Save Money – Waste Not

I was very conscious of many times where I used more of something than I had to today.

Did I really need to use that much dish soap?

If I feed the cats and dog 5 or six less pieces of food, will they really miss it? I could get a couple more days out of a bag just by cutting that little bit.

Shampoo? Oh that’s a big one! Don’t we all use 2 or 3 times more than we need? And, they say it’s better for your hair if you don’t wash it every day. I have to at least rinse it and wet it down to style it every day. My daughter, who actually started this one, uses the flat iron – and it holds up for another day just fine in the winter. You know, as long as we’re not all sweaty and stuff.

My daughter has always taken her shower at night. Never really changed the childhood ritual. Once we got this dog, I started taking my shower at night too since the first thing one of us has to do in the morning is take the dog out. UGH.

But the benefits are, we have more time in the morning – (especially since neither one of us is a morning person) and the sheets don’t get as dirty since we’re going to bed clean.

My daughter though it was crazy that I’ve been asking for a sweater shaver for Christmas for like 3 years. I finally got one! Now I can save my sweaters. That’s a huge savings.

And yes, we hit the resale shops. I got $190 jeans with the original tags on them for $35. I got a beautiful set of 8 red wine glasses for like $10.

Or are things only beautiful if you pay a lot for them? Where did we get that crazy idea?

Actually, I’ve always loved getting more for way less. Thrill of the hunt you know.

We’ve become such a consumer country – consume, consume, consume…

But now we’re being consumed.

I’m not talking about being cheap – just being reasonable. We waste so much!

It’s time to stop wasting, and shopping, and buying and learn how to live life again. We’ve rediscovered how enjoyable a game of cards is. We’ve always been big library users. Why pay big movie rental fees? I always have more books than I can read.

Coffee? I always liked mine black anyway – and Starbucks plain ol’ coffee is awful. My daughter dumps a bunch of chocolate creamer in her cup in the morning and she’s happy. Heck, if she wanted whipped cream too, that would be fine. It’s still way cheaper. Don’t tell her I said that.

None of these suggestions are painful, and you actually could save a couple hundred bucks a month cutting back on little things.

OK, this suggestion might be painful for some of you – but it’s only painful until you get used to it, really.

Do you really need to buy prepared foods to lose weight? Or could you be eating foods that taste a whole lot better, that’s better for you, and save a ton of money – if you just learned to prepare fresh healthy food yourself? I know – Radical Idea!

Seriously – think about things as you go through your day today. Notice where you use more than you need to. Notice where choosing another option could save you money.

Any ideas? Leave a comment and share your money saving ideas…