When you're looking at spending and budget issues, annualize everything. For instance, are you spending $10 a day on lunch? If you bring something from home, it will cost perhaps $3. That $7 a day that you save is $35 a week, over $1500 a year.
It's a lot easier to get motivated to make small spending changes when you see the annual cost.
Don't even let me get started on the annual cost of smoking!
By Louise, the Frugal Yankee
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I agree!! When I look at any small fee (i.e. Caller I.D., Cable TV, sodas from the machine at work) I calculate how much it will cost me per year, then the cost doesn't look so small. If, by looking at the item on a grander scale, I feel it's worth the cost then I appreciate it a lot more. Try it, it works!
If you smoke or drink soda none of the above tips make any sense. If you are going to be frugal start with the cigarettes and soda first. That's big money saved and your health too.
You are both right. When people here in Salem OR are now willing to spend 49.99 for a carton of cigarettes, they spend almost .25 per smoke. No one would pay that for gum, nickle candy, per minute cell talk time, etc. But, while my mother didn't have to pay that much, she still paid the ultimate price for her habit. I figured it out for her one day, that during her life time, she could have paid for a home, three cars, or a college education for me. I have inlaws that now spent 100.00 a month on cigarettes alone, or 1200.00 a year to damage their health and the health of their kids.
But I digress.
Being frugal all my life, I am the one who brought a lunch to work, perhaps splurging a bit on a soda from the machine. That was back when you could still get them for .50 and I could afford 120.00 a year. That's right, 10.00 a month. Once I realized I could buy them by the case in a discount store, then bring them to work with me, that brought the cost of each soda down considerably. I then spent only .18 per can, and had a better variety.
Another cool way to save money is to figure out how long you will have to work for that new pair of shoes...1 hour, 3 hours, a whole day? That one is what used to get me when I was tending bar. I will have to put up with 8 hours of second hand smoke, drunks, fights, and all that bar tending entails for that? Suddenly, it didn't seem so appealing.
This has helped me. I hope it helps you.
Cable is one this I won't do without and I'd rather watch CNN, MSNBC, etc on the TV. I can't see watching TV on a computer screen. I cut in other ways in order to pay for this luxury.
Spending without thinking is like not being conscious of what we put in our mouth. Then the pounds come on and we wonder what happend. The same with spending so easy just to buy something every day without thinking about the cost long term. I am guilty of this. Thank you for the reminder
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