Last night I had tea at a friend’s place and at one point the conversation turned to money. My friend made a statement that I thought was brilliant and wanted to share with you.
A few hours before our tea date I was at the grocery store where I was approached by a woman promoting the store’s credit card. By having one of these cards I would earn store points which can be used as cash when there are enough of them. I would get $0.35 off each liter of gas I bought at their gas station, with the card. I also would have gotten a free bag of cookies (which I didn’t even want)! All this at a low rate of 19.9%! What a deal!
I am in the place in my life where I am looking to eliminate debt not take on more. I declined the card, and the girl seemed confused as to why I didn’t want to apply for it. We are so numb to the effect of debt on our lives that some of us don’t want to eliminate what debts we have, because we are able to “maintain” it and we get what we want when we want it. Everyone else is doing it so it must be okay, right?
Wrong! Accumulating most debts is not good, as most debts are consumer purchases or items that depreciate in value once we buy them. The majority of the items bought are not “needs” in our lives but rather something that we “want”. I am guilty of this too. It takes conscious effort, with every purchase, to change our money spending habits. Debt is the rope around our “financial necks” just waiting to be pulled tight, let’s find ways to loosen that rope!
This being said, how do we save money, when there may be nothing we can cut out of our day to day spending (deep down we all know that we can probably cut back on something: making coffee vs buying it by the cup, drive a more fuel efficient vehicle, wait to buy things on sale vs buy it now at full price, etc…)? There is a simple answer… USE LESS of everything! If we use less water and electricity we save money on our utility bills as well as we help the planet out (this is a win-win situation!). If we use a little less hand soap each time we wash our hands the soap will last longer and we won’t have to buy as many of them through the year. If we ride our bike to work twice a week we use less gas in our car. If we respect our property, and are not as hard on it as we can be, it lasts longer and we save money by not replacing it as soon or as often as it may be being replaced now. The list of possible ways to use less is endless… You get the point.
Now, let’s put the last post and this one together and inspire a nation to be more mindful of how, and what, we spend our money on…
Step 1: ask ourself two questions every time we are about to buy an item. First: “do I NEED this, or is it something I WANT?” Second: “do I need to buy this TODAY or can I WAIT to save-up for the item and pay in cash?” Most of the time I find I can “wait and save-up” for the item as it is something I “want and don’t need it now”…
Step 2: stop buying as much as we “can”(the quotations are to relate back to us buying items in a fashion that places us father in debt). The government wants our money! If we don’t buy things we pay less taxes, and everyone wants to do that, right? I believe we pay our fair-share of taxes, so when we can save on them we should take advantage of it! Shop wisely!
Step 3: use less of the items you do buy. This will save you money as you will not need to buy as many of that item, and in turn we will pay less taxes too! We save money two-fold with this strategy! Love it!
Learning to spend money wisely is a learned skill. It will take practice and time to perfect. You will make purchases that fall into the “want now” category. Don’t fret. Learn from it, how did it make you feel, and how can you make a better decision the next time a similar situation comes your way? It will get easier, and become a natural part of your shopping experience, as you practice it. Promise.
Good luck! I know you can do it!
CHALLENGE: Use less of everything, and take notice of how it effects your spending, and your savings!
A Woman of Proverbs 31 