Since starting my spending freeze three days ago I have not spent a dime. I did make $37.00 by taking a bag of clothes to Crossroads. I took the money straight to the bank. Normally, I would use the money to buy clothes or coffee. (Okay - I have an update here: I spent $1.29 at Trader Joe's on wheat tortillas. I bought them in change so I feel like that doesn't count...?)
I haven't quite ironed out all the kinks, but for this month I know I'm not spending any money (with the exception of bills and rent). And those damn tortillas.
Last month I cancelled cable and Internet after talking with my upstairs neighbors and agreeing we would split their Internet. For some reason Comcast will INCREASE your bill if you try to drop cable and only pay for Internet. Comcast, your bundling thing sucks. And to show you how much I hate you I'm cheating the system by splitting Internet with my neighbor. Some may call this unethical. I call it sweet, sweet revenge. I am now paying $15.00 per month instead of a whopping $87.00.
This month I changed my car insurance from full coverage to liability. This is probably one of my dumber life decisions (and there have been A LOT). For those of you who know me, you and I both know I'll get in an accident...tomorrow-ish. My car is paid off and has been for about a year, but I have had a few tickets in the past couple of years and my car insurance was $120.00. Paying for liability only is $77.00. Also, I don't drive often, because I walk to work (on days that I don't wake up 10 minutes before I need to be there) so I feel like the risk is relatively low. I plan to be on liability for six months or so - until I get my one of my two credit cards paid off. I'm paying the one with the highest interest first (per Dave Ramsey's suggestion, of course...also known as simple math and common sense). That sounded like I hate Dave. I don't. I love him.
As of three months ago I don't pay for texting. My AT&T bill was about $120.00. That's crazy. I do have unlimited data so I don't want to change companies, because I really love my data plan. I realized that I mostly text iPhone users and we can iMessage for free. I canceled my texting and now my bill is $87.00. If you message mostly iPhone users, I recommend this. For those who I cannot text, I Facebook them, email them, or pick up the damn phone and call them. Oh, and I have a 15% discount through work.
Eventually I'll go into the dirty details of just how much debt I have (credit card and student loans) and what my actual income is so you'll realize what I'm working with here. But for now, because all of those numbers make me sweaty, we'll just focus on the changes I'm making this month to get above water.
USE LESS. Of everything.
Eat less. I'm making smaller portions of food, being very careful to make only what I think I'll eat or making enough to have leftovers for later that day or the next. I'm not letting any food go to waste. Before I started my spending freeze, I did not go to the store and stock up. I decided that I will spend the month eating ONLY what is in my apartment. That means grilled cheese sandwiches on english muffins, Annie's Mac N Cheese and soup. I am very fortunate to have a job that provides lunch for everyone in a cafeteria.
Drink water. I'm only drinking H2O. (With the exception of the wine my sister and brother in law bought last night for a Halloween party.) I have almond milk from last month that I'm using for cereal, but other than that it's just water. I'm not buying wine, beer, soda, juice or sparkling water (my favorite). I don't typically buy or drink too much soda or juice, but my alcohol spending is easily my biggest "fun" expense. This is not a confession, this is a simple fact. I love me some Oregon Pinot. (Update! Found lots of peppermint tea in the cupboard tonight!)
Drive less. Easy to do in this city.
Use less toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, toilet paper, etc. Laugh if you will, but if I use half the portions that I'd normally use, I'll get to use it twice as long. Orr I think that's how math works. Also, sometimes I steal my roommate's. I tell her though...so I feel like stealing my roommate's toiletries is slightly less unethical then the Comcast scam.
Turn everything off. Every light is off in my apartment right now. That's not normal. But it's also because my head hurts from the wine provided by bro and sis last night. Cat Woman got a little crazy with the two buck chuck. By the way, that is NOT $2 and I don't know where that nick name came from. Liars.
So, the goal this month is to not spend any money and to not lose friends. Instead of going out to eat, I'll have friends over or I'll go to their place for dinner and bring whatever I have to offer. It's a fun game and if you have friends and family who really love you or like you a little then they'll understand or they'll at least lie to you and say they do.
More to come. For a post about less, that was very wordy.
It's important to stretch that dollar. That includes exhausting all options where you can to save that buck, which includes maximizing your car insurance. I really like how you've thought this through. What happened to your plan? Did you upgrade your coverage to "full" by now, or are you still in this level? Either way, I hope your plan worked!
ReplyDeleteSteven Keltsch @ Allied Insurance Managers
Despite the fact that you barely drive your car, upgrading your insurance from full coverage to liability is a good idea. It may take some adjusting with financial matters, but it’s still a good counter-measure against any eventually. But hopefully, you won’t need to use it at all. Anyway, thanks for sharing this with us, Jamie. All the best!
ReplyDeleteClifton Johnson @ Insuring theProduct