Just a little thrill...

...from saving money. I can't help it.

Went out this afternoon to buy toothpaste, something we all (hopefully all) use. Walgreens had it for $3.29 with a $3.50 register receipt back to use on my next purchase. I'll take that. Use the $3.50 toward rebate items and call it good.

Well, couldn't leave it at that.

Went to another Walgreens, they're on every street corner by me, and bought another. Hey, it's like free money. Can't beat it.

And it gives me a little thrill.

Paper, paper, everywhere paper

I remember years ago when someone predicted that with the advent of the Internet, paper would become obsolete. I wish my desk and the boxes of credit card statements, bank statements, utility bills, etc. would have gotten that message.

So, in the past few weeks I have gone about de-papering my life. 

I found this little desktop scanner that I have totally fallen in love with: ScanSnap by Fujitsu. This little scanner doesn't take up a lot of room and it's amazing. You load in several pieces of paper and hit the scan button and pretty quickly you have a PDF on your computer. It even comes with the Adobe Acrobat software, a $300 value in itself.

So for several weeks I have scanned in my life and reduced it to one single CD data disc. I've now moved on to scanning in all those recipes I've printed out or written out over the years. Truth be told I should have just gotten one of those recipe software organization programs but the thought of actually entering in all that information... scanning is just so much easier.

My favorite part? It's the easy search on the computer for the "piece of paper" I was looking for and not having to sift through piles in order to find it.

Check out the ScanSnap or other products like it (I've heard that NeatReceipts is a pretty good alternative) and go paperless. It's a very freeing feeling.

Finding a way to get my fix

So this past holiday season, I saw and took advantage of Costco's Starbucks gift cards. Great deal, 5 $20 gift cards for $79.99. That's a nice 20% off of a luxury I indulged in from time to time. Problem is, I didn't know it was a holiday promotion. So when I went back to get some more, there were none. Bummer.

That was two weeks ago. In the meantime, I have discouraged myself from going to Starbucks and spending the $4.87 for my "fix." It's not like I didn't do it before I was able to snag the 20% discounted cards, it's just that once you have that discount, it's hard to go back to paying full price.

The good news here is that I'm actually saving more money by not getting the discount. Instead of paying the 4 bucks on a discount, I'm not going and ultimately saving in the long run.

It was my father's philosophy when I was growing up all over again. My mother would come home, happy to show off something she got at 40% off and my dad would say, "what about the 60% you paid?" Such a simple philosophy but there's a lot to it.

Going forward, I know I'll want to get my Starbucks (assuming I'm still employed and can afford it), so I am trying to think of ways to cushion the cost.

Wish they offered coupons :-)

Who would've thunk it...?

Cheap is in.

Yes, you read it right, being cheap is the new fad. Personally, I prefer frugal since it sounds better but hey, who am I to judge? I love to be frugal. I love to save money on things I normally buy, save money on things I normally use and save money on things I splurge on. Who's to say it can't be a splurge even if it's cheap?

I read an article today on cnn.com, In a recession, cheap is chic. It's interesting how people are reacting to the recession. No longer wearing your income on your sleeve, no longer spending like there's no limit on your credit cards, no longer keeping up with the Joneses (heck, they're probably broke too)...

Times have changed. For the better? Maybe in some ways. This economic time might wake people up and start them living within their means. But then again, the long term effect may change everything. Inflation is a distinct possibility after a recession. Clawing our way out of debt is always a long term obstacle. Only time will tell.

Been away so long

Yelled at by my sister for not updating my blog, I have resolved to do so. 

I suppose the good news is that I have been so busy with work since I am still actively employed is a decent excuse. But as I have discovered in the past... it's not how much money you make, it's how you spend it. So my resolution this year, starting a wee bit late on 3/3/09, is to go back to the basics of savings. Employed or not, this economy sucks and each dollar saved is a dollar back in my pocket to use for other necessities.

In the past several months, I have streamlined my phone/cable/internet into one bill, totally less than $150/month. Separated, they were running me $69/$78/$49 for a total of $196. That's over $500/yr. Plus, losing DirecTV and its subscription plans (MLB Extra Innings and NFL Sunday Direct) saved another $500/year.

We also combined our cell phones into a family plan. Didn't really save much but it did finally put us on the same service so we can do mobile to mobile for free.