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Sunday Morning Budget Busting

Well, I overslept, so my plans for a spectacular and detailed Sunday Morning Budget Busting have been dashed all to hell. But I had a great sleep — 12 hours, if I’m counting correctly, as I went to lay down for a little nappy sometime around 9 p.m. and woke up totally disoriented at 9:02 a.m. Woah!

Still, there’s time to get the basics out there - no bling, a word I just hate, btw, or flashes of brilliance or Dickensonian Doom and Gloom of the omg, it’s TEOTWAWKI! variety, but serviceable nonetheless.

So here goes …

1. All the money I’m saving by cutting off the landline, I’m dividing into once a month direct deposits into two of my savings accounts. I finally sat down and figured out that, eliminating the landline = $37 a month saved, which I’ve rounded up to $40/month and divided into $20 more per month deposited into each account.

Now, that may not sound like much, but let me tell you, I just started one of the accounts not even a month ago — it’s the redecorating/etc account — and there’s $200 in it already! By god, before I know it, I’ll have enough to replace that hideous and dangerous sliding glass door with attractive and fashionable french doors, and to put another door between the laundry room and kitchen, as that door is mysteriously missing!

2. Along those same lines, if you own a home, be sure to do maintenance. Eg, I may have to forego the doors for new gutters on that one side, unless I’m interested in getting some mold and rot going …

3. Before furniture shopping, always always always root around in your sheds and basements and backrooms. So far, I’ve found a very 60s-ish shelf for keeping my ginger and lemongrass on for the winter, and it’s attractive enough for the living room.

Okay, really, it isn’t, not on its own, but with the wonderful pots and bamboo-y shapes of the ginger, and perhaps a thick coat of paint (if the particle board can handle it), it will appear to be. The shape of it is fabulous, though - very space-age.

Then, there’s that very 50s or 60s girl’s vanity painted Pepto-Bismol pink. $5 worth of environmentally friendly paint remover and some elbow grease has revealed beautiful oaky kind of wood beneath — with some cigarette burns, sure, but given how un-cool cigarettes are these days, those burns will soon be the height of chic.

4. One of the most interesting developments is that my consumption of meat (specifically buffalo) has dropped through the floor, which is saving me huge amounts of money.

Now, I knew that, when I was doing so much hard physical labor at the old place, I would get sick without substantial amounts of protein.

But because of my move to a home in town, my activity levels have dropped to normal. And I have naturally just stopped eating that much meat. It hasn’t been a conscious act - it’s just happened and I only just realized it a few days ago.

And what a difference it’s made in the food bill. Whereas before, I would get one buffalo chuck a week for around $16, now it’s one a month. That’s around $48 saved per month. Sure, some of those funds are diverted into other foods (the past few weeks, it’s been mostly pecans, Kansas corn and the end of the Porter peaches), but not $48 worth. The lesson here is to adjust eating habits to actual physical needs because it might result in substantial savings.

5. And last, but far from least for the week, check out The Better World Club for pay as you go car insurance. I’ve just applied for a quote from them, but I already know it will be far less that what I’m paying Allstate because I can adjust my rates according to how many miles I actually drive — which isn’t much anymore — fewer than 100 per week and more like 30-40.

I’ve been just waiting for something to replace that damned Allstate, and I suspect this will be it. If, like me, you have to drive, you might as well not be charged the same as those freaking soccer moms (or hockey moms ) who drive 24/7/365 whenever and wherever they can.

Okay, enough for this week. Maybe I can keep it together long enough to do this three weeks in a row.

edited to add: omg, I forgot to add one excellent money saving tip.

If, like me, you live in a humid environment and, if, like me, you just loves teh talcum powder to combat the sweaties, use cornstarch instead.

omg, so so cheap, and you can leave it either unscented (which it has no scent whatsoever) or scent it yourself. I switch out how I scent it, using either vetiver or bergomot or geranium or other oils that I got several years ago from Sunrose Aromatics (which is price-y, but oh so worth it - the oils are very high quality and last forever - as good as Kiehl’s imo).

I buy cornstarch through one of my coops and pay around $2 for several pounds of it. Huge savings over that ridiculously priced and overly scented stuff you can buy at the stores.