That's the list.

I often see lists in magazines or newspapers that explain how people can save money. It really shocks me that there is rarely a thing on the lists that I read that is actually applicable to me.

Here is a sample list.


Drop a land line and either only use your cell phone or save money by calling over the internet for free with services such as Skype. (We just use cell phones, and I have no texting, so I can't even save there.)
Cancel cable or satellite TV. (Done.)
Restrict eating out. (Yup.)
Start using coupons. (Got it.)
Cook more at home. (I don't think that it is possible to cook more at home than I already do.)
Quit smoking. (Never did it.)
Rarely go to the movies. (You mean that you can GO to those? We use Redbox about once every 2 months or so. I must say that part of the reason is because I don't like how loud they are, so I'm not going to suggest going to one. I'd rather wait and see it at home most of the time.)
Don’t drink much. (I'm not a big drinker of alcohol, and I gave up sodas a few years ago and only buy one 2 liter every 2 or 3 months.)
Bring your own lunch. (Bring it where? We eat leftovers from the night before at home.)
No more lattes. (I'm not a coffee drinker anyways.)

So where are the lists for people like me who can't give up cable or new clothes? Where are the lists for people who don't eat out much and don't go out to the movies?

Well, I found one. Now, I don't agree with everything that is in this article*, but it does point out that there are ways to cut back or ways that you shouldn't cut back** to make your overall outcome better.

*We like using our credit cards. The points that we get by using it go towards paying off David's student loan.
**See the section entitled Pay yourself first.

One way that we recently cut back was giving up paper towels. Seriously. We use a towel or a rag for things that we would have used paper towels for. We don't even have any in the house.

What I liked about this article was that it included things like giving up a latte, but also encouraged people to see where they actually were spending their money so that they could see what they spend "too much" on and where they could cut back. At one point, we did that. I quit doing it about 2 years ago, but we did it for the first 4 years of our marriage. Every month it was my goal to make each category lower. Eventually, I couldn't any more. That was a good feeling.

Anyways...no point really to this post except that I liked this one article that I came across and that I really find most lists funny because they assume that everyone can give up everything on the list, and they usually promise that if you do you'll save $20,000 a year! Really? I don't think that anyone can give up everything on the list. Give me a break.