Brooke Stephens - Newsletter: March

Walk to the movie instead of taking a cab, make long-distance calls only on weekends, turn off all the extra lights in the house, and lower the thermostat -- you know the tried-and-true ways to save. In addition, here are 30 other ways to start saving immediately and stretch your dollars farther than you ever thought possible.

Shopping

Carry only the exact amount of cash you will need for the day: bus fare, tokens, lunch.
Shop with a list of what you need to buy. Going into the supermarket without a list guarantees that you spend more than you planned and that you buy stuff you don't need.
Use coupons only if they make the brand-name products cheaper than the store brand. Otherwise, buy only generic products. Many of them are produced by the brand-name companies on a special contract for the chain stores. Why should you pay the brand-name companies' advertising expenses when you don't have to?
Purchase staples in bulk at a warehouse outlet market. Items like rice, flour, sugar, toilet paper, napkins, detergent, and garbage bags are one-third less there, and they never spoil.

Food
The average take-out lunch is $5, so brown-bag it a few days a week. Lunch from home is healthier than take-out meals, and you won't waste the leftovers from last night's dinner.
Become a vegetarian and eat creative bean casseroles two or three times a week. Red meat is too expensive. And the vegetable dinners you make are much healthier for you than most of the take-out meals you have delivered.
Eat in for one month. Share potluck supper with your neighbors and friends. Socializing over a meal does not have to be expensive if you do it at home.

Personal Care and Grooming
Wash your sweaters in Woolite and save the $3 that a dry cleaners will charge.
Find a hairstyle that doesn't cost you $35 to $40 a week to care for. African-American women have created more than six black millionaires over the last century paying for special hair care. Now it's your turn to build some wealth for yourself. Get your hair done for special occasions or as a special treat after you have gotten out of debt and saved $1000.
Purchase generic or store-brand shampoo and save a dollar or two on the price. Your hair will get just as clean without a famous brand name.
Do your nails yourself. You can give yourself the $10 manicure while you watch a move on Sunday night. Those false nails can run as high as $30 a week and eventually ruin your own nails in the long run.
Make your own cosmetics from items in your refrigerator and your cupboard. There are excellent books in the health food store and the library that tell you how to do it. Plain fresh yogurt makes a great moisturizer; rosewater and witch hazel combined make a good astringent; egg whites are a good facial mask.
Do your dry-cleaning in bulk in one of the machines that looks like a dryer and cut the cost by half.

Entertainment
Get your best-sellers at the library. You have already paid your taxes for this privilege, so use this public service. If the latest Terry McMillan isn't available, spend 50 cents and sign up for the reserve list and wait. Meanwhile, pick up a book on financial planning and expand your financial awareness.
If possible, get your videos at the library too. Videos are available at most libraries, and there is no rental fee if you return them on the date they are due. That's another $2 to $6 you can save each weekend.
Remember that the library also has magazines. Many libraries allow you to check out copies of popular magazines for up to one week. Cancel subscriptions for those magazines you are too busy to read.
Economize on move tickets. Do you really need to be the first on your block or in your office to see the first-run movies? If the kids just have to see the latest mind-numbing thriller before it gets to the discount movie houses for $1, take them to the Saturday matinee. It is usually half price or less. The theater managers offer this discount since the place would normally be empty at that hour of the day -- and you will probably be able to hear the actors on the screen.
Instead of buying a newspaper, get your morning news on the radio and take a library book with you to read on the way to work. Somebody else will probably leave a paper on the train or the bus which you can pick up.
Take advantage of free concerts in local parks, museums, library exhibits. Your tax dollars have already paid for them, so go out and enjoy them.
Use discount cards and two-for-one specials to go to the theater. You can cut the price of a show by 50 percent.

Clothing
Buy pantyhose, socks, and underwear at 60 percent off retail direct from manufacturers through their discount catalogs. Call their customer service 800 numbers to order catalogs.
Rent a fabulous formal gown for that once-in-a-lifetime occasion. For $40 to $75 you can look like you just stepped out of a designer showroom without spending next month's rent for one evening.
Shop special sales. End-of-the-year clearances at boutiques that have seasonal specials often have unadvertised two-for-one sales on good classic clothing. Get on their mailing lists to know when these sales will be held.
Shop in consignment shops. Many department stores and wealthy people often donate designer clothing and end-of-the-season clothing to thrift shops for special sales for charity and for the tax deduction they receive. A brand new Pauline Trigere coat selling for $3000 in Bergdorf's might be found here for $300.

Miscellaneous
Buy next year's Christmas cards, gift wrapping paper, and decorations on December 26 and store them in the back of the closet.
Write a letter to a friend rather than call. The cost of a stamp, 33 cents, is cheaper than most calls, even on weekend rates, and the letter will last longer than a phone call.
Stop smoking! Does it really make sense to put a match to $2 a day?
Join a travel club and save 25 to 30 percent on vacation trips.
Check out garage and yard sales for housewares, toys, books, lamps, etc. When you find one of those $20 Tupperware sets for $2 you'll get hooked on the habit.
Barter your time or a special skill with a friend. Baby-sit for her when she wants a special night out. In exchange, she will do your hair if she is a beautician or your taxes if she is an accountant.

Follow just half these steps for a month, and you will easily find the extra $50 to $100 a month to put into a savings account or a money-market fund. Trust me, it works!