Step two - cutting back on things I can control

Ok, so when it comes to a household budget, there are a few immovable components that you will likely not have an impact on decreasing even if you want to: rent, utilities, insurance, etc. But there are other things you can change - groceries, cell phone, television, internet, etc. Last week I talked about getting our cell phone to a manageable place, and this week I'm going to tap into a part of the grocery budget that I have definitely been overspending on: cleaning supplies.

I consider myself to be a relatively clean person. As much as I hate to admit it, I have a little panic attack when people come over and my house isn't clean. There is just something about being in a clean house that helps me to clear my mind. The opposite is also true.

I really love to cook, but if I go into the kitchen to cook and it is dirty, I have to clean it before I cook anything. So by the time I clean the kitchen, I have no more desire to cook anything because THE KITCHEN WILL BE DIRTY AGAIN. It's a dreaded cycle.

So anyway, I will admit right away that I watch television and I will buy into the latest cleaning crazes. ShamWow? Awesome. Kaboom? Of course. OxyClean? Brilliant! I see these things that wipe right through limescale, grease, soap scum, and I am enamored. I truly desire to try one of those shower things that apparently keeps your shower clean by spraying it periodically, except it makes me think of having a robot in my shower and that is something I think would genuinely freak me out. Have I always indulged on these urges? No. But do I know that I am a sucker? Yes.

So with that in mind and also my recent goals about saving money, I spent some time doing some research. I found another great blog about saving money that offers some more practical suggestions and how-tos than "And Then She Saved" (although I really like her, so I will likely keep reading hers): http://www.thesimpledollar.com/. What drew me to his blog was a recipe for Homemade Laundry Detergent, which I was all gung ho about trying. But the skeptic in me was curious about the numbers.

He says that a person can spend on average $60-$70 a year on laundry detergent alone. So what do I do? I went through my grocery receipts from the last year and my number was $74.16! I know in the grand scheme of things that is not a ton of money, but it got me thinking about other things I shell out that kind of cash for that I know I could do without or reduce. My largest vices included:

• Clorox wipes: $65
• Swiffer dusters, floor pads (wet and dry): $85
• Paper plates: $36

For me, the worst part of all of that is all of those are things I eventually THROW AWAY. I might as well have taken that $186 and just flushed it down the toilet. I am a product of American consumerism and convenience. Why should I go through the trouble of washing dishes when I have paper plates? Why should I just use a broom and a mop like in the olden days? Why should I just use a multi-purpose cleaner when I can clean something and just throw away this handy dandy wipe? Well the simple answer is because I am lazy. But a better answer is that as a citizen of the world, I should be doing my part to help the environment. I would also like to save a few pesos.

So I continued to look on the internet for helpful hints about this, and let me tell you it is an overwhelming place out there. Some websites seem helpful at first, but later they never quite get to the nitty gritty (like how much white vinegar and water will clean anything?). What did I do next? I went to the library of course!

Yea I know there are those of you out there who are exclusively internet information-o-holics, but every once in a while I like to take a break from my mindless searching and actually pick up a book. This time the effort was worth it. I found this little gem: Green Clean: The Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home . I only get to keep it for a few weeks, but I know I will be making copies of the recipes chapter and trying some of them out. Although their main focus is on the environment, I would say that majority of their solutions also come with a much smaller price tag than my usual purchases.

So here are the things I am willing to give up/ change:

• No more paper plates! Sorry hubby, looks like we will be washing more dishes =(
  
• Homemade laundry detergent. I may try a few recipes and see which one I like. Stay tuned for this =)
• Floors - I have a perfectly good broom and even an awesome steam cleaner I bought on ebay that I don't use enough. Since it only uses water to clean, there is a nearly $60 savings right there!
• No more Clorox wipes, I will be investigating new recipes for multi-purpose cleaners made with things like white vinegar.
  

So I know this is all very exciting too all of you (smell the sarcasm) and I hate to leave you in suspense about how this whole transition will go. But, as a wise man once said, "Good things come to those who wait..."

Step One - getting the cell phone bill under control

So Friday night, Jennings and I spent almost our whole evening at the AT&T store. We had already discussed making some changes to our cell phone plan, but when we went there last week to ask some questions we decided to wait a little while before we made any changes.

Well all of that changed when my hubby accidentally dropped his iphone and got it slammed in his car door. It was quite a traumatic event for him. So we knew we had to get him a new phone, and it was time for me to investigate other options also.

I had a Blackberry, and apparently if you have smart phone you are required to have a data package - lame! I know that is the whole draw of getting a smart phone, and two years ago I thought I needed that. Well times have changed, and I told the salesman I wanted to DOWNGRADE.

As I was explaining it to him, I almost felt like the other people in the room were turning their heads in my direction, all the chatter coming to a stop as they stared at me in disbelief - downgrade?! Who would ever want to do such a thing? Well, the simple answer is - me!

So fortunately, the sales guy helping us was actually a really nice and knowledgeable person. He helped us save some money and even recommended a good non-smart phone to me. It's a new, up and coming brand, Pantech, and this model has a touch screen like a smart phone, but also a full keyboard. It's also just as thin as the iphone4! So we both bit the bullet and bought new phones, but the end goal is saving on our monthly bill. I will have to get back to you with the results!

Are there any things you are cutting back on to save a buck these days? Leave them in the comments section!

And Then She Saved

So recently I was following a link on CNN, which led to my usual browsing afterward and they featured a blogger named Anna Newell Jones of And Then She Saved. She is a young person, like myself, who works a decent job and is married, but still finds herself in debt from consumer credit cards and student loans. She spent a whole year on a self-imposed spending fast and she was able to pay down $17,000 of her debt. Incredible, right?

So over the next week or so I obsessively read all 70 something pages of her blog from the last year. A little much, I know. But I was so drawn into her story. After her first three months, I was read to do my own spending fast. Then I got my first paycheck of the year, and realized I already put the majority of my salary toward debt payment, so how in the world was I going to save money?

Well, there are a few things that really stood out for me from her blog that I will most likely consider using and doing without actually doing a complete and total spending fast. Here are the elements I am most likely to try:

• Cut down on eating out. This one fits in especially well with my next plan - losing weight!
• When grocery shopping, buy store brands - there is almost never, if any, difference between these and the fancy brands
• When planning meals, plan around items I already have in the pantry.
  
• Spend less on cleaning supplies - I realized at the store the other day that I would have spent nearly $9 on those Swiffer duster refill things. Obviously, that is too damn much money to spend on something that I am just going to throw away. So instead I bought a can of hypoallergenic dusting stuff that was $5 and will last me much longer. In the future I plan to investigate homemade cleaners for laundry, etc.
• Cutting down on costs like cell phone. I have a Blackberry with the Internet, but I am at a computer all day for work, so why should I pay for Internet on my phone? I have started to look into this, but it is apparently more complicated than I thought it would be. More on that later.

So that's just a start on some things I would like to try from And Then She Saved. Only time will tell how they will pan out for me!