Today Mrs. Micah asked her readers to tell her the most helpful personal finance advice they’d found this year. So here’s my best personal finance tip: think outside the box.
Personal finance bloggers write about this often in posts that usually begin, “how to save on…..”. But I think Pinyo of Moolanomy summed up the practice best when he wrote a guest post for me in September. That post, 10 Questions to Enhance Your Frugality is reposted at Moolanomy today.
To sum up Pinyo’s advice, when you think you need to buy something, stop and consider all your other options first. Can you borrow it? Can you fix it? Do you have to buy new, or could you find it for cheap or even free on Craigslist?
We live in a consumer society where the quick fix is to run out and buy something as soon as we think we need it. Too often, we don’t carefully consider whether it’s a true need or not.
This year, stopping to think has saved me a lot of money. Most of the new things I bought were bought at a deep discount with a coupon, such as the shirt I bought for my son at The Children’s Place. I also discovered that I could slash my grocery bill by spending $10 every 8 weeks at The Grocery Game. I recoup that $10 and much more with the money I save by buying food for pennies on the dollar.
When I needed new jeans this year, instead of heading to the mall right away, I stopped by Goodwill first, and I found a like-new pair of Old Navy jeans in my size for $4.99. And instead of spending a ton of money on Christmas presents and events this year, I thought of a a bunch of things that were either very inexpensive or free.
Most importantly, there were times after thinking about things, I decided that what I wanted really wasn’t a need and didn’t buy anything at all.
What is the best personal finance advice you’ve come across this year? Where did you learn about it? Tell Mrs. Micah, and she’ll add it to her post!
Photo by robholland.
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Thanks so much for participating. You’re in the post! :)
Target carts… Target carts…. blinded by the Target carts…
Great post! :)
Hi!
I think this “thinking outside the box” is the heart of frugality! I’ve done this for several years and I know it’s saved us a lot of money. My parents were raised during the depression and this was their normal way of thinking as opposed to our throw-away culture so maybe this gave me an early start. There was a saying during the depression years that went “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” Good advice for a consumer-driven society like ours.
I don’t look at other options nearly enough before going out and buying something new, but I loved your mention of the jeans at Goodwill! I do this soooo often with clothing. I decide I need something and start thinking of the hip stores I want to hit at the mall to find said clothing item. Then, I remember how many times I’ve found practically new clothes at Goodwill, and I decide, “I’ll stop there first.” Almost every time, I find what I need at Goodwill and never make it to the mall :)
Thinking outside the box is pretty much how we’ve been able to fix up our house inexpensively. LOVE this post! :)
Thanks for the mention Lynnae. I think I am going to try out Mrs. Micah’s challenge.
Overall I think we’re instinctively inclined to want to spend money as soon as we make it. We’re driven by a desire for more…a desire that says “I need this now!” If only we all stopped to think outside the box and exercised a little more patience in making a decision to spend…well, we’d have a larger budget. Don’t you think?
With that said, excellent recommendation!!!
Read you later!
@Ricardo – I totally agree. Unfortunately I didn’t think that way years ago, so I’m stuck with the small budget today. But from here on out, I’m outside the box for sure!