The economy sucks. Gas — when you can find it — is sky high. And grocery prices are rising like the sun.
One author knows how people can save money, but do most people want to follow the rules?
Bob Brumm, author of Do You Have Money To Burn? Save More of What You Earn, Earn More of What You Save, said making coffee at home and curbing trips to your favorite restaurant for lunch can save you more than $400 a month. But for some people, it’s hard to break some spending habits.
Charlotte resident Tiffany McCleave said she hasn’t stopped shopping for clothes. “I was in the mall Sunday,” she said.
While she’s keeping her wardrobe up to date, McCleave has tightened the purse strings. “I’ve been riding the bus [to work] for about a month and that’s saved me about $120,” she said.
Riding public transportation to work has cut down on her eating out for lunch habits as well. And when McCleave does ride with a co-worker to get lunch, she said that she’s ordering strictly from the dollar menu. Even so, those savings are being eaten up by other costs, like groceries.
Brumm said that it doesn’t have to hurt to save even in these economic times. “People just need to think differently and look at everyday activity,” he said.
“I know you’ve heard of the latte tax. It doesn’t mean that you have to stop having coffee in the morning, but instead of going out and buying it, you can make it at home,” he said.
Brumm said the cost of making coffee at home is 22 cents a cup. A typical latte from a coffee shop is over $3. “Get an auto timer coffee pot and it’s already made for you when you come down in the morning,” he said.
“It’s not about stopping living and eating beans and rice for the next 10 years,” Brumm said. “You just have to modify what you do and reallocate your funds.”
Kim Saunders said she and her family have tightened the belt to make it through today’s tough economy. “I’m buying things that are on sale,” she said. “And I’ve given up shopping for myself and I told my kids, ‘I’m not buying any [clothes] until Christmas.'”
Saunders said that before the tough economy began affecting her household budget, she’d go to TJ Maxx every week. “Even if it was a pair of jeans, I would leave with something,” she said. “I just don’t go now because I know I will find something.”
She doesn’t go out to lunch with her co-workers anymore either. But Saunders and her family haven’t stopped living. They still have takeout pizza dinners sometimes.
“Instead of doing Pizza Hut, we do Little Caesar’s. It’s cheaper,” she said with a laugh.
Despite cutting back, she doesn’t feel as if she’s saving any money.
Brumm said people can save on any budget, no matter what they make. “Keep a journal of what you spend,” he said. “There may be areas where you’re spending more money than you should.”
And if changing your spending habits is a problem, Brumm said, consider the feeling you get when a negative bank statement comes in the mail. Brumm said he wrote his book because he lives by many of the tips he shares: He switched the light bulbs in his home to fluorescent bulbs and saved $70 a month on his electric bill.
But for consumers like Saunders, everything saved ends up in the gas tank. Filling up the tank of a Chevrolet Tahoe makes it hard to see any savings that she amasses from tightening the purse strings. “I find it difficult to save anything with the economy as tough as it is,” she said.
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This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 7, 2008.
