A few years ago, I had to rethink
my budget. When I got out of college, I
got a full time teaching job that paid fairly well and had full medical and
dental coverage attached. I got into
good habits and bad habits during that time.
The first thing I did was to save one of my monthly paychecks
immediately. They went into my bank
account and when I hit a certain amount, I divvied up that money between savings,
certificates of deposit, and U.S. savings bonds. Of course I already had money automatically
deducted from my checks to go into a 504 retirement fund. Within a year I had saved enough money and was
looking for a condo.
The bad
habits that I developed were as follows:
if I saw something small that interested me, I bought it without a
thought. CDs, books, DVDs, movie
tickets, clothes. Whatever. I also spent money on classes and theater
tickets whenever I wanted. I considered
those two things my “big ticket” items, but things I deserved that would better
me as a person, an educator, a writer, and an actor.
What
happened afterward completely changed how I view money and how I view shopping
in general.
I lost my
job and then I got sick.
When I got
sick, I couldn’t work for a while and due to unforeseen circumstances, I was
not eligible for either unemployment or workman’s comp. Within a year, I saw my savings dwindle to
pay medical bills.
I went from
being financially stable and looking to purchase a home of my own to being
destitute within a year.
There was
nothing I could do about my health except get myself better. By the time I
healed, I was in a hole of close to $100,000 including money owed and money
lost by unemployment.
So, I
seriously had to rethink what I was purchasing.
These are some of the things I stopped spending money on until I got my
finances back in order. I figured I’d
share and hope it helps some of you out there. . .
What not to spend
your money on ever if you are broke (or almost never). . .
Books: Now, I know this is hypocritical since I am a writer and I want people
to buy my books, but here is something that you should not spend the money on
if you don’t have it. I can give the
reason in one word: Libraries. There is no reason whatsoever to purchase a
book when you can borrow it. Many times
you can even download it for free, not only from your library, but from from Amazon, I-tunes, or other Internet sites as well.
This is especially true for classic novels. If the book is in the public domain, you can
usually type in something like: Free Name Your Title pdf and you’ll get
a list of dozens of sites that will allow you to download a novel or play for
free. I made sure that my book Luke Aloysius: Bloodline was available to borrow on Kindle for all my fellow starving artists to enjoy.
Music: Now, I know that there are CDs you may have to have because you know
will listen to them everyday for the rest of your life, but in general, you can
get most music for free. I’m not talking
about pirating (which is stealing, so don’t do it!), again I’m talking about
libraries. Whenever I stop at the
library, I sift through the CD collection and take home five new CDs to listen
to. If I really want an album that isn’t
in the library, I put it on reserve. You
can also download some free music legally from I-tunes. They give away free music every week and now,
with I-tunes radio, you can listen to any music you want to for free until you
get sick of it.
DVDs: For older movies, check Youtube first. Type in Name
Your Title Entire Film and see if it comes up. If that doesn’t work: Library.
The library should be your best friend for all types of media.
Newspapers
and magazines: Library, library,
library. The only thing to note is that
if you are looking for the paper to look through the classifieds, you may have
to go to the resource desk to get the classifieds. Some libraries have found that people will
steal the classifieds (rude!), so they keep the classifieds behind the
counter. All you have to do is give them
your library card to borrow that section.
When you’re finished and return the classifieds, they give you back your
library card. Just make sure you bring
scrap paper to the library with you so you can write down the contact info of
all the jobs you find.
Scrap and draft paper: Usually anywhere you work, they are tossing
out tons of copier paper everyday. When
I was teaching at one job, every time we printed out anything from either email
or the Internet, it automatically printed out a cover page with your name on
it. I would squirrel away these cover
pages in the bottom of my filing cabinet.
At the end of the year, there was a paper shortage for the last month of
school. No one was able to copy
anything. I went back to my stash of
cover pages and used that to make copies of lessons for my students. I still keep an ongoing stack of paper that
is printed on one side to use for writing drafts. It’s not only thrifty, but it saves trees as
well!
Grant and contest information: There are many websites and services out
there that will give you up to date grant and contest information for a monthly
fee. The heck with that. You still have to do all the work,
therefore: library (do you see a trend
here?) Just tell the reference librarian
what you need and she’ll give you a stack of books to look through. All up to date.
Clothing: You heard me right. Of course this is dependent upon your
needs. If you need to purchase an interview
suit, then you should do so, but try to do so by stacking coupons (mixing a
store coupon with a manufacturer’s coupon and maybe even a store sale). By stacking coupons, I got a $95 dress for
$15- new for the season. You can get
free clothes in different ways. First is
by trading with a friend. A lot of times
we think we need new clothes, but we are just tired of them. My cousin and my best friend always give me
their unwanted clothes. The clothes my
cousin gives me are too small for me, but I give them to my neighbor, who is a
widower and needs them. I do keep shoes
that my cousin sends my way because we are the same size shoe. My best friend will send me clothes and I
will send my unwanteds right back to her.
She divvies the stuff I give to her up with herself, her sister-in-law
and her daughter.
Another way to get
clothing for free is by utilizing your credit card points to get gift certificates to stores you love. You can
also get cash back with credit card points, but I find you get more money back
by selecting a gift certificate instead.
I will stockpile these for when I really need something or to use toward
buying gifts. I once paid $5 for close
to $100 in DVDs because I had gift cards, store cards, online coupons, and
store coupons. (Note: you have to understand that some stores have
a strict one-coupon-only policy. In
those stores I will stack my one coupon with a store sale.)
I Videos, classes, meditation tapes: Youtube.
I think Youtube is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It is the one Internet app I use all day,
every day. Everyday I use Youtube to
watch meditation tapes, to do research, to develop lesson plans, and to learn
new things. I have no less than 200
videos saved at any given moment waiting for me to watch them because I cannot
possibly watch them all at once. The
really cool thing about Youtube is that if you create an account (Free!), the
account links up what you watch to more related videos that you didn’t know
about. I found out about tons of Youtube
channels that I use everyday because Youtube felt I might enjoy them. Each day I will type in a search for
meditation videos. I usually put in Guided Meditation for Whatever Topic and
hundreds will pop up. There are
meditations for manifesting goals, creating peace in your life, for letting go
of stress, to save the oceans, you name it.
I also am using Youtube to learn new languages. Because of Youtube, I now know several Italian
children’s songs and I can say the entire Greek alphabet. I am learning how to say the Lord’s Prayer in
Aramaic and I learned what in the world Enochian is (it’s the language of
angels, apparently). I use other videos
to learn cooking techniques, recipes, teaching techniques, to gather background
for literature I’m teaching. . .you name it, the sky’s the limit.
Land lines: Unless it’s part of your internet package and
is cheaper that way, if you have a cell phone, you don’t need a land line. Most people I know with cell phones never use
their land lines. It’s just a waste of
money.
High cell phone bills: When I upgraded to a smart phone, I was
disappointed to find that my monthly bills (which were supposed to remain the
same) went up to $120 a month. I was
ready to trade back down and get a pay-as-you-go phone. But, instead I called my cell phone carrier
and talked with a customer service representative. I found that I didn’t use most of my minutes
or data each month. The operator
suggested that I take a lower plan which covered less minutes and data—minutes
and data I never used anyway. With one
phone call, I cut my cell bill from $120 a month to $73 a month. That’s $564 back in my pocket every
year. Not a bad piece of change.
Coaches:
Youtube and the Internet.
Everyone from Tony Robbins to Bob Proctor to Rhonda Byrne to whoever
have motivational and instructional clips posted for free. They use it to widen their audience. They have excellent, free, websites as well.
These are just a few of the expenses I learned to curb or
eliminate. If you can think of anything
I didn’t mention yet, please post below.
As a side note, I’d like to also take a moment to send my
prayers and love to Paris since recent tragedies. I will continue to pray for peace for all of
us and for an end to terrorism. If you
would like to read my take on what a true Martyr is, then please read my
earlier blog entitled “Martyr Defined” at
Also, please check out my new novel, Luke Aloysius: Bloodline on Kindle:
Live in Peace. –Laurie xo
Live in Peace. –Laurie xo
