LIVE RICH For Less!
By Ellie Kay
Spring 2009
It's cool, not cheap, to learn how to do more with less and live well while on a budget!
It's a hip way to keep your money from saying adios before you've had a chance to put it in a savings account. It's also the best way to recession-proof your household, learning quick and easy ways to cut back on regular expenses while surviving and thriving with a comfortable lifestyle.
But you have to be proactive. Living rich for less won't just happen. You'll find, however, that a lot of these steps are much easier to take than you originally thought. So are you ready to save money, be cool and still find a way to live rich for less?
One of the reasons the average American family is not recession-proof is because they live a consumptive lifestyle, and this is particularly true at home. Here are some ways to experience the thrill of saving money room by room:
Kitchen
Combine oven dishes. Select menu items that will cook at the same temperature rather than heating the oven twice at two different tips. This can save $125 per year in energy costs.
Cloth napkins and real plates. Although it's less convenient, it's cheaper to wash than to buy paper. This tip saves almost $95 per year.
Quality paper products. Sometimes the cheaper versions of paper products end up costing you far more. The paper towels I use are 25 percent thicker and clothlike, making it easier to handle my cleaning needs. I use fewer sheets because I just rinse, wring and reopen to get tougher jobs done. This saves me money in the long run, about $50 a year.
Check seals on your refrigerator and clean the coils to save $50 per year on energy costs.
Family Room
Coverings. If you still have young children at home, you may want to wait to have your furniture recovered. By purchasing a quality slipcover for $65 instead of buying a new sofa for $850, you save $785. By placing a crocheted doily for $15 on the coffee table to cover scratches made by a speeding Corvette (Hot Wheels size!), you save $115 over buying a new table
for $130.
Quick cleaning. Spills on carpeting and furniture are best attacked as soon as they happen. It's a wise idea to keep carpet and upholstery cleaner nearby, and be sure your babysitter knows how to use it too. If the carpet must be professionally cleaned, it will cost about $95 more than using a $15 can of cleaner.
Consolidate. Magazines that are taking up space could possibly be consolidated or even canceled. Consider sharing a subscription with a friend or relative; the average American subscribes to two to three magazines that they never read. This can save $90 per year.
Bathrooms
Saving water. Don't put bricks in your toilet tanks to displace water they could decompose and clog up your pipes. Instead use a one-quart plastic container that will not interfere with the flapper valve and will save as much as $150 per year.
Linens. Buy the same color towels and linens to save big bucks every year. If you choose white towels, then you won�t have to buy a new set if one is stained or mildewed. The same goes for sheets choose all white and you'll only have to buy a top sheet or a fitted sheet if they are torn or damaged. This can save $55 a year on towels and $85 a year on sheets.
Repair now, save later. Broken tiles and chipped grout in the bathroom should be fixed immediately in order to minimize water damage to tiles and the wallboard. The average replacement after major damage costs $350 compared to a $30 repair, for a savings of $320.
Garage (Your Car)
Gas prices. Go to sites such as www.gaspricewatch.com and find the cheapest price for gas both at home and en route.
Pace your driving. Jackrabbit starts and constant speeding up and slowing down cost precious gas mileage. Instead, pace yourself.
Pushing it up! Speeding will only speed up your fuel consumption. According to the Department of Energy, it takes a lot of energy for your vehicle to push the air out of the way as you speed down the road. Driving the speed limit of 65 versus 75 can save as much as 15 percent on fuel consumption because of the energy needed for higher speeds.
Puh-leeze give me some air. At speeds of 40 miles per hour or greater, it costs more to leave the windows open (due to drag) than it does to run the air. In our California town the summer temps reach 110 degrees, so that's good news!
Pitch the junk! Take your golf clubs, soccer chairs, Salvation Army book donations and all the other junk out of your trunk. Otherwise you're paying more to haul it.
Pressurize and maintain. Make sure you have the correct air pressure in your tires, and maintain your vehicle with regular tune-ups to save another five percent.
Premium, schemium. According to AAA, only five percent of vehicles in the U.S. require premium gas � it does not help your vehicle to pay more for it. Buy the regular stuff and have no worries.
At the very least, will you pick one room from my list and save money on one item from it? Remember that every little bit helps!
"Cha Ching" Money Saving Tips
Home insurance. Raise deductibles to at least three percent of the total value of the home and make sure to only insure the replacement value of the dwelling (usually 80 percent of the selling price of the home) because you're insuring the home, not the dirt. This is an average homeowner's savings of $250 per year.
Online savings. Layer the savings in three steps: Find the lowest price on your item with a shopping robot at www.mysimon.com or www.froogle.com; then use a code site to get codes for free shipping or other discounts at www.dealhunting.com or www.couponcabin.com; and finally, get rebates for purchases by going to www.ebates.com. For average purchases of online buyers, this could save $1,200 per year.
Real savings. www.entertainment.com offers a coupon book that is available for 150 metro markets and costs between $25 and $45. Preview the coupon booklet for your area (or an area where you will vacation) to see if the coupons are ones you will use. Added benefit: You'll not only save on eating out, but you can also save on movie theaters, theme parks, dry cleaning and at local shops. Average advertised total book savings: $17,000. To only redeem 25 percent is annual savings of $4,250; even a mere 10 percent redemption savings is $1,700 per year.
Restaurant savings. Want to try out a new restaurant, but you don't want to pay full price? Go to www.restaurant.com, a site that issues coupons and gift certificates for over 6,000 eateries around the country. Our family picks a spot and pays $10 for a $25 gift certificate we save over 50 percent in the process! Average restaurant bill for a family of four is $86, family saves $43 times 52 weeks = $2,236.
Half-price vacations. If you have friends that you like a lot and think your friendship can survive the test of a family vacation, then double up with that family and cut your bills in half. The Greaves family did this with the Morton family and enjoyed it so much that they made it an every-other-year tradition. The normal price of a week-long mountain cabin rental with three bedrooms was $1,900. We made sure that we knew all the costs ahead of time and that there were no financial surprises, says Loretta Greaves. Each family paid $800 and their own gas for a destination that might not have been available to them otherwise. We couldn't really swing nearly $2,500 for the week on my pastor's salary, but we could afford half that amount, go half on the meals and we've truly enjoyed our time off, said Mike Morton. Save $1,250 for a normal family-of-four $2,500 trip.
Layer the savings. Don't settle for just one kind of savings at the grocery store. Instead, learn to add layers of savings such as store sales, coupons, double coupons, cash off your next shopping trip and more. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture cost of food at home, in 2008 the average family of four spends $7,968 per year on food, and by following these tips can spend in the thrifty category of only $4,068 per year. The average food costs of $7,968 minus the thrifty plan of $4,068 = $3,900 savings per year per family.
# # # #
Reprinted from Living Rich for Less. Copyright © 2008 by Ellie Kay. Used by permission of WaterBrook Press, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. Ellie Kay, family finance expert and Main Street mom with seven children, including three in college, climbed out of $40,000 in debt while living on just one income her husband's military salary. Married for 22 years to a former Stealth fighter pilot who is now a test pilot for a military contractor, she is also the proud mother of a son at the U.S. Naval Academy.