Over the past several years I have had the privilege of team teaching a couple family and business budget classes with two great instructors. Debbie Hardinger and Trudy Shurvavloff. Both are energetic and very capable petite blond ladies so we bill the class as teaching by; ”Bambi and the Village Idiot”.
As I sit and listen the the words of wisdom they impart I have heard them share a variety of great tips on how to save money and avoid some of the financial pitfalls which plague many of us. One recurring theme from the students is that they just can’t do anything to free up cash in their monthly budgets. Both ladies have their own list but I have been fascinated with the simplicity of their advice. Following is a compilation of the material they use with my own additions and editorializing. I have personally experienced the benefit of these ideas.
I write this knowing the practices will result in reduced revenue for some business people providing certain services but a bankrupt public doesn’t make a very good customer either. The responsibility is on our shoulders as entrepreneurs to navigate our way through the economic valley. Don’t whine, add value and find a way to make your product indispensable to enough who can afford it. There is no free lunch!
I will attempt to get the list complete and then come back in the future and fill in the detail.
1. Cancel your newspaper and unread magazine subscriptions. Consider weekends only if you can’t bear the thought of not reading the comics or receiving the coupons.
2. Switch all your household lights to the corkscrew floresants or better yet the new environmentally friendly LED’s. Watch for specials. You should be able to buy the corkscrews for less than 50 cents a piece.
3. Brew your own gourmet coffee and take some in a thermos rather than buying a specialty drink at the drive through.
4. Cancel your home phone.
5. Cancel your cable TV service or go to a more basic plan. I called to cancel the other day and was offered a 50% reduction for the same service. I stayed on.
6. Shop for a better cell phone plan or consider a prepaid option.
7. Take advantage of the budget menus at the fast food places and skip the soda. They will give you a class of ice water at no charge. It’s the same stuff we pay $1.49 for in the bottle.
8. Eat out of your freezer and cuboards for a month. We found great meat and seafood and, no kidding, 12 bottles of salad dressing unopened.
9. Make a list and stick to it when shopping the club warehouses. Buy your meat and basic veggies here. I will share a great story Debbie tells about a couple she followed through Costco later.
10. Take a lunch to work.
11. Buy generic.
12. Do the scheduled maintenance on your car rather than waiting until some thing breaks. The AAA estimates you will save $8 in repairs for every $1 you spend on maintenance. ( you knew thew car guy would sneak this one in)
13. Turn your thermostat down and block off unused rooms. Used the new energy efficient ceramic heaters if you spend most of your time in a single room.
14. Wash your own car.
15. Use on-line bill pay service from your bank.
16. Buy gourmet groceries for a nice dinner at home and make it an event instead of going out for special occasions. Include a cheap bouquet of flowers. The flowers and left overs are great the next day and the savings are in the range of 50%.
17. Find somebody nearby to ride share or take the bus.
18. Shop your personal insurance for home and auto every 3-4 years.
19. Use Internet travel sites for air, hotel and car rentals.
20. Buy a simple high quality multi- exercise machine and use it at home as well as walking to shop or work when you can rather than joining a fitness club. Hint: But the exercise gear at a garage sale and save 50-90%.
