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Are you like so many others who are overextended financially? Are you barely making ends meet? Or maybe just looking for ways to save more money and trim your personal expenses?
Well just in my day-to-day interactions with various friends and co-workers recently, I immediately discovered 3 ways these people were ‘hemorrhaging’ money. Of course, for me, the solution to saving this money instead of losing it was very simple. The challenge, I think, comes from people actually realizing where they are losing their money and then changing their habits that have been ingrained in their social behavior.
Save Money, Change Coffee Habits
First of all, I saw that a large percentage of them would come into work carrying a cup of coffee that they stopped and purchased at a local coffee shop on their way to work. “Do they own a travel mug?”, I would ask myself. Yes, I too, could’ve been part of the Monday thru Friday, ‘skinny, double shot, no whip, mocha with extra caramel latte’ crowd, but I couldn’t rationalize spending that kind of money in my mind. What’s a few bucks a day for my morning java you might say?
Well, guess what… It’s not a few bucks a day! A few bucks will buy you a nice travel mug which will last you a very long time. Make extra coffee at home and fill your travel mug for pennies before you leave the house. When you consider that the average hyped up cup of coffee, or whatever it is you buy at the posh coffee houses, will run you at least $ 2.00 a cup.
This will save you at least $10 a week, $40 per month and $480 per year. If there are two people in your household getting a coffee every morning, you guessed it, your savings will jump while saving nearly $1,000 per year! $1,000 a year saved by changing your coffee habit! And realistically, in our area, the people I see probably spend more than $2 a day.
Save Money, Change Lunch Habits
The second hemorrhage I noticed was the large percentage of people that do not pack their own lunch and bring it to work. Many will take their lunch break at a restaurant or sandwich shop, or buy take-out food and eat it at their desk.
All right, let’s run the numbers on this. I think it’s fair to say an average workday lunch would run you anywhere from $7 to $12 per day. Let’s take the middle ground and use $9. Yup, if you brown bagged it even just twice a week, you will save money amounting to $18 per week, $72 per month and $864 per year. Pretty amazing when you think about it in those terms.
What if you brown bagged it every day? That’s a savings of $45 per week, $180 per month and $2160 per year. True, it does cost to brown bag your lunch, but in comparison, that cost in drastically reduced.
Packing your own lunch is not only a smart choice but usually a healthier choice! I don’t have time to pack a lunch you might say. I rarely had time to pack one in the morning myself. But I always found 5 minutes the evening before to pack one. Many times simply putting leftovers from dinner into a small container was all it took.
Save Money, Change Restaurant Habits
The last hemorrhage that astonished me was the number of times people either eat out at a restaurant for dinner or stopped on their way home to pick up ‘take-out’ for dinner. Now, believe me, I understand as much as anyone, the pressures and time constraints that working parents are under these days. Between your work day and your commute you could have easily put in a 10 hour day, or more.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with eating out once in a while, if you are willing to afford it. I’m addressing the ‘chronic’ offenders who eat out or pick up dinner at least once or twice a week (or more).
Who wants to go home and cook, right? We all should! And for several reasons. The first reason is obviously the monetary savings. The money you save will range, depending on your existing habits, but could easily amount to hundreds of dollars per month, for most people. Reduce or eliminate stopping at a fast food restaurant for say $20 (depending on your family size, of course) or dining out for say $50 or more.
Exhausted from a long day, why not make dinner a family endeavor. Your homemade dinners can be healthier as well as a means for bringing the ever dispersing family together. Get your spouse and children involved. Use this time to also discuss your individual days and how they went. Better yet, designate the dinner prep time, dinner time and dinner clean up time as a “No electronics time zone”. Off limits are the iPods, iPhones, Blackberries (‘crack’berries as I like to call them), game consoles, computers, and TV’s.
Bring back the days of talking, sharing, and spending a little time together as a family, even if it is for only an hour in the evening. This is one of the foundations of the family, communication, a traditional value we are sorely lacking these days. And the meals do not have to be extravagant. They can be quick and still be tasty and healthy!
Summary
These three simple steps have the potential to save you thousands of dollars (or whatever your currency) each year! We are all habitual people. We do things by habit. By simply examining our habits with an open mind, will often reveal alternatives, many of them less expensive.
If you enjoyed this, or topics of preparedness, geophysical – current events – risks, consider our survival blog RSS feed, new posts by E-mail, or bookmark us at Modern Survival Blog
Modern Survival Blog related posts
Analyze Your Budget
Posted on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 01:10:52 +0000 at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ModernSurvivalBlog/~3/JXqsmnkLu9Q/
Comments: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/recession-proof-household/3-simple-ways-to-save-more-money/#comments
Are you like so many others who are overextended financially? Are you barely making ends meet? Or maybe just looking for ways to save more money and trim your personal expenses?
Well just in my day-to-day interactions with various friends and co-workers recently, I immediately discovered 3 ways these people were ‘hemorrhaging’ money. Of course, for me, the solution to saving this money instead of losing it was very simple. The challenge, I think, comes from people actually realizing where they are losing their money and then changing their habits that have been ingrained in their social behavior.
Save Money, Change Coffee Habits
First of all, I saw that a large percentage of them would come into work carrying a cup of coffee that they stopped and purchased at a local coffee shop on their way to work. “Do they own a travel mug?”, I would ask myself. Yes, I too, could’ve been part of the Monday thru Friday, ‘skinny, double shot, no whip, mocha with extra caramel latte’ crowd, but I couldn’t rationalize spending that kind of money in my mind. What’s a few bucks a day for my morning java you might say?
Well, guess what… It’s not a few bucks a day! A few bucks will buy you a nice travel mug which will last you a very long time. Make extra coffee at home and fill your travel mug for pennies before you leave the house. When you consider that the average hyped up cup of coffee, or whatever it is you buy at the posh coffee houses, will run you at least $ 2.00 a cup.
This will save you at least $10 a week, $40 per month and $480 per year. If there are two people in your household getting a coffee every morning, you guessed it, your savings will jump while saving nearly $1,000 per year! $1,000 a year saved by changing your coffee habit! And realistically, in our area, the people I see probably spend more than $2 a day.
Save Money, Change Lunch Habits
The second hemorrhage I noticed was the large percentage of people that do not pack their own lunch and bring it to work. Many will take their lunch break at a restaurant or sandwich shop, or buy take-out food and eat it at their desk.
All right, let’s run the numbers on this. I think it’s fair to say an average workday lunch would run you anywhere from $7 to $12 per day. Let’s take the middle ground and use $9. Yup, if you brown bagged it even just twice a week, you will save money amounting to $18 per week, $72 per month and $864 per year. Pretty amazing when you think about it in those terms.
What if you brown bagged it every day? That’s a savings of $45 per week, $180 per month and $2160 per year. True, it does cost to brown bag your lunch, but in comparison, that cost in drastically reduced.
Packing your own lunch is not only a smart choice but usually a healthier choice! I don’t have time to pack a lunch you might say. I rarely had time to pack one in the morning myself. But I always found 5 minutes the evening before to pack one. Many times simply putting leftovers from dinner into a small container was all it took.
Save Money, Change Restaurant Habits
The last hemorrhage that astonished me was the number of times people either eat out at a restaurant for dinner or stopped on their way home to pick up ‘take-out’ for dinner. Now, believe me, I understand as much as anyone, the pressures and time constraints that working parents are under these days. Between your work day and your commute you could have easily put in a 10 hour day, or more.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with eating out once in a while, if you are willing to afford it. I’m addressing the ‘chronic’ offenders who eat out or pick up dinner at least once or twice a week (or more).
Who wants to go home and cook, right? We all should! And for several reasons. The first reason is obviously the monetary savings. The money you save will range, depending on your existing habits, but could easily amount to hundreds of dollars per month, for most people. Reduce or eliminate stopping at a fast food restaurant for say $20 (depending on your family size, of course) or dining out for say $50 or more.
Exhausted from a long day, why not make dinner a family endeavor. Your homemade dinners can be healthier as well as a means for bringing the ever dispersing family together. Get your spouse and children involved. Use this time to also discuss your individual days and how they went. Better yet, designate the dinner prep time, dinner time and dinner clean up time as a “No electronics time zone”. Off limits are the iPods, iPhones, Blackberries (‘crack’berries as I like to call them), game consoles, computers, and TV’s.
Bring back the days of talking, sharing, and spending a little time together as a family, even if it is for only an hour in the evening. This is one of the foundations of the family, communication, a traditional value we are sorely lacking these days. And the meals do not have to be extravagant. They can be quick and still be tasty and healthy!
Summary
These three simple steps have the potential to save you thousands of dollars (or whatever your currency) each year! We are all habitual people. We do things by habit. By simply examining our habits with an open mind, will often reveal alternatives, many of them less expensive.
If you enjoyed this, or topics of preparedness, geophysical – current events – risks, consider our survival blog RSS feed, new posts by E-mail, or bookmark us at Modern Survival Blog
Modern Survival Blog related posts
Analyze Your Budget
Posted on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 01:10:52 +0000 at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ModernSurvivalBlog/~3/JXqsmnkLu9Q/
Comments: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/recession-proof-household/3-simple-ways-to-save-more-money/#comments