Thursday Thirteen #33

Thirteen Ways Shelley Plans On Saving $$$$$! I am already a pretty frugal person, but there is always room for improvement, eh? I am going to list 13 ways in which I can make a dollar go even further in hopes of continuing to pay off my school loans and have that monkey off my back! 1. This one makes me sad, but it needs to be done. I am going to cancel my membership to the YMCA. It costs about $40 per month and to be honest...right now I am not using it. Plus, I have about a bajillion workout tapes at home and have been using walking as my main form of exercise right now, so I can do that anywhere. So...bye bye YMCA! Savings: $40/month. 2. I am going to change my Blockbuster Access program from 3 movies out at a time to 2 movies out at a time. One...with the free movies you can exchange, I am finding it hard to watch that many movies a week and two, it saves me money, not a lot, but money. Savings: $3/month. 3. Cancelling the Netflix subscription I have. I have been holding onto it because they carry some movies that Blockbuster does not, but well...who cares? And, I actually don't even need to cancel it, I can put the account on hold for 3 months and then cancel it, so no harm, no foul. Savings: $5/month. 4. As said this in an earlier post, I am going to be a Nazi about my credit card spending. I am only going to spend money on my card on gas and groceries...that's it. Nothing else! I always pay it off each month, but it's just too easy to justify charging a pizza on my card, etc. We'll have to see how much savings it actually adds up to, but I think it will be pretty good. Savings: ???? 5. I also said this in an earlier post (money has been on my mind lately)...I am going to give myself $20 cash each time I get paid and that is the only money I can use for things such as going out to dinner, going to the drive-ins, etc. Once that money is gone...that's it until the next time I get paid. I've done this before and it is pretty effective. Savings: ???? 6. I did this earlier in the year and I am going to get back to it. At the end of each week, I am going to empty the change out of my wallet and put it in a jar. I won't really miss those pennies and dimes and quarters (alright, I might miss the quarters)...but they will really add up over time. 7. I recently started shopping around insurance companies...and found that my company is not giving me the best rate, so I am switching. I found out that Geico quoted me at about $85 less per 6 month policy. That's a huge difference. I am going to call them this week and make sure that the policy is what it is...and then I am switching. Why pay more for coverage you hope to never have to use? Savings: Approx. $28/month 8. I hate doing this one, but I am going to do it. I have said before how much I HATE Wal-Mart...I have coined them "Devil-Mart" because I loathe them so much. But well...I hate them, but love their low prices. I did my grocery shopping there last month and compared it to the local grocery store and I easily saved 30-40 bucks on everything I bought. That's insane. So, I am going to do my grocery shopping there for a while...to save some much needed change. Savings: maybe $30/month. 9. I am always going to use my AAA gas card when buying gas. I have been doing this for about a year now and I am going to continue it. When I use the card to buy gas, the card gives me 5% cashback. So, when I am paying $3.15.gallon...that is a savings of about 15 cents per gallon. I have a 12 gallon gas tank, so that means that when I fill up...I am saving about 2 dollars. If only gas weren't so expensive, but alas...oil runs the world. *grumbles* Savings: $2-4/month. 10. Speaking of the evil cost of gasoline. I have had it, so I am going to get my brother's old bike out of the garage at my dad's house...fix it up...and start biking to work. I only live about 3 miles from my job and if I start biking it, I would only have to fill up once a month instead of twice. Plus, it's nice exercise. I plan on looking at the bike this weekend and work on getting it road worthy. Once I start using it, it would save me one tank per month...at least. Savings: Approx. $30/month. 11. I am going to start using coupons...buying things when they are on sale...and going to the clearance sales, etc. I have never been someone who clips coupons out of the paper, etc. It never seemed worth it to me, but I am at least going to take a look and see if there are things that I would buy anyway. Here is my word of warning about coupons...I happen to believe that coupons convince you to buy things you don't need, etc. So...don't do that. Only buy things that you would have bought anyways. But, I am going to look at the sale flyers and also do clothes shopping when they are sales...go to thrift stores, etc. I don't spend a lot of money anyways...but sales can even make my dollar stretch farther. 12. This one is something I am usually pretty good at...usually. I am going to bring my lunch to work everyday and not buy lunch out. When we buy lunch out it ranges from $3-7 dollars depending on where we go. That's just ridiculous...and if you eat out 2-3 times per week...that's $9-21 per week. I can just as easily bring in my salad and snacks. Now, if I do decide to eat out for lunch, etc...it needs to come out of my $20 per pay period...no exception. Savings: Figuring how often I eat out right now...the savings would be about $10/month. 13. And the last thing I am going to do...is ask people's advice on how to save money. I think everyone has their own little tricks, etc. So, any advice out there? What kind of things do you do to save money? What things have you heard, but well...aren't using?? Anything? Bueller? Bueller? And let's add it up...the projected savings per month if I do all these things would be... Savings per month: $148-150/month. Seeing that number really motivates me to make all those changes above!!!!

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