Tuesday Tip | Pay attention to what you do every day, week, or month.
It is true that occasional big financial decisions (house buying, car buying, private jet buying) are massively important when it comes to your financial situation.
But most of us grasp the gravity of these decisions.
I mean, you wouldn't buy a private jet and not consider the ramifications of the decision.
(At least, I hope not!)
But there are plenty of daily, weekly, and monthly expenses that we tend not to take very seriously, even though they can add up to pretty significant amounts.
My friend Gwen recently calculated how much money she's saving by biking to work and bringing her own food and drinks, and it added up to over $500 a month.
Few of us would take on a $500/month expense without considering it, but people pay for the metro/subway and buy food and drinks at work all the time without giving it a lot of thought.
So.
What are you paying for every day? every week? every month?
Calculate how much those things are costing you on a yearly basis, and you just might find yourself inspired to do some budget trimming!
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P.S. I know I say this frequently, but if you are looking to trim your cell phone bill, you really should check out Ting Wireless.
Click "Rates" on their site, and you can quickly calculate how much your bill would be with Ting. Plus, you get $50 off when you open an account through any link on my blog.
Good morning, Kristen! I am such a huge fan of Ting! Our monthly Sprint bill had been around $150 for so long and switching to Ting was the best decision. The coverage and service is excellent. We used our same phones and the porting process was smooth. We have four lines and last month our bill was $77 total. The previous 3 months before that it was even lower! Wow! Thanks for the recommendation!
I'm so glad Ting has been great for you guys too! We currently have four lines on our plan too.
Love this! It's so easy to dismiss the small costs because it's ONLY $2, $5, etc.
I have a tea or coffee out once a week for some alone time (alone time at home with 4 other people running around isn't really alone). I feel kinda silly buying $2 or more for tea that I already have at home. I'm hoping the warmer weather will be nice enough soon for me to spend my time outdoors with a tea in my to-go mug rather than a coffee shop.
It seems insignificant, but like you said, it adds up!
For our family, cutting out the little costs gives us the freedom for me to stay home with our kids.
Kristyna, I have done something similar for years. My favorite coffee/bagel shop has $1 lattes on Tuesdays (add $1 extra with a syrup flavor--but it's the largest size they have!). I believe in overall frugality, but I also believe that it's ok to give yourself a regular treat to look forward to. Don't feel guilty about doing what you need to do to recharge!
Kristen, another way I have thought about this .... if you can cut $20 a week in expenses, you will be $1000 richer in a year. For some reason, that thought process has been very motivating for me to look at cutting those little expenses.
I agree, I suppose tea doesn't feel enough like a treat since it's what I have at home all the time. The treat is being alone.
You could look at it as paying $2 to have time alone every week. With many of these costs, it's not that a single habit is going to trip you up, is that the combination of all of them might do so.
Maybe you could take your tea in your to-go mug somewhere with a similar atmosphere that allows drinks? I'm wondering if libraries allow covered drinks. I have no idea; what places do allow outside beverages?
Seconding the library option. Libraries seem to all have different policies but most now allow covered drinks.
Thanks for the suggestion! I would love to go to the library, but I live in a smaller city and on a Sunday after 5pm, not much is open.
I did switch to Ting! It didn't end up saving me a lot in comparison to the pay-per-minute Walmart prepaid phone thing I had for only emergency use (the one my dad calls the cartel phone, because I guess it's what people who don't want to be tracked use?), but then, those didn't work where we moved to. So Ting was the best option here.
Trips to the Goodwill always add up for me. I am an avid Goodwill fan and love the thrill of the treasure hunt...but I always find something to buy. Those $15 purchases do add up.
I agree! I am having to limit my goodwill trips. Even though something might “ only” cost $5....it still cost $5 and that adds up quickly. Need vs want; it’s my go-to question.
There is so little that I spend money on unnecessarily (if I'm spending money, it's on things we absolutely need, and I tend toward the bare minimum there as well). I tend to massively overthink things and look at the big picture first, and so that 50-some cents I spend on a bottle of flavored water at Aldi on grocery day becomes in my mind $24+ on flavored water throughout the year immediately, and I start thinking, do I really need that? So I don't buy it every week simply because of that, just once in a while. My husband, though, is master of the "*scoff* It's three dollars, it's not a big deal!" But when you buy four or five things that are three dollars, and you do it every weekend, that does add up. And what can you say without sounding judgmental?
Ooh, it's the One Coin Loophole. Here's a super short podcast, 4:27, that is on point.
https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast-episode/little-happier-carries-shoe-collection
Mine is the grand plan problem. I have an idea for a craft project or a garden improvement or whatever, all totally legit, but after the stuff to accomplish it is purchased, it just sits. Now, I still have grand plans, but I have (mostly) learned to discern which ones are even remotely possible and at what threshold I should invest in materials.
Great post! Some thoughts I have about it:
- Today I had limited time to run through Aldi - and gosh darn it if that didn't save me money! I didn't have time to wander up and down all the fun aisles, so I just bought everything on the list and that was it. No impulse purchases, just the things that prior Me (who wrote the menu and the list) knew we needed.
- We are a one-car family (which caused the above limited time run through Aldi), and sometimes that gets annoying . But we've done the math several times, and it's worth the occasional inconvenience (and Uber ride) to not have to own a second car.
Yeah, if you can make it with fewer cars, that's definitely worth paying for an Uber ride every now and again!
As Karen states I have many projects that need to be finished or started. I have struggled when I was married. My ex and I were not on the same page. Now I am trying to save. I am spending less and starting tomorrow I am paying myself first.
For me, the odd clothing splurge, not packing lunch, and not planning my friend dates well add up. I save about $10-12 every time I bring lunch to my work or volunteering. I’m imposing a clothes-buying ban this coming month to force me to save money and take a look at the emotions driving the shopping, because I don’t need more clothes. And I can always host dinner at my place or request to limit the number of times my friends and I eat out per month.