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It is not just your mortgage, auto loan and insurance that bust your budget. It's the simple things you do every day.
The Dominguez family was dared by talk show host Oprah Winfrey to live with less for a week. Before the challenge kicked off, the family's monthly water and power bills were hovering around $1,000.
Groceries kept pouring in. Untouched food and leftovers were being thrown in the bin. Clothes with tags still on them were piling up.
The father and kids were sneaking out of the house to skip on mom's cooking. TVs, lights, computers were often left on even when not in use.
Obviously, the waste in the Dominguez home was tremendously high. The father admitted he had to borrow money sometimes. "Right now, I'm on the brink of borderline where I'm going to lose everything," he said.
Frugal
The family's challenge was to cut the wastage. Watching TV was limited to one hour. Shower time was trimmed to five minutes. Video games were a no-no. Computers were only for homework. The family had to eat leftovers and meals in the house. Shopping was banned for a week.
The family lived through the challenge and saved money in the end, as spending on water, electricity, food and shopping were significantly reduced.
Like the Dominguezes, there are many people whose culture is one of waste and excess. Americans, for instance, waste nearly half (40 per cent) of the food they produce for consumption. According to a website called Waste Food, that equates to a yearly cost of more than $100 billion (Dh367.8 billion).
As electronic gadgets fly off the shelves fast and residents habitually keep unused appliances plugged, households in the UK alone could squander 72 billion euros (Dh415.34 billion) worth of electricity by 2020, a study suggests.
Everywhere else, people are squandering away their hard earned money on a daily basis. Would you really die if you don't go to the coffee shop every morning, visit the salon every week, watch TV for hours a day, play video games or listen to music through your i-Pod? Would it really hurt if you only take and use what you need and not what is available to you?
Unnecessary
Consider how much money you will save if you take your coffee at home before going to work every morning. If an average cup of espresso is Dh14 and you buy one each working day, in one year it's going to cost you Dh3,290 (assuming you drink only one cup a day, work five days a week and have 25 days holiday).
Unless you have plenty of cash to burn, scrapping the unnecessary stuff out of your life is the way to go.
The Dominguezes realised that they don't really need much to be happy and that living with less could mean the difference between getting trapped in a money pit or living a stress-free life.
Americans waste nearly half (40 per cent) of the food they produce for consumption. According to a website called Waste Food, that equates to a yearly cost of more than $100 billion (Dh367.8 billion).
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