Very Impractical Tips on How to Save Money

Disclaimer: None of these options will probably save you any money at all. 

Then why are we reading about them? 

Because it's really cool how God worked everyday things into my life without me even knowing it. When I began doing each one of these things below, it wasn't to save money. Actually, it was just to make my life easier, or to enrich my daily experiences. But now they are actually going a long way towards our goal of saving as much money as possible so that my wife and I can work full-time at The Stone Church while raising support (and not spending the money that people entrust to us on frivolous things).

1) Be an old fashioned man

Savings of about $65 per year, so far.

A safety razor? What is this 1909?

I know! But before you cry "hipster!" this device has saved me so much money in the year that I have owned it. It was a (wonderful) Christmas gift from my brother 2 seasons ago and I have only spent $6 on it, so far. 

It's still pretty hipster-ish...

Oh, yeah? Tell that to my skinny jeans.

2) Own your own gym

Back when I was 18 I invested about $300 to buy a weight bench and a set of weights. My grandparents bought me a set of adjustable dumbbells at a garage sale, and for various holidays I've collected essentials like gloves, stretch bands, a health magazine subscription, and such.

So, I've saved about $660 a year from what I was paying to go to a 24/7 gym. And this has the massive benefits of clean equipment, a quick commute (of, like, 10 steps), and having the whole gym to myself (see tip #4).

To date I've saved $5,280 owning my own gym equipment.

3) Have your own network of art dealers and artists within your own family

by Kim Ramey

By Kim Ramey

By Kim Ramey

By Jono Ramey (there's a great story behind this that I may share on here someday)

Cat by Jovi Dei Ramey (and my personal favorite)

So, this one's easy! Just have an extremely talented family and throw in your own feeble attempt at art! 

Broken coffee cups? Sooo artistic...

I know! Right?

4) Be an introvert... and marry an introvert

Entertaining basket of books

There is a huge difference between being shy and being an introvert. Being shy means that you want to join in on activities, but are too afraid of people.

Being an introvert means that you get a mental boost out of being alone or in a small group (and conversely can mean that you get a mental drain out of being around too many people). So, instead of going to restaurants and movie theaters, Megs and I tend to lean towards entertaining ourselves by reading as many books as we can, binging on nerdy t.v. shows, Netflix-ing movies at home, and by...

5) Learning how to cook

One of the great loves of my life is food. I love great food. I love cooking.

On a daily basis my love for cooking is encouraged by my wife, who loves not cooking. We are in agreement that I'll cook if she cleans and that has worked out well, so far. Jovi loves cooking with me and we've made many pizzas, batches of homemade ice-cream and yogurt, mochas, cheesecakes, etc.

However, one thing Megs is great at when it comes to cooking is baking bread. She also excels at cheese making... but that's a bit too much cooking for her.

Before

After... yum

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This post isn't about saying, "Hey, look at how frugal I am!" (...although I did charge my Dad interest on a $5 bill that he borrowed from me when I was in elementary school.)

It's about how cool it is to catch a glimpse of that the great arc of events that has led us to this place and being able to see something of an extraordinary pattern.

deep man....

I know! Right?