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Saturday, June 9, 2012

What one thing could you do to save $50, $500, $5000 a year?

I've been thinking about the range of choices for saving money that most of us had.  It dawned on me recently that I had some unused CFL bulbs in a drawer since I could only find them in a 4 pack when I needed to replace one.  Two were just sitting there so I found two lamps that are on a lot and installed them.  Small change (literally and figuratively) but I had already bought them so why not although it will only save a few dollars a year although more environmentally sound. That got me thinking about more small money saving changes and I admit I haven't come up with any yet other than being more conscious of our energy and water use.

I did waste spend some time browsing the internet for ideas and reading about people's no-spend years or months (really only buying essentials years and months but that is not as catchy is it?).  The ideas I saw listed for smaller savings were nothing new although certainly we don't do all of them.  Only buying essentials for 6 months or a year would have an impact but still not that large in our budget.  The mid range or big changes we would have to make to save significantly more money?  Sell our house and buy or rent one much less expensive.  Don't hire any help with heavy yard work.  Drop life insurance.  Stop traveling to visit family.  Never eat out.  Be a one car family.  Drop cable, internet and landline.  Make no donations.  Give no gifts. We aren't planning to take any of those steps but they are options.

I am curious though what you have done or consider doing to save $50, $500 or $5000 a year?

6 comments:

  1. When I need to save some $$ I cut back our grocery bill & try to find free entertainment instead of going to the movies, paid events, etc... This week I've cut $100 from our food budget, spending only $42.00 in hopes of putting that $100 into our mini savings!!

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    Replies
    1. Carla, That is exactly what I do. Good luck.

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  2. I have been seriously thinking of dropping my cable TV phone and internet package in favour of a cheaper option.
    We spend around $250 monthly on our existing plan..

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  3. We simply stay home for a few days. With the price of gas, it is easy to save some money. The added bonus? We don't impulse buy when we are at home.
    I also put clothes on the line in the summer. It saves us about 50- 75 dollars a month. In the winter it helps heat our house.
    I don't cut groceries . Since we don't buy processed food- cutting groceries would mean cutting health as well.

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  4. Okay, well Im assuming you are talking bout saving money over a year, not temproariy sacrifices to raise cash. My answer would be different.

    The first thing I would do is go through all my monthly bills and member ships and spend a few days on the phone. Talk to your servicer as well as competitiors and see how much you could save. The last time I called my cable provider and said I needed to cancel and find a lower option, my cable company cut my bill by twenty dollars a month. Unless you are former military and have usaa insurance, you should try getting competitive quotes and look at raising deductibles. The next thing would be to look at all the monthly non bill obligations such as memberships (do you need triple AAA if your insurance has towing, that kind of thing).

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  5. Those are good suggestions. We did try that approach with our cable provider with no success.

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