Even before I became a financial blogger, I’ve always been cheap. If there’s a way to skimp and save a couple of dollars, I’ll always entertain the idea. Why pay more when I can pay less? Although admittedly I go a little overboard sometimes, I thought that I would share with you a couple of ways in which I live my life, cheaply. 

1) Built a garden – I’m looking forward to feasting on free vegetables all summer/fall!

2) Wait until I get to the gym to fill up my water bottle. Why would I pay to fill up my water bottle with my own money when I can fill it up at the gym for free?

3) Eat PB&J for lunch almost everyday. I estimate that my lunch costs between $2 and $3, and it’s somewhat healthy! In my lunchbox I’ve got: a PB&J sandwich, carrots, a small bag of chips, and a Little Debbie treat (oatmeal cream pies are my favorite).

4) Set up a bucket under the leak in the gutter. Why would I pay for someone to bring a ladder and go up to the second story of my house to fix a small leak when I can put a bucket underneath it to use to water my garden?

5) Programmed my thermostat to a fine science. Why would I pay money to buy a nest (refer to title), when I can just really, really finely tune my programmable thermostat to turn on just before I get home?

6) Bum online streaming logins from friends/family. Who pays for cable anymore? I’ve got some amazing friends/family (shoutout!) who let me bum their Netflix/Hulu. I just pay for the internet.

7) Drive an electric car. The state of Georgia offered me $5K to lease an electric car. The total cost post tax credit is $170 or so…and that’s before all the gas savings.

8) Carpool whenever possible. I’m huge on carpooling, and don’t mind a little front end coordinating to ensure our gas spending is minimized (except when we take my car and it’s electric (boogey-woogey-woogey).

9) Open the windows whenever possible. During most of the spring and fall months, the windows in the house are typically open. Why would I pay to heat/cool the house, when the weather outside is so nice?

I realize that there are a lot of areas that I skimp in my life. But then again, I’ve decided to live my life in a manner in which I skimp on things that don’t matter as much to me, and spend my money on things that do matter. I enjoy traveling, and so I save money in the above areas of my life so I can travel more. I enjoy nice restaurants, so I pack my lunch most days to be able to afford the occasional nice meal out. How does this look in your own life? What areas could you skimp more on, to better enjoy the things that you do really life?

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