I was reading Mina’s blog entry last week and have been thinking of my own don’t need list. I am trying to conserve money and resources and I love the idea of determining what you need versus what you want. Though I do think that I do deserve some splurges, I think I can get too relaxed and go overboard sometimes. So… here goes.
1. I don’t need a $5 cup of coffee from Starbucks every weekday. That adds up to $100/month! Okay so it is actually a $3.62 venti iced coffee with an extra shot, skim milk and a splenda… AND I tip $1 b/c I believe in karma. I now make my own hot coffee in the French press when I wake up and do an extra pot of coffee and throw it in the fridge for my own diy iced coffees in the middle of the day. So far, so good. I compost the coffee grounds and with the coffee press this leaves no waste whatsoever.
2. I don’t need more than one lunch out per week. I have been eating lunch out a little too often and it is adding up. I spend an average of $13/lunch about twice a week. I am not cutting out my weekly Ladies Who Lunch. By cutting down to one a week I will save $52/month. Nice. I’ve also been trying to save really good leftovers so I can have good lunches.
3. We do not need a home phone line. I just bought us a Skype number and subscription which adds up to $60/year. We were spending around $90/month on our phone line with long distance. So trading it in for Skype will save us $85/month.
So with just those three things I will save about $237/month. Not bad for just a few adjusted habits and bills. Not to mention less waste from the Starbucks cups! Other things I am considering for my next round of “I don’t needs”: 20oz diet sodas in the checkout line; take-out on Wednesday nights; parts of our premium cable subscription; and our 3-movie subscription on Netflix.
October 13th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Good for you Katie!
I have already cut out Starbucks over 5 years ago but have the occasional mocha from other places.
I am also only eating out once a week for LWL.
We also got rid of our home phone but didn’t get skype. We just use cellphones in my family.
All these things I was doing and I wasn’t even trying to be green
I too am thinking of dumping Netflix. I never have time to watch movies but I get the kids movies though. We’ll see.
Love the new site and tips!
October 14th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
[…] wrote a post about what she doesn’t need. As many of us are trying to conserve money and resources, I too wanted to put my own list […]
October 14th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I dumped my land line years ago. I never used it & the only people that called it were telemarketers. I’m a cell phone only gal!
When I was without electricity for 2.5 weeks (thanks Ike) I realized just how much money one can spend eating out. Holy hole in my wallet, Batman! OUCH! Thankfully I don’t drink coffee so I guess I’ll have to find other ways to save $.