Friday, December 5, 2008

Saving money in small ways

I started going through my spendings to figure out what I can spare and start to save from. These are small steps, but it's going to save me some money while paying off debts. I will review it again in the near future to save even more money.

1. Cancel my motorcycle insurance. Since I am no longer riding my motorcycle, I canceled the insurance to get my money back for the remaining amount. I had paid the insurance in full when I signed up, so a refund check will come back to me. This gave me $139.

2. Adjust my retirement contribution. I am currently contributing $205/month into my retirement. I am going to bring this to zero for the time that I am paying off my debts (minus my house). While you're paying off your debts, you should not be contributing to this. You're losing money off of interest more than you would if you didn't contribute to retirement. Once you pay off the debts, you should contribute 20% to retirement. Savings of $205/month and $2460/year.

3. Send back DirecTV receivers. I signed up with DirecTV and with it came a deposit for receivers. I canceled DirecTV and am sending the receivers back. This gave me $550.

4. No more fast food for lunches. I am still going to eat out for dinner every once in awhile, especially since I am dating. For lunch, I will always eat a standard meal that I brought from home. I estimate I will be spending $10/week on lunches at the most. Before, I was spending roughly $40/week on lunches. Savings of $116/month and $1392/year.

5. I've downgraded my Dish Network plan to save $10/month. This will be reviewed again in the near future.

These are the main things that I've gone through so far. I am well on my way to financial freedom. It's just a matter of time before I have everything paid off.

I currently have $1500 in credit card bills (from emergency trips) and an $8000 car loan to pay off. Once this is complete I will just have my house to pay off.

2 comments:

Janel said...

Good ideas! I was just thinking about how we could save around $2000 a year if Eliza went on the potty.

Greg Crabb said...

Haha, yeah, I don't have that to worry about yet, but someday I probably will. Tell her she should get a job! :)