As I promised, here is another installment of the Tough Times series. I know the subtitle of this one is pretty obvious, but I wanted to encourage you to do just that - watch your spending.
- Keep track of every penny. From a 15 cent pack of gum to the largest purchases. Do this for at least a month so you'll know where your money is going.
- Use online banking and download to your computer daily. That way you don't miss any checks written or debit card purchases. Overdraft fees are just wasteful spending.
- Pay your bills on time. Late fees add up over a year's time and it's money you can use other places.
- Shop sales and clearances instead of full price. Don't stock up on things like toilet paper. Instead, use that money to stock up on things like canned goods that are on sale. Toilet paper is always there, and it's cheap already.
- Use coupons whenever it's an item you already use. If you don't use canned mushrooms, all the savings in the world won't make them a bargain.
- Use less gasoline by making fewer trips. Choose a day and time when traffic is light, run all your errands at once, then go home.
- Pay bills online. This saves mileage on your vehicle, late fees, and gasoline.
- Shop online. If you can get free shipping, then why should you use your time and gas to go pick things up? This is especially true now that it's the shopping season for Christmas. Many online places offer incentives for using their e-stores.
- Cook at home. I don't mean prepackaged or convenience foods. I mean real foods. It actually is cheaper to cook from scratch than to purchase ready-to-eat meals. If time is an issue, then double batch so you'll have another meal you can put in the freezer for another day.
- Keep a casual inventory of what's on hand. This reduces your feeling that you have to pick up 10 cans of vegetables if you know that you already have 10 cans in the pantry. This doesn't have to be a highly detailed inventory -- just something that lets you know if you're running low on a staple item.
- Keep a basic shopping list. You don't have to use much imagination to do this. Keep it in your purse or wallet and include things like coffee, tea, flour, sugar, milk, bread, etc. The things you get on just about every grocery shopping trip. Look at the supermarket ads to see if you need to restock something that's on sale. (You'll know because of your inventory.)
