Reporter's Query of the Week: Changing Habits to Save Money

[Greg Summers]

Time is money, money is money, crap is money, nearly everything we do consumes money. Being disorganized, uneducated and inattentive costs money.

Recognizing that it is far easier to save a dollar than it is to make a dollar is the key to long term wealth accumulation.

One of the most successful organizations in the world's history has distilled the secrets to eliminating the muda (waste in Japanese)

These same techniques can be used by individuals as well. Live a lean (frugal) life by eliminating the muda and get rich in the process- http://eliminatethemuda.com/what-is-muda/

For a shortcut to getting started check out http://eliminatethemuda.com/2009/09/...r-using-the-5s

Interested in learning more from other sources? Google "Lean Management"

[MerchantsBarter]

Great post idea btw.

Everybody knows the saying, "Time is money" and it literally is. Employees and employers waste millions of dollars daily (slight exageration, perhaps, but globally speaking...) nickling and diming with time. I speak from experience, and have changed my tactics... AND IT'S WORKING.

My tip: "Think it. Do it."

Obviously, if it's a major, life-and-death situation, maybe invest a few mintues consideration, but I'm talking about the small situations: an awkward phone call, email, or setting up a meeting, etc.

Collectively we waste HOURS trying to read our invisible chrystal ball to predict the best-case scenario - and most of the time we're WRONG! I've found that by just doing it, not only am I far more productive, my stress levels are way down as a result, I don't worry about the little things, and I actually have more time and energy to focus on doing the right thing with slightly bigger things.

Try it now... and don't think about it, JUST DO IT!

Anthony Donnelly
Merchants Barter Exchange

[michelelyl]

My best tip is to grow a garden. Even if you live in an apartment in the snow country, you can grow an herb garden on a window sill, or a dwarf lemon tree, or swiss chard, or spinach without having a yard! Containers are free almost free at garage sales, dirt is almost free from community gardens or construction sites, bags of soil amendment or even miracle-gro soil are very cheap. Seeds are free from friends, fresh food you buy or very cheap at a gardening store. A little water that you save from letting your shower or kitchen sink get 'hot' and you you in business! Free food! And compostable for even better soil next year, and more free seeds!!

[Ms. Ferret]

My worst non-tequila-related habit is buying random things online. It's never the big purchases that are the problem, either, since I'm well aware of those, and save up accordingly -- no, it's $60 here and $40 there and $55 somewhere else. I'll see a shiny object in a site sidebar or a blog and go "ooh, I should get that. I'm sure I'll use it. It's not too expensive". Have seven or eight of those moments a month, though, and you do tend to end up wondering where all your extra cash went.

Revelation: if you have your credit card number committed to memory within a few weeks of receiving a new one, you might be buying shit online a little too often.

My solution? I use delicious.com (online social bookmarking) to implement the old 30-day rule: instead of buying an item right away, I'll tag it as "shopping", then give myself one month to cool off and think the purchase over. Since the date is saved along with the link to the item, I can check back on my delicious "shopping" page periodically to see what items have matured (i.e., have a "saved on" date of over a month ago).

If after one month of waiting I still want the item, I'll buy it without guilt (okay, so actually I'll wait for a good deal, THEN buy it without guilt). In the vast majority of cases, however, I find that I can't remember why I wanted the shiny object in the first place. I won't say that I've gotten rid of my bad habit completely, but this technique has saved me a fair amount of money AND clutter.

[Frugal Duchess]

Greetings all,

Here are links to column I wrote about bogus sales. (It was my first weekly question.)

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar...=rss_localnews

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...nkTrack=rss-14

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...duchess09.html

http://www.bnd.com/yourlife/story/958762.html

Next week, I'll post links to the published column about bad habits.

[countingcoinsfinance]

I am a late reply but i wanted to share my out look.

I think a huge money waster (and i am guilty of this too) is not keeping up with your preliminary checkup and doctors appointments. I tend to fall behind on my physicals and dental cleanings ect. In the short term it seems like it is saving you money untill all the sudden you have several cavities and need a root canal (it happened to my brother after 4 years of not going to the dentist).

This is made even more important because i suffer from depression, if i miss apointments with my psychologist it may not seem like a big deal to me at the time. But i tend to have bi-monthly panic attacks which i can get under controll by someone kicking me in the butt and saying "you have to get your stuff done work through it". even though i know i need this i tend to miss appointments, and this can result in me hitting a slump and not getting anything done for a couple weeks at a time.