05.04.08
Saving money tips week 2
If you are like most people who need more money to buy gas to get to work without getting a second job, this just might help. Write down everything you spend in a day include that cup of coffee or capucino, the candy bar from the vending machine or the can of soda or bottled water. Every penny counts cause it all adds up over time. Look over the list and see where you can start cutting. Bottled water or soda costs over a dollar each. If you buy 3 cans a day it adds up to 3 dollars or more. multiply that by 5 work days. You save $15.00. Multiply that by 4.3 (weeks in a month). You save $64.50. Over a course of a year, you save $774.00. Naturally if you buy more than 3 bottles a day or buy more often than 5 days you can save a lot more. The average cost of coffee is 1.60 a cup. If you buy 1 cup a day for 5 days, you spend about $8.00. In a month, you can save $34.40. Over a year this is $412.00. The average candy bar is .75 cents to a $1.00. If you bought 1 a day for a week and stop buying it you save $5.00. Over a month you save $25.00. Anyway, you see where I am going with this. This doesn’t mean you have to give up something to drink. Buy a cheap thermos. One that is made of plastic not glass. The glass ones break. Make your coffee at home and take it to work. Or, make kool-aid and put it in a thermos. Or, take a glass or a cup to work and fill it with water from the water fountain or cooler which is usually free. if you have to have a soda, buy a 12 pack on sale. sometimes you can catch them on sale at the grocery store for less than $5.00. you wont save as much as if you would if you gave sodas up all together but you will save. Invest in a small cooler and take your soda to work. Hide the soda from your kids. Same with the candy bars. Instead of bottled water, use tap water. If you don’t like the taste of your tap water, invest in a good water filter for the tap. Over time, you will save money. the upside of cutting down or even cutting out your soda is you not only save money, you also save calories. Get this. A pound of fat is equal to 3000 calories. A can of soda is at least 150 calories. If you drink 3 cans a day, its equals 450 calories. so, if you substitute water for those cans of soda, over the course of 10 days you can lose over a pound, that is if you don’t replace those soda calories with something else.