A few things happened on Sunday that made me realized the big difference of the way I treat my money since starting to write on my personal finance blog.
First, I went to Golf Smith to get a pair of golf gloves since my current glove is so worn I might as well not use one. When I arrived at the store and looked for a replacement, I found that they were selling for $17.99. Originally, I chose it because they were the most comfortable and had a better grip than the other ones because it was made of cabretta leather. After looking around, I found that it was the most expensive glove in the store! Instead of looking at just the brand, I forced myself to look at what matters more which is form, fit, and function. Then, I set out to try on all the others and found one that was selling for $10.89!
I went to a Japanese supermarket that also had a food court for dinner afterwards since it was very late. Years ago before I moved, I go to this supermarket quite often to have lunch/dinner. This time around, I went to my favorite store which sold Japanese don (some type of rice with meat, egg and soy sauce). In the old days, I would get an eel egg bowl for $6.75. Today, I went for the beef egg bowl because I thought it was just as good and was much more inexpensive. The cost was $5.25. Also, I would usually get a can of soda for $2 but I had water today instead.
After dinner, I went to the supermarket where I would use to buy some junk food and a few bottles of Japanese iced coffee. Each bottle usually ran for about $1.59 – $2.49 and my junk food bill would usually be about $10 at checkout. Today however, I did not get any.
On one hand, I have saved quite a bit of money as compared with before. On the other however, some might think that I’m giving up on many of the things I used to enjoy. So do I miss these things? Not really. I know that I’m able to save more money now and that’s what matters. Keep investing in my retirement plan for my retirement is more important now. Much more important.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
giving up on junk food is never a bad idea!
and saving a couple bucks towards a bigger goal is called sacrifice, which most people can’t understand.
saving $4/day, 5 days a week is $1000/year. maybe enough to offset the cost of your green fees?
kudos!
ahh… I rarely order soda when dining out. They’re such a ripoff and that’s how these stores make money on you. The margin they have on sodas is just incredible!
I generally ask for a glass of water.
I think it’s also a good habit to drink only water (not soda!) Plus, that good habit saves you money!
I also find that blogging about money helps keep my finances in check – I don’t want to have to admit too many heinous mistakes to my betters.
Adventures: Junk food is never a great thing but for whatever reason it’s so addicting! I’m glad I found something ($$$) that will help me reduce some of that templation
It definitely helps the golf fund! The great part about my golf fund is that my boss plays a lot with me and would pay for most of my green fees! So on here, I would like to say Thank You to him!!!
J2R and Anna: Yes and some higher end restaurants even ask you to order bottled water or those sparkling water.
plonkee: It’s amazing how putting the subject in focus would help it so much. Maybe I should think about work more often
Giving up on junk foods is an excellent and rewarding action.
Using that saved money to invest in your retirement account is brilliant. It will help you to escape work years ahead.
Marie
marie: Sounds like everyone is cheering for the “less junk food” idea
It would probabaly be great if we treat our retirement accounts like our kids treat the piggy bank in that we put all our savings in there.