Try This Tuesday: Ways To Live Beneath Your Means

Raising children is expensive. Raising special needs children is more expensive -- a lot more expensive. Here are a few ideas that might help lighten your burden, taken from the book, "Debt Proof Your Marriage," by Mary Hunt. I'm going to commit to a few of the ideas, hopefully you can find that some of these ideas will help you as well!


Shop With Cash. When you make a purchase with cash, you will find it harder to let go. Checks and plastic are stand-ins for money and that's the problem. It's too convenient. Statistically you will spend 30% less over time if you pay cash.

Toss the Catalogs. Mail-order catalogs are the greatest spending temptation known to man. Shred them, they make good packing material.

Get Free Checking. Have you looked at what you spend to access your own money? Many credit unions offer free checking with few, if any, conditions.

Buy Checks Direct. Don't buy checks from your bank, even if you have a free account. Go to checksinthemail or checksunlimited or look in the advertising slicks in the Sunday paper. You will find ads for check printing companies with specials for first-time orders.

Call Your Insurance Companies. Call your insurance companies and prod your agent to help you find discounts. Perhaps your youthful drivers qualify for good-grade discounts, or you may have moved to a new zip code or can get multi-line discounts. Let him/her know that you are shopping rates, then do it!

Play Games With Your Money. Here's one: don't spend coins. Period. If your bill is $4.-2, give the checker a $5. At the end of each day put all of your change in a jar or drawer. I have one client that pays for his complete Christmas this way.

Become Fee Phobic. Don't pay $1.50 at the ATM when you can walk two blocks to your own bank. Refuse to stay in a hotel that charges a $4 connectivity fee. Don't accept a credit card that has an annual fee. Before buying an airline ticket, inquire about hidden fees (some airlines charge up to $20 to issue paper tickets versus e-tickets). Beware everywhere of Gotcha Fees.

Bargain ISP's. Some people pay $24 or more per month for dial-up Internet Access. I thought the Internet was "free". Networld (a local ISP) charges $8.25 per month on an annual contract. Love AOL? Go to walmart.com and click on Internet Service and get it for $9.94 a month. netzero and juno offer ten hours of service per month free. Be sure and check for local access numbers to reduce access costs.

Secret Codes. Most online marchants provide a place during checkout to enter a promotional code. Type it in and your total amount is automatically adjusted. It might give you free shipping. Robert's Crafts is one that we use locally for 40-50% discounts on single item purchases. Go to currentcodes, coolsavings, dealhunting, etc to find the discount codes. Promotional codes are distributed by retailers to improve sales.

Know Your Bulks. Just because you buy at a warehouse, larger sizes are not always cheaper per serving. Know your unit costs. Check out the Dry Pack Canning for great quality and low prices.

Get Supermarket Savvy. Super markets are planned to grab you. They are the most impulsive place on earth. They try to get you to buy things that are not planned. Size of the aisles, music playing, smells from the bakery, and others are planned to entice you to buy. Your Defense: shop with cash. Carry only the amount you have decided ahead of time to spend. Shop with a list. If you see a bargain too good to pass up, come back later to get it.

Grocery Shop Less Often. If you shop every week, stretch it out to eight days. Next week make it nine. Before you know it you will be using what you have on hand and shopping every two weeks. Your bill might be a little higher, but not double.

Try Store Brands. Chain stores that have their own brand names do not have their own manufacturers. They pick quality that represents their store and put their label on the product. 80% of the cost of food in your supermarket goes for marketing and advertising. Store brands require less of that. Experiment and try different brands. Another hint: There are only five major turkey processing plants in the US. There are a gazillion brands. They are all from the same place. Go for the cheapest one you can find.

Match coupons with sales. If you can match manufacturer's coupons with sales, you maximize the savings. by themselves they are not worth much.

Buy Cheap Shampoo. All shampoo is 80-90% water. Store brands or salon brands only contain 9-19% detergent wiht just a few drops of fragrance and additives. Shampoo detergets: ammonium lauryl sulfate - very harsh; ammonium laureth sulfate - harsh; sodium lauryl sulfate (sls) - still harsh; sodium laureth sulfate (sles) - mild, great choice; TEA lauryl sulfate - gentle, good choice; TEA laureth sulfate - gentle, also a good choice. Buy the cheapest one you can find. Baby shampoo is great for babies, but is way too gentle for adult hair.

Stock Up When It's Cheap. most major grocery chains work on a twelve-week cycle. That means that most things go on sale every twelve weeks. Wait for the sale and buy enough o carry you over. The grocery store is the alst place you want to get caught paying full price.

Find the Library. Libraries lend more than books. Look for videos, DVD's, even character cake pans! Check with your library, and even if they don't have the cake pans, suggest them. Stop buying books that you only read once. But please, no overdue fees.

Liquidate. Look the your stuff. I mean the attic, basement, cupboards, closets, and garage. You've got a lot of stuff. Perhaps now would be a good time to turn some of that stuff into cash. If it is not grandma's vintage sterling silver, get rid of it. sell it through local classifieds, garage sales, or internet auction.

Buy Used, Late Model, Domestic. There is nothing as expensive as a new car. The cheapest way to own a car is to buy a late model, used, domestic car with cash. Don't dismiss the thought so quickly. You can do this. You start with the best clunker you can pay cash for. Then start making payments to yourself of say $200 per month. Soon you will be able to see your clunker, probably for nearly what you paid for it and put that with what you have paid to yourself adn buya better car. Keep paying yoruself until you can afford an even better car. When you have gotten up the point you have enough to buy a new car for say $25,000 that will be worth $20,000 when you drive it off of the lot, you won't want the new car. You will see the value in paying cash for a late model, used, domestic car.

Empty the Trunk & Fill the Tires. The heavier your car, the harder your engine has to work. Give up making your trunk a mini storage unit. All you should have in there is a spare tire and some safety equipment. You will fill up less often. When you do fill up, check the tires and keep the air at the optimum psi rating. These two tactics will improve your mileage by about 10%.

Stop Shopping. Do you find yourself wandering around malls and bargain centers looking for bargains? Stop doing that! When you need something, find what you need and buy it. Then leave. That is called "planned spending" and is light-years from shopping till you drop.

Free Fitness. Most people who sign up for fitness centers spend $20-30 per montha nd often do not use the privileges. If you do, God Bless you. If you cannot afford that, or choose not to spend the money, don't worry. ou have an ideal fitness opportunity for free. It's called your legs and the great outdoors. Start walking!

Expect Satisfaction. When something does not fit, doesn't operate, doesn't stay together, don't throw it away. Take it back! Expect to be a satisfied customer.

Do It Yourself. It is easy to call a housekeeping service or agree to pay more for installation. But come on. If you can do some of those thigns yourself, or learn how, you should. Just think of the savings and the fact you will know it is done right.

Learn to Cut Hair. Anyone with a little patience and willingness to learn can perform hair trims to increase the time between professional cuts and can also learn to cut kids' hair. For an investment of about $25 you can save up to 50% of your annual till for a savings of $500 or more per year.

Turn Down/Up the Thermostat Two Degrees. In the winter, lower your thermostat by just two degrees and in the summer increase it by two degrees. Experts tell us this will reduce your costs by 5-10% annually.