The Saving Money Manifesto

While I talk a lot about coupons and finding the best deals on your purchases, there is a simple truth to saving money: Live Simply.

Look at what you have, and what you need. Can you live without cable or satellite, if you instead bought a Roku box and Netflix? Can you live with older vehicles instead of having a car payment every month? Can you live in a smaller space (and a more important consideration-could you sell your current house?)? Below are simple ways to live a more simple life, and help ease some of the pressure on your bank account:

• For date night, consider exchanging your babysitting with another family, instead of paying for child care.
• Container gardening-grow some tomatoes and favorite salad greens
• Vertical gardening-you don't need acres to be able to have a great garden
• Look at your cable or satellite bill-can you cut down to a lower plan or go without it completely?
• Look at your electric bill-are you missing out on some money saving opportunities like caulking your windows or blocking the heating vents in unused rooms?
• Reduce food waste. Find creative ways to reuse leftovers or freeze them for a future brown bag lunch
• Have one day a month or week where you make food specifically for lunches.
• Cook as much as you can from scratch
• Keep healthy! Preventative care is less expensive than medical care
• Can you make those repairs yourself rather than hiring it done? Can you barter any other skills you have to get a repair done?
• For needed purchases such as kitchen appliances and baby supplies, check ebay and Craigslist before you pay full price. Try to wait until the item is on sale before purchasing. Try thrift stores, too!
• If you need fancy work clothes, try consignment shops and thrift stores. You can also resale your clothes at consignment shops.
• Hang your laundry. In the summer, hang everything. If your winters, like mine, make hanging outside difficult, buy a clothes rack and hang T-shirts to dry, which will reduce the number of dryer loads you do.
• Stalk your favorite clothing stores for clearance sales.
• Make your own, if you can: Cleaning supplies, cake mixes, biscuit mix, hot chocolate mix, pudding mix. A few minutes of effort will still give you the convenience later when you need it, and save you money too!
• Pay your bills on time. A $10/month late fee adds up to $120 per year!

Sometimes, saving money can lead to difficult discussions and hard choices. Of course, it's difficult to make some of the sacrifices you need to make in order to save money! But there are dozens of small ways that you can save money without making huge sacrifices or hard choices.