In regards to tip #3, I think you're missing the point. It's not really about the latte per se - you could replace latte with vending machine visit, pack of cigarettes, or bottle of wine, and still get the same result. It's more about the potential savings. The great thing about the latte example is that it clearly illustrates how making a small change in our daily spending can add up to big savings over time.
Great list, especially the snacks. Even on short flights, I never travel without something to stand in for a meal. Never know when aircraft or weather problems are going to delay arrival by hours.
I'd also add:
- Water bottle (empty going through security and then filled up at a water fountain...or bought once through security) - Much of the time that literal headache from airtravel is probably due to dehydration.
- Blanket or something long sleeved and socks (if traveling without them) - Airplanes are often cold and blankets aren't always available. This can also be used as a pillow and/or lumbar support should you need one.
My house is my biggest budget item - 2 mortgages (including escrow on the 1st), monthly assessments for my condo association and home owners insurance.
Wearing a pedometer helps you realize how little you move in an average day AND come up with ideas of how to increase it. For me, it made me appreciate bad parking spots!
As a tangible item, rent for sure. Although my biggest actual outgo is my debt repayments. My rent's about 30% of my take-home, and I live in a very safe area where as a petite girl, I can go running in the dark by myself w/o fear. Since that's my exercise, it's really important to me. I've looked at other places near mine, but they're SO MUCH MORE for SO MUCH LESS. Literally, they're almost what I pay and less than half the size.
My next closest expense is under 5% and everything else is under 2-3% so I feel like I'm doing okay.
Usually DH and I don't worry too much about what other people think. Luckily our families are fiscally conservative and understand priorities with money, but when we meet new people or talk with friends and they find out that we LOVE to travel, and do travel as often as possible, many people do not understand how we can afford to travel when it appears we live like they do. We happily explain that we can afford to travel for 2 reasons. The first reason is we prioritize our money and instead of spending money on eating out at expensive restaurants (cook at home), buying new clothes (shop consignment and thrift stores), driving new cars (buy good quality used and take public transportation a lot to save wear & tear and gas), etc. The second reason is we travel frugally. We do not skimp on experiences (less expensive to pay $30 for the entrance fee now than $1000 to come back and see what we missed), but we might find out the free day to visit a museum, use groupon and/or coupons for a city we are visiting, create a budget and pay cash as we go, and thoroughly research where we are going and what is available. We will take a bus for $2 instead of taxi for $20, we will wash our clothes at a local laundromat instead if paying for additional luggage, talk to locals and find great inexpensive restaurants, instead of expensive low quality restaurants in tourist areas. We use travel guides specifically geared towards frugal travel, but we also have a standard of what we are willing to tolerate and will choose the options that meet our needs instead of just getting the cheapest. Going to a local grocery store in a foreign city is always fun and we look forward to at least one meal per trip of great local bread, cheese, fruit and wine.
Most people want to do it all and either use credit to acheive that lifestyle or float through life not really developing their own set of priorities and find it easier to "reward" themselves with inconsequential things that have no true meaning to them. Amazingly people that we talk to about our view of spending nod in agreement, but we have never seen any of them actually change the way they live. They still want to take the trips we do, but can not seem to find a way prioritize it.
My husband and I already do this. We both have our one or two things were we like to have top quality. For me, I have to have a nice cell phone and good quality cosmetics.
The brilliance of this is that it's not about social pressure, it's about conserving energy. Until we reach full enlightenment/samadhi/sainthood/whatever, it's going to require some energy to deal with other people's expectations and requests. Having an effective strategy for countering those demands without expending a lot of emotional (or financial) energy just gives you that much more energy to do what you really care about.
My apartment rent in Dallas has got to be the biggest item in my budget and I'm living in relatively cheap apartments. It's a good 30% of my income. What a shock it was when my previous rent was like 1/10 of what it is now!
Likewise! (Why do you think I went with that photo?)
What I found after a while, though, was that I could reuse my old pens. Whenever I started feeling like I really wanted a new pen, I'd get out my old pens. I'd get out some ink. (I have more than a dozen colors colors of fountain pen ink within arm's reach as type this.) I'd get out a fancy notebook.
Then I'd write something.
Usually, by the time I'd written a scene in a new story, or a couple of haiku, or the first paragraph of a new Wise Bread post, the urge to buy a new pen would have passed. Because, after all, I have some perfectly good pens.
It's great if you can do it. I mostly do, now—I think my friends and family have given up on trying to get me to spend money on stuff that they think I ought to have. But I've gotten many, many comments over the years from people who have trouble resisting the pressures to spend on things other than what they most want.
Having come up with an idea that I thought might work for some of them, I figured I ought to share it.
Credit Cards...*sigh*
I just wrote a post on some strategies to reduce the costs of insurance (without changing insurance companies). Please give it a read:
http://compoundingreturns.blogspot.com/2011/01/cut-car-insurance-costs-n...
Hopefully this provides a few more pointers to those looking to reduce insurance costs.
Pat
I agree 100%. If you're going to indulge in beer, why not spend a little extra and make it worthwhile? Besides that, cheap beer tastes like garbage.
In regards to tip #3, I think you're missing the point. It's not really about the latte per se - you could replace latte with vending machine visit, pack of cigarettes, or bottle of wine, and still get the same result. It's more about the potential savings. The great thing about the latte example is that it clearly illustrates how making a small change in our daily spending can add up to big savings over time.
Housing then utilities. Not much I can do about the mortgage at the moment other than pay it off faster, already have a pretty low interest rate.
Biggest Budget Bites:
1. Mortgage
2. Daycare
3. Credit Cards
4. Car
5. Groceries
6. Gas for car
I'm embarassed to admit that it's my chapter 13 bankruptcy payment! I don't know if it was worth it to do it. Love your site!
Great list, especially the snacks. Even on short flights, I never travel without something to stand in for a meal. Never know when aircraft or weather problems are going to delay arrival by hours.
I'd also add:
- Water bottle (empty going through security and then filled up at a water fountain...or bought once through security) - Much of the time that literal headache from airtravel is probably due to dehydration.
- Blanket or something long sleeved and socks (if traveling without them) - Airplanes are often cold and blankets aren't always available. This can also be used as a pillow and/or lumbar support should you need one.
My house is my biggest budget item - 2 mortgages (including escrow on the 1st), monthly assessments for my condo association and home owners insurance.
I would love car insurance for that Mini Cooper!! My fave car ever!
Wearing a pedometer helps you realize how little you move in an average day AND come up with ideas of how to increase it. For me, it made me appreciate bad parking spots!
As a tangible item, rent for sure. Although my biggest actual outgo is my debt repayments. My rent's about 30% of my take-home, and I live in a very safe area where as a petite girl, I can go running in the dark by myself w/o fear. Since that's my exercise, it's really important to me. I've looked at other places near mine, but they're SO MUCH MORE for SO MUCH LESS. Literally, they're almost what I pay and less than half the size.
My next closest expense is under 5% and everything else is under 2-3% so I feel like I'm doing okay.
Usually DH and I don't worry too much about what other people think. Luckily our families are fiscally conservative and understand priorities with money, but when we meet new people or talk with friends and they find out that we LOVE to travel, and do travel as often as possible, many people do not understand how we can afford to travel when it appears we live like they do. We happily explain that we can afford to travel for 2 reasons. The first reason is we prioritize our money and instead of spending money on eating out at expensive restaurants (cook at home), buying new clothes (shop consignment and thrift stores), driving new cars (buy good quality used and take public transportation a lot to save wear & tear and gas), etc. The second reason is we travel frugally. We do not skimp on experiences (less expensive to pay $30 for the entrance fee now than $1000 to come back and see what we missed), but we might find out the free day to visit a museum, use groupon and/or coupons for a city we are visiting, create a budget and pay cash as we go, and thoroughly research where we are going and what is available. We will take a bus for $2 instead of taxi for $20, we will wash our clothes at a local laundromat instead if paying for additional luggage, talk to locals and find great inexpensive restaurants, instead of expensive low quality restaurants in tourist areas. We use travel guides specifically geared towards frugal travel, but we also have a standard of what we are willing to tolerate and will choose the options that meet our needs instead of just getting the cheapest. Going to a local grocery store in a foreign city is always fun and we look forward to at least one meal per trip of great local bread, cheese, fruit and wine.
Most people want to do it all and either use credit to acheive that lifestyle or float through life not really developing their own set of priorities and find it easier to "reward" themselves with inconsequential things that have no true meaning to them. Amazingly people that we talk to about our view of spending nod in agreement, but we have never seen any of them actually change the way they live. They still want to take the trips we do, but can not seem to find a way prioritize it.
Housing is the biggest item in our budget. We have a two-bedroom apartment, which we love. However, we do try to cut our costs in variable expenses.
My husband and I already do this. We both have our one or two things were we like to have top quality. For me, I have to have a nice cell phone and good quality cosmetics.
That's a really insightful comment—you're right, and I not thought of it that way before.
Thanks!
The brilliance of this is that it's not about social pressure, it's about conserving energy. Until we reach full enlightenment/samadhi/sainthood/whatever, it's going to require some energy to deal with other people's expectations and requests. Having an effective strategy for countering those demands without expending a lot of emotional (or financial) energy just gives you that much more energy to do what you really care about.
Elegant!
My apartment rent in Dallas has got to be the biggest item in my budget and I'm living in relatively cheap apartments. It's a good 30% of my income. What a shock it was when my previous rent was like 1/10 of what it is now!
Housing is my biggest expense, doesn’t help living in San Francisco!
Likewise! (Why do you think I went with that photo?)
What I found after a while, though, was that I could reuse my old pens. Whenever I started feeling like I really wanted a new pen, I'd get out my old pens. I'd get out some ink. (I have more than a dozen colors colors of fountain pen ink within arm's reach as type this.) I'd get out a fancy notebook.
Then I'd write something.
Usually, by the time I'd written a scene in a new story, or a couple of haiku, or the first paragraph of a new Wise Bread post, the urge to buy a new pen would have passed. Because, after all, I have some perfectly good pens.
student loans.
It's great if you can do it. I mostly do, now—I think my friends and family have given up on trying to get me to spend money on stuff that they think I ought to have. But I've gotten many, many comments over the years from people who have trouble resisting the pressures to spend on things other than what they most want.
Having come up with an idea that I thought might work for some of them, I figured I ought to share it.
I'm sorry you feel that way, Will. I can't help what I like, and I do like veggie thin crust pizzas. :p
You're very welcome, Cathy! =)
Excellent suggestion, Ray! Thanks for pointing it out!