Eleven Ways to Cut Your Spending

Recessions are a death warrant for the dollar. Each one causes the dollar to shrink more and more. Following are ways you can stretch that dollar to make it go further. You’ll utilize some of these ideas and others you’ll shake your finger no at. That’s all right. Just incorporate as many as you can into your everyday life and you’ll be amazed how much you’ll save. As food prices skyrocket, we can stretch our dollars by removing several luxuries from our grocery carts and instead:

Use a Dish Towel

Although I love paper towels, I can use a dishcloth that costs me a fraction of the cost of paper towels. So put the roll of paper towels back on the shelf and pat yourself on the back for saving money. If you must use paper towels then use the ones that divide the towel in half so you get more bang for your buck.

Use Glass and Plastic Cups

Why pay for a disposable plastic cup every time you drink at home? Even though it makes it easier on the person cleaning the kitchen and loading the dishwasher, it’s a luxury we can live without. There’s a controversy over the gasses emitted from plastic bottles left in the sun on hot summer days so don’t reuse them if you’re used to doing that. Another reason to avoid small water bottles is that they add to our land fills. Rather than buying tons of small water bottles, buy larger units of bottled water if you are inclined to use bottled water throughout the day. Walmart sells gallons of bottled water for $.69. Take a thermos or insulated bottle of distilled or drinking water to work.

Use Reusable Cleaning Supplies

Disposables like dusters, baby wipes, and even scrubbers are luxuries we can do without for the time being. Ask yourself what you did before all those luxuries came on the market. Your answer: You used reusable scrubbers, mops and brushes, which are much more economical and far more environmentally friendly.

Watch the television show How Clean Is Your House. They don’t use all those high-dollar cleaning products, yet the houses they clean are spotless.

Use an Indoor Clothes Line

Although washing machines are necessary in today’s world, dryers are not. Do you know how much they cost to operate? Far more than their cohort — the washing machine. At least hang your casual clothes to dry. Purchase a drying rack or better still, if someone can build you a makeshift one, that’s even better. Barter with a handyman. If he builds your indoor clothes line, you’ll cook his evening meals for a week or whatever the two of you decide to barter.

Limit Your Intake of Energy Drinks

While some of you have to work two and sometimes three jobs to make ends meet, as soon as it’s possible, eat healthily and go to bed at a decent time so you won’t need energy drinks to keep you going. Those drinks are crammed with caffeine and sugar, which keeps you awake at night, causing a vicious cycle. Start counting the money you spend in one week on those energy drinks and you’ll realize what it’s doing to your pocketbook. Three drinks daily at $3 each is a whooping $9 a day. When you extend the figure to a full year, you’ve spent more than $3,000 annually. Yikes!

Buy Carbonated Drinks by the Case Wherever They Are on Sale

Buying bottled drinks at the convenience store is almost as expensive as buying coffee at Starbucks. Instead of stopping every day for a drink, stop only on Mondays or Fridays. If you hate Mondays, buy your favorite drink on Mondays to help you feel better at the beginning of the week. If Mondays don’t bother you that much, stopping on Fridays to buy that special drink might be a good way for you to treat yourself for making it through the week. If you have to buy canned sodas, at least buy them when they’re on sale at your local grocery store.

Try to buy all your items at the grocery stores instead of convenience stores. They’re called convenience stores because it’s convenient to shop there on your way to and from work. But the prices they charge for their items are way too high for the person having to cut back on spending.

Rent Movies for Free

Even though you’re on a super tight budget, there must be some time allotted for R&R (relaxation and recreation). Did you know that your local library not only has books you can check out but also has thousands of movies you can check out — for free? Utilize this great bargain because you already pay for it through your taxes.

Take Your Lunch to Work

If you still have a job and it’s away from home, taking a sack lunch to your office is a smart decision as well as a healthy one. Just taking your lunch four times a week saves you a minimum of $1,500 by the end of the year. Once you’ve gotten caught up on your bills, put the money you save on lunches each week in a labeled container that doesn’t get touched except for dire emergencies.

Buy Only Food at Restaurants

If you are still financially able to eat out once in a while, forget the alcohol. That’s where restaurants make huge profits. Often the drink portion of the bill is larger than the food portion.

HOT TIP   If you aren’t the designated driver, make yourself a drink before you go out, then have an after-dinner drink when you get home.

Optimize Your Life Insurance

Although some people don’t need life insurance, most of us do. Take time to compare life-insurance premiums. They’ve dropped so drastically since the 1990s, it will probably pay for you to replace a policy purchased years ago with a comparable one. Get a physical checkup and follow your doctor’s advice for shaping up before applying for a new policy. You can get premium quotes at www.AccuQuote.com and www.LifeInsure.com.

Start an Emergency Fund

In the past, international finance guru Suze Orman consistently urged people to get second jobs to pay off their credit cards and be debt free. Now, with the economical turmoil our country is in, this finance-savvy woman is advising everyone to pay only the minimum amount due on their credit cards and save the rest of their money for emergencies and even unforeseen future layoffs. When you are financially secure again, that’s the time to pay off those credit cards.

Orman has booked engagements all over the United States. For locations and dates, go to www.SuzeOrman.com and in the lower left area of the screen, click on See Suze Live. Also, she has generously posted items like wills and trusts on her website that you can utilize for free. She has authored many books on finance, among them Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan, a national best seller; Women and Money; Young, Fabulous and Broke; and her audio, The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom.