Part of learning to spend less money is learning about the different options available for things I want to do. So far this week I've had to buy a book for a class I'm taking and also get my dry cleaning done.
Normally I'd go to the organic dry cleaner, but until our finances turn around I'm going to use the dry clean club. Perchlorethylene isn't going to kill me in just three months of dry cleaning and I'll live with the clothes not coming back perfect.. Organic dry cleaning is $25 for five pieces. Dry clean club charges $13.50 for the same clothes. Savings: $11.50.
Instead of buying my textbook I'm borrowing it from a local college library through the interlibrary loan service at my library. I used worldcat.org to find out which library owned the book. I saved $26.50 by doing this.
Fighting my urges has been the biggest saver of cash so far. Every time I want to buy something I don't need immediately I put it into a list. It will wait until next month or it will go on my Christmas list. It looks like this idea has kept me from spending $400 so far this month! You can see all of the things I've coveted or wanted to buy here. Less than a third of those I suspect will actually get purchased. Here's to resisting impulse buys! I can do it!
I'm a third of the way through the month. I've spent ~$205 so far. In recent history I've already spent $500 by the 10th of the month. At this rate I'll have cut my expenses by $900 if I can keep it up!
Congrats! We are watching our budget right now, too. We signed up with Mint and it tracks every dollar in and every dollar out. Talk about eye opening!
ReplyDeleteMint sounds fantastic. I'd love to do it but my husband is always worried about security even though I don't feel like it's an issue. Sounds like it's working great for you though! Looking forward to hearing updates on your progress.
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