Everyday the things I do save us money. I get a lot done in a day, having a family and a home to look after, as well as Cheapskates certainly keeps me out of mischief. Today my mother had a hospital appointment for a check-up. Rather than wait at the hospital and pay those outrageous parking fees, I dropped her off and came straight home. It's OK, I didn't abandon her, the tests she had required her to have an anaesthetic so I would have just been sitting in a waiting room anyway. As it turned out she was there until 6pm, six and a half hours! Thank goodness I decided to come home, that saved about $40!
Because I wasn't sure where I would be at dinner time I pulled some sausages out of the freezer this morning, sliced up a couple of onions and made some coleslaw. That was dinner taken care of - bbq sausage and coleslaw rolls to use up the last of the hot dog rolls in the freezer. They were delicious too.
Hannah helped me save a few dollars today too. She has been looking and looking for a denim skirt, but they have been either too expensive or too short (mean mummy that I am). This morning I went through the attic boxes and pulled out a denim skirt I used to wear about twenty years ago. I have no idea what triggered my memory but I'm glad I remembered it. She tried it on and of course it was too long (even I thought it was) and too big but it's a straight skirt on a waistband - a simple job to fix it so it fits her. And best of all she loves it. We'll fix it on Sunday morning so she can wear it next week. $20 plus saved and a happy girl, what more could a mother ask for?
I have been wondering how to deal with the money I save. Remember I always say money isn't saved until it's in the bank, it's just not spent yet? The kids gave me a huge money box in the shape of a dollar sign last year so now it's sitting on my desk and I have put my savings from today into it. I won't be saving $60 everyday (wouldn't that be nice?) but I will be saving something so each afternoon I am going to add my daily savings to the money box. When it's full I'll count it and take it to the bank. I wonder how long it will take me to fill it?
It can be tricky working out just how much you save by living the Cheapskates way. There are lots of things we do that don't appear to be savings at all in the beginning, but actually end up saving a lot of money. Things like:
- Washing in cold water
- Hanging the washing outside or on a clothes horse to dry
- Cooking from scratch
- Only running the dishwasher on a full cycle
- Growing veggies
- Making cleaning products
- Taking lunch to work or school
- Learning to sew
- Doing home handyman jobs yourself
- Turning appliances off at the wall
- Leaving the car at home and walking or riding
- Carpooling
- Sharing tools with family and friends
- Bartering for what we need instead of buying
There are so many ways to save money everyday. And it is those savings that allow us to build fully funded Peace of Mind accounts and emergency funds so that when disaster strikes (and it will at some time) we only panic for a few minutes, until we remember that we have savings!
Ok. I've told you how I've saved today, now it's your turn. I can't wait to see how close we are to that $10,000,000.00!
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