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Drastic Money Saving Ideas
by Alexandra Haller
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Extreme ways to cut out spending can vary from person to person. Maybe you pack your lunch each day, but you never walk if you can drive your car. Maybe you've been thinking that cigarettes are burning a hole in your wallet. When you force yourself to see where you waste money, you can better determine how to rearrange your financial priorities to save more money and have less debt.
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Dump Your Car
For most people, a car is something they need. You build the cost of it into your budget because you think you can't live without it. Every month you pay on your car loan; and even if you own your car, you pay for gas, repairs, upkeep, registration and insurance. The American Automobile Association studied the cost of car ownership in 2009 for different size vehicles. The average yearly cost of driving a car for 10,000 miles was $7,000; and for 20,000 miles, the cost was slightly more than $9,000. Cutting out your car would have a profound impact on your finances. Even if you participated in car pooling programs, rode a bike or took public transit, your yearly costs for transportation would drastically decrease.
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Nix The Specialty Coffee
Maybe you don't buy a large, expensive coffee drink every day, but even if you buy one once a week, the costs still add up. A medium size (16 oz.) espresso drink costs approximately $4. If you buy one every day of your work week, that is an annual cost of $960. Even if you treat yourself only on Fridays, the yearly cost is $208. You can purchase an efficient, standard espresso maker for $50 to $80. If you learn to craft your own drink, your savings would add up exponentially year after year.
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Quit Smoking
At the end of 2009, 38 states had ordinances that restricted smoking in public places like restaurants, bars and work spaces. Finding an open area to enjoy a cigarette is becoming increasingly challenging. Giving up cigarettes could be a big change for someone, but it would reap many benefits beyond the financial. According to MSN Money, the average cost of a pack of cigarettes is around $5. A pack-a-day smoker would spend $1,825 a year. Over 10 years, you could save $18,000 by quitting. If you are a current smoker and you are looking for an extreme way to save some of your money, this could be one solution that provides a radical change in your finances.
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Avoid New Clothes
The average U.S. adult goes to the mall more than 20 times each year and spends nearly $1,000 on apparel, according to the Global Lifestyle Monitor survey (the research arm of the International Cotton Council that studies consumers' shopping and spending habits.) If you can condition yourself to avoid the magnetic pull of consumerism and keep wearing your older clothes for another season, you have the potential to save a lot of money. Many times, shoppers just make purchases for immediate gratification instead of constructively stepping back and asking themselves if they actually need a particular item. If you could forgo a new spring coat, new winter boots, new sweaters and other trendy clothing that is constantly updated, you would force yourself to re-evaluate the psychological reasons you shop in the first place and end up with a bigger savings account in the process.
