Saving Money. So Hot Right Now.

I’ve been voraciously devouring two fantastic books: Craft Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco and The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube by Michelle Goodman. I am alternating between the books at whim, but I just can’t get enough of them. They are seriously amazing. Part of me worries that I’m getting my hopes up too much – they make it seem quite possible to do what you love for a living. I’m admittedly a wee bit nervous to allow myself dream up grandiose ideas – what if they don’t come to be? What if I am disappointed? And worse, what if I fail?

Anyhow, we’ll talk about my career aspirations another time. I noticed that both books, particularly The Anti 9-to-5 Guide, place a lot of emphasis on downsizing your lifestyle in order to do what you want. To not be limited by your Starbucks habit, shoe addiction, or huge cell phone bill, but be free to pursue your deepest desires and aspirations.

Let’s say you despise your job, so you invest heavily in retail therapy. But then you're trapped in your job in order to maintain your standard of living (like those pretty designer handbags and those yummy lattes). Would you be happier with a job that you dread and lots of expensive things or a career that you adore and living simply?

Many of the authors’ suggestions on how to downsize your lifestyle or spend less are things we already do, so I thought I’d share some ways that Mike and I are frugal and ask you to share your ideas as well!

• No cable. We had free cable last year, but when it came time to choose spending $40+ a month on TV? Nope.
• Library instead Netflix or buying books and CDs.
• One car for the two of us. (I walk to work.)
• Biking to the grocery in the summer. Mmm, summer.
• Aside from washing dishes, I do all our cleaning with baking soda and vinegar.
• Buying in bulk – rice, oats, almonds, etc.
• Dried beans instead of canned beans. So super cheap it’s amazing!
• I cut the coffee habit a few months ago – which means my coffee runs have drastically reduced.
• Planning meals – less waste, more eating healthy, and less chance we’ll decide to just order a pizza instead!
• Reusing everything you could ever imagine. I reuse packaging and brown paper bags for my Etsy and Amazon packages, I rinse out Ziploc bags, I reuse aluminum foil, our “Tupperware” is reused yogurt containers, and we have almost no disposable paper products in our house.
• Love hand-me-downs, thrift stores, consignment shops, and ridiculously cheap clothing stores.
• Never spring for manicures, pedicures, salon hair cuts or coloring (Best Cuts is my friend. As is hair dye-in-a-box!).
• No pre-cut, pre-washed veggies or fruit. I'd rather do it myself and save a lot of money.
• Try to make do with what I have. (My husband is laughing at me right now. I kind of like Target. And Joann Fabric.)

Here’s to spending less money and living more.

[ETA: I think it's important to point out that I don't advocate cutting costs at the expense of human rights, the environment, or so on - I choose to spend my money more intentionally - instead of buying a whole lot of junk I don't need from Wal-Mart, I buy it from Target one nice, quality item that is fair-trade, made locally, or something like that. :) I'd never want to promote saving money above all else. It's about spending it more wisely. Right?]

{Don’t forget to share your frugal tips. Be proud of your penny-pinching prowess!}