Have you ever looked back on the week and wondered.. where did all my money go?  I know I have. I think its safe to say that most people spend little bits here and there, maybe by impulse, maybe by routine, then these little bits add up to a larger sum than we even dreamed of. Almost anything you do also has hidden costs, those costs you dont even think about because you group them into something else, then call it a nessesity

First example to the smokers out there, based on information from the US center for disease control and prevention the average pack of 20 cigarettes in the US was $4.26 per pack in 2006. Using an average of 1 pack per day that works out to be $29.82 per week, $129.58 per month or a whopping $1,554.9 per year, so say you are a married couple, both smokers, you could save yourselves $3109 per year! That's a very nice vacation right there, or maybe one whole credit card?
Also as a side note the average health impact based on US adult smokers was over $3000 per smoker per year. You NEED those cigarettes right?

Now on to the Car drivers. We are currently looking at $3 per gallon of gas, but are we cutting back on driving to save money? That trip back out to the store you could have done on the way home from work, did it cost you another half gallon?  The $5 fast food had a hidden charge of $1.50?
The average I could make out was about 20mpg city 30mpg hwy for a family sedan. Each  car is different. Realistically I get about 10mpg in 30mph zones in my 2002 chrysler sebring lxi 2.7L V6.

I have been looking at my own gas mileage over the past month or so, I drive 50 miles a day to work and back, a lot of that is interstate. I have found that driving in excess of the speed limit also greatly reduces your gas mileage. (65 mph limit here) but according to my cars digital gas mileage display at 80mph I am getting 24-26mpg, with the A/C on. Whereas at 65 I am getting 32 - 34mpg with the A/C on, and if I am in super saver mode (following closely behind a semi truck with the A/C off) I am getting upto a whopping 46mpg!! Double gas mileage, sure it takes longer and you have to read an "am I driving safely" sticker 10,000 times but it saves me money.
           In real terms what this mean for me is that on a whole week I did the super saver bit, I only filled up once instead of approx. one and 2/3 times.
Plus the risk of me having an accident was also greatly reduced, due to less speed and protection behind the semi from things like deer which love to hop and skip on the interstate here. Plus I am not at risk of paying a fine for speeding.
         This was maybe more extreme than most people will go, but I did it for the knowlege that I could. And it worked! in dollar terms that saved me about $20 dollars per week, which could be $1040 a year!


These are just 2 simple things, there are many others out there. As an exercise I think it would be cool if any of you are willing to do it, look at everything you spend in a week, gas, groceries, cigarettes, alcohol, magazines and whatever else, then try cutting things down over just a week or 2 and posting it here. Use cheaper brands, I know some things you cant change like I wouldnt give up Heinz ketchup but lets see how much money we could save together!

If this goes well maybe we could hold competitions to see who can save the most percentage wise.

Dan

P.S. For tips on how to save money with gas mileage you may want to check out http://www.fueleconomy.gov

Last edited by AliasXR (2007-07-05 23:41:39)

I'm in.

We've been doing it for a little over a month now. Switching to cash only for dining/groceries, etc has changed our approached tremendously. We found out real quick how we could spend $200 a weekend just on food. 

Next week I have $75 in our budget for groceries/fuel/dining, etc. I'd like to only spend $50 though.

So my goal is to spend $50 next week. I'll rumage through our pantry/fridge/freezer for meal ideas, shop at Aldi for somethings and maybe even head to the farmers market one day.

We always turn our cable off in May and turn it back on October first. This saves us about $300 which we put in one of the kids college funds. Since we started this 5 years ago we have managed to save (with interest earned) about $2000.

flint wrote:

We always turn our cable off in May and turn it back on October first. This saves us about $300 which we put in one of the kids college funds. Since we started this 5 years ago we have managed to save (with interest earned) about $2000.

Good for you! That is along the lines we were thinking. There's just too much to do in the summer for cable. And we do love television so we don't want to get rid of it permanently.

Another good exercise along these lines would be looking at how much we (myself included!) spend each week/month on Starbucks.  Those cups of coffee can really add up!

Ed

AliasXR wrote:

US was $4.26 per pack in 2006. Using an average of 1 pack per day that works out to be $29.82 per week, $129.58 per month or a whopping $1,554.9 per year

I Wish, my dad pays close to $8 a packet that he buys everyday! So he spends 2,688 a year! I could pay a years tuition at community college with that. :sigh:

Last edited by soul2quz (2007-08-11 08:59:45)

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Good Luck

This is a great post. I drive 50 mile a day to work also. I try to combine my trips so that I am not making extra trips. I have already cut my grocery bill some by bringing my lunch to work. The jewel in this for me was the idea to cut out the cable during the summer. What a great idea! I live near the beach. I'm not watching tv during the summer anyway.

I cut my grocery bill by putting some small pots on my balcony. I grow tomatoes, spinach, cucumber, garlic, lettuce - whatever is in season. The drop in my grocery costs is MASSIVELY noticeable - I put the extra cash onto my debts.

Raven that is a great idea.  Fruits and vegetables can be so expensive.   I cut my grocery bill down by shopping at Walmart.     I am working on getting a phone line that is attached through the internet to cut down on phone bill costs.