Gary mentioned in his last post that it would be interesting to list some of our ways of saving money. Dale & I have three areas that we target: food; energy; entertainment.
Because I am not willing to sacrifice taste and good quality food, I choose to cook at home. I am convinced that restaurants don't have our best interests in mind when they throw entrees together. I think about fat content; shortcuts; bugs, etc...& I want to cook at home. Even though I work 36-40 hours per week, I consider myself a scratch cook and feel that we save money there. I do go to the farmer's market and a meat market and turn my head occasionally when prices are too high and justify it with, well, we aren't eating out much anymore!
Energy is another area that we are trying to cut back on using. Normally this time of the year we are using our (propane) gas which we filled in July ($1000), but we've decided to have a small wood fire instead & save our propane for the days when the temps are closer to zero. So far that is working.
Last winter the "aha" light came on in my head when I decided that I no longer needed to run my clothes dryer constantly. I dry clothes for about 15 minutes (to get the wrinkles out) and then hang them on hangers to dry. I checked our electric bill for two months in a row & the saving was approximately $30 a month! And, the clothes came out nicer! I do continue to dry towels, underwear and sheets, however.
Entertainment is another item we refuse to give up, so we have gotten smarter. Remember those days when we played games/cards/puzzles? That was really fun! We don't go to too many movies, but when the temps get colder, we rent or wait for them to come out on TV. We aren't willing to give up cable this time of the year because that is about $10 per week that comes out of our entertainment budget. We love baseball, hockey, outdoor, food channel, etc.
I guess it is all about choices and the quality of life we choose to live. As we approach retirement I realize that the financial choices that we have made as a couple have been pretty "sound" ones. For that, I am happy. We would be in a world of hurt otherwise.
2 comments:
Sounds like you're considering each purchase and deciding whether it's worth it to you or not. And if it's worth it, to heck with the price. That's a good way to go about it. So many people just buy stuff with no thought at all!
Thanks Lois-Some good points-Who really need more stuff...you just got to get rid of it later-Just don't buy it in the first place unless you really need or want it.
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