Stumble It!
Jun 17 2008
Tips for Saving Money in America’s Current Economic Funk
Photo provided by nymag.com
So, the economy is in the crapper. You dread the supermarket because every time you go there, prices seem to gain another five cents. Gas prices are making you loathe your car and you’re wishing someone would invent teleportation already so you could blink your way to work. Well, because things don’t seem that they’ll be getting better anytime soon, here are are my tips on how you might save a few bucks. These are in no specific order.
Shopping: If your buying a product that has no brand value to you buy the “non-brand name” brand. Sure, if your buying wine, furniture or cars you might want the quality of the brand to shine through. But if your just buying, basic rice or oats cereal, root beer, tissues or toothbrushes, (what marketers call low involvement products) the brand really isn’t that critical to the stability of your universe. If you must buyy the name brand be aware of sale items. As my mom used to say, everything goes on sale at some point in the week, you just have to have your eyes open to catch one.
Eating: This one seems like a no-brainer, but a lot of us don’t think of it. That five dollar giant coffee times 30 days might kill your wallet in the end. Get in the habit of eating or at least preparing a little something before you leave in the morning and skip the giant delux muffin cake bagel sandwich treat. It also helps. I’ve found, to eat before you go anywhere where there is food in general. This rule applies everywhere from supermarkets and restaurants, to your local mall. We tend to eat more, buy more and consume more food when we feel like we are really, really hungry. If you eat before you go to these places, you’ll spend less money most likely and you might even keep a bit of weight off in the process.
Entertainment: The world of entertainment is a vast one. Everything from ipods to DVDs, movies, video games, books and Broadway shows are available to us at a fingers grasp. Yet, at the same time, all of these cost big bucks if your not careful! In the past few years, I’ve learned just how easy it is to have fun for less money. I’ve gotten in the habit of looking for free or cheap entertainment just so I have more cash to spend elsewhere. if I go the movies, I try to make the matinée showing for half the price of the regular ticket (and I eat before I go). Similarly, I prefer to party at home very often and thus find myself not having to pay 16 bucks for two drinks. As for TV, it might be smart to cancel your huge cable package and watch TV online. Online TV is never time dependent and always on demand and nearly always totally free! Or course, who doesn’t like a good online video site? If I want to read, I use either the library or find free e-text or audio online. There is very literally so much free entertainment online that if would take entire lifetimes to rummage through all of it! Books, movies, classic video games (even some new ones) and music are available all totally free of charge!
Carry less money to a given place: This is my most basic tip. Just carry a little more cash then you need so you don’t run short, but no more than that. Also, try hard to use credit cards only for emergency or online purchases. Your friggin’ amazing credit score will help you buy that dream house one day!
So in closing, I urge you to try this lifestyle out and make an attempt to do more with less. Hey, you might even find that you actually have money for that special vacation you’ve been wanting to take for the past two years!
