I admit, my mom can be a little overboard with saving money. But then again, which Asian mom isn’t? It’s amazing the amount of money my mom is able to save each month due to creative methods and her matriarchal power over the family. Without my mom, our family would be financially worse off than we are now. Here are some ways my mom saves money.
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- Always buy items that are on sale or on clearance! Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price? More like
An Asian Mom’s Favorite Thing to See Mom’s Suggested Reduce Price. Stores often times markup prices to a ridiculous amount that earns them the most profit. If you buy discounted items, you can easily save over 50 dollars on a grocery trip and over 100 dollars on a shopping spree. You should only buy full price items if you absolutely need it; Otherwise, you can wait for some time to pass and I can 90% guarantee you that the item you need will be discounted pretty soon.
- Always buy items that are on sale or on clearance! Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price? More like
- Do not use a dryer at all costs! Instead, invest your money on clothing rods and racks to hang up your clothes. The rods and racks might seem a little pricey, but using a dryer several times would amount to the same price. Then it starts being worth it in investing in rods and racks. This is both environmentally friendly and financially gainful.
Do not turn on the AC during the summer nights! Instead of turning on the AC in the summer, open up your bedroom windows. This allows for a cooler summer breeze to enter your room. Additionally, doing this will air out your room and make it smell fresher!
- Reduce, reuse, recycle! This will help you save additional money. With paper that is blank on one side, save it so when you need paper for drawing,
notes, etc., you can reuse the paper instead of grabbing a perfectly new sheet. Also, saving your grocery bags is a good idea because you can reuse these bags as trash bags instead of going out of your way to buy some. Plastic containers from food items like yogurt can be used again to store fruit, boiled eggs, or other food items. If you use a paper towel to wipe water from the table, you can use the paper towel again to wipe additional spills you may have. A bonus is that these methods are environmentally friendly too!
- Eat out less! In fact, my family rarely goes out to lavish restaurants that will break our wallet. Instead, we like to enjoy a
home cooked meal that is both cheaper and more likely healthier. In addition, we don’t have to tip when we’re at home! It’s a win-win situation at best. When we go out to eat though, we will choose a local restaurant that doesn’t charge ridiculous amounts, or go to a restaurant that prefers the customers paying with cash. If a restaurant prefers customers paying cash, it is most likely that they will give a discount on the food because they want to pay less taxes.
With these tips in mind, you can save hundreds of dollars per month and use that money to invest in stocks, money markets, bonds, etc to earn more money! You can worry less about going out of money and providing for yourself with these ways to save money that is approved by your local Asian mom. Happy saving!
Hey Kuei King! These are some really great points that my mother would for sure approve of because of your blunt yet humorous language. I related to the no dryer and eating at home parts. Personally, my family never uses the dishwasher because of the amount of water it uses. Plus, it’ll discipline my brother and I with chores I guess. While I knew about waiting for items to be discounted, I like how you emphasized it because I need to remind myself, especially for shopping, that being trendy doesn’t beat being patient and saving money. I’ve forgotten about a lot of these things, so your advice is really helpful, especially for college saving. However, I do wonder–what is worth spending money on? Because in the words of the great Tom Haverford, sometimes, you just gotta “treat yoself”.