Saving Money with Bashley

1. Quit smoking!  If you're like me, it's not the amount of money you spend on just cigarettes that bothers you, it's the money you spend at the store on treats and unnecessary items WHILE you're buying high priced cigarettes!

2. Try not to pay for necessities.  If that means jacking the toilet paper from the night club while you're out with your friends, then 'high five'!  There are things that we believe are necessities such as paper towels, meat, milk, bread, cosmetics, etc. that are easy to go without when you're trying to save money.

3. Give animals an extra week or so to live!  Soy milk and Tofu "meat" products are usually cheaper than the products that we're used to.  A carton of cow milk will run you around $3.00 or more where as soy milk is around $1.99 and is usually on sale.  You can get a block of tofu with seasoning for around $5.00 which is a lot cheaper than cooking pork chops for the fam!

4. Brew your own coffee.  This has been a MAJOR one for me.  A bag of ready brew Starbucks is around $7.00 which sounds a bit pricey all at once, however 7 days a week at around $5.00 per morning is almost $40.00 a week! If you can't muster brewing your own coffee, at least bring your own travel mug.  Most coffee shops offer a 10% discount to those who BYOMug!

5. Don't skip out on healthy food for your pets.  They are more expensive than the No Name's but Vet bills are A LOT higher.

6. Don't buy too much music.  You get tired of songs faster than you think.  Unless it's a rare track, YouTube it until you never want to hear it anymore!  Want to put your favorite 'now' song onto your MP3 player?  Copy and paste the link of the video into this site, download it and transfer!  http://www.youtube-mp3.org/

7. Cheat.  People who complain about a product will usually get a complimentary replacement.  What happens if you contact a company to complain about a product you want, yet never purchased?  FREE STUFF!  Don't abuse this though, your address, name and phone number can only be used ONCE, and many companies have many sub-companies so don't call the same one twice!  Remember, you will need barcodes, prices, size of product (ml, gal, oz), expiry date and the production number in a black stamp somewhere on the product.

8. Get insurance for everyone.  You, pets, other family members.  You may rarely get sick but when that cavity pops up on a week that you have $17 to spend, your dog raids the trash and can't throw up, you'll be thankful!

9. Ignore the 'couponing' hype.  You will see lots of coupons for things you've always wanted to try, a new candle from glade, $2 off a box of 50 Bic pens, etc.  Chances are you don't need these things, but you'll feel obligated to buy because you have a coupon.  

10. Have to get someone a present?  Re-gift a gift you've received or make your own!  It can be as simple as re-wrapping a sweater you never liked that your friend always envied, or taking your moms favorite photo, heading to the dollar store, choosing a nice frame, scrap book paper, sticker decorations, and for less than $10 you can have an awesome gift!

Moving Time!

Popsicles.

I type with numb fingers. 
My nose is cold and my feet have not seen the light out of their slippers for days.  
I take a shower with my 5 minutes of hot water as a self indulgence several times a day.  
I over-welcome my stay at coffee shops where the smell of brewed coffee warms me.
My oven door is open wide at 500F begging me to bake a new life once again somewhere else.
I remind myself that for once this situation is not my fault.
I pay adequate rent.  I am a good tenant.  
I am patient, but patience grows thin.


This ongoing nonsense doesn't seem to stop,
If I don't move I can open an ice cream shop.