My Strategies for Saving Money in 2009

Among the strategies I have developed for saving money in my own life in 2009are:

(1) I buy peanuts rather than the more expensive walnuts, pecans, or almonds at the supermarket.

(2) I drive my car to a self-service car wash facility.

(3) I have discontinued my minimal cable-television service, which means that I am not able to watch any television shows anymore inside my residence.

(4) I am only purchasing Lipton tea bags these days, since Lipton teabags are considerably less expensive than the more exotic types of teas also available in the supermarket.

(5) I am striving to drink more glasses of tap water inside my private residence. Drinking water is cheaper than drinking tea or drinking fruit juice.

(6) I have stopped going to movie theaters as a customer. If I need to watch a movie, I can always trade in a used VCR movie tape I currently own for another used VCR movie tape.

(7) I avoid driving more than 10 miles outside of the city limits of Austin, Texas.

(8) I am pursuing a diet aimed at losing 20 to 30 pounds. The diet is helping me to reduce the size of my abdomen and minimize the amount of food I need to eat in order to feel full. This, in turn, will help me to reduce the amount of money I spend on groceries and also help me to significantly reduce my medical bills.

(9) For most or all of 2009, I have delayed either getting my current used bicycle repaired or purchasing another used bicycle. I have completely dropped bicycling from my leisuretime exercise options in 2009.

(10) If I purchase any additional clothing at all for myself, it is strictly to comply with requirements imposed on me by any given employer of mine. I am finding that this work-only "fashion" emphasis allows me to redefine devotion to fashion as something that I strive for in my career.

(11) Whenever I purchase an additional work-related uniform for myself, I first visit a Goodwill store to attempt to find that item on sale there at a very low price. If I can't find that clothing at Goodwill, I will drive to a department store that sells clothing at an inexpensive rate.

(12) In 2009, I have dropped out of my personal membership in any and all civic groups and non-profit groups that do not provide me with a solid, tangible, verifiable, significant benefit to myself. In particular, I have dropped out of any and all civic groups that do not provide me with very important and significant financial discounts to myself that I expect to actually make use of, or that do not tangibly and significantly help me to significantly improve my own quality of life.

(13) I am not purchasing any books these days, and instead am relying exclusively on the public library for any additional books that I choose to read.


(14) I have chosen not to replace my pineapple-design "Welcome Mat" in front of my private residence. Had my finances been different, I would normally have replaced that welcome mat in 2009. I am not fond of that particular "Welcome Mat" that I purchased several years ago primarily because it was the cheapest "Welcome Mat" I could find inside a discount store.

(15) I try to minimize the total of amount of time each week in which I keep my front patio's porch light on.