The Stingy Mommy

New Year Resolutions: Spending less, saving more and living better

by Amy Brayfield

With the economy pretty much in the toilet and the evening news full of economic doom and gloom, it was only a matter of time before my 7-year-old asked me if we were going to run out of money. I didn’t want to freak her out, but I also think it’s important to be honest: I work in an industry that’s being particularly hard hit by the layoff avalanche. My husband recently had a hospital stay that our health insurance didn’t totally cover. And having a family of four these days is pretty darn expensive. We’re OK, but we want to stay that way.

So when my daughter asked me about our financial stability, I had an idea. Why not sit down together as a family and come up with plans to save money in 2009? Not only is it a good idea to keep our daughter looped into our financial plans, it’s also a great opportunity to teach her about the value of a dollar and the importance of reusing and recycling the stuff we already have. After an afternoon of cinnamon bread and planning, we had some financial resolutions for 2009:

We will (mostly) give up fancy beverages. Other than milk and OJ, we won’t be buying any drinks from the supermarket except for as an occasional treat. Water is healthy, and it tastes just fine — and those drink costs add up fast. We’ll also be (mostly) sticking to water when we go out to eat.

We will (mostly) pay cash. Those little plastic cards are handy, but they sure do make it easy to spend money without realizing how it’s adding up. From now on, we’ll be hitting the store with the budgeted amount of cash in our pockets instead of the debit or credit card.