10 Things we DON’T Spend Money On

Since I started my business nearly 3 years ago, my #1 goal has always been helping my clients to create their best life by simplifying and organizing {big shocker!} At times this has been a bit overwhelming; but for the most part, I really enjoy what I do and the fact that I am able to de-stress so many people on a weekly basis — honestly, I should be a therapists!!

And throughout the years, one of the main questions I have been asked {besides if I color-code my closet} is how I simplify our spending, organize our budget, and reduce our expenses.

Wow…that’s a biggie!

Photo Credit: Arvind Balaraman

OK, so I know that every family and situation is completely different, and I am by no means going to tell you how to spend YOUR money. Instead, I’ll simply explain a few choices my husband and I have made to drastically reduce our expenses, improve our budget, and simplify our finances.

Sound good?

First of all, for those of you who don’t know me — I’m obsessed with shopping the sales, using coupons, and finding rebates. These choices save us a nice chunk of change every year, but today, I want to talk about how we save money and simplify our budget by NOT SPENDING {imagine that!}

Let me explain:

When we first got married in 2006, my parents suggested that we try to live off 50% {or less} of our income. That way, we would build up a savings account and if one of us lost our job, we would still be able to manage.

Great advice — except neither one of us made very much money working for non-profit organizations.

However, we figured my parents probably knew what they were talking about {don’t you just hate it when your parents are right!} so we decided to give it a try. But in order to do so, we had to live simply and limit any extra expenses.

So we decided not to spend money on the following things:

Warning — you’re about to see just how cheap we really are!!!

1. Restaurants:

I know, this is a big one, but we almost NEVER spend money going out to eat. We do occationally go out to eat, but only if we have a gift card and we use BOGO coupons to make our gift cards last even longer.

2. Magazines, Books, DVD’s, etc:

We don’t subscribe to any magazines, we don’t buy books, we don’t buy or rent DVD’s, and we don’t subscribe to any online movie programs like Netfix. I do get one magazine as a gift and we subscribe to a few free catalogs.

Plus we have a library right down the street from our house, a library at church, and a library at Dave’s school so we can get tons of magazines, books, DVD’s, etc. for FREE. And the best part is, we can return them once we’re finished, which means no clutter in our home!

3. Fancy Electronics:

We don’t pay for fancy cell phones, GPS systems, MP3 players,  Bluerays, DVR’s, HDTV’s, or anything that starts with an ” i “. We only get the free phones that are offered through Verizon every 2 years and we don’t pay for any type of data plan — no text messaging or internet access for us!

We get the most basic internet package from AT&T…and we recently broke down and “splurged” on the basic {23 channels} cable package when our antenna stopped working!

4.  Computer Warranties & Programs:

We get excellent deals on our computers so the warranties are often just as much as the computers — which means it’s probably not necessary to have  the warranty. We also don’t purchase any anti-virus, spyware, software, etc. because we get it all for free online.

Visit Ninite.com to download all kinds of free programs, tools, gadgets, and security essentials.

5. Cleaning Products & Services:

Yes, you read that right — we don’t spend money on cleaning products or services! I am not brand loyal so I simply use anything I can get for free after rebate or for free with a coupon (which is a lot!). I make all our own rags, and I borrow a friend’s steam cleaner for my heavy cleaning — which only uses water.

We don’t pay for any type of cleaning service…however Dave definitely does his fair share of cleaning!

6. Alcohol, Pop, Coffee, and other Fancy Drinks:

OK, let me just assure you that we are NOT against drinking alcohol, pop, coffee, or any other fancy beverages…we’re just cheap!

We don’t pay for drinks at restaurants, and we only buy coffee when we have gift cards or when I redeem my Swagbucks. I never buy wine, beer, alcohol, pop, coffee, or tea from the grocery store unless we have company over AND I can get an amazing deal.  I make my own hot chocolate, I get free coffee after rebate, and believe it or not, I’ve even gotten great rebates on alcohol from Rite Aid!!

7.  Toiletries:

Don’t worry, we still wear deoderant and wash our hair…we just use products I get for free!  As I mentioned before, we are not brand loyal and are satisfied to use whatever I can get for free with rebates, coupons, and sales.

So far, in 2010, I have only spent $3.60 on toiletries — and we have bathroom cabinets filled with extra hair products, make-up, shaving necessities, toothpaste, toilet paper, and more. I also give bags of toiletries away to our church and other community organizations every year.

8. Recycling:

When we first bought our home and started looking into utility companies, we soon realized that recycling was expensive. We still wanted to do our part to be environmentally friendly so I looked around on the web and found loads of free recycling plants in our area. So, every couple of months I deposit our recycling on my drive to work. It takes me about 5 extra minutes and cuts our garbage bill in half!

9. Lawn Care, Plants, and Snow Service:

We do all our own mowing, edging, raking, blowing, weeding, spraying, plowing, shoveling, etc. Yes, it takes time, but we enjoy it…and those services are super expensive.

I’ve also managed to get nearly ALL the plants in our yard for FREE!! How? I found a ton on Craigslist – all for free! I also made friends with our neighbors and offered to split their plants in exchange for a few free sections — they readily agreed! After 2 years, I ended up with so many plants that I was able to give a bunch of them away!

10. Interest, Finance Charges, and Late Fees:

Yup, I’m ending with a big one — but have you ever really looked into how much money you waste on interest, finance charges, and late fees?

Aside from our home and a few student loans we had early on, we don’t buy anything unless we have the cash. We still use credit cards for all our purchases, but at the end of the month, we pay them off — in full.

11. Clothes:

OK, just one more! I just had to throw this one in because in 2009, Dave and I decided not to spend any money on clothes — and we succeeded! We did ask for a few items for Christmas, but other than that, we went an entire year without purchasing any clothing or accessories. And it wasn’t even that difficult to do!

So these are just a few of the things we choose NOT to spend money on, and believe me — it really adds up! Each year, we’ve manage to live off LESS THAN 50% of our income, mainly because we just don’t spend our money. We use the extra 50% to build up our savings, pay down our mortgage, invest, and plan for retirement.

Now again, let me reiterate that my intent is not to tell you how to spend YOUR money. I’m just trying to answer all the questions I get about how we simplify our budget and reduce expenses.

So what can you do to start saving more and spending less?

I’m no financial expert, but my advice would be to start small and pick ONE area that to focus on. Maybe you can reduce your grocery budget by $10.00 a week, or only go out to eat once per month. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s do-able for you and your family…and then commit to sticking to it for several weeks. And remember, every little bit helps!

What do you do to simplify your budget?