Give Me Five Monday

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Give Me Five tips and tricks to save money or cut corners to stretch your budget.

1. Buy in bulk. This works best if you have a lot of storage space and a membership at Sam's Club or Costco. Even if you don't have a huge family, buying your paper towels 36 rolls at a time is cheaper than picking them up one by one. Also, a corollary of this is don't shop at mini-marts/gas stations/convenience stores. Damn! $1.50 for a bottle of pop v. $2.75 for 6 bottles (same size) at the grocery store.



2. Eat less. Unfortunately, the healthiest foods are the most expensive a lot of the time so this doesn't always work out great, but if you eat less, you'll buy less (and vice versa). Added benefit: weight loss. ;-) [I'm talking primarily to myself here, by the way.]



3. Bank online. 42 cents to mail a bill? I think not. Plus, you can set it all up to pay automatically so you'll never miss another credit card payment. Corollary, stop using your debit card for everything! Go to the ATM on Monday, take out $100 (or whatever) and pay cash. Two things will happen: you'll be shocked at how much you fritter away on crap (see $1.50 pop above), and you'll stop buying so much impulse stuff. Also, send ecards instead of mailing cards.



4. Take your lunch to work, rather than buying it everyday. Our break room at work sucks, so I like to get out of Dodge at lunchtime...it's hard to convince myself not to just whip by McDonald's since I'm out anyway, but if I have packed a lunch it helps: I can sit in my car and (with the engine off) and listen to CDs and eat, or walk to a park.



5. Turn off the damn lights!! Unplug the chargers, computers and TVs when they aren't in use--do you know how much electricity still is used by these things when they are "off"?? It's insane, annoying, and invisible.

Several of these are things I should be doing already, some I already do do already. They are all pretty basic. The big stuff--refinancing your home for lower interest rates, killing all your credit cards, not buying $400 shoes--you're on your own there. hee