Treadmills Are Cheaper Than I Thought: A Helpful Lesson in Saving Money

For Christmas 2020 my husband suggested getting us a treadmill.

In our rainy rural area there are no sidewalks, no shoulders, blind corners, careless drivers, unleashed dogs, bears, and not to mention all the mud and dirt that gets tracked in the house after a walk outside; so a treadmill works perfect for our situation.

At first I wasn’t sure because I thought treadmills were in the thousands of dollars, but that’s not all treadmills; there are actually a lot of treadmills at reasonable prices, meaning under $500.

We both started looking on Amazon and I did some research online; we were thinking a $300 treadmill would be fine, since there are treadmills in that price range, but after doing research and reading reviews for a week, I selected the Advenor Treadmill that was a little over $400; the final cost with a $50 coupon was $379.74.

We used money we had in savings so the cost didn’t impact our regular household spending and we’ve been able to replace the money by continuing to add more to savings with each paycheck.

While buying a treadmill was never a planned use for our savings, it was a nice splurge for the holidays after a tough year that made us stronger; we have both been using the treadmill 5 to 6 days a week since we got it, so it hasn’t turned into a wasted use of money or a clothes hanger. 

Here are a few examples of how $400 breaks down:

• 4 shopping sprees at $100/each
• 10 manicures/pedicures at $40/each
• 10 meals out at $40/each
• 20 meals out at $20/each
• 40 coffees or meals at $10/each
• 80 coffees at $5/each

It’s not that we’re swimming in money; it’s that we’re prioritizing what matters most when it comes to spending the money we have; daily coffees and eating out are not priorities, not at all. 

Ever since I started bookkeeping our money situation has improved because we stopped wasting money where it wasn’t needed and started putting money where it was needed, namely savings.

My suggestion to anyone who wants to buy things they think they can’t afford (and not use a credit card) is to start tracking all money that gets spent and to start putting money into savings with every paycheck; if it didn’t work I wouldn’t suggest it. 

I’ve learned that the best way to save money is to track money; not just look at the bank statement or a bank account online; if that worked then successful businesses wouldn’t keep books by tracking what they spend.

Once I started keeping track of our money by writing every receipt and expenditure into an Excel budget spreadsheet I had a better idea of how much money was being spent and where it was being spent; this is what helped us figure out how to stop the unneeded spending so that we could start to get ahead with our savings, live within our means, and treat ourselves to a reasonably priced treadmill machine. 

What are your savings goals for this year?

Share your goals in the comments!

• Simple Budget Worksheet: 
  https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/simple-budget-worksheet.html
  
  
• Excel Budget Templates: 
  https://www.spreadsheet123.com/ExcelTemplates/budgets.html