Those Dollars Can Add Up
Seniors, ten percent off. This Tuesday, save fifteen percent. Get a five dollar rebate with this coupon. Shoppers, register roulette can give you twenty percent off your bill.
Not bad. You know, that ten percent for seniors isn’t really that much when you are thinking of garbage stickers for your bags at $125 for the collection period. But it’s still money. Five bucks off a $100 product is chicken feed, but the feed is green and has pictures of dead presidents on it; grab and run.
Instead of just spending this, why not put it in a safe place marked “This Is A Safe Place” and draw from it only once or twice a year? It’s quite possible you will be surprised at how much could be in there. No cheating; let it grow and you could go to a really nice restaurant once in a while, or even something better.
Little bits of money tend to add up. I told one graduating couple that if they made “x” amount of income, to live as if they made a certain amount less. Then bank the difference. Make out your annual, monthly and weekly budget on this slightly reduced amount and you won’t get into financial trouble.
I did the shopping for a group of people, avoiding junk and choosing store brands; watching others’ baskets, I figured I was getting out of the place at about 40% cheaper than they. Even ignoring their pure junk food, I was still way ahead by choosing store brands; they are put up by the majors, anyway.
Not bad. You know, that ten percent for seniors isn’t really that much when you are thinking of garbage stickers for your bags at $125 for the collection period. But it’s still money. Five bucks off a $100 product is chicken feed, but the feed is green and has pictures of dead presidents on it; grab and run.
Instead of just spending this, why not put it in a safe place marked “This Is A Safe Place” and draw from it only once or twice a year? It’s quite possible you will be surprised at how much could be in there. No cheating; let it grow and you could go to a really nice restaurant once in a while, or even something better.
Little bits of money tend to add up. I told one graduating couple that if they made “x” amount of income, to live as if they made a certain amount less. Then bank the difference. Make out your annual, monthly and weekly budget on this slightly reduced amount and you won’t get into financial trouble.
I did the shopping for a group of people, avoiding junk and choosing store brands; watching others’ baskets, I figured I was getting out of the place at about 40% cheaper than they. Even ignoring their pure junk food, I was still way ahead by choosing store brands; they are put up by the majors, anyway.
posted by Tom Carten at 1:31 AM
1 Comments:
Frugality is looked upon by contemporary America as a fault and not a virtue. I wonder when this changed. I'm struck by a comment from a previous blog - your finding a box that contained "string too short to save." Aluminum foil was rarely thrown away in our house. My mother-in-law has a collection of "disposable" aluminum pie tins.
One of my most vivid adult memories centers around picking my son up from school one day. While we were walking to the car with a friend of my sons, I saw a quarter on the ground and picked it up. My son later told me I embarassed him. About a week later, he asked me for $2. I (smugly) gave him $1.75. When he complained about the missing quarter, I told him I had it but didn't want to embarass him twice with the same quarter.
Perhaps these difficult economic times will encourage us to return to those days where saving money was a virtue.
I still don't think I'll collect string too short to save, though.
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