Ready to Save

In an effort to control impulse purchases we have developed an IN and OUT rule for almost everything.  The rule is simple, if you buy something, you have to get rid of something similar.

It started simply enough, we were redoing our walk-in closet and saw that both my husband and I had an enormous amount of clothes, many of which we did not wear.  We got rid of everything we did not wear anymore and were extremely pleased with the results.  We knew what we owned, our closet was organized and we wanted to keep it that way and not get a huge build up of clothing again through the years OR go out and buy a ton of new clothing because we now had room in the closet to put it.

So now when I shop, before I buy that blouse because it is cute or on sale, I spend my time asking myself two questions what piece of clothing at home I am going to give up to make room for the blouse, and will I wear the blouse enough to warrant getting rid of something I actually wear.  Keep in mind, I got rid of everything I didn’t wear.

I can tell you without a doubt as long as you make no exceptions your clothing purchases will go down.  However,  believe it or not, I actually feel like I have more to wear than I did before.  Why you ask?  Because now I know every piece of clothing in my closet, I know it fits, and I like the way it looks, so I tend to wear everything, and I also mix and match a lot more than I used to.

People now think that I spend more on my clothing than I did before because I am making use of what I have more, but in reality, I spend 10% of what I used to.

We have since expanded this rule to include things like toys, books, games, gaming systems, make-up, collectibles and a host of other things.  What do we do with the items we sacrifice?  The rule is it has to be sold, donated, or if unusable, thrown away.  With fewer older things hanging around the house we are more organized and if we get rid of something, we tend to do so when it has some value.  We aren’t trying to sell a game we bought 8 years ago, it might be only 2 with plenty of people still interested in it.

This new rule has also spawned some creative thinking on my sons part, who is an avid gamer who must have all the new games that come out to play them.  He has teamed up with his 2 best friends and now when a new game comes out, one of them buys it (they rotate), and then when the game is completed it gets passed down to the other 2 guys in a system they have developed.  With my son now buying 2/3′s less games than before he has less of an issue with the In and Out system, saves money and knows that he has access to the games he wants.  Best of all, when instead of games he no longer plays collecting dust, he sells them and that further reduces his cost of gaming.

Having insurance is one of those necessities in life however sometimes in our effort to protect ourselves we waste money.  We often get convinced by insurance companies to pay more per month so we can have a lower deductible.  However, we have to think about what the chances are we will make a claim, and exactly how much we are paying over time for a safety net that you probably won’t ever use.

What you need to do is to request 3 quotes for your insurance, all with differing deductibles.  Look at the difference in cost you are paying to get the lower deductible and decide if it is worth it to keep the lower deductible.

Personally we increased our deductibles.  Upon looking at the difference in cost, and seeing what we would save over the course of 10 years we decided to up the deductible, as we believed the chances of us actually needing the insurance was slim.  If it makes you feel better, take the difference in price and put it aside so if you do have an insurance claim you have saved money towards it.

Most people are nervous about insurance but before  you make your decision keep in mind that insurance is big business, and companies make a fortune.  There is a reason they do, and that simple reason is that the vast majority of people pay, but either never have a claim, or their claim is a fraction of what they have paid over the years..  So while it is important to have insurance, only get the insurance you actually require and fund your own deductible.

In some cases, the amount you save in a year or two equals the difference in the deductible.  After that, it is pure savings.  Why make insurance companies richer when the goal is to make yourself stable financially and have enough funds to give you the lifestyle you dream of.

If you are like most households, a lot of the printing you do, is printing out receipts, directions, or something you want to keep a copy of on file. So here are a couple of tips to save some money in the long run. To save on ink, go into the Properties of your printer and under the Advanced settings you will see “Paper & Quality Options”. You will see a drop down menu under the Paper Quality that probably says Normal. If you click it, you can choose the quality of printing you want to do. The higher the quality, the more ink you use. I use mine on the lowest quality unless I am printing something that requires higher quality printing such as a school or work report. You can also purchase ink refills rather than buying new ink cartridges or have them filled at kiosks in the mall etc for a noticeable savings.

Have you ever noticed that when you print receipts from the Internet that there always seems to be a second page with nothing more than a a line or two of useless information on it? Well, if I am positive I only need to print one page, when I click to print, I make sure to check off to print only page 1. If I am not sure, I will allow it to print out what it needs to, and if it ends up being a second page that is useless I always reuse it. We keep a little pile of paper that can be used again next to the printer and everyone in the house is in the habit of using it whenever possible. We will even rescue paper for our little stash when possible. My daughter will often have to print out short reports for class and once she does not need the paper anymore she will throw it on the pile to reuse for something else. This not only saves money, but it helps save the planet. Once we can no longer use the paper we make sure it is recycled. We love saving money, but we also like to do our part to save the planet