Six years later, I'm still 'saving centsably'

After eight years of avoiding spending more than is necessary for all the necessities, and after six years of writing a column teaching people all about how to mimic my savings, the time has come to end this column.

I can assure you that my tendencies toward saving money won't be changing. In fact, Feb. 15, our family finally cut the cord on our Dish Network subscription. We received another notice from that company letting us know that our subscription would increase by at least $5 on the next bill -- sending us over $100 per month. No thanks! That's not "saving centsably!"

I ordered a new water filter for our fridge -- you remember the stainless-steel fridge I purchased for only $400 last year? The replacement filters run about $75 when I purchase them from Frigidaire and even more than that to purchase them in a "regular" store.

Using my Amazon Prime membership, I found one two weeks ago for a savings of 50 percent -- and paid no shipping fees at all. Yesterday I took my three growing boys to a local thrift store and stocked up on Sunday pants, jeans and swimsuits for the summer for only $14.

Why do I tell you these things? Saving money -- refusing to pay full price -- is a way of life.

When I began this journey, I read a verse from the Bible in Proverbs 31 that said, "She sees that her trading is profitable." The passage talked about how the husband of the Proverbs 31 woman trusts her and how she brings him no shame. Attaining these qualities, especially in the area of money, has been my goal for many years now.

I know that being on the same page with my husband when it comes to our spending and our savings is so important. We both believe in living a debt-free lifestyle while teaching our children about money and how to use what they have in a better way.

For example, when we were in Florida to see the rocket launch a few weeks ago (which I wrote about in last week's column), I told them the same things you read -- adding up the potential costs of a quick trip to see the launch and then we compared what we paid with what the cost could have been had we not been thrifty with our money.

I know that many of you who read the column are women. I hope that you reject the world's picture that saving money is silly, that you reject the picture of a woman running up debt on a credit card for things she does not need, while hiding those purchases from her husband.

Those who have read this column for much time at all also know that I like the advice given by Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard. In addition to that verse from Proverbs 31:18, I would urge you to remember this quote by Dave Ramsey as you are looking at whether to make that next purchase.

So many people are in debt these days because they are "spending money they don't have on things they don't want to impress people they don't care about."

Get rid of that mindset and change your actions! Hopefully during the past six years of reading my column you have incorporated permanent changes into your lifestyle, ones that are saving you money regularly.

Just keep going one step at a time! That's "saving centsably!"

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 8:39 PM with the headline "Six years later, I'm still 'saving centsably' ."