Ceiling Fans, Home-Grown Vegetables, Other Ways To Save A Bundle
By: Benjamin Kweskin
Last month, my wife and I purchased our first home in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. It has been an exciting roller-coaster ride from start to finish. The house — and accompanying acre of land — have surpassed our wildest expectations. The best part was that it came in below our purchasing budget.
Our first child just arrived, so our family discussions about expenses, budgeting, and how to save in general also include the demand of a new addition. We know we need to start saving every dollar going forward. Though we are new to owning a home, we are not new to cost cutting, and we have learned many tricks over years of frugal apartment living. In a very short period, we agreed on several simple ways to save more every month. Here is a short list of five such ways:
Gardening. We are very lucky that the previous homeowners prepared a beautiful, lush garden, and we are literally able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Rather than going to the grocery store for every item, we can now pick fresh peaches, strawberries, and blackberries from our backyard. In addition to such juicy — and organic — fruit, we have arugula, bell peppers, carrots, and lettuce.
We also have serious plans to purchase chickens and a chicken coop in the near future for fresh (and also organic) eggs. Currently, we purchase thirty eggs at a time ($8 to 10), which is still cheaper than buying a dozen.
Estimated savings per month: $30-plus.
No TV. Even before we got married, my wife and I separately lived as adults without televisions — a stark contrast from our parents who now have TVs in every room except the bathroom. All our favorite shows are streamed online, anyway — usually for free or for the low price of any number of shared streaming services.
Estimated savings per month: $50-plus
Buying (some) things in bulk. Of course, by now everyone knows about the large bulk-item stores. I have nothing against them, but there is simply not a close one available to us, so there is not a real need to pay their membership fees.
As far as the food we purchase in stores, we mostly go to the “farmers markets.” These are actually warehouse-sized grocery stores that successfully compete with the local and conventional grocery stores, but the prices are usually a fraction of those costs. The “farmers markets” are great because, in addition to diverse and often exotic selections, their non-perishable items like pasta, grains, coffees, canned goods are very inexpensive. The drive may be a bit further, but the savings make up for the gas.
Estimated savings per month: $40
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