A couple of months ago, I realized that I needed to cut back on some household expenses. After speaking with a debt counselor to get an idea on where I could cut back, I decided some things had to go. (I was somewhat shocked when she told me that the USDA allows a small family like ours to spend $500/month on groceries. We couldn’t eat $500 in a three-month period, especially since we generally only eat dinner at home, and I cook all of our meals from scratch.)
Cutting cable after so many years seemed at first like it would e hard, but it wasn’t. First, we just unplugged the boxes (the one downstairs never worked anyway). After ordering a box from Amazon for $40, we got an antenna from Target for about $25. Now for the big surprise: THERE ARE BOATLOADS OF STUFF TO WATCH FOR FREE!
I had no idea that the networks had so much programming. There are TWO 24-hour channels for kids, with shows that focus on learning and values (sorry, Spongebob!); great international programs; and best of all, a really good retro channel. My 9-year-old is really into Knight Rider and The A-Team. And, after searching for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, usually only shown occassionally during holiday-weekend marathons, I found out it comes on every Saturday and Sunday night.
Next, I cancelled Netflix after renting the same two DVDs for a year (they went missing shortly after arriving in the mail, and I just found them the other day. Both movies have been on TV). Sitting in front of the TV on weekends (the only time I really have to watch movies) is not the best thing for one’s waistline. On the other hand, Red Box is just around the corner at the Giant, and for $1 we can watch whatever the latest releases are.
The next thing to go was the full-function phone line. I’ve been in my house for over five years, and have answered the phone about three times. I have a mobile phone, and everyone who I want to be contacted by knows the number. I cut the house line down to just a dial tone; no point in paying for a land line if I have a cell phone. Now, it costs only about $9/month.
The 9-year-old also has a growing interest in art, so we try to hit the Smithsonian as often as possible. I stopped into Utrecht and got a discount card, so she’s dabbling in watercolors (as am I). We’re both getting pretty good at it.
I’ve also taken to making the DC Public Library my first stop for textbooks. A couple of semesters ago, I switched from buying and renting textbooks to downloading the digital version from the publishers at a deep discount (usually about $45 as opposed to $175 per book); but then last semester I checked the local library to see if one of my textbooks might just happen to be in the stacks. Bingo! Same thing this semester.
Cooking from scratch also keeps the bills down. We like to watch the cooking shows on PBS, and it’s amazing how professional chefs like Jacques and Pepin and José Andres can take a few simple fresh ingredients and make delicious meals. Each month, I hit Trader Joes once or twice for meat, then I grab some frozen vegetables (especially peas–extremely versatile), and I make sure we have the staples (flour, sugar, butter, etc.). DCPS serves breakfast in the classroom every day, and my daughter eats lunch at school (she says they’ve improved to the point that she doesn’t need a bagged lunch anymore). When I do get to eat lunch, it’s usually something very small, like a croissant (plain). Most meals don’t require a lot of meat, since we don’t do the meat/starch/vegetable routine that I grew up with (sorry, Mom!). I’ll generally make a meal that involves rice, or an Asian-type noodle dish (add about 3 ounces of any kind of meat and some frozen veggies to a couple of packs of those 2/$1 noodles and some broth), or a French-style chicken dish that will last about a week.
I also stopped relying on plastic. I hope Suze Orman forgives me, but I chopped up all of the plastic, including my beloved AmEx cards, and closed the accounts (to stop the interest). Sure, my credit score took a hit, but I 1) already own my home, and 2) can’t drive so I won’t be shopping for a car. Like Daddy used to say, CASH ONLY. If you want it bad enough, you’ll save up for it. By the time you save up for it, it’s probably gone out of style or you’ve changed your mind; in that case, you already have a nice chunk of change for your savings account.
This gave me an idea for an incentive. Everyone knows saving money can be boring (except my 9-year-old, with whom it’s an obsession). One way to make it exciting is to set up a “fantasy goal.” Instead of thinking, “I’m going to set aside $XXX/month for emergency savings,” pick something really exotic, like saving for a sports car, a villa in the south of France, or a diamond necklace from Harry Winston. Then, use a free online budgeting tool like Mint.com and label that savings account, for instance, “$250,000 Diamond Necklace Account.” Now, of course you know you’ll never get something like that, but your mind will be tricked into being excited about saving. This works for me, because even if I had that kind of money I couldn’t bring myself to spend that much on some compressed coal. But, as my savings account builds, I’m less tempted to spend what I put away; also, that diamond necklace might just turn out to be an emergency call to the plumber, but doesn’t it sound nicer to say, “I have to dig into my Harry Winston account to get the plumbing fixed” than to say “I have to use my emergency funds?”
