So, I’ve been reading books that are supposedly about how to reduce your spending so you can save more. Not surprisingly, this is of great interest to me right now, what with the economy being what it is (circling the drain, as it were).
Anyway, so I’ve read several books on the subject, but so far I’ve learned very little of use! One book was written so long ago that the suggestions no longer make good sense. The others make such good sense that I’ve already been doing those things. And some suggestions are just beyond the realm of feasibility for me. No matter how good my intentions, I am not going to start a vegetable garden (I have a black thumb) or wash and reuse my plastic baggies.
One book suggested cutting costs for family outings. Instead of going to the movies with the family every week, you could rent a movie and save $40. Mikes response? “Who the heck takes their family to the movies ever week?” Now, I do now people who do this, but they don’t live here. We don’t even rent the movies. We get them from the library for free! Family outings? Ha! We have a family zoo membership (gift from my parents) so we can go to the zoo for free. Pretty much, if it costs money, we don’t do it. I think we’ve got the family outing thing under control. My kids think an outing is a $10 trip to QuikTrip for snacks to eat in front of the free rented movie.
We don’t have cable or satellite. We read a lot of books. Mostly free ones from the library or purchased with gift cards. I do have a cell phone, but I got it at the absolute cheapest rate I could find.
Groceries. Here’s where I could seriously cut back, I think. I feel like we spend waaaay too much on food. And no matter how much I try, I just can’t figure out where to cut corners. One book’s sole advice on cutting this bill was to use coupons on double or triple coupon days. Newsflash! None of the stores in this area do that any more. So the coupons are for expensive brands that don’t cut the prices below the cheap brands anyway. So not worth it.
Most of the books wanted to give me advice about what to do with all this extra money I’m going to have lying around, except I don’t have that because I’m already making coffee at home instead of buying a $5 cup at Rocket Brothers. I rarely pay full price for any article of clothing for anyone in the household. We don’t own a boat or a jet ski or a motorcycle or a vacation home. We take our lunches to work and school. We order in twice a month or less. We almost never eat out.
One book suggested we move to a city with a lower cost of living. Hello! I live in Oklahoma. That’s about as low as it gets as far as I can tell.
Where is the book that will give me the “aha!” I’m looking for?
So okay, I read this for book club. I realize it’s about 40 years old, so maybe I just don’t get it, but what the heck was he trying to say? I picked up several themes, but it seemed like Vonnegut couldn’t make up his mind about which to go on about. I was confused. I liked the book okay, but that might have been relief that it was very short. I feel kind of ambivalent about it and I’m not sure why it’s on the list of “Books You Must Read Before You Die”. 