I’ve been a good saver, and I’ve been a poor saver. After saving money for a large trip all year, I’m ready to start replenishing our emergency fund again. But where do I begin? Where can you find money to save? Here are some resolutions that I’m making for the new year.
As the money we make gradually increases, something happens: it seems to disappear. That’s an amazing feat it can do, this money of ours. While I’d like to think that it is secreted away under the mattress, waiting for a rainy day, the fact is that it has flown out of our hands into more food, activities, and items for our home.
I resolve to think more about household needs. We are not big spenders in the areas of home decorating or electronics. We don’t tend to undertake large renovations, and we deal with appliances when they break instead of upgrading them for looks. The only thing that we spend large, unplanned chunks of money on is vet bills, and we can’t see those disappearing any time soon. However, what happens throughout the month is that we decide that we need certain items for our home. These are small items, but they all add up. In fact, they can add up to hundreds of dollars every month. In the new year, I resolve to look at these expenses and stick to our budget in this category to facilitate saving.
I resolve to stick within our food budget. We used to plan meals that were very inexpensive, but it is easy to go off the budget deep end with a few prepared meals here, a few snack items there. Yes, these food items make me very happy – I appear to be highly motivated by food. However, they don’t make our budget happy. I resolve to go lighter on the food bill and plan our food well.
I resolve to determine whether activities are worth the cost and the time spent on them. This is a double whammy here. We do a lot of activities. We go to museums, we take our memberships, we take classes. Sometimes these things simply feel like life clutter in the moment, though. Sometimes it would be much nicer to just stay at home. This new year, I resolve to think about this before we decide to embark on a new activity. I’ll think about the time we will spend on it and whether that is worth the hassle of finding time in the schedule and money in the bank to pay for it.
What are your resolutions for the upcoming year?