Do you waste money because you can?
I used to, until the "kids" (under age 40) in our office helped me see the error of my ways.
A little background - my husband and I are the parents of three twentysomething children, all out of college and employed. Our parents are in good shape financially. We have both managed to hang on to our jobs during this recession. As a result of our good fortune over the past few years, I'll admit that we have developed some very wasteful habits like going out to dinner two or three times a week, eating lunch out every day and throwing items in the cart at the grocery store without really even looking at the prices.
It's not like we didn't realize how much we were spending on this stuff. I'm a CPA. My husband is a CPA. We think it's FUN to keep track of our finances on Quicken. I even prepare monthly financial statements for our household . The problem is, we knew exactly how much we were wasting but we didn't care. I guess we just thought we'd paid our dues, so to speak, and deserved to enjoy life a bit.
At the office one day a few weeks ago, I overheard Lindsay and Jann discussing coupons and the "buy one get one free" items at Publix. Although I initially thought to myself, "I'm glad I don't have to do that," the excitement in their voices really caught my attention. They were downright passionate about saving money and getting more for less! I began asking questions and learned that there are significant savings to be had if you are willing to invest a little time and energy in developing your own personal strategy for saving. It's not just about clipping coupons from the Sunday newspaper. There are entire websites built around couponing and comparison shopping; Lindsay and Jann will be sharing their favorites and other secrets in future blogs.
The kids' enthusiasm is contagious. I guess I just needed a reminder that every dollar we save by cooking at home rather than going out to a less-than-memorable chain restaurant is a dollar that can be put to better use. Also, isn't taking advantage of the buy one get one free offers a guaranteed 100% return on your investment? You can't beat that.
Thanks to the wise counsel of the kids, I'm beginning to try to be less wasteful. I'm really thinking about my purchases before spending money and actually planning my shopping trips. Last week, we cooked dinner at home seven nights in a row (although we did go out to celebrate our accomplishment!)
