Other Kinds of Clutter: Money Leaks

I am not a minimalist, but I would like to have things simplified more than they are.  The last two days I have spent some time simplifying in other ways.  Looking at how we spend money.  There are many ways that we are "leaking out" money on things we don't really care about and those leaks add up  significantly.. just  like clutter is having too many things we don't care about, we can also waste a lot  of money on things we do not love. When figuring out our budget, I see this occuring for many things.  Some of the things we pay for are redundant. cell phones and a land line.  I wasn't quite ready to totally depend on our cell phones, but it  seemed ridiculous to  spend so much money  on that landline when we don't need it as much as we used to.  The cell phones, we have come to depend on, the landline is almost like a backup.  So, I looked at how much we are spending on the landline..about  $50/month which equates as $600/year!  After some research, I found that I can save most of the $50 by getting the line through our cellular company as if it is simply another family cell phone..$10 for  that extra phone with minutes included in our regular  plan.  Now, that seems more reasonable...considering it's lesser importance these days.

I have also been thinking  about our newspaper subscription..so many papers are not even read and sit in our driveway all day.  What a waste of resources!  The only day I love the paper is on Tuesdays when Food Day comes out, and my husband and kids love Sunday's paper for the  comics.  (;  I thought about giving it up entirely..save 20.50/month=over $240/year!  But, it was hard thinking about giving it up  entirely, so I thought I'd see if they would deliver it only on Tuesday and Sundays and apparently, to my surprise, it is an option.  So, now the cost is $4/month=$48/year!  (about)..  And now, we will appreciate the paper more..for we will only have 2 papers to appreciate a week..No more wasted papers that fill up our recycling bin.  We didn't have to completely give it up, but we are able to get the ones we really really like without the waste and clutter of all the days of newspaper that actually feel more like a burden..looking at what I don't have time to read..Not to mention that so often the news is filled with things that make me feel anxiety...the crime stories and drama..that I don't really even want my kids to see yet..

Two significant steps, I think towards simplifying our money outage..  so we have money for the things we truly prioritize/love..  I am sure there are so many other things we can do..  Just like cleaning up clutter in our home, we need to clean up those leaks and clutter of money leakage.  Letting go of the burden of having things that we don't love and spending money on things we don't love..  Taking Charge.  (if only I could find the courage to find a better home for our dog) for this same reason..She is a huge burden to us, because she needs so much more  than we can give to her right now.  :(  Torn, because my daughter does love her...  Seems, though we should find a home she where she is truly LOVED and treated as the princess she wants to be treated as..