Pick the Low Hanging Fruit
Posted by Gail | Filed under Saving
I live in Apple Country and when it comes time to pick apples, loads of people get in on the gig. Once upon a time, you had to climb a ladder to get the apples at the top of the tree. That took way more effort than simply picking the low hanging fruit.
Changing how you deal with your money is a little like picking apples. You can go for the fruit that’s high up in the tree – the big wins – or you can focus on the low-hanging fruit: the little things that make a difference over time.
Most people have the room to make positive changes in their money management. Some Spurts argue that cutting out your morning coffee fix is a small step that really isn’t worth what you gain financially. I disagree. While I would never call myself “frugal”, I do believe that picking that low hanging fruit can take you a long way towards your goals.
Pick an expense – any expense –and look for a way to make it lower. Whether you choose to brown bag it instead of eating lunch out every day of the week, or replace your premium cable with library movie nights, the savings can really add it. It is amazing how quickly small expenses start to erode our savings potential simply because we’ve gotten used to spending the money. We go to a movie once in a while, then once a month, then once a week because we’ve become immune to the cost – we’re not even thinking about it – and enamored with the experience. Ditto buying a cuppa on the way to work: first we do it a little, then a little more, then a lot, and in no time at all we’re dropping $2,000 a year at Starbucks.
Hey, if you have $2,000 to spend on coffee and that’s the way you want to spend your $2,000, go straight ahead. But if you’re carrying any debt, if you aren’t saving diddly squat for the future, or if you’re completely unaware of how much you’re spending then it’s time to reach for that low-hanging apple.
The couples I’ve worked with are always astounded when I show them what they’ve been spending their money on. And sometimes I focus on how often they go shopping… y’know the “You went shopping on the first, the first, the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fourth, the fourth…” and they’re stunned. That’s the low-hanging fruit I’m talking about.
There are likely lots of low-hanging fruit you can pick. Consider changing your savings account from a stupid account at your local bank that pays you next to nothing, to a higher rate savings account. Or moving your business from a credit card with an exorbitant interest rate to one with a lower rate.
Even taking the time to create a debt repayment plan that focuses on your most expensive debt first, and using snowballing to get to debt free faster is an example of a low-hanging fruit. It’s there for the picking. No ladder required. You just have to reach up and, there ya go, you’re saving. Eventually, once you’ve got that debt paid off, you’ll have money you can use to achieve your other goals.
Moderating your heating and cooling costs with a programmable thermostat is low hanging fruit. So is driving smart and inflating your tires properly to keep your gas use down. Get a better deal on your communications costs – your home phone and your cell phone, your cable and your internet. Consolidate your car and home insurance and find ways to save on your premiums. Challenge yourself to cut $10 a month from your grocery bill. Then $20 a month. Then $30 a month. You get the picture. The opportunities to pick low-hanging fruit abound.
While your quick wins may not pack as big a punch as some bigger wins – getting a raise at work, taking a second job, or changing jobs completely to make more money – each small win gives you a little more money you can squirrel away for a rainy day or to build your long-term savings. And since the low hanging fruit is easy to reach, there’s no excuse not to reach out and pluck. So what low hanging fruit will you pick today?
June 10, 2010 at 6:52 am
We cut a huge portion fo our expenses when we went to your jar system. We’ve had to re-jig the numbers once but we are still under what we used to spend on the 8 categories we use Jar money for. The extra has gone directly into savings.
As for today I have no idea what cuts we could make today. I’d have to look at the budget and have a budget meeting with my better half.
regards,
Jason
June 10, 2010 at 7:38 am
Sage advice. With most things, easy successes build up to big successes as momentum gains.
For us, we have already picked most if not all of the low hanging fruit and am working towards the tougher gains. Not as much fun with that but that’s life and the key for us is not letting the eyes stray too far from the goal.
June 10, 2010 at 8:38 am
I don’t eat out much, but if I do go out I like it to be a planned event.
There are a few restaurants that offer free entrees/treats on your birthday if you belong to their online club- Boston Pizza, Red Robins, DQ -and some of them will also give you a free appetizer just for signing up. You will often get 1 to 2 weeks to redeem them.
I have 2 pre-teens who love chocolate bars. I will stock up when they go on sale for .50 (Bargain shop or Superstore multi packs) and then give them out to take to sports games or other outings or even as birthday party favors ( tie it onto the gift or have a bowl full for kids to take from on their way home). I will also give one to a co-worker with a little cheery note – if I can find out their favorite!
June 10, 2010 at 8:38 am
I was shocked when I made one phone call (albeit an hour long phone call) and saved $140 per month (that’s right, not per year, per month) on my car and home insurance. I was so excited when I got off the phone, because I couldn’t believe I could save that much just by making one call! Talk about low-hanging fruit
June 10, 2010 at 8:42 am
When I first started down the frugal road and was consuming all the personal finance and frugal living websites I could find, it seemed I regularly found some new trick I could employ to reduce or wipeout another expense. Now I still read my favourite ~10 sites but I rarely find a new suggestion that I’m not already doing. I think I’ve taken care of all the low hanging fruit and am now teetering on that ladder looking for anything I missed. I think I’m pretty much left with only major life altering changes to consider now, like sell a vehicle or downsize our home.
Financially we’re fine and don’t need to cut anymore. We’re socking away money for our retirement and paying off our mortgage as fast as possible so we can retire in our mid 50s. Personally I struggle with finding the balance and knowing when I’ve cut everything we don’t value, without veering into being truly cheap and making my family miserable. By dealing with all the low hanging fruit we’ve freed up enough cash flow to be able to travel regularly while we work toward early retirement. It’s our one splurge in an otherwise pretty frugal lifestyle. So is that enough, or should we keep cutting down just because we can? I know there’s no right answer and I need to keep the needs/wants of my family in mind. I guess I’m naturally too competetive – seeing how low our costs can go is almost a game in my mind. I’d quite happily get rid of virtually everything, rent a minisule apartment and travel the world on the equity from the house, but that doesn’t really fly with my family. Oh, the fine art of compromise!
June 10, 2010 at 9:05 am
1. As I’m more of an impulse buyer than a “list” person, I try to hold off stopping at the grocery store too frequently, and put it off just “1 more day”. As we rarely take the car for groceries, I just pick them up on the way home — it’s never too much because I only have two arms and an aversion to ripping them off from the shoulders.
2. I keep myself short money all the time. I used to like to have a few 20’s in my wallet at all times. Now I run out of money, and they try to hold off going to the bank. I keep change at home, that I save up and put on bills — but I can use that if an emergency came up.
3. Brown Bag saves me a tonne of dough — don’t drink coffee, no tim’s run
I really think my low hanging apple is being able to cut-down further on the groceries. I threw out $6 worth of food that went bad today….. so there’s still room for improvement.
June 10, 2010 at 9:18 am
I’ve employed strategies to save little bits over the years. I used to save all $2 bills as I got them, then I saved toonies. Now I try to save change at the end of the week. Also I give myself $25 allowance each week for incidentals. I have cut down lunches out and now I only eat in the cafeteria once or twice a week and the prices are very reasonable – less than a specialty coffee. I try to make sure I have some money left over each week and I put that directly into a savings account. Last year I saved $1000 by using these tricks and that paid for Christmas.
June 10, 2010 at 9:34 am
Living on cash allows for opportunities. All that change I receive from bills is snowflaked at the end of the month and applied to lump sum payments to a loan or whatever savings target I am working on. It’s amazing how it adds up.
It’s like looking for positive things. For a lot of people, it’s hard at first as they usually only see the negative. But once you change your focus, and start looking, it’s amazing how many positives you can find. Same thing applies to money, time in a day. etc
June 10, 2010 at 9:56 am
My low hanging fruit is if I’m spending cash (not very often), I have to put all the change at the end of each day into a jar. I never spend the change during the course of the day – only bills. The change really adds up! I then roll it each month and take it to the bank. Must have put away over a $1000 last year just doing this.
June 10, 2010 at 10:07 am
Great advice. We are trying to reduce our expenses right now this way. The savings will deffinitley add up in the end.
June 10, 2010 at 10:19 am
I have started doing my own pedicures! Now that I have all the products to do so properly, I actually find it enjoyable and relaxing and can save myself 50$.
The hardest part for me has been getting my Husband on board and realzing every little bit helps. Any Tips for dealing with the “finacially clueless” would be wonderful!!
June 10, 2010 at 10:56 am
We called our phone cpmpany, cable company, and the satellite radio to get better deals. Some would say get rid of these altogether, but we don’t want to. The phone company (that never negotiates) was able to give me 4cents a minute long distance (we rarely call LD) with no fees, and $7 off our monthly bill = over $100 per year in saving for us.
the cable company – we said we were cancelling cable/internet – voila, 6 months for $40 for BOTH, 60% less than our other bills = $360 saved
sattelite radio – we use this during the summer constantly. we travel to places where there are no radio stations! Instead of the year plan, we bought a 6 month plan to only cover when we’ll use it. Saved almost $100.
June 10, 2010 at 11:14 am
For my boyfriend and me, it was the supermarket bill. We used to buy whatever we wanted and shop daily. Then, we agreed to track what we spent for 6 months. At the end of that time, we came up with an average weekly amount. It was almost $130, I think.
We each “deposited” half that amount in a coin purse (I get to hold it when we go shopping because he finds it too girly, haha) and we tried to go shopping only once a week.
And lo! we started to notice that money was being left over in the purse! So…. we lowered our weekly budget to $100, which is harder to meet, it’s a challenge, and we do it!
Personally, I find it fun, but I know that that is because we can live even if we overspend on that item, and it’s still a very generous amount for two people. In our case, it’s about saving for other things.
June 10, 2010 at 12:08 pm
For anyone having their home and / or auto insurance with TD, and they are either an university graduate or belong to a professional organization, you can switch to their Meloche Monnex group (no penalties – they’re the same org) and save quite a lot on these two.
June 10, 2010 at 12:13 pm
We are like Jenn, there really aren’t any tips left to save us money. That said, sometimes I find one or come up with one myself and I’m overjoyed (at my own brilliance of course). For instance, and I got this idea from a fellow blogger here, I now make my own laundry detergent and it costs me one penny per load. Even the cheapest but most effective commercial detergent cost us 19 cents per load.
We have no cable, no TV for that matter, one pay as you go cell phone ($11.30 per month) which we only have for the security when driving. We feed a family of four (personal items too) with $480 per month. We use cloth diapers and hang clothing up to dry as much as possible. We make our own bread and gifts for other people. We rent old movies from the local convenience store or borrow them from among our siblings. I am trying to put in a vegetable garden, but thus far, I really suck at gardening. I’m learning though which totally thrills me.
I guess our biggest trick to save money is to set a budget for it and under absolutely no circumstances can we deviate from it. That has made us very creative at times.
June 10, 2010 at 12:15 pm
@ioana
what do you mean a professsional organization? Thanks!
June 10, 2010 at 12:31 pm
@nsbg – like Professional Engineers Ontario… I’m not sure. The web site is very fuzzy about that.
June 10, 2010 at 2:11 pm
@ioana – Thanks very much!
June 10, 2010 at 2:43 pm
We switched our home and auto insurance to TD Meloche Monnex a few years ago, and saved several hundred dollars from what we had been paying. They cater to professionals (I’m a CA, so we’re in that group), but they have plans you can join as a member of various other groups, such as a university alumni.
June 10, 2010 at 2:48 pm
again, thanks gail! very timely, informative & another kick in my behind to remind me to keep my eye on the goal!
i just had knee replacement surgery 2 weeks ago &, per my doc’s orders, will be selling my stick shift. since i won’t be going back to work for another 4-6 weeks, that will save my little transportation dollars AND give a much needed infusion into my earnings, which will be used toward debt repayment. and possibly (fingers crossed and a small prayer) pay off all my current cc debt!!!! i live 1.5 miles from the office, a short walk. 2 public buses pass right in front of my doorway so i have no reason to purchase another vehicle that i can see. this is my huge positive, selling the car, out of a negative, getting a new knee.
and after 3 phone calls i found out my employer had not reported my disability leave period correctly so i am owed 2 additional days’ pay. not a whole lot of $$$, but another of those unexpected but absolutely gratefully accepted gifts…
unlike many of you i am rather new to debt repayment & budgeting carefully so i am still finding many of the “old tips” quite useful. i have always brown bagged it, and gave up my specialty coffees when a co-worker and i decided we could share the cost of a bottle of flavored creamer for $1.50 a week, as opposed to approx $20 per week. even saving $15/week, i figure i am going to save over $700 in coffees this year.
i know i have a long journey ahead of me, however i know i can learn a lot from those of you who have gone before me. and gail, again, thank you so ever much. you are just what i need to keep me on the straight and narrow!
June 10, 2010 at 2:53 pm
I made phone calls on both auto and home insurance, and saved over $300 on my car insurance and lowered my home insurance from over $3000 to just over $900 with the same coverage and deductible. It took calling and answering a million stupid questions but it paid off big time.
June 10, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Low hanging fruit for me – cooking dinner at home, every single day. I keep 2 weeks of staples on hand and never buy groceries or take out on the way home from work. This has saved us a TON.
June 10, 2010 at 4:09 pm
There are some great ideas here!
I can also attest to Meloche Monnex saving you money on your car and home insurance.
One of my low-hanging apples is transportation. I’ve greatly reduced my transportation costs by driving smart (i.e. planning my trips, not doing jack-rabbit starts, driving close to the speed limit, keeping my car maintained), as well as trying not to drive when possible. I live about 5 km from my office, and try to drive as little as possible to/from work. Most days, I take public transportation to work and walk home, and hope to start riding my bike again shortly. It’s great exercise and nicer than being stuck in traffic! In the winter months, I usually get a transit pass, which is tax deductible and costs less than a parking pass. My spouse now works from home, but when he previously needed to drive to/from work, he carpooled with a colleague. We’re also helping the environment by choosing to drive less.
I also take advantage of various stores’ points programs, and have received hundreds of dollars of free merchandise over the years. I also have a Costco membership which has also saved me a lot of money on things like nuts, propane and dog food. (Of course, you need to go to Costco with a plan and to recognize what is or is not a good deal… otherwise, it is easy to drop far more money than you think you might!)
June 10, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Reading about movies – my husband and I had to think – we have been together 17 years and maybe twice have we paid full price for a movie. We either go to the cheap theatre, exchange airmiles for movie passes, or wait till the cereal boxes carry the passes – have no idea how much this has saved over 17 years – but to this day I could not thoil paying full price for the both of us to go to the movies.
We do the usual savings stuff – grocery shop with a list, on buy new when the old stuff is completely fried, wear our clothes till they fall off, meal plan, etc.
We live well within our means – but at times we find it challenging when we see how much “better” others around us live. Others who probably have less income than us – but we don’t know their whole story (who knows what debt they carry).
June 10, 2010 at 5:53 pm
The low-hanging fruit right now is to sell the motorbike. Living 2 km from work it’s not worth keeping it, going by bicycle is faster and cheaper. This will save about 500 Euro a year on taxes, insurance and repairs.
While I’m at it, I try to use the bicycle for all in-city driving and get down from twelve tanks of gas a year to ten. With what gas prices are doing, this will not save money, but it will, I hope, keep expenses from rising.
The budget for going to the company cantina has some air in it than could be let out, as I can live very well on sandwiches.
The emergency fund needs moving to an account which will pay more than 1.25 per cent interest. With 1.5 per cent inflation, it’s losing me money.
However, my highest priority at the moment is getting the insane cost overrun on the food budget back under control — probably by stabilizing it at 30% above last year’s. These fruits are low-hanging, but I’m not sure if I want to pick them.
June 10, 2010 at 7:49 pm
I’ve been making applesauce out of my low hanging fruit for quite some time now….’canning’ for the future.
Just curious…..
What is everyone going to do with their **IT…I mean HST… money the govt. is putting into all our accounts? We got ours today. I called the bank to ask what CANADA PRO was and why they were putting money into our account. Hmmmmmm
June 10, 2010 at 8:08 pm
@Catherine, I’m glad you said something I had no idea that money was there (this is the first site I go to lol) and def would’ve been calling and asking what is was too, so thank you for saving me a phone call lol
I have no real plans for the money.. I’ll add it to our “garage fund” that is being built as soon as the permit goes through.. hate waiting! lol
June 10, 2010 at 9:29 pm
I just got my HST money too. It went into our home repair account – as I sit here cursing that mysterious leak…we have a roof repair/replacement in the near future…
June 11, 2010 at 1:35 am
@ Rose – keep calling your satelite phone provider every month or so if you don’t use it. Some have plans you can pay ONLY if you use them. My folks tried to drop theirs 2 years ago. After a year + of free credits given to them, they tried to cancel again. Voila – pay only for what you use. For them, it’s perfect. It’s available for emergencies, but they aren’t paying for what they aren’t using.
June 11, 2010 at 4:36 am
When/where and why is the Gov’t putting money into our accounts? I live in Saskatchewan and haven’t seen anything extra….
June 11, 2010 at 6:13 am
Suzanne – the money is for those living in Ontario – effective July 1st – we will have the HST – harmonized sales tax (13%) instead of both GST and PST. They call it a “transitional” payment since alot of items will be charged HST when before they were only charged 5% GST. Many items including home ultitlies will be increasing 8% just b/c of it.
June 11, 2010 at 8:53 am
I used to make small payments on my credit card throughout the month as cash became available. I decided to put all those smaller amounts of cash on my LOC and then take the amount needed to apply to the credit card off in full by the due date.
Last month I saved almost $10.00 in interest on my LOC by doing it this way. The same money but it saved me more!
I am trying to work smarter not harder!
Michelle
June 11, 2010 at 12:53 pm
I hope you all don’t find me to be too cheap
I used to put liquid fabric softener in the washing machine and still use several dryer softeners too. Now I have a designated wash-cloth that I spray with diluted liquid fabric softener and throw in the dryer with each load. A large bottle of liquid softener from Costco is going into its second year and is still 1/2 full! I used to use a bottle a month for a family of 5.
Awwww, it’s the little things in life….
June 11, 2010 at 1:45 pm
This weekend our family has to be at the following: an all-day TaeKwanDo tournament, two soccer games, soccer photo sessions, and two birthday parties. And isn’t it also Father’s Day Sunday? I’ve mapped out the schedule and other than breakfast it would be easiet to just get drive through for all the other meals. But of course that isn’t happening…
This evening before the craziness starts we will wrap gifts, pack bags for each event, fill and freeze water bottles to use as ice packs in the coolers, make sandwiches, cut up veggies and fruit, and bake cookies. As my DH and I shuttle kids from event to event this weekend there will be picnics in cars, on soccer sidelines and gymnasium floors. Other than parking for the tournament and the additional gas, there will be no extra cash spent as a result of a nutty schedule keeping us away from our kitchen this weekend.
In order to ensure we all sit down together for at least one meal this weekend, we’ll be meeting at a park for lunch Sunday during the 90 minute gap between events. The lawn chairs and portable BBQ from our camping trailer will mean we can have a short but sweet cookout and take a break from sandwiches.
In the old days, we would have thrown up our hands in disgust and just eaten take out all weekend. Now, that wasn’t even a consideration. It’s amazing how much different our “normal” is now compared to what it used to be.
June 13, 2010 at 4:12 pm
I’m the guy that spent $1500 at starbucks for 2009. There was a time in my life when that would have been a justifiable and more importantly, affordable expense. That’s not the case now and I’m trying real hard to resist the siren call of starbucks at five bucks a pop. One thing I’m doing is making my own lattes. Yes, there’s a bit of sunk costs up front in the machinery to make that happen, but it’s not anywhere near $1500/year and it’s way cheaper.
June 16, 2010 at 8:28 am
It’s a great idea! And it is not that challenging at all. You just need to stop buying small unimportant stuff that you actually can easily live without and you will be able to a
cut down your expences largely. It’s the best advice one should consider in order to get out of debts. Every successful person starts from small steps to achieve great results.
August 5, 2011 at 10:57 am
Another Title…
I saw this really great post today….