I find this article and the entire site very helpful. I just found this site a few months ago and I come back here very often to look for new articles, ideas and hints.
Living in Germany, not all of the advices do apply for me, but the general idea does. I have a job that is paid quite good, but nevertheless I am broke at the end of every month. I have no debts but also no savings and sometimes it makes me feel bad. I want to change that.
So I thought about where my money goes. The largest item of expenditure I can’t do much about it. I pay about 530 dollars/month for gas. Gas is expensive here in Germany, you pay 1,60 Euro per litre which makes about 8 dollar per gallon. My car needs 11 litres per 100km (21 mpg). But I have to drive to work, we live in a quite rural area and despite public transport is quite good here in Germany it would be way too time consuming to drive to the next railway station and then travel to work by train and bus. The good thing is I live in an appartment in my parent’s house. So I don’t need to pay an expensive monthly rent. I give about 100 dollars to them every month (if I can) as kind of compensation for the additional costs (electricity, heating, water, internet, etc.), though. Then I need to pay for taxes/insurance of my car, cell phone and a few other things. But it should be left enough to save a little money every month. But I can’t, there are days at the end of the month sometimes, when I have to ask my parents for a small credit for gas and lunch at work, which annoys me.
So what is wrong? I came to the conclusion that I spend way too much money for things I don’t really need and that I don’t care about prices as much as I should, especially at the beginning of a month, when I have (relatively) much money. A few examples: I don’t buy gas when it’s cheapest but then when I need it. It would be much better to get more gas when it’s – kind of – cheap (here it is in the evening hours) and not in the morning on my way to work just because I forgot that my tank is nearly empty. I use to buy snacks at the gas station just because I want to eat a chocolate bar now. It would be much cheaper at a grocery store but I am too lazy to drive there. Last time I went to a party I bought beer at the gas station for the double price just because of laziness. It’s crazy, when you think about it.
Then I buy too much things I don’t need. Clothes for example: I bought a pair of jeans in july – about 100 dollar, only because it was on sale, original price 185 dollars. Well, it was on sale, but I have enough jeans, 3 pairs for work, 4 pairs for at home and gardening and so on. So I don’t need more jeans. I bought brand label shoes for about 85 dollars, what also was not needed. First I have a few pairs of shoes in good condition, second I could have bought shoes that look like the ones I got for about 13 dollars. I also buy a lot of stuff at electronic stores, stuff that I use a few times only. I buy DVDs instead of borrowing them from friends/collegues who also have the same DVDs. The same with groceries: when I want to have a co*ke I buy one or two cans at the supermarket I’m just in (or worse at the gas station) instead of buying a sixpack of 1 litre bottles at a discounter from time to time. And so it goes on.
I want to change all this and live more frugal and also more simple. It is not so easy for me because I’m not good in changing habits but I will try. I did the first step last month in not buying a new computer as mine broke down which I couldn’t afford anyway (about 1000 dollars) but getting a used notebook for about 200 dollars. It is a few years old but a very good business class model, so I am really satisfied.
Speaking of simple living, I just want to get rid of much of the stuff I have. My appartment often is a mess and when I clean up my living room from time to time, I have problems storing my things in closets and shelves. And when I think about when I have used this or that the last time, I often really can’t remember. So I think I will throw away or sell or give away much of my things. It just makes no sense to keep all the stuff I have, it only clutters my appartment without being of any use.
Your site very much helped me in thinking about my style of living and I’m really looking forward to new articles and hints. :-)
Keep up the good work!
