Cutting Spending

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. James 4:14

How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.  Proverbs 16:16

I wasn’t able to try my new schedule today for writing. I had to do some emergency work for a family member, which took all of my time. For all the planning I’ve been doing, it was aggravating that I couldn’t apply my new ideas today. But, it brought my thinking back around to where it should be. I was reminded today that no matter how much I plan for my future, if I’m not living in the present then it won’t amount to anything. With that in mind I stopped by the library and checked out some books on money, finances, etc. The book I’m reading right now, Live Well on Less Than You Think by Fred Brock, got my attention on some things that I can do today. Chapter 3 spoke of ending spending in areas that isn’t necessary, like cutting down on going to the movies… or eating out.

For at least 11 years now I’ve had a checking account with my bank that charged me $7.00 a month. They have a free checking alternative, so I stopped by today and signed up for the free checking. That alone will save me $84.00 a year. So, for the last 11 years, I have spent an extra (and unnecessary) $924.00.  Oof!

We have cable television.  We have Netflix.  I’ve decided that at this present moment we don’t need both.  I can get almost any movie I want through the library for free, so I’ve decided to lose the Netflix… at least for a while.  Movie night is a big deal at my house, so at least until we run out of movies via the library, I can save some money this way.  It will save me approximately $144.00 a year.  Dropping cable really isn’t an option because I love to watch documentaries while I sew, and we share the programming with my family that lives upstairs. 

To be honest, I’m not certain exactly what other areas of our lives I can cut costs in, but I intend to find out.  I am going to start keeping up with what we are spending our money on and try to make changes that will help us save money. 

I am also going to read The Tightwad Gazette and get some ideas that I may not have considered. 

I consider these changes I’m making as income.  Though it does not necessarily qualify as funds for my Penny Millions, I am still going to add it to it.  In short, I am adding an additional $19.00 to my savings to go toward paying off the bills.  I will add this amount next week because that’s typically when the money would normally be taken from my account.