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| The Basics | 4 ways to simplify your life and save
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Tips on saving money are easy to find. But what it really comes down to is taking a hard look at your priorities -- and simplifying your life.
By MP Dunleavey
Editor's note: Columnist MP Dunleavey and six other women have come together online to strip away the myths surrounding money, speak frankly about their finances and liberate themselves from debt. Follow the quest for financial fabulousness of these "Women in Red" every other Monday in Dunleavey's column on MSN Money.
So you want to save money. Join the line. Finding new, smart, creative savings strategies is the quest of every overspent American, as the Women in Red can tell you.
The thing is, saving has become like dieting. There are a zillion books, tapes, articles, Web sites and celebrity exercise videos out there to tell you how to lose weight -- ditto for how to save.
Alas, most people have seen the same tips a thousand times:- Live on less than you earn.
- Track your spending so you can see where your money goes.
- Never buy anything new.
- Whenever possible, slaughter your own livestock, etc.
Beth becomes a tightwad
Now, Im not pooh-poohing the canon of classic savings strategies. Theres a lot of terrific advice on this topic, much of it here on good ol MSN Money.
Beth herself recently acquired a copy of what many consider to be the Bible on how to live on less: The Tightwad Gazette, by Amy Dacyczyn. Dacyczyn (pronounced decision) wrote a series of newsletters on frugality a few years back that have since become books -- and inspired a cult following of frugal-minded folks.
Beth didnt intend to become a tightwadder, as TWG devotees are sometimes called. She just wanted to save enough to take a weeks vacation with her husband sometime next spring. But I read the whole book, cover to cover, in just a couple of days, she says.
Do-it-yourself thrift
The TWG philosophy is all about saving money by doing it yourself. Which is not everyones shot of espresso -- but it works.
Dacyczyn herself, a stay-at-home mom with six kids, says her family saved $49,000 in less than seven years -- on an income of less than $30,000. (And when you read that she not only compared the price of microwave popcorn to the non-packaged variety, but timed microwave vs. air-popping to factor in efficiency, you can believe it.)
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Three weeks into her TWG adventure, Beth is already saving money by finding cheaper alternatives to household staples. For example:- Cleaners: A spray bottle of Clorox brand multi-cleaner is $4.99, according to the one under my sink. Not only is all the chemical garbage in those cleansers unnecessary, a homemade clone can be made for pennies. Beth made a faux Windex out of vinegar, ammonia, rubbing alcohol, water and blue food dye for about 35 cents. If you use a lot of Windex like we do, you can save a lot this way, Beth says. (Never mix your own cleaners without a tried-and-true "recipe," though. Mixing chlorine bleach and ammonia, for example, can produce deadly chlorine gas.)
- Mixes: Most pre-packaged mixes (for rice, pastas, cakes, pancakes or beverages) are heinously marked up. Because I drink a lot of cocoa in the winter, Beth says, I decided to make my own. Dry milk, the primary ingredient in most store cocoas, is only $1 a pound. Beth estimates that her homemade mix will cut her cocoa bill in half.
- Buying in bulk: In doing their 60% Solution budget, Beth and her husband realized they could spend way less on groceries -- if they shopped at a cheaper store! Now, thanks to TWG, they are also buying staples in bulk. Its amazing how much cheaper things are when you dont pay for all that packaging and advertising.
Frugality is not for everyone
People love to make fun of tightwaddism. When I called Barnes & Noble to see if they had a copy of the TWG, the clerk paused, Shouldnt you borrow it from the library? Ha ha.
Still, TWG endures because the whole saving strategy is based on a few principles that anyone can implement right away.- Dont pay for anything if you can make or fix it yourself.
- Prolong the life of whatever you own.
- Use less.
- Think creatively. The answer doesnt have to be buy a new one.
- Dont toss anything if it can be reused or recycled somehow.
These are tried-and-true, pioneer values that you could do now (make that sandwich wrap into an origami Christmas ornament, will ya?). But the real problem with most savings strategies, including TWG, is that if you really want to save money, you cant just look at ways to save. You have to look at your life.
Dacycyzn didnt have to do this. She was already living in rural Maine. The rest of us have to not only work at saving (and not spending), but shifting into a way of life that supports those measures. If youre keeping up with the Joneses, and going out with them too, its hard to say, Dom Perignon, pshaw! Lets order pizza and drink Kool-Aid.
Simplify and save, too
What Beth and I are both discovering is that your spending really begins to change when you rearrange your priorities to live a less expansive and expensive consumer lifestyle. I just got grossed out by all the stuff we own but never use, she wrote to me in an e-mail, as well as the size and amount of things we as Americans view as necessary.
Several years ago, Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin had the same revelations, and they wrote the book "Your Money or Your Life." The goal of the book was to help people develop a new relationship with money, one that was based on leading a meaningful life, not owning a lot of stuff.
Their book gave the rather quiet, Left-Coast-ish Voluntary Simplicity movement a sudden and widespread appeal. Dave Wampler, founder of the "Simple Living" network, says that when his Web site began in 1996, it got a few hundred visitors a month. These days we get between three and nine thousand a day, he says.
Even given how much more wired we are, thats a lot.
Simplicity is simply misunderestimated
A lot of people misunderstand the simplicity movement. People associate simplicity with frugality, but that may or may not be, says Linda Breen Pierce, author of "Choosing Simplicity." Still, the vast majority of people who simplify their lives end up spending less and wanting less.
Wampler agrees that its possible to save money by simply being frugal and following TWG-type tips. But along the way, youre probably going to experience a (life) shift, whether you were looking for it or not.
For those of us who have tried traditional savings strategies with limited results, I say take a more aggressive stance. If you really do want to save money, youll be more successful in taking serious cost-cutting measures if you also adjust the way you live.
4 ways to simplify your life
- Slow down: Spend 30 minutes a day in silence and solitude, says Pierce. "It will help your mind to relax, so you can shift from the work-and-spend treadmill, she says, and focus on whats most important to you.
- Clean up your act: Pierce recommends spending 15 minutes every day going through a closet, a shelf, a drawer, and getting rid of anything you dont need or cherish. Whats exciting is that once you start on these surface areas, weeding that out, the skills and mindset carry over to more complex areas like your work and relationships.
- Learn what is "enough": Many of us are turned off by ideas like simplifying or frugalizing our lives, Wampler says, but its really about transforming your life in a conscious and deliberate manner . . . determining what is enough in your life, so you can do more with less.
And finally, both Pierce and Wampler say, get some support -- whether youre trying to save money or simplify or both. And I couldnt agree more.
Dont try this alone. With Americans $2 trillion deep in debt, youre far from alone in your desire to save money. Find a friend who can help you convert your toaster into a new car muffler and mock the infomercials that torture us all.
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