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Eight and a Half Effective but Somewhat Less than Practical Ways to Save Money
Saving money is obviously a key component to any successful personal finance plan. You simply must avoid wasteful spending (or some of it at least) if you want to be able to spend less money than you earn. Well, I’ve been brainstorming…and I’ve come up with some methods to save a lot of money. Have a look…
- Live in your office – Why bother with expensive housing that is a distance from your workplace? If you do that, then you just have to drive to and from your office each day (or whenever you choose to go to work). Instead, just live in your office…you can cut down on housing and transportation expenses and love the environment at the same time – A win-win-win!! (well, I guess it is a lose for the cleaning person who has to step over your sleeping body while cleaning the office). Note – this works best if you don’t have a family and are in grad school. And it works really well if you actually have an office.
- Build a big shed, then sell your house – Our house has a generously sized shed out back. I’m sure I could live in it if I put in some electricity and maybe some running water. If you do this, make sure you build the shed close enough to your house so you can continue to get wifi from your (old) house. If living in a shed and selling your house sounds sounds too drastic, then try just renting your house out.
- Optimize your bathing schedule – Bathing is expensive and probably bad for the environment as well. You waste a bunch of water and loads of soap and shampoo and conditioner rinse down the drain each day. Instead of that tired and outdated routine, start off each day with a quick dip in the local pool. Your wallet and the environment will thank you (Note, it is unlikely that your office mates will thank you)
- Only drive downhill – It seems like your car has to work much harder when driving uphill. So, be smart about your route and only drive downhill. This will reduce the wear and tear on your car while saving you lots of money and reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil (and think of all the interesting places you’ll see that you haven’t explored before!).
- Institute no-heat Wednesdays or no A/C Mondays – Pick the day of the week you hate the most (it’s already the worst day, so it can’t get much worse) and turn off your heat or A/C all day long. Sure, you might get a little toasty or chilly, but think of the cost savings! Doing this each week will add up to big savings while simultaneously strengthening your self-discipline. As an added bonus, you just might find yourself spending more time with friends on these days (at their house, of course)
- No Electricity Tuesdays – While you’re at it, why not go all the way and shut off all your electricity wasters for the day. Turn them all off and reap some serious cost savings. When it gets dark at night, just go to bed. (You might want to try a battery powered alarm clock on these days)
- Cheap entertainment: Eavesdropping on the neighbors – Why bother with expensive movies or cable TV, just walk around (very closely to) your neighbors’ houses and peek in a few windows. I can almost guarantee you that this will be more entertaining that watching narcissistic overpaid actors pretend that they’re real people. (Note-check local laws before actually doing this)
- Walk everywhere – You’ll be doing this once you get to the lowest point in your city anyway, since you’re only driving downhill now, so why not just skip straight to it. Walking is great exercise and though it may take you a long time to get anywhere, think of how great you body will be feeling (except for the extreme ankle and knee pain)! And since you’re living in your office anyway, if you’ve chosen your job wisely you’ll already be at work and in close proximity of all your necessities like restaurants and a local pool!
Well, there you have it. Some ways you can save a lot of money! Implement some or all of these and you’ll be increasing that gap between your income and expenses by leaps and bounds (until they lock you away and you lose your job…but hey, look at that – that’s another way to get free housing!!)
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One of my favorite ways to save on clothing expenses is to collect my belly button lint, spin yarn out of it, and knit it into a nice sweater.
It also makes a great gift!
Shan from The Apostle of the Turtle’s latest blog post…Haunted by Ghosts of Credit Cards Past
@Shan – Thanks for sharing…that is a great idea. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to knit. If you ever decide to sell your sweaters, though, definitely let me know so I can sign up for your affiliate program!