Times are tough or so every newspaper, news show, nosy neighbor, etc. says. Perhaps you’ve even begun to feel the pinch every time you go food shopping or to the gas pump – and by pinch, I don’t mean one of those light playful ones given by a lover or your football coach BUT I mean one of those hard, mean ones the 6th grade bully used to inflict on you. Err, I think you know what I’m getting at… anyway, I know that I’m worried- the live-in bf and I are both freelancers and just moved into a new rental. We have a lot more space at the new place but the rent is also $450 more a month than the old apartment. It’s a good thing that my freelance work is pretty steady – I’ve worked pretty much everyday for the past 4 years – don’t let me get into the evils of the company and why they would rather keep an army load of workers on freelance- I could go on for days.
Anyway, so the bf and I have decided to be proactive and try to slash our bills and cut back like every scared American is doing right now. But we don’t want our lifestyles to change drastically. I mean we like good food and fun… and well, consumption in general. (Don’t blame me – blame the advertisers – I’m a product of my generation and a marketer’s wet dream.) Again, anyway – I guess we want to be smarter about or spending. Less wasteful.
So, how to make small changes to our spending that make snowball into big savings? We took a long hard look at what we were spending our precious dollars on and we decided to make changes to it.
Some of the easy changes I made:
1. I changed my cell phone plan – after reviewing – I wasn’t using all my minutes – so I chose the plan that was a step down in minutes. It’s been working out just fine.
2. The bf wanted to get rid of the Netflix but I convinced him that cutting down the plan to the unlimited one at a time was the better way to go. I suppose we are really overstimulated between that, our cable (which includes HBO and Showtime), our magazine subscriptions, our books and all the crap we watch online. Heh, we may still end up closing our account later BUT Netflix lives to fight another day.
3. We’ve been eating in a lot more. At the old apartment, we were surrounded by a lot of great restaurants so, running downstairs for lunch or dinner or a snack was as easy as breathing – now, it’s a little bit of a walk to a good restaurant – and that has been helpful in forcing us to cook more. I actually do like cooking – it’s finding the time for it that is a challenge. But last week, we were able to make a few good things that also became bring to work lunches. We made my grandmother’s veggie soup, short rib curry, baked chicken, and I think we even steamed a flounder at some point. Last night, we had some friends over for hot pot. (All easy recipes to follow in the next posting.) Eating in has a number of benefits – it’s cheaper than eating out. It’s a lot healthier. And, I think my cooking skills are slowly improving. It still takes me forever to chop veggies but I’m eyeing this gadget that may change all that – which a friend gave us a 20% off coupon for.
4. So, that last sentence leads me into change number 4… coupons. There are a ton of coupons out there that will help you save a lot of money. I have found coupons on food, clothing, electronics, etc. My friend gave us a ton of coupons for Bed, Bath and Beyond. Some of the coupons have expired but Bed, Bath, and Beyond still honors them. While it’s one coupon per item, the store actually lets you use as many coupons per visit as you’d like. Cutting coupons is not fun or sexy but you’ll thank yourself when you have a few more dollars in your wallet. Dollars that can be spent somewhere else!
My best friend actually is the one who got me into thinking like a smart shopper years ago. We don’t pay full price retail for any of our clothes, bags, shoes or accessories. We live in New York City and there are sample sales every other week, discounted clothing stores (hello, Century 21 and Loehmanns), and coupons for other stores. And especially right now – retailers are desperate to get shoppers attention – so, with some good googling – you can find some great details. I actually signed up for some emails from stores – yes, I know getting their emails can be annoying at times – BUT, by signing up I was able to get an email from Club Monaco saying they were discounting a lot of their inventory to 40% off which also Neiman Marcus sent a similar email. I also got coupons for Sephora, Gap&BR&OldNavy&PiperLime, Jcrew, H&M, etc. So, it actually does pay to sign up for store announcements. And through some very stylish friends, I got forwards for a plethora of sample sales that are going on. So, don’t pay full price for it!
Anyway, that’s all my ADD brain can churn out today. I’m going to go read the NY Times… ummm, also free if read online which I have been doing for years.
