Saving a house payment a year might sound hard, but it is really just learning to do things a little smarter. This idea is really simple, but it is little things like this that add up over a years time. Some people will say I do not need to go through all that to save a few dollars. Well it is each individuals choice to live how they see fit. This sounds simple and if you think about it, it is. Most people work fifty weeks a year. Five days a week. That works out to 250 days a year. Yes some people get paid holidays. However there are many jobs that do not pay for holidays. Here is how to save money for your holiday or a house payment. Whichever would make you happier. Most people drink pop or water at work and buy it out of the vending machine. There is a much cheaper way to do so. All it takes is a little planning on your part. I am not asking you to give up your soda or pop, whichever you call it.
Being honest I did not figure this all out myself. A friend of mine showed me how to do it and I must say he also taught me the meaning of penny wise and pound foolish. He spends most of his time thinking of ways to save on everyday purchases, but when it comes to bigger stuff like cars he is totally wasteful. It is not because he is wasteful, but because he can fix it himself. He would rather fix something than buy a newer one which might save him gas and money, but not time. Time which could be spent driving it, or with his family, instead of fixing it. We all have to figure which is more important to us time or money.
Sorry for getting side tracked but here goes. Hope I can explain it well enough. If you buy three pops a day for the 250 days you work, you will spend roughly $1125.00 dollars a year. That is based on a $1.50 vending machine price for a twenty ounce bottle. If you were to buy a two liter bottle at the store which averages around $1.89 where I live and pour that big bottle into a twenty ounce bottle you save about about $2.61 cents a day. Actually you would save a little more because a two liter bottle actually holds about 3 and a half twenty ounce bottles. You say it will get hot well put it in a small cooler you bring from home with ice you freeze yourself and put it in a glass. The hot problem is solved. If you put the cap back on good and tight it should not go flat. That simple act saves you based on the $2.61 a day the sum of $652.50 a year. Now I do not know how much your house payment is, but I based it on mine which is $599 a month. So it is possible to save more and actually drink an extra half bottle of pop a day. Or if you choose to maximize the savings and carry the half bottle forward to the next day the savings would go up to $787.51 dollars a year.
This works for the person who drinks water also. Unless your home water is horrible, taking a gallon or so to work every day could save you $750.00 dollars a year. That is if the water in the machine at work is just a $1.00 dollar a bottle. When you add to this the money you can save buy brown bagging your lunch (fixing it at home and carrying it in) You can probably save twice as much. I am not a total grinch. However if you go to a pizza buffet and it is almost $7.00 with the drink figured in how much pizza can you eat? I usually go to Taco Bell and get their $2.00 Dollar Meal Deal off the menu. For just $2.00 you get a drink, a bag of Doritos and your main entree, which for me is the five layer burrito. If I am really hungry I can get a second burrito for just $1.27 dollars more.
The same process can be applied to loosing weight. It helped me loose 90 pounds without even trying and without really suffering in the process. It required no excercise. It really works and it is really simple. You just eat smaller servings. My daughter called it "The Way Down Diet." The idea is to just learn to eat smaller servings as you go along. What I like about it is that you do not count calories or give up your favorite foods. You do have to pay attention to what you are eating and not eat anything after 7 PM. That is probably the rule I have the biggest problem with. You learn to eat smaller meals and to eat more often. It helps keep your system in the digestive mode. Every one knows how much or what they eat. The first thing to give up is the second plate or second helping. If you say I can not do that. Well you are not ready to lose weight. If you seriously want to lose you will have to make some changes. This diet is the easiest one I ever tried and it works. I do try to eat less bread and pasta, but other than that I did not change what I eat. I just eat a little less. Instead of two big scoops of spaghetti I get one and a half and after a few months I found I could get by with one scoop. The thing I noticed is that by limiting myself a little I enjoyed what I do eat more. As you can see I did not totally eliminate pasta, just cut back on it.
Almost anyone can adapt this program to their needs. You can save some money and maybe loose a couple pounds in the process. It is the little things that bleed us dry and we do not realize it. To really get ahead it helps to plan an overall budget. However before you try to budget spend a month or two keeping track of every penny you spend. If you write it all down you will start to see where the waste is. Do you need a new magazine or a new music CD. Why not wait for a friend or family member to give you their old one. How about spending some time at the library reading. Then you do not have to pick it up and move it to dust or pay to have it hauled away as trash. You can get really creative in saving money. The first thing and most important though is that you need to know where what you do get is going. The key to any good program is staying focused and paying attention to the little details. I have been debt free two or three times in my life, but it is easy to get back into debt. All debt is not bad. However you need to be the one in charge of your finances and not your creditors. Every dollar you borrow or owe means you now have to make two dollars. You have to make one for the creditor and you still need one to live on. Eliminating your debt will make life much easier and more enjoyable. The key as I said is staying focused on your goals. Good luck hope this helps someone. If you like this page let me know and I can do more. If you do not let me know and I will put my efforts to better use. Thanks for taking the time to read it though..
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