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Financial Journey Are You Really Saving All You Can? I think I am actually the most frugal person I have ever met!
I don’t know anybody in our circle of friends and family who practices
frugality to the extent that I do and have done for many years.
I am sure there are people out there who are more frugal than me, but I
haven’t had the opportunity to meet them.
The one thing I enjoy about this way of living is that I am never content
to continue as I have during the last year.
I am always
trying to think of new ways to save money. More...
I have a goal of trying to come up with one thing a day, but that is pretty difficult when I am already practicing bare bones frugality. However, I have managed to come up with a few ideas for my New Year’s challenge to save even more. Here are a few things I’ve done in the last couple of months:
* I generally check our auto and house insurance against other companies once every 2 or 3 years. I found a website which allows you to get rates from various companies by inputting your personal information. We haven’t changed companies for years, and I tend to be cautious about going with smaller companies or one that I’m unfamiliar with, even if it does promise much lower rates.. However, by using this service at www.insweb.com I found a top notch insurance company that almost cut our auto insurance rates in half! We are saving $700 a year now by making this change. * I receive a couple of medications through our insurance company’s mail order service which saves us quite a bit of money and prescriptions are issued with a 90- day supply. When the New Year rolled around, the costs on some of the medications we get from the pharmacy for a 30 day supply increased significantly, because there is a certain deductible required before the price goes down. However, I had made my own assumption that two of the medications we were getting would not be considered by the insurance company as long-term medications that would qualify for 90-day supply by mail order. I decided just to call to check, and sure enough they covered these two medications. One of the medications would only be covered at half the current dosage, but my doctor called it in with instructions to take 2 tablets per dose. It was a good reminder for me not to make my own assumptions. I could have been saving many dollars on these 2 particular medications over the years. * A month ago I met my Uncle for a visit in a nearby town. He lives in Canada but was here for a short visit. We both love antique stores and thrift shops, so we spent the day looking through some great shops. We were discussing negotiating tactics because this is something we have both always enjoyed doing. I told him that I usually will try an approach that wouldn’t offend anybody. I will ask “Are your prices firm or are they negotiable?” We were heading to the cashier at a thrift shop, and I heard my Uncle whispering to my husband, “What does Karen say when she is negotiating?” And then I heard him repeat my line above. I was cringing! My first thought, was “Oh no! I never negotiate in a thrift store. I pay the price if I think it’s fair.” But I didn’t say anything and observed as he went to the register. He said “Are your prices firm, or are they negotiable?” The woman said they were usually firm but asked what he had in mind. I was standing there with my mouth open! Afterall, I love negotiating, but I’ve never tried this at a thrift store. He received his merchandise for half of what it was marked. So guess what? When I stepped up to the counter after him, I asked what she could do on the prices of the items I was purchasing. I also received 50% off the items I bought. We were both so excited when we left there and had a great discussion. The bottom line was to Never assume you can’t do better. I’ve tried this at some other thrift stores since that day, but the worst case is that they will tell you the prices are firm. I can handle that! * The first couple of months of the year I love to focus on using food from the freezer and pantry. I make a game out of it and see just how low I can keep our grocery bill. It is a great way to kick start the spending plan for the New Year and give us some extra to put into savings. We have a lot of food to use up and it doesn’t make sense to buy more until I can see some empty space. I also take advantage of bringing food home when I go to meetings where meals are served. This last week I attended a couple of meetings and brought home enough food for four meals! When I worked I would keep a roll of saran wrap in my drawer because there were always leftovers at meetings. That used to get a laugh from friends and colleagues, but I was the first one to retire young! * We are focusing on keeping our energy bills lower this year. When we have guests, we don’t like to freeze them out of the house because we do want them to enjoy their visit and come back. But after they are gone, we cut way back on the thermostat. We are dressing in warm layers, using heated slippers or a heating pad for our feet, wrapping up in snuggly blankets, and using an electric space heater. At night we will use our gas fireplace to heat the family room instead of heating the entire house. We warm the house for a few hours in the morning, and about 10:00 the challenge for survival of the fittest begins. * After the holidays this year, I resolved to tighten our gift budget for the next year. We have approximately 25 people that we give birthday and Christmas presents to, and this year our expenditures were quite high in this area. My goal is to make this next year a theme of gift giving from the heart. I have made my lists, and have started to make many of my gifts. I have also found items in our home that I can “regift” that would be special to the recipients. I am working at giving gifts people will enjoy, but plan to do it on a budget that is about 12% of the budget we spent last year. I hope some of these ideas will inspire you to find ways that you can trim expenditures and increase your savings for 2003. My wish for this coming year is that it will be a satisfying and fulfilling one, and that you will achieve some of your highest priority goals and aspirations.
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Want more money-saving tips? Get a FREE subscription to our monthly Ezine! Copyright © 2003 by Karen Kuebler
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