The Journey Begins

We met with Jennifer, our Financial Advisor, in late June to layout our financial strategy. “First things first, what can you live without?”, “What can you cut?”, “Do you really spend $800 a month on groceries???” Jennifer asked us to go home, organize our pantry and cabinets, take inventory before we shop, and start to really question the items that we buy – the duplicates, the items that sit on the shelf until they expire, just to ultimately be thrown away in the trash. THAT IS OUR MONEY IN THE TRASH!

Then we cut services and subscriptions. Can we cut a streaming service? My precious subscription boxes that deliver me a little joy in a box (but really, the items just end up as a stockpile in my closet)? So, we cut $34.99 here. Snip $16.43 there. Cancel that $49.99 seasonal subscription box. It all adds up. It works out to $68.08 a month that we can use to pay down debt. Or $816.96 over a year that we can save and invest somewhere.

Then let’s talk to Ashleigh, our 17-year-old, about her spending. Jennifer came armed to our meeting with Ashleigh’s bank statements too. No one was off limits in this meeting. She saw her bad habits. The $1.50 spent nearly daily at the school vending machine. “Can she buy herself a 12 pack of Coke from the grocery store and save that money?” Yes. Done. Easy fix. And, it all adds up. Over 173 days of school, that is $259.50.

So here we are, month one, just making small tweaks and changes to our spending habits and bills. But it’s these “first things” that we slashed, the daily habits that we analyzed, the items that you never thought of that really do add up. They add up to money wasted, money that could be used more wisely elsewhere. It all adds up. In a year’s time, that’s $1,076.46 to be exact.