By Ajani Husbands

The same day I read about the ten percent unemployment rate in America, I read about ordinary Americans who became millionaires through basic financial savvy.

Financial times are tough for all.  500,000 workers lost their jobs in January alone (that’s the entire population of smaller countries), and those numbers continued for months.  If you are fortunate enough to still have employment, being financially savvy is no longer a lifestyle choice; it is a must.  At the same time, read about the people in the article above.  They all made certain lifestyle decisions that paid off massive dividends in the long run.  Just as importantly, tightening your belt doesn’t mean losing your day to day swagger.  Here are a few simple tips on reducing your overall expenditures while maintaining the same, and possibly better, lifestyle.

Your Work Outfit:

Dry clean the suits.  Wash and iron the shirts. Dry cleaning costs can add up quickly.  Even if you are hitting up one of the “same day, $1.25 per shirt” stores, you’re talking at least 5 shirts a week (7 if you’re going out on the weekends) and 1 or 2 pairs of khakis.  That’s almost $9.00 each week, $36 a month, $432 a year.  Yea, that’s a cross-country plane ticket.  Now you see what I mean.

While suits are absolutely dry clean only, you can always throw your shirts in the laundry and wake up an hour early to iron them yourself.  Besides, you’ve been running late to work anyway, and with people losing jobs left and right, you might as well start coming early.…
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