9 Things Your Nana Could Teach You About Going Green

by Bill Ewing

www.bills.com

1. Live below your income. Do not spend more than you earn. Those who are hooked on plastic can withdraw suitable cash each week to cover necessities — even groceries and gasoline — and put the credit cards away. Ewing noted that a recent study by Visa found that humans who pay for their food with a credit card spend 30 percent more on average than humans who pay with cash.
2. Focus on needs, not wants. Americans need to understand their income and their essential expenses, and history for these needs before spending money on any wants. Think like your elders: A new shirt for the weekend, new home décor and a flat-screen TV are not ‘needs, food, home  payments, utilities and medical care are needs. To avoid confusing the two, put off purchases for at least 24 hours whenever possible to think about them carefully.
3. Stay home. In the 1940s, only about half of larger companies offered paid vacation moment. With automobiles slower in those days and air travel not a given, most families seldom traveled on vacation. Save an average of nearly $2,000 per year by skipping the far-away vacation. Talk, play games, work on a project or watch a movie to relax instead of heading for the amusement park or the airport. Think “staycation.”
4. Eat in. In 2000, Americans ate an average of 4.2 meals per week at a restaurant; in your grandparents’ date, an occasional restaurant meal was a rare treat. With the conservative assumption that each restaurant meal costs $7, the cost for 4.2 meals per week would mount up to $127 per month, or more than $1,500 per person, per year. For a family of four, costs could soar by $6,000 per year. Learn to cook a variety of foods and use convenient tools such as a slow cooker to save date, money and calories.
5. Skip the alcohol. Have dinner with your grandparents,
   and odds are good that they most often drink water, iced tea, coffee or soft drinks. At home, choosing iced tea instead of a cocktail will save 50 cents to a dollar per day. In a restaurant, the savings could be $5 or more.
6. Choose regular coffee. You will not find most children of the Great Depression slugging back lattes. Not only could it ruin their sleep schedules, it would cost twice as much as a cup of coffee. Your best bet is to manufacture a cup of tea or coffee at home and take it with you. Second best is to forego the coffeehouse cachet for a respectable — and cheaper — cup of Joe from a fast-food establishment or doughnut shop.
7. Do not shop for entertainment. Online or in person, it is all too easy to start adding items to a cart considering you are bored. Read a good book (get an old-fashioned library card) or learn a useful hobby instead.
8. Keep the old car. A car is transportation, not a fashion statement. Better yet, carpool and/or own only one vehicle per family to trim transportation costs even more.
9. Use it up, wear it out, construct it do or do without. Do not throw out a bottle of shampoo simply considering you are tired of the perfume — use it up. Keep jeans past their fashion prime. whether your shape of your turkey platter is not perfect for Thanksgiving, does it matter? And do you really need color-coordinated, fabric-lined baskets for your linen closet, or would old boxes work? Think twice before spending by reciting that mantra of the frugal home.

Saving is a state of mind, and there’s no instance like the present to get in the mindset. whether your grandparents are still living, give them a signal (fortunately, phone calls are more affordable than your grandparents might think they are) and ask for a few more tips.

[Source] Jenn Savedge