A couple weeks ago I got on a new kick probably because travel to Ethiopia is looming before us. I am more motivated than I have been in my married life to figure out how to greatly reduce our spending. It is my new obsession. How do you save money? has been the topic of conversation between me and friends for the past several weeks now. I have been learning a lot and wanting to share the knowledge I have acquired.
There are extremes to this concept that I embraced last weekend after having several glasses of wine. One that I was ready to do was to go dumpster diving at the grocery store by our house. Oprah had a group of people on her show that did this weekly around the Chicago area. They had tons of unopened food that they recovered from the trash behind the stores. This grossed my husband out, so we haven't done it...yet. However, if anyone sees my car parked behind Kroger late at night come join me and score some free food.
A little less extreme is the pact I made with myself to not buy any new clothes until September 1, 2011. This idea came from The Great American Apparel Diet. As well as the feeling I get when I walk into my huge closet and see all my clothes and I think of those with so little. The worst part is I often think to myself, "I have nothing to wear." I shop to fulfill my desire to have more stuff...which only leaves me wanting more when the high from the last shopping trip has worn off. I have already found myself wearing things that have been lost in my closet for the last couple years. Total yearly savings $1000.
It may come as a shock to some of you to know that I have a lot of grey hair. Because of this every 6 to 8 weeks I spend $150 to get my hair cut and colored. My new perspective has shown me how insane this is. I will begin coloring my own hair and plucking my eye brows the next time my grey hair makes an appearance. Total yearly savings $1200.
I have lots more ideas that I will be putting into place soon.
