N E O – D E S T A T I [ D O T ] N E T

Here makes me official return to the blog world and I start out with my own blogging topic series thing (or whatever is best appropriate to call it >>).  This series, entitled Money Saver,  was inspired by the recent events at work that took place last month.  We got notice we were going from a 24 hour store to closing at night.  That meant hours would get cut.  It really showed on my recent check.  50 hours and $345.  Don’t worry, though, because this week I am back full-time because I am doing 8-10 hour days, 4 days a week.  So let me start off by listing off 5 ways to help you save a bit of money and describe each one in my point of view:

1. Stay Home More Often: A lot of you may not agree with me on this because some may easily get bored by staying home too much BUT if you knew me, you would know that even if I just leave the house for a few minutes that I end up spending even $5 on something.  There are a lot of different things you can do at home.  For myself, I have my PlayStation 3 with Netflix so I can play a ton of video games and watch as many movies and television shows as I wish.  I have my sewing machine with a lot of fabrics so I can get easily creative.  I finally have a digital drawing tablet for the computer (I cannot remember if I did mention it in previous posts before I deleted them) so I can draw and do other things in Photoshop.  Oh yes, I do have a lot of Wicca/Witchcraft books I still have to read.  I have around 40-50 of them and most of them I get super cheap (hence why I have a lot of them).  You just have to open your mind to the options around you.
2. Pack Your Own Lunch To Work: Let me start off by mentioning that I work at a gas station/convenience store and it is very easy to spend $5-10 each day you are at work just on junk.  Half of the stuff does not fill me up all the way either.  One of the few exceptions is when we have 2 for $1 on small hot dogs on Wednesdays.  I also get free fountain drinks when I am on duty…too bad it is all carbonated (I hate anything carbonated).
3. Yard Sales: ‘Tis the season for yard sales!  You can find so many great deals from your neighbours.  When I first moved out here to Wyoming two years ago, I was at this yard sale in the neighbourhood when I snagged my first batch of Wicca/Witchcraft books in Wyoming (not my first books on the subject as I did come out here from Michigan with a couple book).  I got 8 books for $15! Two of the books are normally $40 because they are hard-covered and are huge like school text books.  Three of the others are a part of a series and are $20 a book.  Our neighbourhood’s annual yard sale is coming up on 25 June.  This entire neighbourhood (well it is more like a sub-division) is filled with homes with sales and many great deals.  I am well looking forward to it too!
4. Thrift Stores: Or many call them the second-hand shops but these are places where you can find a lot of goodies (even brand new things) for next-to-nothing prices.  I go to the local shops here in town on average of once or twice a week (depending on my days off, my mood, and my current money on hand).  I will be doing another blog series on the finds I get from the shops in the next post,  so look forward to it!
5. Lock Up Checkbooks and Debit/Credit Cards: It is way too easy to write a check these days or use your cards to withdrawal money from the ATM (or even just transfer enough for you to use on your card).  Just carry a small amount of cash so that way you do not go too crazy on shopping when you do have to go out and about.

This is only just the beginning of a series I hope that lasts quite a while for me.  I have many other ways to help you save money (many of them will be from personal experience as well).  Feel free to comment with your own tips on saving money.  I just may feature it in the next feature of Money Saver!  Keep saving money everybody!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 at 12:46 PM MST and is filed under Money Saver. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.