TSNW

1. As an avid reader I could very easily transfer my entire paycheck to Borders and gorge myself on all of their lovely books.  Instead of doing that, however, I have found that incredible things can be found at the local library.  I’m about to embark on my senior year of college and was able to save myself over $300 by finding 5 of my 8 required books for free at the Eugene Library!  I went on-line, looked them up, put them on hold and they are ready and waiting for me, completely free of charge!  They also have an enormous DVD and CD collection that you can check out for absolutely no cost.  It’s a magical place. 



2. My boyfriend and I were evaluating our bills recently and we decided to experiment with our garbage service.  We are both chronic recyclers so he called and asked if we could switch to a monthly pick up instead of weekly.  Turns out doing that will save us nearly $20 a month as a financial reward for all of our recycling and composting! 
3. Entertainment is expensive, but also necessary.  Instead of paying upwards of $100 a month on cable or satellite, we opted for Netflix in our house.  Since we have a PS3, we are able to stream literally countless movies and TV Shows right into our living room.  We pay $8.99 a month for this service in addition to the movies they mail to us and I have found it to be an excellent substitution for the expensive cable options. 



4. Food is an expensive necessity in life.  It costs a lot, tastes great and keeps us living healthy.  Since the foods I am allergic to are incredibly common, I have been forced to learn how to cook things for myself and it has been incredible!  Cooking for yourself is a huge way to save money as eating out is so incredibly expensive.  I can make two organic pizzas that are just as good as one you would buy from a parlor, only mine will cost me $6 instead of $25. 
5. When trying to save money, a very important decision is where to keep your money.  I may be biased here, but you should always choose a credit union.  You don’t have to choose Northwest Community Credit Union by any means, but please choose one.  Credit Unions aren’t prone to charging exorbitant fees or making things harder for you with higher rates and annual costs.  A local credit union is a human experience and that is exactly what you get when you work with one…you get a person.  Five years ago I had always used a bank and now I can’t help but shake my head at all the money I wasted on their multitude of fees. 



6. Buy used.  I donate anything I can to Goodwill and when searching for the things I may need, I always try to go used before new.  Not only will this save you money, but it keeps all of the stuff in this world out of a landfill and serving a purpose.
7. An amazing way to save money is by utilizing coupons in the paper or subscribing to a coupon site, as Brian so beautifully pointed out here.  You can save a bundle and it can help you plan your weekly meals by showing you what is on sale.  I get the Market of Choice emails that show me what is on special that week and then tailor my shopping around that.  It saves me money and adds variety to my dinners and lunches.



8. Re-evaluate your cart.  When I go somewhere like Target I tend to put quite a few things in my shopping cart.  A set of towels, a new movie, some mascara, dog treats, sheets, gardening tools, you name it and I have it.  Before I go to checkout I stop and look at everything in my cart and decide if I really need and/or want it after all.  There is never a time when I don’t put back at least one item after this careful inspection.  I have even ended up abandoning the whole thing before when I realized I was just buying stuff for fun out of boredom.  Boredom can be very expensive, which is why I am such a good library patron.
9. Buy and cook in bulk.  This doesn’t apply to everything of course, I mean what would you do with 30 pounds of carrots?  Certain items are great to buy in bulk, however, and we head to Costco at least once a month to get them.  Organic brown rice for instance is a million times cheaper in bulk and it doesn’t go bad.  We also buy cat and dog food, laundry soap and garbage bags from Costco along with a few other goodies.  When cooking certain things, you can also do this in a huge batch and then freeze it.  We do this with soups and the pizza sauce I mentioned earlier and they are delicious.
10. Finally, I spend a lot of time sharing with my friends and family.  We have meals together a lot where everyone brings something and then no one is out any great expense.  You can have game nights, wine tastings, movie nights, etc and everything will cost less because it is split several ways.  Not only do you get to spend time with the people you love, but your wallet doesn’t break under the pressure of a fancy restaurant or trendy bar.  This is my favorite way to save money by far! 

Photo Credit: Here

Tagged as: budget, eco-friendly, entertainment, financial-fitness, resource

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