Since the economy has been so iffy the past couple of years, and everywhere I go, I hear people talking about how worried they are about their job, or their bills or something related to money. I have decided to write about what we do in that department.
Clint and I are pretty average as far as the American household income goes. He has been out of college and working for eight years, but I have only been out of college and working for six months. But the point is we are both working and we both are college graduates. This means that we both have college debt but we feel like at the time it was the best decision for us.
Clint has a career as a financial advisor that he loves. He works long hours and is always available to help his clients out. He doesn’t have time to work a second job, but he doesn’t need to. He has spent enough time working that he has figured out how to be successful and keep us living comfortably. I work as an insurance agent at State Farm. I work a normal 9-5, but then I also work on the side to make extra money. I tutor after work because I love it, and it helps pay off those student loans. I figure that if I wasn’t spending that time tutoring, I would probably be spending it shopping or finding some other way to spend money as opposed to saving it.
We don’t have any extreme money saving tips. We don’t drive only one car or live in some tiny square footage apartment. We don’t eat only pasta for dinner. We use practical money saving tips.
But before we have any discretionary money, we have to pay our bills. And we have a lot of those. First of all is the house. And insurance for it. We live in a modest house because we decided that we would rather live in a normal sized house then a mcmansion and have more money to spend on fun things like vacations and going out with friends. Now my car is paid for. The repairs can be expensive because it has 100,000 miles on it, but as long as the repairs are less expensive then a new car payment, we are keeping this car. Clint’s car is a bit more expensive but he can deduct it as a business expensive. That is how he sells it to me. Now, I know his car payment might be a little bit extravagant but it is really our only unnecessary expense. And it makes him happy, so you know what as long as we can make the payment without struggling then the car can stay.
Our student loan payments are also a pretty big expense but we try to impact that by negotiating for the lowest possible interest rate and have our payments drafted out of our bank accounts monthly. Most student loan and credit card companies will work with you to lower you interest rate, and will cut you a break if you draft your payment out of your checking account.
Food is another huge expense for us. We love to eat. We love to eat good food. We buy a lot of fruits and vegetables and sadly that gets expensive. It would be cheaper for us to eat pre-packaged food since you can buy it in bulk, but it well worth paying a little bit more to get fresh fruits and vegetables. I do only buy the fruits and veggies that are in season, and whenever possible I buy them in bulk at places like Costco of Sam’s club. Oranges, onions, potatoes and apples all keep well if stored properly so it easy to buy them in bulk.
I buy all my meat fresh and only buy the amount I am actually going to use. I also try to buy whatever is on sale at the meat counter that day. If boneless. Skinless chicken breasts are on sale, then that is what I am buying. I will buy more then what I need if what is on sale is a staple meat item because I can freeze the leftovers.
Now for dairy, canned fruit, packaged foods, frozen vegetables and other grocery items, I try to exclusively buy the store brand. Buying the generic brand is almost always cheaper, and it has the same ingredients as a private label. I buy generic:
Ice cream
Frozen vegetables
Canned fruit
Apple sauce
Macaroni and cheese
Rice
Beans
Bread
Cheese
Milk
Eggs
Chips, crackers etc.
Candy
Condiments
Baking ingredients
Now, don’t get me wrong. If the private brand is on sale that week, then I will buy whatever is cheaper. But usually the store brand is the cheapest. By buying mainly store brands I save between .50 cents and $2.00 on each item. That adds up when you are buying 15 to 30 items at a time.
Another way we “save” money is by selling things on eBay. I am an eBay fanatic. I buy and sell things regularly on eBay. I will buy anything from clothes to shoes to books to electronics. I rely heavily on feedback from other buyers and I always communicate with the seller to make sure that are attentive to the buyer’s needs. I like buy it now items because it allows me buy an item at a set price instead of allowing me to get involved in a bidding war. But if I decide on my highest maximum bid and stick to it, then bidding it just fine to.
Now items to sell on eBay:
Clothes
Shoes
Purses
Jewelry
Accessories
DVDS
CDS
Cell phones and mp3 players
Gift cards
Stuffed toys like webkinz or beanie babies.
The best tip for selling you item is to type it in the search box and see what others are selling it for. You don’t want to be the most expensive seller, but you do want to make a profit. I always offer free shipping and make my item a couple of dollars more expensive. Even if my item is not 15 dollars as opposed to ten, more people are drawn to it because of the free shipping.
Clint and I also are big fans of craigslist. If I need to purchase something big like furniture or a bike, I will look on craigslist. We have bought a desk and bookcase off of craigslist for a fraction of what it would have cost at pottery barn and we got free delivery. We also use craigslist to look for things like lawn care services or automotive services. Even if we don’t find an individual or a company that we like, at least we know what the going rate is.
Whenever I walk into an apparel store, I always start with the sales racks and work my way up from there. I have strict guidelines about how much I am willing to pay for an item. For example I am will not spend more than 20 dollars on top unless it is absolutely fantastic. Keeping this kind of a budget helps me from making extravagant purchases I later regret.
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