A Penny Saved…

Posted on January 29, 2005 1 Comment

You know the saying, “A penny saved is a penny earned”? This doesn’t make any sense to me. Does the saying mean that if you save a penny, eventually the interest will equal another penny? Or does it mean saving a penny from your paycheck is so difficult that it seems like work just to save said penny? Trying to decipher the meaning, I suppose, is simply an exercise in futility. Much like monitoring my daily spending habits, I now see.

Here’s how yesterday went:

8:00 A.M. – Saved $1.50 by skipping my daily Dunkin’ Donuts medium hazelnut coffee with skim milk. Instead, my lovely coworker Megan donated her Irish cream creamer (is that right?) to make the office coffee taste better. Thanks Megs!

8:30 A.M. – Saved $2.00 by eating breakfast at my desk; I’ve started bringing in cereal and soymilk or oatmeal instead of spending on the concourse. This also saves the waistline a bit!

12:00 P.M. – Lunch with another of my coworkers, Brian. He offers to buy lunch if I pay for the cab ride. Good deal! I’ve saved about $7.00.

7:15 P.M. – Still at the office on a Friday and now I’ve missed my last bus to the train station. I opt to take a cab (it’s still too cold here to walk the mile). Down $7.00. So much for lunch savings.

7:25 P.M. – Too hungry to wait until I get home, I buy a cookie for $1.50 and a coffee for $1.50 at Corner Bakery for the ride home.

In all my saving and spending, I managed to save about 50 cents today. Great job, right? Sheesh. If this continues I’d have no spending money. I suppose I could have spent more – I did watch a free movie on Comcast last night, rather than go out to see one. That’s easily a savings of $15.00. But I’m going out tonight for dinner and drinks, and anticipate spending more than that!

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For those of you who do a better job than me at saving, CNN is looking for “extreme savers” for profiles on the Web site. Here’s a man who managed to save a whopping $18,000 in one year on a $40,000 salary. Read on for his tips:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/27/pf/saver_kuhlman/index.htm

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