On my road to a better, more responsible financial future...

[a_nord]

I have picked up this little saying...

Every time you spend a dollar, you sacrifice a bit of your future.

I spotted it while reading an article at the Unclutterer.com  It's right here if you want to read it.

Changing the way you spend doesn't happen by just deciding to change.  That's only a "First" step.  Actually changing takes a lot of time, energy, patience and work.  It has taken me 3 years to get to this place in my head about spending.

I don't like to shop.  I don't buy stuff I don't need.  I have lightened the load of material goods.  Done hours of researching prices and determining the best price for the product that I have - again spent hours of researching for form, function and quality.   Basically, Dare I say it... The best bang for the buck!

I have gotten into the habit of making sure everything I bring into the home already has a place for it to "live" before I even buy it.  Aaaaaand it has to have a reason to be there.  I have had the pleasure of seeing the rewards of my labor... I have reduced my spending by quite a lot.  Pretty much down to just essentials.  I still have a way to go to reducing that number... which consists of the basics: utilities, food, medical, dogs, gas, car maintence, insurance, etc... You know?  The basics.

Here are some areas I think could use some "pruning"...

1. Cell phone bill
   • I think I should be able to lower my minutes now that I have a land line that I use quite a bit.  In February I saw that my same plan was running as a special for $6.00 less.    ($36 a year)
   • Or I could go with less minutes.  I have 1100 minutes for $45.  I rarely go that high.  Last month I only used 300 minutes.  If I can bring the bill down $10  that would be $120 a year.
2. The Puppies
   • This is something I already do... I research online pet medication internet sites and find the best possible price on their prescription (frontline, interceptor, zubrin) and I print it off.  I then bargin with my vet to match the price.  And she does.  So I get the good price and not the hassle of dealing with the online place AND the post office.
   • I already do this to... I shop for the best price in vegetables.  Canned vegetables.  Yes, I could save a whole lot of money by not putting them on their dinners.  But the whole reason I add the vegetables is for a low calorie fiber filled filler that has some kind of nutritional value.  It helped Lucy drop 30 pounds.  And as you know a fat dog is an unhealthy dog.  I know that Lucy has felt 100% better since she lost the weight.  I am working on maintaining hers and now working on the other 2's weight issues.  (along with mine)  I even built a pantry to house all the vegetables I find on sale.  Normally .69 cents a can I have found them as low as 3/$1.00.  So I buy several cases at a time saving when I can.
3. Utilites
   • I have put the entertainment electronics on a surge suppressor that I can turn on and off.  When I go to be a night I flip the switch off.  The power to the standby systems of the LCD TV, DVD player, Audio System + powered sub woofer is off till I turn it back on around 6:00pm at night.  So it's only on for 4 hours a day.  Now the Department of energy says that Vampire Electronics can add about 20% to the electric bill.  Here is a pretty graph put together by Goodmagazine of the some of the stuff that is sucking passive and active standby energy. The TV and the PC seems to be the big culprits in my house.  And I am going to turn those thing off at night and turn them on only when I use them.  Most of that stuff will be turned off for at least 20 hours a day!
   • The house temp for the summer is moving up to 76 degrees.  I have been slowly raising the thermostat each summer and down each winter.  I think last year was 74 this year will be 76.  Not sure how the new AC will handle the heat this summer but we shall see.
   • I even took the flood lights that are in the back of the house and replaced them with those compact flourescent bulbs.  The lights are on for hours at a time From dusk till I go to bed.  So it made sense to replace those wattage suckers. 
   • My bills were pretty low this winter.  I think my highest was $148.  Considering I usually have bills that top out at $300 I think my bills were a definite improvement.
4. GASOLINE
   • I am seriously considering purchasing a smaller vehicle.  yes that would be doubling what I have now, but I am still on the Del Sol kick I was on last year.  I think I can get a decent car for around 5 or 6 Grand.  And It should be a small enough payment that would more than make up by cutting my fuel consumption in half.  I know that it would be doubling my car maintenance costs, but by how much?  I'm thinking that a tank of gas (20 gallons) in the Jeep would now last 2 to 3 weeks and the little car would only be filled once a week (10 Gallons).  And the insurance wouldn't be that bad.  So it's a thought.  I just need to find $5000.
     
5. A new Job
   • I need to find a job that
     • something I like
     • Something I can excel at
     • That has less of a commute
     • and a little more money.
   • I don't think I'm asking for that much here.  I just think I'm a little more focused on what I want.  I know I may not get everything I want.  But it never hurts to ask.
6. Medical costs
   • I am trying to be healtier.  Ok at lest I'm trying to be less accident prone.  I am still trying to put together the gym downstairs in the house with the hope of burning off some of the poundage I have put on over the years.  As I said earlier... And as you know a fat dog is an unhealthy dog.  I hope to cut some of my health costs by getting healthier.  I spent quite a bit of money last year and this year in hospital costs.  roughly $4000 out of my own pocket.  Not enough to claim though.  I don't want to go through that again so being healthy is important in more than just the physical way, financially it's just as important.
7. Food
   • I don't eat out much for lunch at work anymore.  I take my lunch with me nearly everyday.  I don't go out to dinner much either.  Not nearly as much as I used to.  I cook at home quite a bit.  Flat-iron steak at $4.99 a pound beats the $6.99 a pound NY Strip steaks I was eating.  And just as good too.  I cook in big batches and freeze extras for later.  I don't buy coffee at Inman Perk every morning anymore either.  I make it at home for a fraction of the cost (thanks Rose).  Eating out has become a special occasion for me (like it was when we were kids) instead of an everyday occurance.  I use coupons, buy in bulk, buy store brands a lot of the times and Shop at Kroger to get my .10 cents a gallon off gas.  I'm gonna buy groceries anyway I might as well get the most I can get.  Now if I could just buy less. 
   • I have been trying to put meal plans together to address the problem of food spoilage.  I figured out last summer that I was buying a lot of things out of habit and they would spoil before I used them.  Once I recognized this behaviour I nipped that in the bud.  Now I'm just trying to buy what I need for the week and buy accordingly.  I'm making it work about 80% of the time.  Because I have such a small window of opportunity to eat dinner, I sometimes fall back to the cheese sandwich meal plan... Quick, Easy and portable.  When I do this it throws a wrench into the meals that were planned out.  But I haven't had to throw much out because of that.  So I guess the plans are working.

I know that is a lot to digest in a blog entry, but this is one of the many things I'm working on.  A lot of the cuts above were made and I am starting to benefit from them.  Also curbing my urge to buy buy buy has helped as well.  I am trying to put a safety net back in place.  I haven't had one for a couple of years.  It was depleted by a major mis-calculation on my part.  Now I plan to get it into place and then start paying off some debt.  Credit Cards are the root of all evil you know.