For years, I never gave a second thought to our bills. I just paid them and went on. I paid for the largest, most ridiculous cable bundle package even though I rarely watch T.V. I bought the foods that looked most appealing at the grocery store and the personal products that were the latest and greatest.
One of the things I noticed when I started to take a good look at things was that I never really paid any attention to anything. I immediately changed my cable package to something that was a better fit for our needs. I started to notice that some of the things I was paying for at the grocery store were simply empty promises.
Marketing trends owned me. I actually felt deprived the first time I purchased lotion that was less than $25 per bottle. Me? I could care less about having a "name brand" lotion, but I did notice a feeling of something icky when I purchased the $4 lotion. What was it? It was similar to failure, I guess.
I soon learned that there were differences in lotion, some were thicker, some were sticky, some were just greasy. I did not find evidence that my $25 lotion was actually better than our current personal favorite. I mourned the loss of $21 every time I had purchased the pricey lotion in the past. Ah well, time to move on.
The lotion was really the beginning of a very eye opening experience. I noticed that there are always new products coming out. In a few months, sometimes those products simply vanished. If they were so great, why didn't they stay? Ahh... here is one of the most tried and true. Why is oatmeal still the same stuff in the same cardboard can? It is just as fine as it was years ago. You can still use it for breakfast. You can still add things to it. You can still make cookies with it. The big difference is, we add fresh fruit to ours, not some freeze dried fruit remnant.
We also discovered that a razor with two blades shaves nicely. We do not need the third, fourth or who knows what else to shave. We discovered that sometimes the larger size is NOT cheaper, that brand name products may not be more expensive, and perhaps the most amazing trick is square footage of toilet paper and paper towels.
When you actually check the square footage of paper products, it is amazing what stands out. It's the whipped butter of the paper product aisle. The first time I checked, I just stared in wonder. The package marked at $15.98 was indeed much larger looking. The package marked at $8.99 on the same shelf appeared smaller but had almost a third more toilet paper in it. Puzzling, but I purchased the $8.99 package.
So you are wondering how in the world these details matter, right? Well, let me help you. Three years ago, I was spending approximately $700 per month at the grocery store for our family. I quickly pared that down to approximately $300. It took about a month to catch on to these trends. Today, even with rising prices, I spend approximately $280 per month, including groceries, pet food, cleaning products and personal hygiene products. Maybe you don't think this is a big deal. Maybe you do not think it is worth it. Maybe you don't see where this can help you. Let me explain. I initially started to add the amount to my investments for retirement. It made a BIG difference to my retirement accounts.
Imagine if you could find a way to add $300 or more to your retirement plans? Or toward a larger home? Would it be worth it to take a look at what is really important to you? When you really take a moment to sit down and look where you spend your money, you might be surprised to find that it doesn't really add up with your priorities. So many times I would say, "We cannot afford" something that I really felt was important. Once I trimmed down on the excess, the things that I found important were easy. I do not need the bright SUV with leather interior. I have something much more wonderful. I am not a slave to my car payment, my house payment, my credit cards or anything else. I can sleep peacefully knowing that it will take care of itself now that we are respectful of our own values.
No comments:
Post a Comment