Stop wasting your damn money!

If I watch one more co-worker walk into this office with a $5 latte I am going to scream. I don’t care if they purchased the smaller size and it really cost $3.

We are in a recession. Don’t you think it’s time that we get wise about our money?

Consider these tips and keep some change in your pockets, please!

Buy a reusable water bottle and fill it with filtered water. Hell. Buy five reusable water bottles, fill them with filtered water and grab one each morning when you head to the office. While you’re at it, brew your own coffee and steep your own tea. You can use a travel mug. And you shouldn’t even be drinking carbonated soft drinks, so that takes care of the beverages.

Entertain yourself for free with your library card and the Internet. There are web sites that offer films, documentaries and television shows for free (get it while it lasts). There’s SnagFilms, Hulu, Joost (to name a few), and many of your favorite network shows will have full episodes on their web sites of all the shows that you missed while you were wasting your money on that latte. And since we’re heading into summer, look for (free) theater or concerts in the park.

Re-gift with pride. You can always give a book without ever feeling guilty that it's used, because it's new to the recipient. Just make sure that the pages are not filled with highlighting, that every other word isn’t underlined and that the margins are not decorated with your thoughts.

Skip the valet. Not only will you save money by actually parking your car yourself, you will also get some exercise.

Cook. Buy real food at a store or farmers market, bring it home and cook it. If you’re feeling really ambitious, plant some food.

What are your money-saving tips? Share them here.

My resolution: spend less

Photo by stopnlook, Flickr Creative Commons.

One of the first books that I borrowed from the library in 2008 was Judith Levine's Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping. Levine's experiment was not about giving up a Bloomie's addiction or facing a shoe-buying habit. She was focused on not buying anything that wasn't a necessity. Like Q-tips, the newest gadget, the stuff that collects dust in closets and dresser drawers.

Her experiment got me to thinking about consumption, extreme consumerism (think trampling death on Black Friday) and the global economy. But it also made me consider how much money I spend on personal indulgences. I concluded that I could create a more disciplined definition of a 'necessity.'

I'm pretty low-maintenance to start, but there are still a number of things that I buy that I could ... um ... not buy.

How many Jamba Juice smoothies do I need in one week? Why not walk to the store down the street instead of hopping in my car (saving money, helping the environment and alleviating city congestion)? Or why not read a library book (like Levine's) and skip the movie rental?

So I upheld my own "rethink-consumerism" theme during the holiday season when I decided to have a consumption-free Christmas. The consumption-free thing worked and my family and friends are still speaking to me.

I bring all of this up because it's New Year's Eve. And it's not just any New Year's Eve. It's the last day of 2008 - a year that brought America the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression. It seems like a good time to take inventory and get rid of any unnecessary spending.

So my resolution (and apparently I'm not alone in this) is to spend less in 2009; to get creative. Maybe I'll plant some of my favorite vegetables instead of buying them every week.

And I'm spending less not just for the sake of hoarding money. But because mindless spending is bunk.

If I'm REALLY successful in 2009, maybe, like Levine, I'll forgo all non-essential spending in 2010. Okay. Let me just focus on 2009.

Anyway, Happy New Year!

Obama's address: Cool factor 2, Specifics 0

I'll definitely give President-elect Obama cool points for having a weekly address available on YouTube. I'll also give him kudos for adding a section to the right of the video on the Change.gov page for people to share their thoughts. I'm even happy that the Change.gov site will send me a weekly reminder with a link to the video (because Lord knows I won't remember to check in with Obama every week).

BUT ...

(you knew it was coming) ...

Give me some actual information, please! He spent nearly four minutes talking about how his economic team is developing a "bold plan" to create jobs, but adds "we'll be working out the details in the weeks ahead."

So why am I watching your almost four-minute video? It ain't THAT cool. One minute will do, thanks.