk. If store brands do prove to be to your liking, you can save a bundle on your weekly grocery bill.
Buy a Sunday newspaper. The Sunday newspaper has coupons in it for just about everything. You may only save a few cents each, but if you find quite a few coupons for products you would’ve paid full price for, it adds up at the check out. I recently saw a customer save over $40 on her grocery bill – with coupons.
Stay away from high-end retail stores. If you’re serious about saving money, shop in smaller chain stores. Retailers like Wal-Mart and K-Mart have great clothing at a fraction of the price. No one at the office is going to yank the tag out of your blouse to find out if you shop off the rack. Keep them guessing and give your checkbook a break at the same time.
Choose your car wisely. If you have more than one car in your household, and plan to do a lot of in-town errands, pick the one that uses the least amount of gas. In-town travel uses more gas because of the frequent stopping and starting at traffic lights and such. The less gas you waste, the more money you save.
Don’t use your car air conditioner unless you really have to. If you’re wondering why you have to fill up more in the summer than winter, your car air conditioner is the culprit. If it’s too hot where you live to not use your car air conditioner, try to limit errands to early morning and after the temperature comes down in the evening so that you can opt to just roll down windows.
Adjust your thermostat at home. To save on that energy bill at home, try setting your thermostat for heating and air on about 77 degrees in the summer, and don’t move it up and down. Do the same with a lower temperature setting in winter – mine is at 70 – and your heating and air unit won’t kick off & on as much, or run as long, saving you several dollars each month.
Use laundry detergents for cold water use. If you have a washer and dryer at home, doing laundry uses a lot of electricity, especially for larger families. Tide makes an excellent detergent for cold water use, that has saved me money since I have been using it the last few months. It does work, and I only wish this detergent was invented years before now. Another great laundry tip is to do laundry early in the mornings, and in the evening to save more montly.
Don’t throw away clothes you no longer wear. We all have clothing the kids have outgrown, or it looked better on the mannequin at the shop it was bought from. These articles of clothing still look great, but there is no use for them – or is there? Have a yard sale or put them up for sale in a consignment shop. When the clothes sell, you’ll get extra money back into your wallet, and someone else will enjoy the same outfits your family once loved.
Set your outside lighting and water on timers. If your sprinklers and outside lighting are set only to come on at certain times, and to kick off after a set period of time, there is no need to worry about your electricity and water being wasted. Also, keeping an eye on the forecast will help you to better guess when you can do without watering the lawn.
Check into utility levelizing. Some utility companies offer levelized billing. This comes in handy mainly for electricity in the summer. Your electric bill will change only slightly from month to month, and the 12 month average protects against drastic changes in your bill, even during the coldest and hottest months.
Take advantage of end-of-season sales. Clothing goes on clearance mid-summer and mid-winter, to make room for the following season’s fashions. Take advantage of those sales, and buy clothing for next year at that time. You can save up to 50% (sometimes more) just by purchasing mid-season.
Shop for Christmas in the summer. Merchandise doesn’t get marked up for Christmas shopping in June, so take advantage, and buy gifts months in advance. Christmas shopping well in advance will also save you the headaches of shopping during the actual Holiday season, and you will have more time to spend at home or with family and friends when Christmas time gets here.
With any luck, and a little willpower, these tips can save you money all year long. Budgeting money isn’t just for the poor, wealthy people stay wealthy with smart spending and saving when they can. Budgeting can even help you save up for a much needed vacation or to splurge on one really frivelous item you’ve always wanted, but wouldn’t have been able to purchase before.
