I’m Going to Save $300 in 30 Days
What strategies and money-saving tactics can be implemented in order to reduce one’s monthly spending by $300 and not incur any drastic change in lifestyle (other than having an extra $300 on hand)? That’s my challenge.
Being an employee of Borders, I am fortunate to have access to the latest thinking in personal financial guidance through book manuscripts, advance reading copies, and—periodically—first-hand access to the experts. During the month of January, Borders and I will be sharing with you an inside look into some of the best financial guides coming out this spring and giving you direct online contact with some of our experts. Authors such as Suze Orman and David Bach are scheduled to be available for an online chat to give you customized advice and answer your financial and budgeting concerns.
At first look, $300 in a month doesn’t appear to be that significant a number; however, considering (with the exception of gasoline, bills, and utilities) I’m not sure I spend $300 in a month, where can I begin to cut back? I suppose here is as good a time as any to place a restriction on this challenge—I refuse at any cost to buy sub-standard beer.
I suppose since I don’t have an exorbitant lifestyle, the good news is that I will not have to sacrifice any real luxuries. The bad news is which of my guilty pleasures or favorite habits must be abated in order to reach my goal?
I begin on January 4 in the new year with my challenge. I’ll at that time seek out the experts’ advice, share with you my progress, and hopefully hear from you which tactics you have found successful and even how you’re doing if you decide to join me in this effort toward a little fiscal fitness.
Related posts:
- Save $300 in 30 daysWell, its January 4th; time to start putting money back into my wallet. From the responses thus far it appears we will have many people along for the journey—great; it will be imperative for us...
- Save $300 in 30 daysThank you to David Bach for his advice on starting over this New Year. He will be sharing periodic guest posts with us throughout the month and this Friday (01/08/10) he will be participating in...
I would like to do this too. I have been saying that this is the year that I want to make a change in my financial situation and get out of debt, so I am going to be following you and doing this starting today even though I am a couple days behind.
My post may be toast. Someone mentioned they liked the bread recipe - I wanted to point them to just one of many (hey, you can get the mag at Borders, so it’s not just a plug) - but there’s a “five minutes to artisan bread” recipe from Mother Earth News online. (Free - you’ve just saved right there!)
Anyway - I started to mention the value we’ve found in Freecycle, which is an organization in communities all over the country intended to keep good stuff out of landfills. (You know perfectly great stuff does get tossed, or else winds up in your closet taking up space.)
The rules are: It’s free: You can offer or ask for anything in usable condition (but no money can be exchanged!), politeness matters, and… a few more things, but it’s pretty simple. It’s locally moderated. For example, I acquired a collection of decent heavy duty candles (who’d want that, right? can you spell winter power outage and 94 mph winds every December? They are expensive to buy and wonderful to help me keep from tripping over the cat in the temporary dark!) Using Freecycle, I also got rid of an old stereo tuner and amplifer that was hanging around here that someone actually asked for. Need a bed? Quilts? To get rid of outgrown kid stuff? Someone needs it. Downside, it’s sure not as handy as shopping, and might not reduce your $300 right away, but if you’re patient… could be helpful. I’m done now.
The easiest answer for me is to stop unnecessary purchases. That means books, coffee shop visits, and clothing for me. I had a severe hit to my credit card when I had to pay out $4,500 for my son’s college tuition at the end of December. That means I’ll be making some big payments for awhile. In order to pay it down, I’ve dug into my liquid savings and doubled some payments. On the savings end, I added $25 per paycheck to my 403b retirement plan to increase my take-home and lesson my taxes. My husband has turned down the heat considerably, and I’m already wearing all my clothes and wrapping myself in a blanket while I work on the computer at home. It’ll be tough to save $300 per month, although it’s a worthy goal. Going on a financial diet means accounting for every penny spent. Been there before. I’m already a coupon clipper (thanks, Borders) and sales shopper. I don’t have much to sell. Half-price Books is a good option to get rid of old books, records, CDs and DVDs. Sometimes you get cash and sometimes you get store credit. I’ve avoided the after-Christmas sales, too.
Kathy B.: I love Freecycle too. I often post things there, although I’ve only actually asked for (and gotten) one thing. I like getting rid of things that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
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Here’s another suggestion about phone service. I have Magic Jack and it really is only $19.95 a year. I think to get the whole thing set-up, it was a total cost of around $40-$50. But after that…NO BILLS…NO COST.
great tips! think we already mentioned Skype as a phone service that costs nothing to call other users… there are other services out there but this one I’ve actually used. It can ride on your computer service as a good way to make long distance conference calls!
For example, say your son or daughter or spouse is posted with the military overseas or even away at school and downloads the free software — you can even make web cam calls, show them/see the grand kids - etc - for no cost.
I like this one a lot, even if you keep phone service.
You can also use it to call regular phones (some overseas calls can be higher -
great tips! think we already mentioned Skype as a phone service that costs nothing to call other users… there are other services out there but this one I’ve actually used. It can ride on your computer service as a good way to make long distance conference calls!
For example, say your son or daughter or spouse is posted with the military overseas or even away at school and downloads the free software — you can even make web cam calls, show them/see the grand kids - etc - for no cost.
I like this one a lot, even if you keep phone service.
You can also use it to call regular phones (some overseas calls can be higher - but there are plans to deal with that if the other party doesn’t have a computer.)
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The response to national disaster is awesome but it’s a real shame that so many citizens take advantage of the sad situations.
I mean everytime there is an earthquake, a flood, an oil spill - there’s always a group of heartless people who rip off tax payers.
This is in response to reading that 4 of Oprah Winfreys “angels” got busted ripping off the system. Shame on them!
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/19/crimesider/entry5251471.shtml
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