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Homemaking - Frugal Living
Tips for Reducing Spending
By Sherry Bowlsby
1. Don't buy anything on credit. If you can't afford to buy it today, you can't afford it tomorrow with interest! And, if you are simply storing an item you bought on credit and aren't using...that item is costing you even more money!
2. Discover how much it would cost your husband time-wise to pay for your purchase. Is it worth that amount of hours? (i.e.. if you buy a $30 science program and your dh makes $10/hour. Is it worth three hours of dh's time?)
3. If you don't need an item NOW, don't buy it. Often, if you wait you will discover you never needed it at all. (i.e.. Let's say you are purchasing FALL homeschooling products, but you still have two months worth of language arts left. Don't order your new language arts program until you finish the old one. You may discover something totally different than what you planned on purchasing in the meantime).
4. Have you ever thought about how much money you spend storing things? If you take your monthly house/apartment payment and divide it by the square footage, that will determine the by foot cost of storing things. If you have four feet of bookshelves of items you aren't even using (and may never use...that is wasted money).
5. The BIGGEST way to curb spending is to PLAN. Don't go shopping w/o a list. Write your goals and what items you'll need to meet that goal. Don't let fancy packaging encourage you to buy something you don't really need and may never use.
. Ask yourself why you are buying an item AND where you will store it or put it. If an answer doesn't come IMMEDIATELY to mind, don't buy. If you will have to get rid of another item for this item, ask yourself: is the other item really paid for? (or are you still making payments on that item, i.e. on a charge card?) If it is, is there something wrong with it?
We tend to buy for the sake of buying. It also seems to give us a moment of pleasure. But, often many of our purchases are unnecessary and end up burdening us with debt or feelings of guilt.
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