INCIDENTAL SPENDINGThere are two ways to have enough money to live. The first is to earn more money. The second is to conserve what you have. Nobody likes the second option terribly much. But you can live a little leaner and still maintain great style. It just takes thought and that rarest of commodities: restraint. The most radical act I performed in the name of survival was the simplest one. I eliminated all credit cards. Living completely on cash means I can only have what I pay for and not what I borrow to own. When I hand over physical money I feel the very weight of it leave my person, like blood loss. And when I slice into a debit card I know there’s immediately less pie on my plate. It’s a tough policy designed for a weak will. I love clothes and travel and antique armoires and tasseled cushions and massive bunches of fresh flowers. Long ago I used to actually go clothes shopping to relax. Can you imagine that? How nineties.
The only way I could learn to value, respect, and salvage money was to actually monitor it, dollar for dollar. It’s not purgatory to budget. I still buy fresh flowers and lovely things for my house, but only after utilities and rent. And only after living on several twenty-dollar days can I lash out in a decadent frenzy at the flea market or Daffy’s knicker department. I am not completely sure how long I’ll keep this Franciscan discipline up, but I love the triumph of good sense over waste and thrift over stupidity. My museum of money lost begins in a closet forest deep in high heels: silk satin, cork, gold leather, and suede. Guests to a party that was never held, these shoes were bought for a life I don’t live. Same with the handbags, lace slips, corsets, veiled hats, and gloves. Gloves, for heavens sake! Last week I invested in six green teacups at $7.95 a piece. I use them every day, sometimes three times a day, and when the handles break I’ll fill them with scented wax and make votives to the gods of temperance and parsimony. Or maybe I’ll just fill them with potpourri.
The slight monotony of being “good” is what serves to shatter a budget in the end, so occasionally I’ll splurge for no good reason. Tonight as I prepare my son’s frozen peas and cod, I might obey the urge to sip some good quality Spanish cava from one of the teacups of virtue, because the only way to really feel luxury is to go without it and then take a good long gulp.
INCIDENTAL SPENDINGHave one fancy silly latte a week instead of one every day. Or better still, bring a coffee press to work and make some fresh free-trade coffee for yourself and people you fancy.
Give up bottled water. $1.80 a day seems cheap to stay hydrated but it is a total con. Get a water filter jug for home and office and carry your own fresh purified tap water in a cyclist-style bottle. This is such a simple idea and an incredible benefit to the environment. All that plastic waste!
Read magazines at the library or online (many of the major editorials you want to see are there already).
Start a book-borrowing club with friends so new paperbacks get around your circle.
Borrow films and music instead of buying or renting them.
Put plants around your house in place of buying cut flowers.
Always carry your favorite lipstick and eyeliner so you don’t have to buy more in a panic.
Buy your staple items in bulk, and keep them at your desk and work. For me it’s extra black opaque tights.
Go to the supermarket with a full stomach to limit yourself to a set shopping list. Use the same rationale for clothes shopping and go to the mall well dressed. Let’s face it, almost any new clothes look better than old jeans!
Never shop after a breakup, a weight gain, or a fight with your beloved, or with your sister/BFF who might convince you to spend more than you have.
BILLS AND UTILITIESEnergy use is radically reduced if you can toughen your body to heat and cold and use other people’s heat and A/C on the weekends. In summer I spend most weekends outdoors or in cool museums and cinemas, and am strict with A/C use. In winter, being Australian, I set the heat to a fairly conservative setting and wear mountaineering socks!
Correspond via email rather than text.
Use a phone card at home and delete all the services from your home and cell phone plans that you do not actually use. (Believe me there are lots of them.)
Study the small print every time. Bills repulse me but I do actually look at them, in fact I scrutinize them closely to find (or rectify) errors or catch a looming late fee. Learn to scan the bills you receive monthly and call to question charges or late fees that seem erroneous. Often a refund is just a call away.
Set up online payment for all your utilities and credit card bills; late fees are a waste if you live on a set income and only incur them because you don’t want to open “nasty” mail.
To make bills and mortgage or rent payments less stressful, see if you can align all deductions to a set time in the month.
CLEANINGUse the sun to air upholstery, rugs, furniture, and winter clothes. Professional cleaning doesn’t stop the everlasting fall of dust.
Try this all-purpose homemade eco-friendly cleaner:
Mix together equal parts white vinegar and salt. Scrub surfaces with a natural cleaning cloth.
Swap recipes at these green-cleaning and eco-living sites
www.sewgreen.blogspot.com
www.care2.com
www.greenlivingideas.com
www.groovygreen.com
www.gorgeouslygreen.com
www.bitsandbobbins.com
www.gliving.com
CULTUREWhen I die I am obliged to leave some of my estate to the Metropolitan Museum of Art because I go there five times a month and pay just one dollar to enter their marble halls. Suggested museum entry means you can pay what you like, and for students and threadbare dandies, this is a fine bargain.
Work as a volunteer at an outdoor concert, traditional dance or theater company, or summer arts festival. What could be a better way of getting behind the velvet rope and seeing bands and plays you love for free.
Snoop through the public receptions at museums, libraries, and embassies. You’d be amazed how much wisdom, wine, and cheese is out there!
Use the actual box office of a venue for events rather than paying by phone; all those service fees add up and often you can get a better seat when you can see the theater or stadium layout for yourself.
Scan Craigslist for the very last last-minute tickets; the closer to the event the cheaper they become. But always pick your tickets up in a crowded public place, ideally with friends.
Snoop regularly for last-minute free tickets at www.freecycle.com and on the free list at www.craigslist.org.
FOODI draw the line at the freegan notion of scouting the backs of large supermarkets for discarded food, but I respect that choice in the face of massive food waste in the developed world. Very often I’ll give my friends a fridge and pantry raid for foods I know I can’t eat or we’ll make a communal dinner combining our resources.
The best way to spend less on food is to control your own waste and develop a taste for the healthiest foods that cost least (please refer to page 187). This means eating what is in season and only buying what you know you can eat (both in quantity and choice).
Eat out with an eye to appetizers, tapas, bar food, and lunch specials; the quality is the same but the portions and time of day make all the difference.
Make an art of packed lunch. This potentially could save hundreds of dollars a month, and ensure a higher standard of nutrition. Awfully dreary news, but don’t you like new shoes as well?
TRANSPORTWalk when you can walk. Use public transport and rent a car when you need one. This works well for people in big cities, where errands can be run on foot, transport is well organized, and expeditions by car are more occasional. For people in rural or suburban areas (or, God forbid, L.A.), what is so radical about sharing a car with neighbors? Imagine the state of the planet if one street in every town could do that … (I have yet to learn how to drive so I’ll get back to you.)
ENTERTAINMENTElectronic entertainment has made us dull. Adults and children alike. Try reading two nights a week. Or breaking out some old-fashioned board games, getting into a craft/hobby/painting activity, or cooking on another two nights. Instantly you are just a bit more sexy and interesting, and you want a few less things by virtue of avoiding advertising.
Start a soccer team with your friends, or a scrabble team, or a band. It costs less than throwing mutual dinner parties and keeps things lively to be tossing words and bodies about.
Paying a sitter so you can go to the movies on a kid-free date, along with the concession-stand splurge and maybe supper, can wind up costing as much as a night at the opera. Instead, why not stay in, put the kids asleep, and host a movie night at your place with potluck food offerings instead. Or make it a proper date night for two by throwing on a cocktail dress and renting a foreign film with a spicy subplot.
The best way to learn to spend less is to spend nothing at all for a set period of time. Could you enjoy one day a week spending nothing? Here is a month of money-free Sundays that are both young-lover and family friendly:
DAY OF THE BRAINIACS. Read one whole novel (or novella) in a day. You have twelve hours to finish an entire book from cover to cover. Read at the breakfast table, read in bed, read in the bath, read on the lawn, read on the bus, read at the pool, read on the couch, read on the exercise bike. When you turn the last page, write down all the impressions that rush to mind and then welcome yourself back to the world of nonfiction.
MOVEABLE FEAST. Spend a morning in the kitchen and an afternoon in the park. Prepare a feast from everything found in your pantry, freezer, and fridge and invite three friends to do the same. Nothing can be bought new. Walk to your destination (it could be a friend’s backyard) and bring art materials, poetry books, guitars, and cameras. Record the day, discuss the recipes, tell the tales of the saffron unearthed at the back of the cupboard, and revel in all that is at hand.
SEXY SUNDAY. Tell your mother-in-law to take the kids. Ask your roommate to take a hike. You’ll need your bed, your love, some apricot oil, Barry White, a basket of cold strawberries, and maybe some fresh towels. Seduction might be expensive, but making love is FREEEEEEE and deserves a full day or dusk-till-dawn session to really revel and damage the furniture. Purrrrrrfect.
CRAFT COVEN. Play loud rock, cut up old dresses, swap zipper for button hole skills, get the girls together and make things. To make the day less random perhaps volunteer to freshen a friend’s bedroom by creating a bedspread, pillowcases, and scattering cushions. Make aprons for each other with salty sayings embroidered on the front or customize common items such as T-shirts, jeans, and slip dresses that badly need some style action. Perri Lewis is the craft stylist for the Guardian newspaper and the lovely thing about her work is that it is always on-trend but crazy simple to create. Now she has her own blog http://make anddowithperri.wordpress.com and it is just delicious. My other favorite sites and mildly eccentric blogs for cool and up-to-date crafting and sewing are
www.craftzine.com
www.futuregirl.com
http://angrychicken.typepad.com
www.yarnstorm.blogs.com
www.purlbee.com
http://tinyhappy.typepad.com
www.sewmamasew.com
www.threadbanger.com
