Hi Everyone!
I put together a really simple table-that didn’t copy well into WordPress. Sigh. I thought it would be a good idea to put together a visual aid of the different purchasing options that we have whenever we find ourselves paying for goods and services.
I find that most of my purchasing options fall under categories 2, 3, and 4 with the exception of food 🙂 I purchase the bulk of my groceries at Whole Foods.  I’ve put an asterisk ext to each one of the spending choices that I regularly embrace.
The point of this post is to show that you can lead a high quality lifestyle, spending very little money, without having to miss out on the things that you enjoy. I really don’t understand why people pay so much money for things that they can get for free.
As I refocus on my debt repayment I’m looking closely at every single transaction that involves money. My overall goal is to lower my outgoing expenses. I get sick of working hard and giving businesses, corporations, and other people my money.
I feel like an idiot.
I make plenty of money but all of my money is being sent to “The Man.” No More. At the same time I’m disinterested in not having access to the things that I enjoy doing using or doing.
It’s amazing how many choices we have that don’t compromise our sense of quality or level of service. You have choices and even though you will (should) make sacrifices on the way to debt freedom it doesn’t mean you have to: dumpster dive, ride you bike to work, use your coffee grounds twice, or stop living your life.
You have choices be deliberate when you make them.
Tell me what choices you make. Did I miss any additional options?
| Service/Product/Or Good | 1st Choice (Most Expensive) | 2nd Choice (Medium cost) | 3rd Choice (least expensive) | 4th Choice (lowest cost) |
| T.V./Movies | Paid Cable | Netflix (small fee) | Hulu (free option)* | Library (free)* |
| Cable Programming | BET | Bounce (free)* | ||
| Telephone Service | Verizon | Republic Wireless* | SKYPE* | Facetime*MAC Product |
| Music Television/Music | MTV (no music anytime!) | MTV2 *(Spanish/English) free | Online via Youtube | |
| Hygiene Products | Grocery Store* | Costco/SAM’s | Dollar Store* | Make it Yourself |
| Sports Television | ESPN | UNIVISION!!!* | A Bar-but, be careful of drinks | Regular t.v.* |
| Food Entertainment (dinning out) | Dinner | Happy Hour* | Pot luck | Cook at home* |
| Hair Maintenance | Go to the salon/hair stylist | Beauty School | Do it yourself* | Friend/family member |
| Getting a Weave (a la Hollywood) | Lace Front Wig | Put it in yourself | ||
| Fitness | Gym | City Recreation Center* | Exercise at home | Go to the park |
| Let’s Read | Buy Books | Library* | Little Free Library* (awesome) | |
| Grocery Store | Whole Foods* | Trader Joe’s | Sprouts/Sunflower | Farmer’s Market/Grow yourself* |
| Shoes!! | Nordstrom’s | 6pm.com* | Goodwill* | Swap with friends |
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Well we just got our new digital antenna in yesterday and have canceled cable but it will take a month to stop. So we are making a choice in that area… amongst many others!
Hey, for clothes you should put “Shop my closet”, or in my case it’s “Shop my sister’s closet” which I gratefully accept when she gives me her good quality hand-me-downs. I do need to purge my own closet though.
I think it’s kind of funny that I forgot to list the ONE thing that I actually named my blog after. Yikes! Am laughing at myself. I have a digital antennae and haven’t had cable for many, many years. I don’t miss it at all and am usually really overwhelmed when I find myself in a cable situation. I also notice that there is nothing to watch when that happens. So weird!
Psst.. next time try putting the chart in Excel, then doing a copy and paste into WP 🙂
Thanks chica!!! Will do that next time.
My sister made her own laundry detergent as well as baby wipes for her daughter. She eventually went to store bought for the baby wipes because they just didn’t do the job like the Pinterest article said they would. As far as the laundry detergent went, the cost was very minimal.
I’ve heard about homemade baby wipes. I thinking making soap is about as far as I would go…but, I’m down with cloth diapers. Much cheaper.