I admit I need more experience counting pennies which is why my bank account reflects the sorry state of my current finances.
I am like many of my female counter parts who find it difficult to say no to a good sale or a good hair salon or a good, ah you get the picture.
As long as I paid my bills on time and had credit to spare on my cards I thought I am doing just dandy.
But all it took was one financial set back and I find I am not doing as well as I had thought.
So it seems I have to put myself on a budget and cut out all of the frills and thrills that are unnecessary in my life.
I went through my receipts and realized how often I ate out per week; maybe not at the fanciest places but more than my current budget allowed.
So my number one Budget Makeover was to limit myself to eat out once a week on the weekend. That includes breakfast at the fast food joints and my daily Starbucks fix.
I reacquainted myself with the deli counter and salad aisle at my local grocery store. I purchased some of those new plastic food organizers where you can keep your salad dressing in a smaller container as well as the one where you can keep a sandwich and a side dish like potato or pasta salad.
I took inventory of my refrigerator and pantry. Anything I had too long was tossed. Chips and less than healthy snacks went to the church for their needy parishioners.
The first couple of weeks were tough but when I saw how little I ran to the ATM I thought this just might work.
Then I went to my closet. I could not believe how many items still had their original tags on them and had never been worn. So I first tried to return them with out a receipt. When I ran into problems like severe discounts because they no longer carried the item or the item had been discounted to a price just above a giveaway, I decided EBAY and CRAIGSLIST might be my answer.
So I looked into selling several items I put together such as jeans, a top and an accessory. Much to my surprise the clothes sold for my asking price and in some cases above what I thought I would get for them.
I liked the idea of auctions and direct sales and became quite good at it although I will admit my background was in advertising so I put those skills to use.
It’s not so difficult to rearrange your priorities when it comes to finances once you set up a schedule and stick to it. And the benefits far outweigh the effort it takes to make the changes.
In a nutshell I cut out the expensive coffees and made my own brew with my favorite caramel flavoring. I made a habit of eating breakfast at home and took my coffee for the drive if I was meeting a client or potential client in the morning hours.
I brown bagged lunch and learned to love a bottle of water rather than an expensive juice or sugary soda.
Another trick I found out that was a great time and money saver was preparing dinners for the week on a Sunday. Sundays are generally a low key day for me. I catch up on laundry, reading, my bills etc. So I thought why don’t I get over myself and start clipping coupons again from the Sunday papers.
Will the food taste any different if I bought it for a few dollars less by using coupons? I don’t think so. And generally the stores double coupons for an even bigger savings?
Great websites such www.CoolSavings.com, www.coupons.com, www.freecoupons.com are fantastic sites for saving on your grocery bills. And if you are a club person there are sites where you can join a club and swap coupons with other members.
So I shopped for my groceries and found substantial savings by using coupons and buying the sale items.
And I cleaned out my closet and either donated slightly used items or sold new and used clothes and accessories on EBAY and CRAIGSLIST.
With gas prices the way they are I cut out the extra driving to the stores at night since I wasn’t buying for the most part and limited by shopping to the weekends unless there was an emergency. I redefined what my idea of a shopping emergency was as well. An emergency is not defined as the last day of Estee Lauder’s free gift with any purchase.
I find organizing and putting myself on a budget doesn’t have to impact my life in a negative way. With the money I have saved I decided to open an online savings account with a larger percentage rate.
That is definitely a win-win situation.
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