Cut back or do without
photo by paul swansen
When you’re living lean, it seems like you can’t cut any more corners. Often, there are things you simply don’t want to give up. You get used to modern conveniences and want to enjoy life. But if you think about, there’s quite a bit you could cut back on if you had to, and some things you might not even miss if you got rid of them completely. What would you give up to reach a financial goal?
Here are a few ideas.
CABLE: You know the saying that there are hundreds of channels and nothing to watch? Usually, one person in the family could gladly give up cable television, but the rest of the household doesn’t want to. With so many options such as Netflix, Hulu, Redbox, borrowing DVDs from the library or simply replacing TV time with other options, cutting cable or satellite or downgrading your service package is easier than ever.
GYM MEMBERSHIP: You don’t want to sacrifice fitness, but you can get a good workout at home. Many times you might have good intentions of using your membership but end up not going. You can climb stairs, walk, jump rope, use dumbbells or exercise to fitness DVDs. Look for secondhand equipment on Freecycle.org or Kijiji.com. You can share the cost of exercise items with family and friends, too.
JUNK FOOD: Do a pantry audit. Your kitchen could be loaded with extras you can do without. A common excuse is that the rest of the family can’t live without snacks and soda. Even one person cutting back can make a difference. Identify healthier choices and slowly wean your family off of the garbage foods and excess calories.
MEAT: Not everyone wants to be vegetarian, but incorporating a meatless meal each week can save you money. You don’t need red meat daily. Replace some meat with fish, poultry, nuts (in moderation), tofu, beans or eggs. At the very least, monitor your portion sizes and decrease the amount of processed meats you eat.
VEHICLE: If you’re a two-car household, you might be able to drop down to one car. It’s horrifying for some people to even consider getting rid of a spare car, but do you absolutely have to have it? Consider public transportation, biking, walking, carpooling or carsharing in larger cities from places such as www.zipcar.com . If you can’t let go of the extra gas guzzler, call your insurance company and see if you qualify for any discounts for insuring multiple cars and being a longtime customer with the same company. You can call around and compare prices, too. Make changes to your driving habits. Avoid repeat trips or leisure driving. Read the book “How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life” by Chris Balish (Ten Speed Press, September 1, 2006) for a convincing guide to living a car-free life. If nothing else, you’ll learn how to be less dependent on your cars.
Posted by Sara Noel
on February 26 2010. Filed under Home & family.
Sara Noel owns Frugal Village, LLC and is a nationally syndicated columnist with United Media. Bio, Follow me on Twitter, Join us on Facebook.
Like you say there are always more corners to cut.
You could give up television completely and just start reading. The library is free and books can be very cheap to buy (used).
Food could be cut down to barebone healthy basics. No meat, just lightly steamed and baked veggies, some beans for protein etc etc… It would be an interesting experiment to cut down to the complete bare essentials.
Thanks,
1Forest.
http://frugalzeitgeist.com
Forest´s last blog ..Save Money On Printing
My husband and I can’t be a one-car family because the work and family schedules are a little unpredictable. But our money-saving trick is to have one newer car and one older / paid-off car. One car payment, instead of two, is really nice when you have other bills to pay.
2Monroe on a Budget´s last blog ..Daily Worth: Dealing with the kid tantrums on money
Your list is a good way to start thinking about things we forget cost us more money than they should. Sometimes tweaking the way we use items can save us money, too. We’ve discussed that when one of our vans can’t be repaired reasonably any longer, we would just keep one because our kids are getting old enough to take public transportation on their own and we also have the option of getting a ZipCar/FlexCar membership for when we would need more vehicle capacity 1 day at a time.
I’ve actually saved money with my gym membership. Instead of turning the heat up when I awake (’cause it’s turned LOW during the night) I can take my prepacked bag straight to the gym at the Y. I use the showers there and dry my hair then head to work. We have a microwave and coffee pot so I have my oatmeal and coffee there. Doing this several days every week cuts the actual cost of my gym memberships by quite a bit. It’s just a few blocks from my workplace so the additional cost of transportation is minute. I save less in warmer weather, but I figure that it all works out in health and social benefits
3By the way, I actually work out when I go to the gym. On mornings that I really don’t want to go, I tell myself that I could go and just shower and get dressed (my work clothes are already packed) — but by the time I sign in, I always give and and do at least a short workout.
4We cut $28 per week giving up juice and soda. Most parents have been brainwashed into giving their kids “healthy” juice “instead of soda,” but after attending a parent education wellness class at the kids school that taught us they should have no more than 4 oz of juice per day because you’re essentially giving them sugar and should water it down considerably (yes, natural fruit-based sugar, but still just a lot of empty calories), we eliminated it completely from our menu. Now, the kids have a choice of milk or water. They drink a bit more milk than they used to (otherwise it would be $38 per week, not $28 in savings), but they’ve grown to enjoy water. We bought one of those easy-spigot 2-gallon Rubbermaid water containers so the water is always cold and easy for them to get at.
Not being one to deprive my kids of something and not myself, I also gave up soda. That accounts for $7.80 of the $28 drop (it would have been more if we drank name-brand soda, but as we were already drinking the generic brand, it was less).
Sometimes not everybody cooperates. Hubby still has his Dr. Thunder habit and buys 2-3 bottles per week, but it’s a lot less than the gallons and gallons of junk-water we used to lug home and he’s started drinking tea for some of his old caffeine fix. If you steep a single teabag in a gallon of hot water the night before (we heat the kettle, then throw the teabag in the kettle to steep overnight) you can get an entire gallon of tea to reheat in the microwave out of a single teabag (this is a trick I learned from thrifty European friends). You can just as easily dump the cooled tea into a glass with ice cubes in the summer for ice tea.
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