One of my favourite TV shows is Survivor on CBS. If you’re not already familiar with the show, they drop groups of people off in some remote area, give them a bag of rice, and let them fend for themselves for a month. There are challenges where one group wins things like fishing gear and spices. These people are starving. I mean, they’re eating bugs and rats roasted over a fire! I repeat, they are starving. I watch while someone inevitably catches a fish or two. Everyone’s excited that they’re actually going to share some food. Then, I cringe as I watch them discard the fish bones … just a big pile of fish bones rotting on the beach. Now remember, they have water, rice, sometimes spices… and bones. To this day, I do not understand why they don’t make soup! What a waste.

We all have “fishbones”. Things we are wasting; money we are just giving away… to the utility companies, grocery stores, banks, businesses.

Since retirement, I am on a fairly small, fixed income. Every penny matters. I look for ways to save. I make croutons from stale bread, save jars, put coffee in a thermos and use bones. I know the initial reaction is: “It’s not worth it. It’ll save $1 and I’d rather spend the $1.” All of those dollars add up to $5 a week (or more). At $5 a week, I save $260 a year. I would rather give the $260 to my children then to the utility companies. I would rather go on a small trip.

Periodically, we’ll post blogs on ways to save a dollar or two. Use them, if you can. Please, share any that we’ve missed. Remember, 50 cents here and there, a dollar somewhere else,  adds up. Here are a few that we use:

• Brown-Bag It: While working, a friend of mine would go to the cafeteria every day for lunch. She would get a salad and paid by weight. I asked her why. She said it was cheap, only $4 a day. Well, I’m a fan of math. $4 a day equals $960 a year (if you have 4 weeks off). Keep a bottle of dressing in the fridge at work and bring your salad with you.
• Eat at Home: Save eating out for treating yourself, special occasions and vacations. My daughter argues that it’s cheaper to eat at a fast food restaurant using the $1 menu. If she actually buys just one item and no drink, she is paying $5 for 5 very small meals. A few weeks ago, we bought a 10 lb. bone-in ham at the grocery for $10 (on sale). Four adults ate ham for dinner. The next 2 days we used the smaller chopped pieces in our eggs for breakfast. We each had ham sandwiches for lunch for 2 days, and I used the bone to make split pea soup (about 10 servings). Adding the cost of the additional groceries (bread, eggs, butter, cheese, peas, etc.) we spent $18.36 and had 30 meals. That comes to about 61 cents a meal and trust me, each meal was larger then the “fast food $1 menu meals” and tasted so much better.
• Grocery Shopping: We’ve all heard not to shop while hungry. I would also suggest not to plan a menu for the upcoming week. A grocery list for staples is smart (saves on trips to the store, which saves money on gas), but when it comes to the actual meals, you may want to see what is on sale and plan your menu around that (or around what you bought on sale the week before).
• Unplug: Don’t leave things like paper shredders, printers, and toasters plugged in. Unplug them when you’re not using them or use a power strip and turn it off. It saves a few cents a day. We are avid coffee drinkers. We make a pot, pour it into a thermos and unplug the pot. The thermos not only keeps it hot for free, the coffee is never burnt so there is less waste (another savings).
• Heat and Air Conditioning: If you have a guest room (or any seldom-used room), close the vents and the doors, otherwise, you’re wasting money heating and cooling the room. It also keeps the dust down. Also, place draft protectors on all window sills, doors, and if you have an old house, like I do, even along drafty floors.

We all have “fishbones”. If you take the time to find yours, you just might be able to afford that trip. We’re going to Ireland next March.