I have saved some money in the past 2 1/2 years! I’m now working towards Financial Independence (FI). There are many blogs about FI, but I am blogging about my own adventures of being Cheap Girl.
When I started this blog in mid-2015, I was annoyingly cheap. I’m not as cheap as I once was. Friends are thankful for that: initially we didn’t even go out to dinner with friends! Our extreme competitive budgeting would annoy people because it’s all we talked about.
Since then, FI has really taken off as a trend…
For 2 1/2 years, I’ve tracked everything that I’ve spent. In 2017, I’ve spent about $21,750. I will share the breakdown tomorrow!
I spent much less than I used to… I switched my phone service to Cricket and my phone bill is 1/2 what it used to be. I shopped at Aldi. I negotiated Sirius XM down to $6.09/month. I rarely went out to eat, and when I did, I used coupons. I used an Amex card that gave me cash back bonuses on many purchases. I discovered Amazon Mturk which pays money for taking surveys, and I transferred the money that I earned over to Amazon for cash-free purchases.
Additionally, for Christmas this year, I only spent about $270 to create over 50 gifts! That included making gifts for family, friends, and coworkers. Additionally, I got lots of cash back and bonuses from credit cards. And, every time I made purchases online, I searched for coupon codes.
I’ll post my full 2017 expenses once January becomes a thing!