50-Cent Mistakes

Last Sunday after church, Hubs and I decided to have lunch at the park. Somehow we got to talking about money matters. Hubs said,

"You know what? It would be better to make one hundred dollar mistake every year than a 50 cent mistake every day."

Now everyone has heard about how NOT getting Starbucks every day will save you a million dollars over a lifetime. That's great advice for people who go to Starbucks every day (what the heck?!). However,some of us thrifty people are not in the habit of buying ourselves treats every day. But are there simple changes we could make that could free up even more of our cash?

Example: We eat scrambled eggs each morning for breakfast. Add some cheese and chopped green peppers = yum! When we first got married, I made five eggs every morning. However, recently I realized that there was always some leftover egg, and I ended up eating it. One morning I actually put the leftovers in the fridge (eew... leftover scrambled egg). The next day I only made four eggs. This fixed two problems: 1) we did not run out of eggs at the end of the week, and 2) I did not have to eat or store the leftovers. It was a simple change that didn't cost me anything.

$100 mistakes are memorable. They're big, so we don't soon forget and make the same mistake again. When I waste money in $100 chunks, I kick myself. But somehow, wasting a few quarters here and there every day makes more sense and I'm more likely to let those little things slide. But the fact is, it would be almost TWICE as bad to make a 50 cent mistake every day. Even if you only made 50 cent mistakes Monday-Friday, it would still be worse than a $100 mistake every year.

Happy Frugal Friday! And be sure to save you some quarters this weekend. :)