So I own and write for a personal financial blog, and you would think that my finances are perfectly in order right? Not exactly. My wife and I make a fine living, and we are pretty thrifty when it comes to not using credit cards and not making large impulse purchases but this past week I took a look at some of our spending habits and a few just popped out as golden opportunities to save money. Let’s take a look…
1. I Spend Too Much On Coffee
My wife doesn’t drink coffee so this one is 100% on me. Every day I stop at Dunkin Donuts and grab an extra large coffee (cream only, no sugar). This comes to $2.47 which doesn’t seem like a lot at first, but when you add it all up that comes to nearly $50 a month and close to $600 a year! Just by making my coffee at home I could save hundreds of dollars. Not only that but by making a pot of coffee at home that gives me more than one cup of coffee to drink… always a good thing!
2. We Eat Out Too Much
After a long day at the office, nobody wants to cook dinner and that includes us. These days it’s way too easy to make a quick call and grab a pizza or just dine out for the night. This is a big waste of money for us and after talking to most of my friends we definitely aren’t alone. Eating out really adds up when you figure 2-3 times a week at $15-30 a shot. Assuming you get takeout for two people twice a week at $15 each that amounts to $1,560 a year, and factor in kids or fancier meals and that amount could double! If you find yourself dining out because you don’t have time, try preparing meals a day or two ahead of time… crock pots are great for this… and save yourself time and money.
3. We Keep The Heat Too High
Summer is coming and the weather is getting warmer but during the cold New York winters when my wife or I get a chill we run straight to the thermostat. Sometimes you need a few extra degrees in the winter but other times you could accomplish the same thing with a sweatshirt or a blanket too. Energy prices are at an all time high and depending on your home you could be throwing hundreds or thousands away just by kicking the thermostat up a few notches.
4. We Don’t Bring Our Lunches To Work
Yep, more wasting money on food. Do you buy lunch at work instead of bringing it? We do too, and we spend anywhere from $5-10 or more just to grab a simple sandwich. You could spend $10 at the grocery store and have sandwiches for a week, but when you buy out you could be spending 4 times that much. An extra $40 a week (4 lunches at $10 each) amounts to over $2,000 dollars at the end of the year!
At the end of the day none of these changes are earth shattering for me, and some of them (like dining out and buying lunch at work) will help me cut back on my waistline as well as in my wallet. On food and beverages alone I could save more than $3,000 by making these simple changes. When was the last time you got a $3,000 raise at work? Think about it, it could really add up.
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