In today's economy, we are all trying to spend less money.
The name of this blog is "Not Spending Money". It's not "Spending Less Money," or "Buying Things On Sale Instead of Just Not Buying Them At All."
One of my pet peeves is when a book or a website on money-saving tips includes items such as the following:
- Buy clothes at Target instead of at Name-Brand boutiques
- Save at least 10 % of your paycheck, and split your savings into buckets for short term, medium term, and long-term.
- Clip Coupons at your local grocery.
These are all good bits of advice, as far as advice goes. In fact, the advice is so good I might even point you in the direction of better-qualified authors to explain more about these wonderful nuggets of advice. But let me tell you why they are not the focus of this blog.
- Many of us haven't shopped at name-brand outlets, let alone boutiques, in ages, and new clothes at Target get super pricy. What I want to know is how the heck am I going to find something in my EXISTING wardrobe to wear to that wedding, or whether I will have to cancel because I can't afford to buy a new dress even from Salvation Army right now.
- Saving 10% of a paycheck is a really terrific idea, but a bit hard to do when you get a paycheck and subtract all mandatory bills (rent and utilities) and you still don't have 10% left.
- It's cheaper just to not buy sugar cereal or single-serving applesauce than it is to clip the coupons and buy them on sale. Besides, my time is worth more than the few cents saved by going through piles of junk mail telling me to buy useless stuff just so I can find those rare coupons that are applicable to food I was planning on buying anyway.
A lot of people out there will tell you where to find cheaper gifts, buy cheaper outfits, or less expensive restaurants to frequent.
This blog is here to share tips for dealing with the difficulties of not spending the money for cheaper items at all.
Because sometimes, saying no is a lot harder than just saying "no."
No comments:
Post a Comment