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Save money with one simple principle

Saving

7/2/2009

The cold-turkey approach to saving money rarely results in success.   Say you're like my husband who has a penchant for biscuits smothered in sausage gravy, and after reviewing your budget, you realize that this biscuit affinity is costing you $20 a month or roughly 5% of your total monthly food budget.  

The cold-turkey tactic would be to stop ordering biscuits and gravy altogether, and though you may save that $20, you probably will end up feeling dissatisfied and even deprived.   Just as with diets, deprivation may work, but only in the short term; the same could be said when it comes to budgets.  A better approach to saving money is to make small, incremental lifestyle changes.

One way to do this is to consider, not how you can give things up, but how you can do more with less.  Call this the halving-principle to saving money.  In other words, saving money doesn't have to be an all or nothing prospect.  My husband, for example, can still indulge in his love of all things gravy, but choose to hit the cafeteria half as often.    To make the halving-principle more practical, insert your own scenario. 

Do you enjoy a drink after work with co-workers or friends?  Can you have one drink instead of two or go out just twice a month, rather than every week?   Can you cut your television viewing in half and use the time you save to learn or practice a new skill-which can run the gamut from sharpening your own mower blades to preparing and freezing a week's worth of meals? 

How about changing your food habits to reduce waist?  A USDA study reveals that Americans throw away approximately 14 percent of the food they purchase, which amounts to more than $600 a year in food loss.  Making menus can help to reduce this waste.  So can taking a weekly survey of food stored in your refrigerator, noting what could be frozen and what needs to be used before it spoils.  Turn past-their-prime fruits into smoothies and syrups.  Make vegetable stock or soup with those limp stalks of celery and rubbery carrots.  Roast the red pepper with the wrinkly skin.  Another practical way to save money on food is to cut your meat consumption in half and substitute dishes made with vegetables and whole grains.

Try a combination of cloth and disposable diapers for your little ones. (In my estimate, we have spent over $5,000 to date on disposable diapers for our three children.  I wonder now what we would have saved if I would have tried a dual approach to diapering.)  Follow the manufacturers' or your veterinarian's guidelines on how much food to give your pet.  Over feeding results in higher food costs and can increase your vet bills.  Cut your water consumption in half by taking shorter showers and scraping dishes instead of rinsing them.   Cut the sugar in baked goods in half or just eat dessert half as often. 

In many cases, the halving-principle is just as good for your health as it is your pocketbook.   You'll reduce waste and lower your environmental impact too--using half as much is really the ultimate in green living.  Though a simple principle, this is something that anyone can reasonably do.  

CCCS/ACCE

American Center for Credit Education—ACCE

Carey Denman

acce@acce-online.com

605-348-3104

The material in this transmission is provided for personal, non-commercial, educational, and informational purposes only. CCCS/ACCE makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this transmission and assumes no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein.  You should consult a professional where appropriate.