I’m always lived frugally, cutting costs wherever I could. Most of us do this. However, with the recent layoff I’ve been forced to tighten up spending even further. No more sandwiches at the bar. No $15+ shows. No needless spending at Target. Easily doable. I’ll admit that over the past two weeks I’ve got a sadistic pleasure in seeing just how little money I can survive on. For instance, last week, Thursday’s dinner cost 81 cents. Thank you, Harris Teeter and your “Please Buy This Now Or We’re Tossing It” rack for the bag of bananas.
I bring up my financial situation only to introduce an invaluable blog for other dollar stretchers. The Simple Dollar has been in my blog reader for a few years now and though it’s not my first read of the morning I always find something to take away from it. In a nut shell, The Simple Dollar is for anyone seeking some direction in getting out of debt, saving some dollars every month or taking practical steps in accomplishing personal goals. The author, Trent Hamm, shares his story on how we dug himself out of “Financial Armageddon”, realigned his priorities and began to save for the things that mattered most. Along the way, he taught us how to make our own batch of laundry detergent.
Other resources I use:
Grocery Freak, a one-stop shop for weekly coupons.
Joseph Sangl. I attended one of his free workshops on budgeting, and that night I downloaded some of his spreadsheets and got to work planning out my week-to-week expenses and establishing something akin to a savings plan. After looking over my final numbers, I slept a little easier knowing that I wasn’t living in the red. I kicked myself for not planning sooner. As far as Joe’s site, I don’t think it’s a pay service, but if it is, just fire up a spreadsheet or a Google document and DIY.