I do so many little things on a day to day basis, to try to save every little penny that I can, or to earn any little penny that I can. I have to, or else we run out of money by month’s end. Some people don’t have to, but they’d like to be able to give more to needy people (this is what we plan to do when we’re finally financially free). But until then, here’s one simple way that I save money, and you can do it too!
I do so many little things on a day to day basis, to try to save every little penny that I can, or to earn any little penny that I can. I have to, or else we run out of money by month’s end. Some people don’t have to, but they’d like to be able to give more to needy people (this is what we plan to do when we’re finally financially free). But until then, here’s one simple way that I save money, and you can do it too!
No Soda, Beer or Alcohol, etc…
Disclaimer: I wrote this post originally in 2009. We do buy sodas and an occasional wine or beer now, when we can splurge. But here’s what we do *when times are tight*…
 |
| http://commons.wikimedia.org |
We just don’t buy it. I originally got off of my caffeine addiction when I was preggo with Laynie, so we tended to buy caffeine-free sodas anyway. Since then, I’ve begun to really enjoy coffee, but the majority of the time I make it caffeine-free or half-decaf. So it really wasn’t a hard decision for us to make, or to adjust to when we quit buying sodas. I know it would be quite a sacrifice for some people, though, especially those who have a caffeine addiction!
Originally, about six years ago, when we had to “go frugal” we realized that we were spending at least $5-$10 per week on sodas (without coupons/sale prices – it was even more!). That’s $20 – $40 per month, and $240 – $480 per year. Imagine if you put that money into something else… I’m sure it would earn awesome interest in an investment 20 years down the road, for example (gosh can you tell that sentence was written in 2009? LOL). Or, you could use that money to partially pay for a gym membership. $480 would sure do a lot of good at the local food bank, animal shelter, or homeless shelter. No, we haven’t done any of those things… we’ve had to live off of the savings, but they’re just examples.
We very rarely purchase alcoholic beverages anyway. But we’ve accepted the fact that drinks are one of the first things to go when the budget shrinks, since that’s an area where we are likely to waste lots of money. The only thing we typically have in our refrigerator is tea (bought cheap or free with coupons), juice, water (filtered from our tap), and milk. Now, when we go out to dinner, it’s a special treat to get a soda!!!
Anyway, if you’re looking to find ways to save a bit here and there, getting rid of drinks such as sodas and alcoholic beverages would make a big difference in the weekly grocery budget!
This series of posts was originally published in 2010, and I am just recently editing and updating them, just for the fun of it.
