海角大神

Let鈥檚 say you make $45,000 a year 鈥� that was the聽. You pay 25% in taxes each year between federal, state, and local taxes of various kinds, leaving you with $33,750 in money you bring home each year. Reasonable, right?

Let鈥檚 say you鈥檙e paid weekly. Your paycheck, then, is $679 per week.

Now, let鈥檚 look at some hypothetical expenses.

You go out with coworkers for lunch each day, costing you $10 per lunch. That鈥檚 $50 per week. Right there, you鈥檙e blowing 8% of your take-home pay.

You hit Starbucks each morning for a pick-me-up. It costs you $5 each time you stop, or $25 per week. Right there, you鈥檙e blowing 4% of your take-home pay.聽

You have a smart phone with a data plan. Your monthly cell phone bill is $100. Right there, you鈥檙e blowing another 4% of your take-home pay.

You have a few premium channels on your monthly cable bill, jacking it up to $80 a month. Another 3% of your take-home income vanishes into the ether.

You go out to eat three nights a week on dates or with friends. Each time, you drop $20 per meal, adding up to $60 per week. There goes another 10% of your take-home pay.

You don鈥檛 want to take the bus and the mass transit to work, which would cost you $4 round trip. Instead, you drive your car to work, which eats up two gallons of gas ($8) and moves you further along on your maintenance schedule (say, $4), moves you closer to a vehicle replacement (say, $2), costs you tolls and parking fees (say, $1 on average), and increases your insurance premiums (say, another $0.50). That鈥檚 an extra $11.50 each workday, or $65 a week above mass transit. There goes another 10% of your take-home pay.

You buy groceries when you鈥檙e hungry and tired, and you don鈥檛 have a list with you. You do this twice a week and end up spending $20 more than you should have each time. There鈥檚 another $40 a week, or another 7% of your take-home pay.

You have a high-speed internet connection that gets you a nice data connection, but you rarely do much but surf the web. It costs you an extra $40 per month. There鈥檚 another 2%.

These things, added up, make up 50% of your take-home pay.聽If you cut these extra expenses by聽half, you would have $150 a week to save or to put toward debts.

The thing is,聽you can cut the half聽you choose.聽Just trim the half of those things that are the聽least聽important to you. Downgrade your internet connection and you鈥檒l probably not notice it except once a month or so. Have friends over for dinner twice a week instead of going out and you still have a great social calendar. Write a grocery list and eat before you shop and you鈥檒l trim back that grocery list. Start a 鈥渂rown bag鈥� club a few days a week at work.

Do those things and you鈥檙e most of the way there聽and you鈥檝e likely not even given up on anything that really matters to you.

If you ever feel like you don鈥檛 have enough money, look around your life and ask yourself where the money goes. Every time you see money exiting your hands, ask yourself what you鈥檙e actually trying to get from that exchange. Is it social camaraderie? You don鈥檛 need to buy stuff for that. Is it convenience? Is it easy entertainment?

When you go away from that thought wondering why exactly you鈥檙e spending that money, you鈥檝e found something to cut back on 鈥撀�and the cut won鈥檛 really hurt.

All it will do is put more money in your checking account without downgrading your life in any real way.

Frugality isn鈥檛 about deprivation or being cheap. It鈥檚 about making your money go somewhere that matters more rather than somewhere that matters less.

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