Save Some Moolah
The Simple Life
I don’t know if it’s the economy, the downsizing trend or just my obsessive compulsive personality, but lately we’ve been more into living with less than ever before.
From paring down our closets and cabinets for a soul-cleansing Goodwill run, to sorting our files and folders in an attempt to whittle down our paperwork, we’ve officially been bitten by the “it’s-a-new-year-so-lets-organize-the-whole-house-for-real-this-time” bug. But not only do we find ourselves striving for a clean house with everything in its place. Lately I’ve actually been craving less. Less to buy. Less to clean. Less to store. Less to use.
For example, here’s what we now see when we step into the shower:
We recently realized we both liked the same shampoo and conditioner (Burt’s Bees) so why not stop buying our own bottles and share? Purchasing a single bottle of each breaks the constant cycle of someone needing shampoo or conditioner every time we go to Target (or worse, someone thinking they do and realizing they don’t when we get home). And using the same body wash (Jason) allows us to pick up a jumbo sized bottle every once in a blue moon which saves us money, time spent replacing smaller bottles more often, and even cuts down on packaging waste. We also share a loofa, a bar of face soap, and a pumice stone (ok, the last item’s all me) so other than the razor (also all me) there’s nothing else cluttering up our shower or frequently appearing on our shopping list. Just the small decision to share shampoo, conditioner, body wash and a bar of soap has seriously cleaned up our act in the shower. But there are a few more places that we’ve opted for less. Update: we’ve since switched over to Avalon Organics shampoo & conditioner and Dr. Bronner’s body wash (which is even more natural) and we love it!
Thanks to a lot of our eco-related changes, pairing down in a few other areas has gotten downright automatic. Relying only on Seventh Generation laundry detergent (no bleach or fabric softener) makes shopping for laundry products few and far between (and makes storing a single bottle a breeze).
And now that I only use all natural eco-friendly and organic makeup, I find that I no longer amass a pile of new products in my makeup bag that I never use. Presto- no more impulsive purple eye shadow or bubble gum pink lip gloss purchases that seemed like a good idea at the time. I’ve also permanently passed on painted fingernails (and painted toes most of the time) and must admit that I love the clean and never-chipped-and-in-need-of-a-touch-up look. Of course there are water based non-toxic formulas (like Honey Bee Gardens and Zoya) but something about completely eliminating that expense and the time it takes to maintain painted fingers & toes feels like more of a gift to myself than polished ones ever did. And I still keep ‘em clipped and buffed for a polished appearance so I hardly feel like I’m “letting myself go.” Not that John would even notice if I was (love ya for that, honey!). And in the rare event that I do paint my toes, I use one of three vegan non-toxic polishes that I own (soft pink, deep red and punchy coral are all the colors I’ll ever need). No more spending money on the trendy hues or having to store dozens of bottles.
Here’s another example of the simplicity bug. Ladies (and gents?), I give you my makeup bag:
You’ll have to excuse my $5 fake Louis purchased in Chinatown over six years ago (can you believe the zipper still works?) but the point is that all the makeup that I own lives in this little bag. It’s not a travel bag, it’s my only bag (which makes it easy to pop into the suitcase when we do hit the road) and it only holds a handful of tried and true products that get me through the day and the occasional fancy schmancy event.
Here it is all emptied out:
Organic Wear bronze and blush (in recyclable paper containers) not only add a bit of color to my too-pale face, but the bronzer also doubles as shimmering tan eye shadow when applied with the little padded brush. Then I just curl the ol’ eyelashes, slick on some mascara and polish things off with a little brow gel and I’m good to go. I’ve never been great with anything like liquid liner or fake eyelashes, so for those of you who are, maybe I don’t know what I’m missing. But either way, my simplified makeup bag facilitates super speedy makeup application, which actually results in my looking more polished than ever before, thanks to a streamlined process that actually appeals to an on-the-go girl like me.
In short, I’ve never felt like less of a slave to beauty products. Or hair products and perfume for that matter. I’ve always been a wash and wear girl, so hairspray and pomade have never been my thing, but I’ve recently made the decision to forsake perfume as well (after years of somewhat religious use). All those chemical fragrances can be irritating and can actually contribute considerably to indoor air pollution, and I actually love the smell of my organic soaps and lotions so I hardly miss the alcohol-riddled scent of perfume hanging in the air before I leave the house. And now there are entire sections of magazines about makeup, perfume and polish that I can gloss over entirely. I can’t tell you how nice it is to not always want everything I read about.
By choosing to covet less (and only buy organic and all natural) it cuts way down on the products that can jump into my cart on a whim. And it doesn’t feel like I’m missing out on anything at all, on the contrary, it feels like I’m gaining so much more. A healthier and more pure lifestyle, closet and cabinet space to spare, more moolah in my wallet, and extra time that I can spend doing things other than shopping and obsessing over every new product to hit the shelves.
It’s official. Life is good when it’s simple. And I’m dying to know what you guys do to make life easy and live with less. From sharing products and even making your own to forsaking certain things and purchasing specific items in bulk, we’d love to know what you guys are doing to clean out your closets (and your lives) for 2009! Dish the less is more dirt.
*Check out this great post over at decor8. There’s something in the air! Everyone’s getting back to basics.
**For an exhaustive list of our favorite certified organic/all natural/chemical-free products, check the comment section of this post for specific names of everything that we use and love.
Three Phone Calls, $590 Saved
As we all hunt for ways to save money these days, it’s easy to overlook the fact that sometimes ya just have to ask. In fact, by making a few calls to the companies behind our three biggest monthly bills, Sherry and I managed to save $590 for the coming year. Here’s how:
It started when we got a Comcast bill that was suddenly $30 higher than before. Seems the “triple play” promotion we were on (for our internet, cable and home phone) had expired and we were now paying regular rates. But as loyal customers since 2006, I wasn’t having any of that. So I got Comcast on the horn, explained my dissatisfaction and simply asked them to help me lower my bill (oh, and I might’ve hinted that the Verizon guy was knocking on doors around here recently). Next thing I know, I’m transferred to their “Retention Department” and I’m back on the promotion for another year – I didn’t even have to put up much of a fight (which is good, ’cause Sherry’s the real negotiator in the family). And not only did I squash the $30 increase, our new monthly bill is actually $8 less than it used to be. That’s $456 that we’re not shucking out to Comcast this year. Score!
So I took my new negotiating confidence and dialed Geico to take a crack at our car insurance bill. We’ve hadn’t re-visited our coverage since enrolling in 2006 so I thought it was time to check in. And once again, I just asked the rep if she could help me find a way to save money on my bill. I thought my clean driving record would be the ticket to more savings, but it was actually our marriage license that did the trick. Apparently we had never updated our account to show that Sherry was a Petersik (she was still listed as my “friend” – ha!). With that little update, $134 magically dropped off our annual bill. If only we had done that 18 months ago when we got married…
Going for the savings hat trick, I decided to tackle our cell phone bill. I took my same, straight-forward ”can you help me save money?” approach with the Sprint guy (we have to stick with Sprint to keep our pretty decent company discount) and… struck out. Apparently our two-year-old plan is pretty much the cheapest and most basic one out there. Ah well. At least I learned that we’re eligible for $300 in new phones. Not a bad consolation prize.
In total, I was probably on the phone for 30 minutes total. Certainly time well spent for saving nearly 600 buckaroos this year, especially since all I had to do was ask.
Have you guys talked your way into some savings recently? Do you have any other tricks for trimming your bills? Let us know, ’cause I for one am eager to make more calls… especially if I’m doing it from my fancy new cell phone.
For more ways to save money, check out this article from thenest.com and this article from BHG
Image found here
Price Check
Recently in a last minute Christmas shopping sprint with my sister in law, we hit up our closest Target here on Forest Hill Ave. There we found an adorable little $69 iPod dock for her daughter but sadly learned that the display model was all that remained in the store. The kind people at the register hunted down the identical dock at another Target about 15 minutes away in Midlothian, and once there we were stunned to learn that the exact same dock was selling for $59 (a whole $10 less than the one just 15 minutes away in Forest Hill).
We asked the cashier if it was on sale in the Midlothian location and she explained that it always sells for that price at this location (among many others in Richmond), but there are two Target stores nearby that consistently mark up thousands of items due to the “demographic.” The Forest Hill Target and the Short Pump Target. In short, they consider these two locations here in Richmond to be more frequented by higher income families, so their prices reflect that perceived elevated income. Of course we beg to differ with that categorization as we’re one of many locals who live in a modest little ranch near the Forest Hill Target. And we were seriously stunned that they so openly owned up to the price finagling that occurs within our small city.
The lesson? Maybe the closest deal isn’t the best one. From now on we’ll make all of our big Target purchases at the Midlothian store (still just minutes from our door) and we’ll be sure to tell everyone we know about the “location inflation” that silently lurks here in Richmond. We’re sure it’s not only relegated to our city- has anyone else noticed price disparities in their hometown? If you’re feeling experimental just pick a $50+ item and remember the price (like a specific TV, game system, Christmas tree, camping tent, etc) and then visit a few other Targets in your area to see if the price changes. Don’t be surprised if you see some serious price stretching and shrinking depending on the store’s locale. I bet this goes on at other stores as well. Give us the scoop if you notice anything shady!
Image from here.
Save It: Part 1
These days everyone’s jumping on the budget bandwagon and John and I are no exception. We’ve always been pretty cheap- er, thrifty (often sharing one appetizer and one entree at a fancy restaurant or being sure to dig out our $5 off coupon every time we get the oil changed) but these days it’s more important than ever to save a buck or two so we thought we’d throw together a little post about all the penny pinching habit’s that we’ve honed over the years:
1. I cut John’s hair. I started this ritual years ago when we started dating (in fact I used to cut his roomate’s hair before we began going out, which caused John to think I was into his weird roomie when I only had eyes for him). I don’t know where I picked up this skill, but it’s fun and I do everything with a cheapie hair cutting scissors from CVS (no electric razor necessary) and John never ceases to get hair cutting complements which keeps me grinning like a fool (and keeps John coming back to my barber’s chair in the den). Our approximate annual savings: $140
2. We only have one car. I know this set-up might not work for everyone, but thanks to the fact that I work at home (and haven’t driven a car since I was in high school since I lived in NYC for almost a decade) we have saved out the wazoo because we only have one car to gas up, insure, maintain, etc. We even purchased our used Maxima outright (with cash) so we don’t have a monthly car payment to worry about, which makes it even easier to save. Our approximate annual savings: around $1000-$2000+
3. We Netflix with a vengeance. Although we usually go to the movies about once a month, we save considerable cash on the other three weekends thanks to the fact that we always have two flicks to pop into the DVD player for instant entertainment. Especially moving into the colder months, it’s not uncommon for us to enjoy a movie on Friday AND Saturday night as opposed to hitting the town for pricier forms of entertainment. And another great money saving Netflix tip is to rent entire seasons of shows on the premium channels (we’ve watched everything from Six Feet Under to Dexter this way) so we never have to pay for HBO or Cinemax but still get to enjoy their award winning programming. We also rent yoga videos that we do together at home (3x a week these days- I’m so proud of us!) which is definitely a lot less expensive than hitting the yoga studio that often. Our approximate annual savings: at least $300
4. We buy plants that are guaranteed. 95% of the time we purchase our bushes, perennials, shrubs and even house plants from Lowe’s and Home Depot, which both guarantee their greenery for up to a year. So if that finicky fern is brown two weeks later, back it goes and we don’t lose a dime. Our approximate annual savings: around $80 (we buy lots and lots of plants, but around one in ten will inexplicably kick the bucket).
5. We pay every single bill online. Which not only makes identity theft less of a worry (many crooks steal outgoing mail from your mailbox with your info on it) it also saves us quite a few stamps over the course of the year (and loads of paper, too). Our approximate annual savings: around $40 a year in stamps alone.
6. We maintain a zero balance. With the exception of our mortgage, we carry absolutely no debt from month to month, which means we pay off our credit card in full each month, and never pay a dime in interest. And it’s not because we’re rich. Far from it. It’s because we’re cheap and we hate the idea of paying those greedy credit card companies! Our approximate annual savings: anywhere from $300 up (the average American has an annual interest rate of 18% and carries $8000 in debt… which means they’re paying $1440 a year in interest alone!)
7. We rarely pay full price on home decor. If you look around our house, it’s full of classic neutral pieces that should last us a while. And although everything looks pretty pulled together, we have scored almost every item on sale (and many with free shipping to boot). With the exception of our Pottery Barn sofa in the den (the PB Basic, their cheapest sofa at $1300, but still a splurge to us) most of our pieces hail from places like Target (our TV stand, our den ottomans, our dining table and chairs), HomeGoods (almost all of our accessories), West Elm (where we got our duvet on sale and our bedroom mirror on clearance), JC Penney (our guest bedroom rug), Ikea (our sunroom side tables and chairs, almost all of our frames, our sheepskins, our welcome mats), Lowe’s (our bedroom floor lamp, our den rug), thrift stores (our sunroom table, our living room coffee table, our armchair in the den) and garage sales (our fireplace screen, our guest bedroom mirror, a few frames in the third bedroom). Many other things are hand me downs (our mattress, the bed in the guest bedroom, our den side table, our sunroom pillows). Our approximate annual savings: $1000+
8. And when it comes to our clothing we’re the same way. John loves J Crew, Banana Republic and even Kenneth Cole, but it’s always from the sale rack or even Marshall’s (which is full of treasures, you just have to dig a little). Likewise, I buy my Nine West shoes at DSW, my BCBG dresses at Marshall’s and my everyday staples on the sale rack at The Limited, Old Navy, or even Target. My best shoe score ever? Some gorge green Roberto Cavalli sandalls for 50 bucks at DSW. Our approximate annual savings: $300+
9. We bring fabric eco bags to the grocery store. And since our store is nice, they offer a 5 cent credit per bag (we usually bring in about four). Over a year of shopping, that’s only $5, but it’s great for reducing the amount of trash that we toss (and recycle) and there are a bunch of other ways we save loot when it comes to grocery shopping…
10. We buy the basics at Costco. We march in there and snag five huge double boxes of cereal and a giant box of Ronzoni Healthy Harvest spaghetti which lasts us well over two months (and allows us to snag two boxes of cereal for around $5 as opposed to one box for $3.50). That alone saves us $96 bucks a year, and when you factor in the spaghetti savings thanks to our bulk purchasing, our approximate annual savings is: $125 or so. Plus we get a discount annual membership for just $15 through John’s office, so we never think twice about paying our yearly fee.
11. We also go food shopping less. We actually go as infrequently as we can get away with (usually two times a month or less) since we’ve learned that each time people go food shopping there are a few impulse purchases that aren’t necessary (and usually aren’t even that good or good for you) so cutting down the amount of shopping trips a month cuts down the impulse buys as well. And it really helps us to cook the food that we have instead of ending up with a bunch of errant cans and ingredients in the back of the shelves that we never use because we’re always picking up new stuff. Our approximate annual savings: $200
12. We host an annual garage sale. Not only is it the ultimate form of recycling, we usually make some pretty good bank. Last year we made around $425, which is not a bad annual yield for something that only takes one morning a year. Our approximate annual savings earnings: $425
13. We’re thermostat freaks. In the winter we keep our house at 69 degrees when we’re around and at 63 degrees when we’re not and when we’re sleeping. In the summer we keep it at 74 during the day and 79 when we’re gone or asleep. Sure for the second or two that Burger wakes us up in the middle of the night once a month it can be a little uncomfortable, but for the rest of the year that we sleep soundly through the super warm or super cold part, we’re saving tons of money on our heating and cooling bills each year. And thanks to the fact that it’s programmable, in the morning everything’s perfectly comfortable by the time we wake up, and we even have a gas fireplace that we fire up in the den on cold nights when we’re yearning for a little extra heat (and a big fluffy blanket). Our approximate annual savings: $200
13. Me and my girls do a magazine swap. I could easily subscribe to about thirty magazines, but instead my friends and I subscribe to around three each and we all swap until everyone has read each one. It’s a great way to save money (and save trees) and then when we’re all finally done with ‘em I drop a big stack of glossy mags off at a local bookstore that gives them away for free to their customers. Gotta love a magazine that gets around. John and I also regularly use our library cards for free lit as opposed to buying something we’ll only read once, and we also relax for a few hours a week at Barnes & Noble where we can leaf through books and mags for free while enjoying a big sprinkle cookie (our only splurge at $2) and some complementary water with lemon. Our approximate annual savings: $80
14. We’re just generally frugal individuals. Maybe it explains why we’re always suggesting sale items in every mood board (regardless of our client’s budget). And why we’re always trying to come up with cheap DIY solutions instead of springing for costlier home decor. It probably even explains why we’re always digging up coupon codes, making our own chai tea at home instead of relying on Starbucks, hitting up Craigslist and Freecycle like it’s our job, and stockpiling those Bed Bath & Beyond 10% off coupons like they’re going out of style. We’re happy that both of our families raised us to be so frugal (John’s dad’s nickname is “El Cheapo” while my dad’s known as “The Dollar General”) and even in times when it wasn’t always cool to pinch pennies, we stuck to our guns (and split an entree in front of our high-rolling friends). Our approximate annual savings: $100
John and I are actually hyper aware of how lucky we are to be on the same page about money. And we truly believe that a penny saved is a penny earned. After all, if you tally up all of our annual savings above it’s a total annual savings of $4,793. And that, my friends, is nothing to sneaze at. In fact, it’s sort of like we gave ourselves a tax free 5K raise this year, which is one of the major reasons that we can afford for me to run the blog full time. Thank goodness for smart saving!
How about you guys? Do you have any tips and tricks for saving a little dough? Do tell!
Be sure to check out Decor8′s fabulous post about how she saves money here. Inspiring!
Image credits: scissors from here, netflix from here, zero drawing from here, tote bag from here, thermostat from here, penny from here
