The Stuff We Do To Save A Dollar

I get asked all the time what exactly Marco and I save money on.  People love lists and I love to make them, so I thought I'd compile one big one here to showcase where we save and what that does to our yearly budget.

Things We Do to Save Dollars:

1.  Our own hair:  Marco cuts his own hair at home, and as of tonight I started doing my own too.  I learned a few things by watching youtube videos, particularly this one and this one, but otherwise I just wing it.  This saves us about $50 a year in cuts and tips.

2.  Dog care:  Marco cuts the dogs nails and I bathe them.  I also learned how to express their anal glands which is just as glamourous as it sounds- but all together, this saves us about $100 per year.  *Note: we still get their shots and flea/tick/heartworm regularly*

3.  Paper towels:  Last Christmas I traded some sewing for a few pairs of flannel boxers and made a whole pile of reusable not-paper-towels.  They're still going strong and every once in a while I will pick up an extra receiving blanket from Goodwill and make up a few more.  Total yearly savings: $20 or so.

4.  Entertainment:  We have the cheapest internet we could find, no cable, only Netflix on demand and love our library cards.  I think we have been to one movie in theaters this year- Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.  So we're pretty low key.  Concerts really aren't my thing and Marco knows how to get us invited to the right parties.  All in all by not spending money on cable, DVDs, tickets to events or other similar things, I'd say we save about $250 a year.

5.  Heat and A/C:  We don't turn on the heat until November 1st, and don't turn on the A/C until June 1st.  In the winter we wear a lot of socks, drinks lots of hot tea and double up on sheets.  But in the summer we lose our comforter as soon as the heat starts to settle in, only run the dishwasher at night and rarely run the dryer or the oven.  This has given us 4 months a year where our total utility bills are less than $50 a month.  Compared to our other bills and average usage, that's about $200 in savings each year as well.

Cerulean wears his sweaters all winter

6.  Biking to work and for small errands:  We save about $40 dollars a month just by biking to work.  It added 10 whole minutes to our commutes and cut out any gym memberships we were considering.  Total yearly savings: $400.

7. Food:  When we decided to go veg 5 nights a week (sometimes even more) we immediately starting seeing savings differences.  Growing our own veggies, making our own tomato sauce, and meal planning out of our freezer/pantry all help too.  I am trying very hard to get back into meal planning and hopefully that will help us save even more and waste even less.  It's hard to say how much we actually save by doing this, but when I asked neighbors and friends how much they spend on food monthly, we're spending around $200 less each month.  That's $2,400 a year!

8.  Water:  Our rain barrels and inside water collection help us water our garden, pets and yard.  Savings: $60 a year.

9.  Body Care:  I gave up shampoo and neither one of us wears cologne.  I rarely use makeup and when I do it's not expensive.  I traded for a year's worth of soap for our family and I make my own body scrub from ingredients in our kitchen.  Yearly savings: $100.

10.  Buying Loved:  Our fancy new camera, almost all of our furniture, our books, grill, even our bed sheets, picture frames and about 50% of my wardrobe are all previously loved.  Yearly savings: A LOT

Of course all of these savings mean that we get to splurge in other areas- soy based ice creams for instance- and of course everyone's lifestyles are different, but these are how we feel comfortable cutting back.

Anyone else bartering for a year's supply of soap out there?  Or taking a longer commute to save on gas?  Anyone see any topics that we're just totally missing?  I'd love more suggestions!

Setting Debt Goals

At the beginning of this year, Marco and I set a few goals for ourselves.  You know, regular stuff like, "be healthier" and "participate more intentionally."  This has led to a few guidelines in our home that we have been working on over the last few months.  The guidelines are not rules- they're more like guidelines, but their purpose is to help us achieve our goals.  For instance, "be healthier" means move more; eat more slow foods; listen and take control over your body.

Well one of the guidelines for "participate more intentionally" is to pay off my debt- which I shared on Monday.  *I know, I know, will she ever stop talking about her debt?!  Not until it is gone.*

But what I want to share today, are a few of my (our) guidelines for how we are going to get there.  Honestly, right now I am only thinking about my personal student loan debt, but I can see this becoming fairly addictive (mortgage debt?!).  So these are a few things I do to make sure this is a positive experience that still leaves plenty of time (and money) for playing.

Guideline #1:  Set A Debt Spending Goal.  Each month, I am trying to put $1,000 towards my debt.  Oh yeah, it's serious.  This means that sometimes I have to get a little creative in my endeavors  and sometimes I make a few sacrifices  but it really helps me see a smaller, more achievable goal than just the grand total looming over me.  I picked $1,000 because it is roughly 3 times my minimum payment and it is large enough for me to push myself each month, but small enough to actually be achievable.  If you are planning your own debt free plan, you may want to pick a different number, but $1,000 is perfect for me.

Since I am not making tons of cash yet with Oxford Handmade, meeting my $1,000 goal pushes me to promote myself more (you can check out upcoming classes here), sell more, and produce more (to promote and sell).  This also means that I am going to host a sample sale in a few weeks- cleaning out samples/seconds will free up some closet space and make a little cash to help me with my goal next month.

Guideline #2:  "Found" Cast Goes Straight to the Debt.  My income tax return?  Straight to the debt.  A refund for a service I never received?  Straight to the debt.  Stuff that I find in my house that we no longer want/need that I can sell on Craigslist or via a Facebook Resale page?  Straight to debt.  This month alone I have "found" over $200 in stuff to sell on line or at my booth at the Antiques Depot.  Again, easy money and spring cleaning all rolled into one.

Guideline #3:  Trim the Fat.  I decided several months ago that there were areas that I was willing to cut back on in order to have more money for my debt.  One of them being new clothes- this was easy since my friends and I have clothing swaps about once a month and I really like my clothes anyway.  But another area was groceries.  Y'all know I like a challenge right?  So I made the personal goal of only spending $100 a month on groceries.  I have been following www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com for several months now, and you know, so far so good for us.  I know that we have a little extra lenience if necessary, but my goal has been $100.  There has only been once when I went over- and that was because our favorite salsa was on sale... The extra money that is left over from the grocery budget goes straight back to my debt.  So I have incentive (other than personal stubbornness) and a built in safety to help meet my $1,000 a month.


And finally Guideline #4:  Have an End Date.  My goal is to pay off all $9.000+ of my student loan debt by December 31st.  That means roughly 9 months of payments (I am counting March in those months).  With a goal of $1,000 a month I should just be able to make it.  Does the acid in my stomach boil as I worry about whether or not I will be able to make it?  Yep.  But I am bound and determined.  And once January 1st rolls around, that will be an extra $1,00 a month in our pockets!


Is anyone else trying to tackle a demon like debt this month?  I am all sweaty just thinking about it, but I know I will feel so much better this time next year.