be more mindful of my money

How I did it: I had set a goal for myself on this site to "Go a whole year only buying food and other necessities" in the hopes of curtailing the more irresponsible spending habits I'd had as well as limiting what others could financially do in my life to hurt my budget. *I challenge anyone to do it*. It really puts things in perspective once you're about a month into it.







First, I put a stop to any and all credit card spending where I could. Unless it was an emergency, that thing didn't get touched. I'd honestly considered freezing it in a big block of ice but chose instead to put it in a plastic bag in the back of my drawer. I was hoping for an 'out of sight out of mind approach' and it actually worked.







Considering all the fees and interest rate on that card, I'm glad I did. I would have been in jail by now on the late fees alone had I not. My rate is 19.80 for anyone that's curious. I, thankfully, keep a relatively low balance but if I'd been one of the types to put 'everything' on the CC, I can't imagine what kind of dire straits I'd be in right now.







Second, I used my debit card whenever and wherever I could. Aside from being more of a financial hit, and thus something I'm less likely to want to have in my budget or on my mind, it was efficient and enabled me to better keep track of my spending and budget according to the money I actually had rather than the amount the 'Bank of Loanshark - I mean Credit Card' was willing to give in exchange for their blood money.







I kept my eye on my statement every week. That alone blew me out of the water and within two months, I'd corrected my spending. I started going to every super cheap market I could find. I did without a lot of basics. I was cheap to begin with but this past year, I was so tight with my money that I actually made people cry hysterically even though they had nothing to do with my spending habits. I am not kidding.







I didn't eat out. I bought only the healthy and necessary food we needed as opposed to the cakes, cookies, pies, chips, hot fries, doughnuts, raisin bread, sodas, pudding, and cigarettes, etc others in my life wanted on a daily basis.







Pretty soon after, I was able to at least balance my finances and even pay a few bills off that had been hanging over my head like a dark depressive cloud. That made me feel wonderful after having spent so much time crying my eyes out over what seemed to be an abysmal pit of financial despair.







Three, I gave away a lot of clothes I didn't want or need anymore. Those I kept, I packed all but a few clothes away in a box and, with those few clothes, I washed them, kept them up through stitching etc, and wore them regularly. In total, I had five pairs of pants, one dress, and ten shirts in addition to my usual underwear, socks, and other undergarments. I didn't even so much as breathe in the direction of clothing stores for most of the year and, but for a loss and then rapid gain of weight due to illness, I didn't buy anything.







Even when I did buy clothes, it was only what I needed, namely two pairs of pants, and even those were as inexpensive as I could manage.







With shoes, I had and kept two pair. The combined total of which was 40.00USD. I got both from Payless and they're still in great condition because I took [and am still taking] great care of them. But for a easily cleanable stain of chicken cordon bleu [don't ask] on the toe of one, they're spotless.







Fourth, in cleaning I saved money on things like detergent by either using another [equally useful] product in its place. To clean most things that required 'soap' I used the much more economical shampoo, and for bathing I used body wash over soap. You'd be surprised how much cheaper it is in the long run. I also used powder dishwasher detergent over liquid. I swear, one big box lasts an eternity.







For laundry, I bought one 2x concentrated bottle of scented detergent and a big much cheaper box of powder detergent. Instead of wasting money on having a 'nice scent' in my clothes, I filled the cap about one tenth of the way full of liquid detergent and used the powder detergent to clean my clothes. Much cheaper and the exact same scent as using a whole wasteful cup.







I also went down to doing my laundry a lot less frequently. Once/twice a week was more than enough given the small amount of clothing I had at the time and, given my lack of plans during the week and on the weekends, was perfect as a time to do the wash.







This whole plan with the laundry dropped my water bill by a good fifteen dollars. It was still a constant fight with the person I live with and I do feel that I could have saved much more had I been by myself but over all, it worked out at least somewhat.







Fifth, my weakness is knitting and my addiction is yarn. I swore to myself specifically that I would not purchase new yarn until all my old yarn was emptied out of Yarn Bin Overladen [long story, see the link to my blog]. I've been making, not only clothing for myself, but gifts and clothing for others for both free and for pay. It's helped a great deal having that small but semi-steady income coming in. It's also helped a lot in my knitting practice and I can now do stitches I once tremored in terror over. I've still got a lot to learn but I've definitely got the basics down.







I've also recently inherited a sewing machine, supplies, and A LOT of fabric. I will get the hang of this whole sewing business and make more of my own clothes rather than blow my money in the stores.







Sixth, going to the Library to learn rather than pay for hobbies. I think I've learned more from "the Library" over the past year than I've learned from my entire high school career. I checked out books and instructional DVDs on everything. Knitting, crochet, sewing, Sign Language, cooking, gardening, financial planning, and various other topics in addition to pleasure reading materials, often loaded my back like a camel as I carted off well over thirty pounds of materials every two weeks or so from the library. From there, I'd usually shoot over to the local super cheap supermarket, ALDI's, to buy the groceries [on my debit card] before heading home on the bus.







Seventh, riding public transportation. If its available in your area, riding public transportation has to be the cheapest method of getting around besides walking/cycling/skateboarding/etc. I managed to get a free bicycle off of Craigslist but, as of yet, I haven't learned how to ride it. I'm making that one of my special goals this year. I must have saved hundreds of dollars riding the bus, Metro, MARC train, Light Rail, and walking.







Eighth, Digital Converter Box. I will never pay for television. I think it's the most ridiculous concept on the planet to pay for commercial interruption in television programs. Even worse, I've had a chance to see cable programming at other peoples houses and their signals were no better than my rabbit ears analog television. In some cases, they were actually WORSE. With this upcoming transition, I decided on getting a converter box to keep our nearly ten year old model in compliance. I sure am glad I did.







On top of saving money and giving me more channels to watch, it's bringing in some of my favorite stations with crystal clarity despite their broadcasting signals being based thirty or more miles away. I'm just WNW of Baltimore City and I'm getting stations from northern Virginia. It takes incredible strength to pull away from WETA Create - 26.2 and, some days, I don't know how I manage it. If I'd gotten cable or some other pay service, I'd ultimately be kicking money out of my pocket [that I really don't have] for service that's not nearly up to the promises.







I could go on but it's only a small webpage. I won't take too much space up. LOL







All of this saved me a lot of money and really made appreciate just how much was going into some of these purchases.

Lessons & tips:

I really hope that this is of some help to someone somewhere. It has been to me.





1. Only use a credit card in an absolute emergency. 'Emergency' is not defined as a good looking pair of shoes in the window that you've just 'gotta have'. We're talking, 'there's an electric bill that won't get paid otherwise and grandma's on a ventilator with no backup generator'.





2. Use a debit card whenever and wherever you can. It makes you pay more attention when you look at your statement and actually *SEE* how much you've been spending. I've seen a lot of people say 'use cash' but cash doesn't have the same penalties. When it's gone, it's gone. When you overdraw on a debit account, you feel the hit but you've got proof of where you went wrong staring you in the face. Plus, it's more practical and safer than a wad of cash. Keep, maybe, a few dollars to avoid robbers and for emergency gas [if you drive] etc.





3. Limit your wardrobe. You do not need a shirt for every day of the year. It's not practical. Give those clothes to someone who could actually use them like a charity shop or one of those 'Second Chance' work programs. Buy more items that you can just throw in the wash. Dry cleaning costs money. Take really good care of your shoes and other items by going to a cobbler and just not wearing them indoors.





4. Go to the Library rather than buy items.





5. Use public transportation.





6. Make and effort to make your own stuff. Cook, clean, sew, etc. for yourself. Make your own clothes. If you don't know how, go to the Library to learn for free. A lot of places offer free classes. I learned how to knit for free at a library in 2006.





7. Cut off any unnecessary services like cable, satellite, etc. If you *REALLY* need it [you're in a rural area or something] then ok but otherwise, ditch it. Between Internet and regular TV, you're covered.





8. At the end of each month, calculate the costs of what you've actually spent compared with how much you would have spent had you bought the things you eschewed and make a note of it. If you can, *put the difference in a separate savings account*.

Resources: 43things - http://www.43things.com/person/kalitime

ALDI's - http://www.aldi.com

Payless Shoe Source - http://www.payless.com

Baltimore County Public Library - http://www.bcplonline.org

As well as countless websites, some of which may be found in the right sidebar [profile side] of my blog.


KGL - http://xantedeschia.wordpress.com/

Jan 09, 2009, 02:17AM PST | 0 comments | 4 cheers