It's the small changes...

Today I was reading a post on Leah Ingram's blog over at Suddenly Frugal Blog. It's titled 3 Ways to Save on Phone Bills, which is really good information, but it was a statement that she made within the post that got me thinking about today's subject--small changes. She says,

...small change in our regular expenditures is one example of how you can find big savings in your day-to-day life. And making these kinds of changes doesn’t have to be a one-time-only kind of thing. Just like President Obama wanted to take a scalpel to this country’s budget (as opposed to John McCain’s hatchet–paraphrasing here, of course), it is important for people to continue to take a scalpel to their budget so they can maintain their frugal standard of living.

I couldn't have said it better. And it's the truth, isn't it? If we wait for that final car payment to be made before we save money, or that credit card to be paid off, some of us would never cut our expenses--or save money.

It took me awhile to learn this (thanks mom!), but saving money a penny at a time is the best way to save. I know, it doesn't seem like saving pennies can amount to much, but it really does. Let me give you a few examples that have made a significant dent in our budget.

• Plastic on the windows. The total cost to buy the plastic was just under $30, and had I gotten it on sale, I would have paid much less (Note to self: check for plastic on clearance in the stores now). Our savings, per month, on the heat bill was over $30/month. So let's say the purchase of the plastic balanced out November's savings, but I still saved for December, January and February--the coldest months of the year. Savings: $90 for the season



• Switching grocery stores. I used to shop at Dominick's where I live (it's a Safeway store) for my family of four. My weekly grocery bill was a minimum of $80--though, truly, I spent about $125 each week. By switching to Aldi, my average grocery bill is $50/wk. Savings: $360/yr. minimum



• Electricity. OK, part of my savings here is in direct response to sending my oldest son to college :), and I have to say that I haven't totally reaped the maximum benefits by unplugging everything yet, but still I'm saving minimum of $20/month over what I was paying before--when I wasn't vigilant in turning lights off, etc. Say the savings per month goes down to $10/month when my son comes home for the summer, so that's $20/mo. for eight months and $10/mo. for four months. Savings: $200/yr.



• Paying bills online. I generally pay my bills online, and have for years, but it's the most recent tweaks to this system that have reaped the most rewards. I was paying service charges to pay an installment loan and two utility payments online. By switching over to paying the bills through my bank, I'm saving $10/month. In addition to those bills, by paying the two other bills that I couldn't pay online through my bank, I'm saving postage. Let's round that to $1/month. Just by paying through my bank, my monthly savings is $11/month. Savings: $132/yr.



• Paying on time. This may not be a biggy for you, but for my family it was a problem for almost a year. We were behind on bills and short of cash for awhile, so we became victims of late fees. Once we accumulated a little bit of cash and were able to get our bills caught up, I started paying the bills online on or before their due date, so that we were never late again. Let's say you only have one late fee per month (we had more than that), and it was $10. That would be a savings on the conservative side of $10/mo. Savings: $120/yr.

Anyway, you get the idea here. With just these few changes in our household, we've saved over $900 this year. Realistically, it's been a lot more than that. Now if I had tried to come up with $900 to put in the bank, I wouldn't have been able to do it. Pennies do add up to dollars, don't they?

How much have you saved this year? Could you be saving more by minding the pennies instead of the dollars? Do you have tips on saving pennies that has worked for you? Share in the comment section.