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.…

Also, if you haven’t already purchased at least one pair of “wrinkle free khakis,” consider investing.  A quality pair can cost you about $20 if you get them on sale.   This is VERY helpful, especially if you are looking for something to take you from business casual to after work casual with no fuss.

Wear new clothes without buying new clothes. If you didn’t get that pay raise you wanted, now’s not the time to buy some new Paul Frederick shirts or a Sean John tie.  But if you already have a limited wardrobe, how do you continue to impress at the office?  Easily.  First, take inventory of your professional wardrobe.  Take a look at your business wear, business casual, smart casual, dress casual, and so forth.  In each category, pick one outfit that you will set aside and not wear for at least 3 weeks.  Maybe it’s a certain shirt/tie combination.  Might be a skirt suit.  Could also be that lamb skin jacket you bought at a ridiculously low sale price 2 years ago.  Whatever it is, set it aside for 3 weeks.  The rest of the time, wear your regular outfits.  When the day comes to wear the outfit you’ve kept hidden, you’ll definitely turn heads.

This process requires some creativity.  For instance, a white collar shirt is nothing special on its own.  But with the right accessories (a colorful tie, polished shoes, a tie pin, maybe a handkerchief), you can dress that shirt up.  The point is, you don’t need a new wardrobe to stay on top of your game.  You just need to manage what you have more carefully.

Your Diet:

Buy groceries, make your own meals. For a variety of health reasons, you should be buying groceries rather than eating out to begin with.  But now let’s throw finances in the mix.  Eating out for lunch each day can costs between $5-$10 each time, and that’s on the low end.  You already know the math:  that’s $25-$50 each week, $100-$200 each month, and $1200-$2400 each year.  That could pay off your credit card debts, or at least a substantial portion thereof (if you have more than that, then we’ve gotta take you back to BASICS!).

That’s just the cost for lunch.  If you’re eating out for dinner, the basic cost is double that ($10-$20 each outing).  You’d only have to eat out 3 times a week to get the same kind of costs each year for dinner.

If you live by yourself, groceries cost between $200-$400 per month.  You’ll find that the better you get at shopping, the lower the monthly costs will become.  There will be a few “fixed costs” (i.e. buying spices, maybe a new utensil or two), but those are one time buys.

Buying groceries means you are eating healthier and cheaper.  Let’s do some of the math.  A typical pasta dinner (let’s say penne pasta with grilled chicken) will cost you around $15.00 at even a moderate priced restaurant (TGIFridays, Chili’s, etc.).  For around the same price, you can buy at least one box of penne pasta, a couple cans of tomato sauce, and a pack of 4 chicken breasts.  You’ve not only doubled the number of meals you can make, but now you’ve got 2 extra chicken breasts.  Make a salad on the side.

Other cheap, delicious entrees you can make: chili (ground beef, tomato sauce, spices, beans), grilled fish on a bed of rice with vegetables on the side, baked potatoes with chili (you can tell I like chili), baked chicken on a bed of rice (or with potatoes)…. do you see the pattern yet?  Mix and match!  Figure out what you like, buy the staples, and get in the kitchen.  It’s 2009 and recipes are free thanks to google.

And the hidden benefit: it’s healthier.  You’ll quickly find that grilled/baked foods taste MUCH better in the house than they do coming from a fast food window.  Seriously, if I want a salad, I’m not going to McDonald’s.  That’s an oxymoron AND financially irresponsible.

Overall Message:

Sit down and figure out your finances.  If you are not able to save at least a little amount every month, your lifestyle needs to change.  You are no longer saving for a chance trip to Cancun; you need to prepare for the worst… or the best.  Maybe one day you’ll be one of the angel donors who suddenly drops half a million donation on a community center, just from the dollars you’ve saved over the years.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 12:21 am and is filed under Fashion, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.