Thursday, May 06, 2010

Financial Food for Thought

While browsing on line I came across this article. I TOTALLY agree with what Jeff Yeager said, "But what we're missing is the golden epiphany of the time -- not can we save, but what do we need?"

I used to be a coupon FREAK! Scouring websites and papers and cutting out ANY coupon I found. It didn't matter if I used that product or not, it was a coupon! Who knows when I would want to save 30 cents on 5 cans of Pringles?! I finally realized I was spending time throwing out coupons that I didn't use. Now I browse the coupons and if it's a product I use (or one I know a friend uses: diapers, etc). I'll clip the coupon. 9 times out of 10, I just buy the store brand because it ends up being cheaper than the name brand (even if I had a coupon for the name brand).

I still plan our our weekly meals and use that to plan my grocery list. Make the weekly menu not only streamlines the grocery buying process, but eliminates the "What's for dinner?" question that so often used to lead to, "I don't know. I didn't get anything out to thaw so lets just go out to eat."

I also liked Yeager's thoughts on housing. Sure, I'd LOVE a bigger house, but a bigger house would lead to more space, which would lead to me feeling the need to fill all the new space with new stuff, stuff we didn't really need. I like my small house. At times I wish I had more cupboard space, or a bigger bathroom, etc. but who doesn't?

We are actually in the process of getting rid of crap we have that we don't use. If it truly is crap, it is going to to the curb for spring clean up. If it is decent and something we could sell, then it goes on craigslist, ebay or in the garage sale. Everything else gets put in a place. I think we have 3 lawnmowers right now. Only 1 of which we actually use. We have a lawn rake, it's a gas powered thing and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what it is supposed to do. All I know is that Ayron thought we needed it so when my Dad offered it to him (My dad moved from MI to SC), Ayron took it. We have 3 snow blowers. One doesn't work. One does work, but is smaller. Our third one was given to us by Ayron's dad when they moved. It is a monstrosity, but it clears the driveway in 2 passes down and back, so I think we'll keep that one! I have boxes of Corelle dishes that I have yet to open. They were given to us as wedding presents. If I haven't used them in the five years we have been married, why am I hanging on to them?

As for "less destructive habits," we have discovered a few. About once a week we bike to the local school park to let TJ play. We get our exercise biking and he gets to run off energy in the playground. It often turns into a social event because the school is a halfway mark between our house and friends house (she also has a two year old boy who loves to run around). We go to the mentioned friend's house and feed the fish in the pond behind her house. The boys LOVE to throw the bread into the water and watch the fish fight over it. If I have a bread product that goes hard, it gets tossed in the "fish" baggie and when the baggie is full, we go feed the fish. We also let TJ play outside in the rain. That was the most entertaining for all involved. He loved it! Sure I had a muddy two year old and an equally muddy husband afterwards, but they wash, and so do their clothes.

The authors last remarks about toilet paper made me laugh. What good is buying the cheap 1 ply toilet paper when one drop of liquid makes the whole sheet disappear? I will stick with my White Cloud toilet paper thank you very much!

So I am curious. What things are you doing to keep your spending habits under control (or to change them)?

1 comment:

todd helmkamp said...

I'm a terrible impulse buyer, so we've instituted a check system. Whenever I want to buy anything over a certain amount, I have to check with Bethany first. She is usually able to talk me out of it. :)

The single best thing I did for our finances was to track every penny for a month. Once I saw how much money we were wasting I wanted to throw up.