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Posted
Sep 24 2009, 05:50 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
We have little kids. Kids are messy. Our daughter spills milk or juice on almost a nightly basis. Our son, who's a bit older, doesn't make messes as often, but when he does, they tend to be even more disastrous, such as a full jar of salsa knocked off the counter and shattered all over the floor.
For years, our solution to this problem has been a big roll of paper towels. It's simply what we're familiar with and, like many simple and familiar things in life, it's almost an automatic thing to have on hand. We simply have paper towels in the kitchen.
A few weeks ago, though, after we bought another batch of them at Sam's Club, I began to really question that purchase. Sure, we have a lot of messes, but did we really need to be dropping $5 or more a month on paper that we wind up throwing into the landfill? Probably not.
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Posted
Sep 17 2009, 06:00 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
One of my favorite ways to trim my spending is to find simple substitutes for my regular expenses. If I can trim a few bucks from the cost of household supplies and other routine purchases, over the long run that can add up to a lot of money with virtually no change in my life.
Here are 12 of my favorites (not including my "infamous" homemade laundry detergent).
Vinegar instead of fabric softener. Instead of buying expensive fabric softener, just use half a cup of white vinegar in the softener cup in your washing machine. It accomplishes the same effect as softener -- it makes your clothes really soft -- plus it breaks down the laundry detergent, making the clothes much better for people with sensitive skin or allergies. What about the smell? Once the clothes are dried, you smell nothing at all. You can buy four gallons of vinegar for $6, meaning the cost per load is about 5 cents, while a load's worth of Downy costs about 15 ccents. You save a dime per load and your clothes are less chemical-laden.
Bing: More uses for vinegar
Reusable containers instead of Ziplocs. Ziplocs -- especially the small ones -- usually wind up in the trash after one use. On the other hand, a reusable container can last for years. Because a typical Ziploc costs about 10 cents and you can get a reusable Rubbermaid container for about $1, you break even on the container after about 12 uses (the cost of washing the container in the dishwasher is estimated there) and everything thereafter is pure savings.
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Posted
Sep 10 2009, 05:08 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
I'm often tempted to spend money that I shouldn't.
I'm good at restraining my impulsive nature. I don't simply go into stores and then emerge later with a hefty bag, a credit card bill, and a dazed look on my face. Still, in certain places, I am strongly tempted to spend. I look around and see tons of items that I'd like to have.
Here are seven places that really fuel my spending desires.
Bookstores. What can I say? I love to read. I read about 10 books a month for my own enjoyment and probably five more for The Simple Dollar and other professional purposes. The smell and feel and sight of a new book are like manna to me. I usually resist most of my impulses by arguing to myself that I can get those books at the library or at PaperBackSwap, but it's definitely a struggle -- one I don't always win.
Williams-Sonoma. As I get more and more adept in the kitchen, I'm slowly upgrading my kitchen equipment to superior versions of the cheap (and sometimes problematic) equipment I have on hand. Williams-Sonoma does an extremely good job of convincing me to accelerate this upgrade process, enticing me with better knives, a wide array of very nice pots and pans, and lots of other items.
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Posted
Sep 03 2009, 07:32 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
If you've read The Simple Dollar for long, you've seen tons of lists of money-saving tips, from 100 little steps for saving money and 100 free things to do this weekend to 50 ways to have fun by yourself on the cheap and my frugal vacation guide to Dallas/Fort Worth, just to name a few.
A few days ago, an old friend of mine wrote to me about The Simple Dollar. She'd been reading the archives for a while and had finally caught up with the most recent posts. One of her comments was quite interesting and worth discussing:
The articles I didn't like were when you listed tips for cutting your spending. Most of them are just simply outside the realm of possibility. Most people don't want to do a bunch of extra work or do something really unenjoyable or ruin something fun just to save a few bucks.
Her example actually revolved around a tip she found on the site where I suggested making sandwiches on vacations instead of eating out for every meal. She wrote:
I'm on vacation to have fun. Eating a "sandwich" that consists of some awful lunchmeat jammed between two pieces of dry bread does not equal fun. I just simply won't do it, and most people won't, either.
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Posted
Aug 27 2009, 06:43 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
As I've discussed many times before, eating at home is a huge money saver. Even if you use expensive ingredients all the time (like saffron or morel mushrooms), it's still cheaper to cook at home than it is to consistently eat out (assuming you're eating better than the McDonald's Dollar Menu).
Similarly, it's cheaper to make a meal out of basic ingredients than it is to use prepared and processed ingredients. The closer to the raw ingredients you are, the cheaper the meal is (usually).
Along the same lines, I've come to realize that I tend to snack on and eat whatever's convenient. For lunch, I'll usually eat leftovers because it's easy -- it's sitting in the fridge and usually requires only a bit of pepper and a trip to the microwave. At snack time, I'll look at the fruit bowl and open the refrigerator door and grab whatever's quick and at hand.
So why not combine the two -- basic ingredients and convenience -- to really crunch your food budget?
I was inspired to try some of these things by Mark Bittman's interesting "Food Matters." He suggests a similar idea: If you make good, healthy food as convenient as possible, you won't be as tempted to eat processed, unhealthy foods.
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Posted
Aug 20 2009, 06:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
As I alluded to on Twitter, a friend of mine started selling Amway recently. She sent me a long sales pitch via e-mail, outlining the great products she was selling.
I flatly said no and deleted the e-mail.
I didn't even hesitate. Why? Over the years, many of my friends have pitched various direct-sales products to me, my wife, and other family members. I've seen a lot of them -- Amway, Mary Kay, Princess House, Pampered Chef, Tupperware. The list goes on and on.
I'm not criticizing the quality of the products they sell. That's an entirely separate issue, one that varies from product to product. What I do question is the true cost of the sale.
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Posted
Aug 13 2009, 05:50 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
Your refrigerator/freezer combo is the biggest energy consumer among all of your appliances -- seriously. It gobbles about $100 in energy each year. Even worse, it's often home to lots of wasted food -- leftovers forgotten and allowed to spoil, etc.
To put it simply, your refrigerator and freezer are money sinks. They're expensive in the first place, gobble down energy like there's no tomorrow, and sometimes ruin the food that's inside. What's a thrifty person to do?
Here are a few simple techniques to overcome and reduce these costs with surprisingly little effort.
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Posted
Aug 06 2009, 05:57 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
A while back, I wrote about my best friend (besides my wife), John. John doesn't spend money on frivolous things at all. He spends way less than he earns and is really careful with his money, saving up for the future. He lives in a very small apartment in a poor neighborhood, bicycles to work, and doesn't engage in any expensive hobbies.
Until recently, he had been socking his money away in an ordinary savings account. He bought a few certificates of deposit along the way to increase his savings rate, but he was (and still is) pretty risk-averse. He had no interest in putting his money at risk.
Several months ago, he shocked me by announcing he had purchased 20 acres of undeveloped land within driving distance of Des Moines, a pretty serious investment. Given how risk-averse John was with his money, the purchase really surprised me. He never struck me as a real estate developer.
Recently, he invited my family down to the land to camp for the weekend. He had wanted to "clean it up" some before we checked it out.
We were really impressed.
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Posted
Jul 30 2009, 06:08 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
A reader asked me if I could break down my ideas into a handful of principles. After some careful thought, I came up with a list of 14 basic rules that summarize my money and life philosophy. I'll be presenting these as a weekly series.
The book "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin had a profound impact on me when I was figuring out my personal finances. One major theme of the book is the idea that you need to sit down and figure out the small handful of key values that are central in your life. Once you have figured out what those are, the rest is secondary -- and that means you should seriously trim back your spending in those secondary areas.
Not surprisingly, a major chunk of the book is devoted to ways to cut your spending. Right at the start of the list -- the single most important tactic they suggest for cutting your spending -- is summed up in six easy words: Stop trying to impress other people.
If you buy a car that's flashy rather than focusing on one that gets the job done efficiently, you're spending money to impress other people. If you go clothes shopping by the store sackful, you're spending money to impress other people. If you always have the latest gadget, you're spending money to impress other people. If you always must be seen at the coolest new place, you're spending money to impress other people.
Stop worrying about it.
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Posted
Jul 23 2009, 06:06 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
The things that stick in your head after reading a book are often interesting. For example, recently I posted a detailed review of "Miserly Moms" that outlined a ton of useful tips for cutting domestic spending.
Yet, the thing that stuck in my head for days after reading the book was an offhand comment author Jonni McCoy made about buying garbage bags. She pointed out that one could easily switch to generic for this item because low-cost garbage bags are a great way to save money.
My response to that? Not in my world, they aren't.
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