Saving money anyway you can is becoming more needed than ever as more and more people find themselves without a job. It’s not just those finding themselves out of work that are tightenting the budget either, everyone seems to be doing it. You can never underestimate the value of a dollar or how they can add up. Even a penny can add up to savings when you hold onto it long enough and add to it. There are several places that you can find savings no matter how small you believe the amount.
Credit cards are not a necessity, they are a large bill and debt waiting to happen. While having them in case of an emergency is nice they should not be used just because you want something. Interest is charged on credit purchases, a lot of interest. Try living without the credit cards. There are millions of people that don’t have the first credit card; they have savings instead and pay cash for purchases to avoid interest charges.
Don’t dig around in your pockets for the correct change, instead break a dollar and get change back. You can take that change at the end of the day and throw it in a jar. When the jar is full get some rollers from the bank (they’re free) roll all of your change and deposit it into your savings account. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the size of your deposit since you didn’t think a penny was worth much to begin with.
I only go to the grocery store once a week; going even less often will save you more provided you have someplace to store the food you purchased to keep it from spoiling. When we run out of something the urge to run to the store for just one item is resisted. It increases the amount of money spent not only on groceries but on gasoline for your vehicle as well. I also have a few herbs that I keep out on my porch. While not much it does save a couple dollars a year on buying dried herbs at the store. I also plant a small garden patch from time to time.
We eat leftovers until there are none left and do it gladly. We take the main portion of the meal and make a couple of side dishes to go with it. As a rule sodas are not on the shopping list instead we drink water and tea both of which are rather inexpensive. On the occasion that they are we buy cans so that they can be recycled. (Recycling a load of cans can give you back a portion of the money that was spent on them; since this was already spent simply put it straight into savings.) We also have a tendency to avoid dessert since it can lead to needing new clothes.
While I have small garbage cans through out the house in places where there is not room to place larger cans I do not buy small sized garbage bags. When ever I go grocery shopping I get them. They are the ones that my groceries were put in when I checked out. I simply reuse them. When I find I have an abundance of them I take them to a recycling drop off point.
Come tax season any refund that is gotten is partly used for bills. Any bill that is close to being paid off is taken care of. The rest no matter how small of an amount goes to savings. This makes one less bill to pay each month as well. Even if that bill is only five dollars that is five dollars we no longer have to spend. The remainder is placed in a savings account to earn interest through the year.
I do not have cable. While it may not be readily noticeable with the other bills I am actually saving money. I would not be able to keep up with everything with that added expense. I can on occasion take the money saved by not having cable and use it to buy more important things like food.
I wash my clothes in cold water and do not use a clothes dryer. Instead of adding to the electricity bill by drying clothes I hang them out to dry. I do this even when it is raining. I hang them up inside, it just takes a little longer for them to dry. My ironing is reserved for special occasions to keep from adding that to the bill as well. I even hand wash some of the more delicate items in the sink to save both the electricity and the clothing.
May not seem like a lot to those of you reading this but for me all of these tiny things add up to a nice secure feeling of not having to worry about where my next meal may or may not come from.