As my income has increased and my spending reigns loosen a little, I’ve been sort of interested to find what money habits have stuck without any real effort on my part. Now that I can sort of splurge when I want, I find there are still quite a few things that aren’t even worth it to me.

Checking the Full Cost 

When I was outfitting my little RV, I hit the coffee maker aisle and saw a pretty cute colored Keurig that was onsale for around $100. Further down the aisle, nearly hidden in a corner, was a 5 pot coffee maker for less than $10.

Aside from the mold horror stories I’ve read about Keurigs, I quickly calculated the per cup cost of filters and ground coffee versus the K-cups, laughed and grabbed my little $10 pot.

I’ve got to say, my parents have a Keurig, and in the past I’ve owned one too, and the coffee is actually way better from the pot. I’ve been using it for about nine months now with no issues.

Loyalty Cards 

If all I have to do is turn over an email address, you can bet I’m going to sign up for a loyalty card. I mean, do you realize how many grocery stores have literally two different prices listed on their items – one for loyalty card members and one for the silly visitors who don’t know to ask for the loyalty card?

I also try to get behind the loyalty idea of the loyalty cards. If the prices are generally good, I’m likely to save more money through the rewards programs at places by committing to making most of a certain type of purchases through a single store. For example, I have a favorite ice cream shop, when they have a punch card for every 10^th ice cream free, I’m going to rack up more free ice creams by sticking with that spot.

Discount Gift Cards

I also like to push my shopping budget even further. If I know I’m going to send a lot in a certain store soon, I can often pick up a discounted gift card from Raise.com before doing the shopping in the first place and pile on my savings.

For me, a big one I stock up on is Starbucks. It’s one way to make my guilty pleasure a little less guilty. I also really love Express and Banana Republic clothes for work, so if I know I’m going to need to pick up some things soon, I can pick up a discounted gift card before even hitting the mall (or even better – the outlet store).

Use It Up 

I know watering my soap to get the last few pumps out saves me like fractions upon fractions of a cent, but it’s part of reprogramming my brain. I like that “waste not, want not” is firmly drilled into me. I mean, if it was all about those fractions of a cent, I’d be buying bar soap anyway.

Using up things before buying opening the next one does add up over time. Instead of having multiple, half used bottles of shampoo in my shower, there’s just the one. Even if I want to try something new, I still wait until the current item is depleted.

Planning Ahead

This kind of sounds like the opposite of use it up, but I always try to have the next full item I need on standby. So once a bottle of shampoo does go into the shower, I buy the next one and store it until I need it. Needing things at the last minute always costs more. It might simply cost more in time and gas to go get it, but lots of time by planning ahead, you can buy things when the price is right.

Scaling that mindset up, I know someday my car is going to die. She’s doing alright now and I don’t owe anything for her, so I set aside money each month to be able to just go buy a new one when the day comes. If some month is really tight and I can’t set aside money, I’m not falling behind on a car payment. If some months are really good, I can add a little extra to get ahead. Whatever’s in there when Mona bites the dust is what will pay for my next car.

What little money mindsets do you try to cultivate?