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.

Many people love having the areas around their homes and pools look like a tropical paradise but it can become very pricey replacing the plants every spring only to have the plants die over the winter months.  You can bring your tropical plants indoors into sunny rooms to spend the winter and in the spring bring them outdoors again.  Doing this not saves you money.  You can also earn money by doing this for other people.  If a person has a tropical plant worth $100, charge them $50 for spending the winter indoors at your house.  Caring for them takes minimal time and the money you earn can offset your winter heating bills.

So take that sunny room you have and turn it into a green house for your own plants and those of friends and neighbors.  Not only does everyone save money by not having to replace items every spring, but the plants get bigger over the years and hence have a bigger impact in your landscaping.  You can even start young tropical plants from cuttings yourself.  Let them grow and mature with you for a couple of years and sell them at a very tidy profit to people looking for tropical bushes and trees of a good size.  Then charge the same people to let them spend the winter at your house!

The best thing we can do to insure a successful future for ourselves is to continue to educate ourselves.  Learn everything you can about as many topics as possible.  This makes us more rounded individuals and more of an asset to companies.

It also means that these ventures in education can also lead to saving you money or developing a new income source.    A good example is gardening.  If you enjoy gardening, learning as much about it as possible can lead to a lot of opportunities for you such as:

1.  Curb appeal increases the value of your home.
2.  Vegetable gardens can decrease your grocery bill.
3.  Trading vegetables, plants with neighbors for services you need.
4.  Potential to work at a garden center in the future
5.  Potential to start your own garden center.
6.  Potential to design gardens for neighbors/friends for extra income.
7.  Potential to develop cottage industry of home made products from your garden such as jams, sauces etc.
8.  Teach gardening classes at community centers for money.

Those are just a few examples of what an enjoyment of gardening can do to decrease your expenses and increase your income.  Each person has a lot of varied interests, taking those interests to the next level is extremely important.  Knowledge is a weapon against poverty that can never be taken away from you.

One thing I do is to wash out the ones still in great condition and then fill them with water.  I then put the bags in the empty spots of my freezer.  It takes more energy and therefore more money to keep a partially full freezer cold than it does a full freezer.  By putting in bags of water, they take up space and keep your energy bill for it lower.  If I need the space in my freezer, I just transfer the frozen bags of water to the fridge.  This cools down the temperature of the fridge, reducing energy costs there.

In the summer it gets even better though, because in stead of buying bags of ice, we have nice blocks of ice in the freezer ready to go that didn’t really cost us anything.  We use these bags of ice in the cooler we keep by the pool, bring on the boat or bring to a friends house, sports game etc.  When we are done, we just take the bags out of the cooler and transfer them back to the freezer.

Don’t be hesitant to reuse items like ziplock bags.  Just because they were designed for one use purposes, as long as they are clean and in good condition there is no reason you can’t use them over and over again until their usefulness has expired.

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.

I understand this may seem time consuming but it actually isn’t.  Hit up the big sites companies like Kraft when you have a few minutes to spare and get in the habit of hitting up a site or two when you are on the computer.  Total time will take less than 5 minutes so the savings are worth it.

Many people are lazy and will resist doing something like this.  At the end of the day though, if you are in debt, don’t have savings or are in need of more money to get badly needed items, you simply don’t have a choice.  You have to do whatever it takes to become stable.

Look around your house at all the items you buy that are not used that frequently.  Think of how much you spend on these items, and also keep in mind that all of your neighbors are doing the exact same thing.  Now consider the possibility of forming and agreement (in writing) to purchase these items as a group, or share the items that are already owned.

How often do you use a large expendable ladder?  A snowblower?  A fertilizer spreader?  A wheelbarrow?  Not that often.  Would it not be more cost effective to say “Bill is willing to share  his rototiller, I am going to share my pressure washer and Jim is going to share his leaf vacuum……  Now, guilt free we can use each others tools rather than buying our own and save some money along the way.

You can even do baking and cooking cooperatives.  Get several people together once a month for a day of marathon cooking and baking, with each person preparing what they make best for everyone in the group.  It provides an amazing variety, a lot of homemade meals that are ready to reheat on a busy evening and if you add a glass of wine you get a great social event that can be full of laughter.

Cooperatives are only limited by your imagination.  Find ways to share resources and you will save money.

While I understand that some people will think that volunteering should be about what you give, rather than what you get, I have a different outlook.  No one is going to volunteer for the sole purpose of what they get, as the rewards are very minor in respect to the amount of time you devote to volunteering.  Rewards may however get people in the door and keep them there and that is what it is all about.  If grandma  loves the theater but can’t afford to attend the shows so she volunteers as an usher 4 hours per week and in return gets to sit in an unsold seat on a night she isn’t working, what is the harm?  None.  If Joe is tight on cash because he is paying off credit card debt and volunteers as an assistant coach on his kids soccer team in exchange for his son not paying dues, no one should have a problem with that.

Volunteering is a great way to help your community and fellow citizens so if you are on the fence about volunteering, think of it as a free social outlet that may offer additional benefits.  Benefits can vary and are well worth it, so try volunteering at several organizations until you find the fit that is best for you.

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