PFT #97 - Personal Finance Tip of the Week - The Little Things That Save You Money

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When it comes to budgeting, people think about the monthly expenses for items such as the mortgage/rent, car payment, grocery bill, subscriptions and so on. 

On the flip side there are costs that fall into the general spending category where the items are not fixed amounts. The way to manage this is to look at the repetitive activities throughout the year and decide if you can get more out of what you’ve purchased. 

In my case, I think about buying opportunities that I am given or I put thought into the new items that I will purchase. Let’s review a few of them.

The easiest one for me is with my orders on Amazon. I'm often offered digital credits if my packages are delivered in 2-7 days rather than the next day. I usually get a few dollars per order and I use that for renting movies, buying books, music or apps. This really comes into play during the year-end holidays.

Another one is the car wash. My wife washes her vehicle 3-4 times each month at $10. So we  purchased an unlimited monthly plan at $25 saving us $15 and that comes to a savings of $180 each year. 

One item that comes up periodically is bowling. We like to sprinkle this throughout the year, especially during the winter and with that comes renting shoes for my wife at $4 a pop. Now over the course of two years, it was more cost effective to purchase a permanent pair and over time that $4 stays in her pocket each time we hit the lanes.

Here is an usual one regarding consumption. I bought a large bag of zip ties to help stake my plants and shrubs in the garden. They are a single use item; however, I insert flange in backwards so that it doesn’t lock, meaning that I can reuse them several times. 

Let’s do more: during my travels, in some cities, such as New York, using a taxi rather than an Uber or Lyft is less expensive by a wide margin. 

Okay, let’s wrap this up. When you incorporate this type of mindset with your purchases, the savings are small per transaction; however this money adds up over time. The beauty is that you save money without changing what you use or purchase. In addition, less consumption of items helps the environment.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everyone, I am David and you were listening to
the Personal Finance Tip of the Week and this week's
topic is about the little things that can save you money.
When it comes to budgeting, people think about the monthly
expenses for items such as the mortgage, rent, car payment,

(00:24):
grocery bill, subscriptions, and so on. On the flip side, there
are costs that fall into the general spending category where
the items are not fixed amounts. The way to manage
this is to look at the repetitive activities throughout the
year and decided you can get more out of what
you've purchased. In my case, I think about buying opportunities

(00:45):
that I am given, or I put thought into the
new items that I will purchase. So let's review a
few of them. The easiest one for me is my
Amazon orders. I am often offered digital credits if my
packages are delivered in two to seven days rather than
the next day. I usually get a few dollars per order,
and then I turn around and use that for renting movies,

(01:06):
buying books, music or apps. This really comes into play
during the year end holidays. Another one is the car wash.
My wife washes her vehicle three to four times each
month at ten dollars a pop. So we purchased an
unlimited plan at twenty five dollars a month, saving US
fifteen dollars, which comes to a savings of one hundred

(01:27):
and eighty dollars each year. One item that comes up
periodically for us is bowling. We sprinkle this activity throughout
the year, and with that comes renting shoes at four
dollars a pop. Now, over the course of two years,
we realized it was more cost effective to purchase a
permanent pair, and over time that four dollars stays in
our pocket every time we hit the lanes. Okay, let's

(01:49):
do an off handed one with consumption. I bought a
bag of zip ties to stake my plants in the garden.
They are a single use item. However, I insert the
flan backwards so that they don't lock, and this means
that I can use them several times over all. Right,
let's do one more. During my travels in some cities

(02:10):
such as New York, using a taxi rather than an
uber or lyft is less expensive by a wide margin.
So let's wrap this up. When you incorporate this type
of mindset with your purchases. The savings their small per transaction. However,
this money adds up over time. The beauty is that
you save money without changing what you use or purchase.

(02:32):
In addition, less consumption of items helps the environment. So
that will do it for the personal finance Tip of
the week. Until next time, I am David