Expenses I’ve Reduced or Gotten Rid of in the last 2 years

Schwans Food – In our area we have what is called Schwans Food Delivery service. It’s actually rather expensive food delivery of specialty foods. They’d come about every 2 weeks, and we’d spend about $40 each time, for a total of $80/month on only a few packages. I decided to give this up and just stick to regular groceries only, and haven’t missed it since. In total, I spent over $3,000 in my lifetime as a Schwans Customer. Savings: $960/year.

Phone – In June of 2008 I got rid of our phone service with Verizon and switched to Comcast’s VoIP service. When I was with Verizon, our bill was like $60-$80/month. Comcast charged $33/month. Savings: over $400/year..

I’m still considering getting rid of the land line entirely, but dad wants to keep it, so we still have it for now.

Car Insurance Premium – I used to pay my car insurance premium monthly at about $120/month give or take. Eventually I decided I would start saving up a little at a time in my savings account until I had 6 months worth saved up so I could start paying 6 months at a time and get a discount. I was able to complete that in August 2008, so now I only put $96/month away. Savings: $300/year.

Holidays – I did a couple things to make the holidays easier on my wallet. For one I don’t buy wrapping paper anymore, but instead use either plain gray paper that comes in packages I might receive, or newspaper. I’ve even used paper grocery bags or excess fabric I’ve had laying around the house in the past. But in addition to these, I’ve started a Christmas fund, which has been a lifesaver since I started it in 2006. Each month I’ll sock away enough money each pay period to equal the amount of money I want to save for that holiday. In 2006 I put away $25/paycheck, or $50/month away and had $600 to spend come Christmas. In 2007 I increased my payments to $40/paycheck, which will equal $960 towards the end of 2009. I wasn’t able to save up as much in 2008 due to the housing situation, but I kept the $40/paycheck anyway.

Now I don’t have to fret about holiday money anymore. One thing to keep in mind that I forgot initially was to calculate christmas dinner costs as well as decoration (tree) costs in my total as well, so I made sure they were covered.

Banking – I used to get overdraft fees, just like everyone else. Not anymore due to keeping track of my transactions very closely, but I used to get them. Eventually I switched to an ING account, which gives you an automatic credit line on your account to prevent any Overdraft Fees at all. Instead they charge you a small interest on the money they lend you. Generally if I’ve gone over, I’d have like $.13 cents interest owed to ING, but then I’d earn a couple bucks back in interest for my balance. So the savings for this are amazing.

I can’t really put a number on it, but lets say the average person makes an overdraft charge of $35 on their account, 6 months out of the year, that’s $210 savings.

My father would benefit greatly from this, but switching to an online bank would be very inconvenient for him and I don’t -think- there are any brick and mortar banks that offer this. I know some offer an overdraft protection account if you have a savings, because they pull the money directly from your savings to cover it. However those transactions cost $10 a piece, so while cheaper, they still add up.

Postage – I don’t do much letter writing, except to an old friend of mine in prison. Everything else is usually bills. Since ING sends my checks out to me for free, I don’t have to pay for postage or envelops, they take care of it all. I can’t recollect the savings here either because dad is usually the one that goes out to buy stamps, but I imagine it’s fairly significant 😀

Food – In 2007, I worked our grocery budget so that my father and I only had to spend $200/month on groceries for the two of us. Sometimes we go over a little bit, but in general we stick to $100 every two weeks. I don’t know what we used to spend before that, but I’m fairly certain in was possibly 50% more. I suspect when our garden comes in this summer, the grocery bill may go down even more. I will have to keep track just to see the difference. And that’s the thing, keeping track of your finances really lets you know what the difference is, that’s why it’s so important.

In addition to this, I stopped eating out as much if at all. In fact, my co-workers can vouch that I don’t hardly ever go to lunch with any of them, so they stopped inviting me 😀 I always pack a lunch because it’s easy to get into the habit of spending $10/day or $50/week or $200/month on eating out. Usually what I do is cook a big meal on Sunday evening and then put it into ziploc bags or containers in the freezer. The night before I need it, I take out a bag and put it in the fridge to start thawing out, and then bring it with me to work the next day. Crock-pots are also wonderful for this because I can cook while I’m at work and come home and my lunch is all ready for me. Talk about cheap eats and time savers.

Clutter – This isn’t an expense I’ve gotten rid of in the traditional sense, but clutter is still an expense non-the-less. All of the unused items you keep around your home are all money that’s just wasting away. It’s just sitting there collecting dust, not being useful, not even really being appreciated. I went through all of my old jewelry, belongings, etc., and though I still have much to sell, I’ve been selling off this “extra money” that’s been laying around the house. I’ve sold shoes, I’ve sold frontline for pets I don’t have anymore, I’ve sold old VHS tapes, I’ve even sold two trucks that were broken down and not doing me a lick of good. That money can then go back into my life, my bills, or any debt to raise my quality of life, rather than dragging me down with cluttered energy. You just feel better when you have more space.

The same goes for loose change. I collected over $175 in loose change around our house last year, and gave it to my father as a gift.

Haircare – I used to spend between $90 and $120 on dying my hair every 3 months when I was blonde. In August 2005 I decided to stop and let my hair grow out to its natural color, which apparently is a dark dark brown, near black. This would save my wallet as well as stop putting chemicals on my head where my BRAIN is. As far as my natural color, I loved the color, but I also wanted some highlights as well as hide any of my…..(obviously) premature grays. So I started using henna as a natural, completely safe, and actually good for your hair, hair-dye. This costs me about $35 every 3 -5 months. Savings: around $300/year

Automotive – Not only did I buy used when I bought my mustang, but I do most of the maintenance myself. It doesn’t take a mechanic to change the oil, check the fluids, rotate tires, change air filters or any of that other junk. I would have saved even more money if I had bought in cash, but I’m saving that experiment for next time. Now I priced brand new mustangs upwards of $29k. I paid $14k for my mustang, with the original warranty still left. Savings: Not counting the interest, this is a savings over $15,000.

Credit Cards – I hardly ever use my credit card, if I don’t have the money then I don’t want to buy it. But I keep them around to help build up my credit. When I initially got them, I had and 18.15% interest rate, and a 28.8% interest rate on my two cards. I called both up and immediately got the 18.15% reduced to 14.5%, and the 28.8% reduced to 16.9%. Just by calling up and asking that they reduce my percentage rates. I will probably do this again later this year when things calm down in the credit world.