No, this is not another post about Johan's antics. He hasn't learned to pinch yet. But I have. After a couple checks-run-out-before-the-month experiences, I decided we need to cut down on some expenses. However, we pretty much like our lifestyle and don't want to a) quit drinking wine, b) quit having cable, c) or spend the summer cleaning our house.
However, reviewing our expenses, we were able to make some easy changes that I think will make a noticeable difference:
-I called the cable company and threatened to switch to satellite dish, even though I don't think we can because of our front yard tree. Cowering before our mighty threat, the cable company reduced our monthly cable/Internet bill from $120.00 to $70.00. They also gave as twice as many channels, including Soap.net which has old episodes of 90210. And HBO. Uh, awesome. Savings: $50.00 per month.
-I talked to our cleaning person who comes once every two weeks and got a quote for just cleaning the main floor and cutting out the basement (which pretty much just needs to be vacuumed once in awhile. We rarely use that bathroom and it's "Eduardo's bathroom" anyway...). She said she'd charge $50.00 per clean rather than $65.00. Savings: $30.00 per month.
-We agreed to switch to Target brand diapers. Pampers really are better quality, but crap, it's crap. So, Johan, the economy is tough and we all have to do our part. We buy approximately 2 large boxes of diapers per month. Pampers large box is $20.00. Target large box is $13.99. Savings: $12.00 per month.
-I have reduced yoga from 2x per week to 1x per week. I do a treadmill workout when I would be at my Tuesday yoga class. 5 classes cost $60.00. Average monthly savings: $60.00
TOTAL MONTHLY SAVINGS: $152.00.
Not too bad, considering we won't even notice these changes. Except that I get to watch more 90210.
What else are some good cost savings that don't involve huge sacrifices?
4 comments:
Probably if you pray hard enough, Jesus will just give you more money. It would be very Christ-like.
Funny, we were just having this same conversation at my house. I concluded what you did, I am not giving up wine.
I will wash the dog and only have Petsmart trim her nails - a savings of $44 per month.
The girls will probably lose their gas charge cards - savings of about $200 per month.
Seems somehow wrong to me that the only ones suffering are the kids and the dog. What with Johan and his crummy diapers and my girls and no gas in their cars and no doggie spa for Lucy.
We are in tough times and if Mama doesn't have her wine, it'll be even uglier!
oh and no more eating out.
We've been eating less meat, but I don't think you're a big carnivore anyway.
But our trick with cable: we told them we didn't want cable a long time ago, so they stopped charging us for it. Have they come out to turn off the switch to the cable? No. No they have not.
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