Monday, December 22, 2008

My personal solution to the economic crisis

My dad keeps asking me if I have any money in savings for a rainy day. I do, but not as much as I should. So I decided that I needed to find some places where I can cut back and save. Here is my plan for the New Year…

Knit from my stash. I have plenty of yarn. More than I can use up in a year. I have at least 4 sweaters worth of yarn, an embarrassing amount of sock yarn, and enough for 2 afghans. It’s all beautiful stuff and there is no reason for me not to use it. So I will not be buying any yarn this year.

There are two exceptions to this; MD Sheep & Wool and Rhinebeck. I will be saving some cash toward those two events out of each paycheck, and part of my tax refund.

Get rid of my P.O. Box. It’s up at the end of the year and I really don’t want to pay for it. I have an unreliable postal carrier which is why I rented the P.O. Box in the first place. It’s been 3 years now and I think it’s time to stop paying for what everyone else gets for free and hope the postal carrier has become more reliable (or there is a new person on the route).

Cancel my account with Audible. I love the service, but there is a perfectly wonderful library in town with a vast selection of audio books that can easily be ripped to my IPod.

Stop buying books (with the exception of Knitting Books and they have to be really special). There is a perfectly wonderful library yadda, yadda, yadda. Not to mention the stacks of unread books I have at home.

Cancel all the pay stations I have on my TV. Sure, I watch movies on the major pay channels, but I have a feeling that if I joined Netflix it would be a heck of a lot less than what I’m paying for all the channels I’m not watching. So my subscription is going to change with the cable company.

I’m going to try and use up everything I have in my house too. I have so many soaps and body washes and lotions and stuff that I had to try. I’m not the only one with this problem am I?

Then there are the impulse purchases. No more. What I think I’m going to do is carry a small notebook with me and write down the item and the cost and then see how much I would have spent that didn’t need to be spent. I’m sure it will be eye opening.

I’m planning on a new expenditure though. The cost will be more than covered by all the money I’m “freeing up” this coming year. I am joining the YMCA so I can swim 3 times a week. They have a special in January where they waive the “new joiner’s fee”. The monthly cost gives me access to 3 area Ys, classes, fitness equipment and 3 pools. I think it’s not such a bad deal, especially since I want to swim. I need to get into better shape than I am and swimming will be the easiest on my joints.

So, when you add it all up I’ll be saving a nice chunk of change.

3 comments:

Bezzie said...

I think that's totally doable and realistic. If it weren't for chunky, I'd get rid of the cable myself!!

turtlegirl76 said...

I cut back to just basic cable and you know what? It's not so bad! It's weird not having the DVR, but I have so many DVDs and series on DVD that i just watch those instead.

Kim said...

What a great plan! Have you decided how to invest your savings?

I've been trying to devise a plan and you've given me some great ideas!