Comments on: Cutting Down On Splurges: How I Did It – And You Can Too

By: Jihan

Jihan — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:34:07 +0000

I have to agree with the spendings of having a drink with friends. I used to hang out with a few friends and we occasionally bought food and stuff. Not to mention to stay in the cafe, we’d have to buy stuff such as a cup of coffee or tea which is $1 and sometimes an overpriced snack and to play a few games in the machines they have went to probably $4 and then having to eat out with them costs another $5 at LEAST.

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:51:58 +0000

Nice article. Unfortunately our local library tries hard, but often misses. I joined a paperbackswap club, and while I pay shipping costs, I don’t pay full price for books any longer and I don’t have them taking up space in my house.

By: Cami

Cami — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:19:04 +0000

There are no such things as “little things” financially – those bagels or morning coffees will kill you financially, eventually. So many people I work with constantly complain they have “no money” but they show up with Tim Horton’s coffee and a bagel each morning – poof – $5.00 gone a DAY. That’s gotta be like $100.00 a month at least! Imagine what else you could do with that – retirement plan, a vacation… I quit doing the morning coffee thing for a year, saved $1200.00 and am going to Jamaica in January. I figured that in retrospect, I didn’t want to say I spent $1200.00 on bagels! LOL It sounds so stupid but it’s true! Good article.

By: Silver Lining

Silver Lining — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 02:58:28 +0000

Continuing the theme of avoiding temptation–one weakness of mine was online shopping, so when I decided to really tighten the pursestrings, I unsubscribed from every commercial e-mail newsletter or anything letting me know about sales and specials. Since I’ve done that, I’ve had only a few small (easily overcome) urges to e-shop.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 19:18:24 +0000

Great Post, all of the items you mention are things that are great money savers. Impulse buys when you’re going out for say a book are how many of the big box stores get you (and probably why many of them are so close to each other).

By: Lazy Man and Money

Lazy Man and Money — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:48:34 +0000

You are dead-on about the gin and tonics at home. One way to make it feel easier could be to splurge on some Tanguary Ten (my person fav). It’s expensive compared to other gins, but it would still be much, much cheap than a drink at a bar.

By: gp

gp — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:53:53 +0000

My wife convinced me to use the library. She always checked out her books, but it never occurred to me to do the same. After paying $20 or so for a book, it would just sit there and collect dust. I’m now converted. In our city we have multiple branches that lend books to each other. I can get just about anything I want. Over the summer I even requested that they purchase a book, which they did.

By: Russell Bailyn

Russell Bailyn — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 02:51:35 +0000

Great post–books are my weakness as well. At least with Amazon.com you can buy the books at a discount. Blogging helps too… you can often persuade publishers to send you review copies for free. If you need contact info for any financial publishers let me know :-) ~Russ

By: Frugal Duchess

Frugal Duchess — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 23:37:09 +0000

Great Post.
Detours around shopping magnets also work for me.
The best sales are the ones I avoid.
As always, I’ve enjoyed my visit to your blog.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 22:52:57 +0000

You really hit the nail on the head with your last highlight. For the last few years I survived as the microwave queen and ate out A LOT! I learned how to cook with a few of the beginner cookbooks and sites like AllRecipes. It literally cut my food spending in half.

I also think planning saves me quite a bit too. If I plan out my day I am less likely to forget to bring my lunch or have to pick up items I really don’t need.