Ok hs'ers I need ideas. We are on a very tight budget I am sure this is not news to most of you. However I need some ideas on how to make more cuts in our budget. We have cut in so many areas and we do not live above our means at all. Hubby had an idea to cut cable but increase our blockbuster direct mail membership. I do not want to cut cable as crazy as that sounds. I look forward to my hour or two that I can veg out and watch tv. I know we have computer so I could keep up with news and wheather there but it just seems so drastic. I am not able to work right now so we have to do what we have to do. I am open to ideas? Thanks!
I would cut cable. When I began homeschooling that is one of the areas I had to cut. But most shows are on the internet for free at sites like hulu.com, so you don't really miss much.
we did without cable for over a year, and only recently just got it back because hubby got a better job. I would cut the cable off and use Netflix, you can watch many tv programs on that membership and that way you can still watch your favorites. Also you could have a friend record some of the episodes for you so you can watch later. After a while I didn't miss the TV much, and now that we have it again we mostly just DVR stuff and watch later. Another way to cut costs is to shop resale shops where you can. We almost never buy brand new clothing, it is generally from goodwill and we even go on their dollar days and buy our clothing for a dollar a piece. We buy new undies and shoes and that's it unles it's a special occasion or a gift.
Cutting cable here doesn't pay after we purchase internet and phone, which we have to have. There are threads on here you could search for that talk about cutting expenses with everything from food to making your own laundry detergent. I'm in the same boat. We don't overspend, but with dh's commute expenses increasing over the past few years, we just don't have anything to spare. I have been able to cut out a lot of our food expenses by going to a bread outlet store and purchasing a cartfull of bread (date still good) for about $3 and then I freeze the bread. There is enough that I end up splitting the cost with a friend or two--or giving a bunch away--because it is more than my freezer can hold. We also hunt and fish so we don't have a lot of meat to purchase. There are also local stores that mark down their meat, dairy and produce that is close to expiring to sell it quickly. I often make deals by purchasing the whole lot for set price and freezing or canning it. Making my own laundry detergent has saved me about $200 a year since we have to use the hypo-allergenic brands if we buy the ones at the store. I can't imagine how much money hunting saves us. We also garden, not so much the cheaper produce, but the more expensive things like peppers, eggplant, zuchini, broccoli, tomatoes and such. I also go through the flyers (you can do it online), shop at one place and have them price match the sale prices. I clip coupons on items that I would be purchasing anyway. (it doesn't save money to buy a name brand if the cents-off doesn't make it cheaper). My biggest bit of advice is not to be afraid to ask a store manager if he/she can make you a deal on things that they will just throw away. I'm sure I've saved hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year by doing this, and often eating better than what I would have had I not asked. Sorry so long...should have listed things easier for you.
Have you checked on car/home insurance? We saved about $100 a month just by shopping around for insurance.
I just cut my cable. I thought I couldn't live without it. I decided to cut bills. I found hulu.com which most everything I watch is on. I also can see a lot of what I watch on the channel website. I also have netflix it's 8.95 a month. All the kids cartoons they watched on cable is on netflixs instant play. I can watch tons of instant play movies. It has saved me 100.00 a month.
How often do you eat fast food? I've discovered that for many on here, that's the number one budget breaker. And number two is probably cable. I wouldn't be able to cut cable, because I refuse to have it in my house. PAY CASH for groceries. Believe it or not, that helps cut the grocery bill. You know how much you have on you, and you CAN'T go over. I know how much I have for two weeks, and when it's gone, it's gone. I also believe meal planning helps cut costs, but that's something I simply can't get a handle on. I've tried again and again, and just can't get it to work for me!
^^Yes we have looked at insurance. We have made cuts. So far we have purchased a cash car so we only have one payment. Got rid of the house alarm that we never used. We are switching to another cell phone provider which will save us around 70 $ a month. We have done some other things as well. But we ended up joining a gym because hubby needs to work out long story but he has no motivation so the gym is a must for right now. And with a cash car and another car that will be paid off before the end of the year we spend alot of money on repairs so all the money we save is being used for something. We don't use credit cards so I am thankful we are not creating debt but it seems as if there is always something. I tried making my own detergent for a while it appeared to work for a while but I found that my clothes were always dingy if you have any tips that would be great. I have never been consistent with coupons but I will look into this agian. I will also talk with some friends and approach stores about things they will throw away. Thanks for the ideas.
Jackie we are on a cash system we took the Dave Ramsey financial peace class and that has helped us a ton. But yes there are times when we do spend alot eating out. I have to get better about my meal planning. The problem with me there is I am what my husband calls a picky eater. If I have a meal planned and my tastebuds want something else then thats what I get. So implementing the cash system has done wonders for us but there is still room for improvement on my part.
Our church here gets the day old food or close to outdated food every other Friday. Members of the church go and take whatever they want. We don't see it as a hand out but as saving food from being thrown out. Maybe you could check with your local grocery stores and see if they do anything like that. My family hunts so that saves on the meat, but you can buy meat in bulk when it is on sale and repackage it in smaller portions and freeze for later. I can whatever I grow. I make tons of jam especially rhubarb jam - it's really inexpensive to make. I buy my groceries when they are on sale and stock pile, I rarely ever pay full price. I don't buy premade foods, we make everything from scratch. We don't have cable, actually don't really watch much tv. If I know that I need something, like a blender, I go to garage sales. I found a blender last week for $5.00 and it was brand new. My dh has a motorcycle and we drive that whenever we can to save on fuel - I realize everyone can't do that but it works for us. We also use alot of thrift shops for clothing and we have really good friends that we swap clothes for our kids. I make my own laundry detergent and all purpose cleaning spray. I only go to the salon about once every 6 months or longer and don't get nails done. These are just some things we do that help us and I know that they won't work for everyone. Best of luck.
With 5 kids and 1 on the way I am always trying to find ways to stretch our budget. So far this is what we do: 1. Shop thrift stores for clothing. My kids don't care what they wear (although I did just hear my 10yo tell my 7yo that he prefers to wear the darker colored jeans because he thinks it makes the girls like him more...lol) and we live in an area where there are alot of affluent people who donate name brand clothing with the tags still on. I can usually outfit all 5 kids for $100 per year. My dh needs nicer clothes for work, so we don't shop there for him, but we rarely shop for him since his clothes seem to last a long time. 2. I have a budget of $450 a month for food. I shop at Winco and Costco. There are some months that we have left over money so we treat the kids out to dinner. I don't clip coupons but that is because we don't buy pre-packed foods. I would love to garden but I just seem to kill everything I try to grow! 3. I know this one sounds funny, and I know not everyone can do this, but where we live craigslist is HUGE. I will scan CL for items that I know have a really good re-sale value, and then I will buy low and sell high. I can't tell you how many times that has made the difference between paying rent and being homeless. In fact this last Christmas I found 2 bunk beds for free and a few other toys that I knew were hot items for kids for cheap. I turned around and sold everything for a profit of $585. We used that money to take the kids on a vacation. 4. I use homemade cleaners. I don't use homemade laundry soap though because my dh has severe allergies and I am going to stick with what works for him. 5. I use cloth diapers on my babies. We buy 1 box of diapers per month ($13) that she uses for bedtime since I haven't found a great cloth diaper that works at night. 6. Check for cheaper car and home insurance. 7. Refinance your vehicle if you can. Sometimes it helps to move the loan to a credit card. We did that with one of our cars and it dropped the intrest rate by 4% and it dropped our payments by over $70 a month. 8. Since both our cars get bad gas mileage we plan our shopping and trips based on what areas we are going and we take care of everything in one area on the same day. 9. I make my own rice and soy milk. This is WAY cheaper than buying it in the store. 10. I make my own jams from fruit that we pick for free, like plums, blackberries, and raspberries. 11. We cut netflix. We have cable but it is a package deal and ends up being cheaper than netflix. if we want to watch a movie we do redbox. I am sure there are more but it's late and my brain is sleeping.
You can reduce your cable to what they call "educational service" or Basic BASIC. It cuts it down to about 22 channels. Most major networks, and PBS stations. We had this when we lived in Phx. It was only $13/month. Personally, I, too cannot live without some sort of TV...even if I rarely watch it....I feel better knowing it's there if I want to. LOL!!! You already did the cell phone thing. Grocery Shopping. This one is HUGE. I know that menu planning is a pain, but it's a serious money saver. And there are magazines (like Woman's Day) that do the planning FOR you...all you have to do is go to their website and print out the month and the shopping list. ALSO...don't feel like you have to plan Monday is this, Tuesday is this, etc. Figure out how many nights you're eating in for dinner (in our house it's seven LOL!), then plan out that many meals and shop for them (well, also breakfast and lunches), Then go with what you feel like that day. Or even freezer cook - which you can just double up a freezer friendly recipe....that way you have a few lazy day meals in your fridge and you'll be less likely to eat out. Another saver is serve salad at every meal. It's a filler...and find recipes that make meat stretch further. For example, I make a chili that I put black beans and corn in. That way, I can only use 1 lb meat, but it makes a filling dinner AND there's usually leftovers for lunch for hubby. Can you pack your hubby's lunch? This was a secret killer for us. Think about it. Say, $8/day goes to lunch if he eats out (and that's being conservative in today's market!), that's $40 a week. Or $200 dollars a month. Or, $2400.00 a year!!! Looks big when it looks like that, doesn't it??? You've heard the shop thrift stores. You could also see if there's a local church that has a "sharing room" where they have clothes, toys, books, etc. We have 2 or 3 in our area. We've never used it, but it's nice to know it's there. Freecycle (www.freecycle.org to see if there's a group in your area). Craigs List (www.craigslist.com) Never buy new if someone will give it away free, or sell it cheaply! www.paperbackswap.com - books...create an account, list your books and "sell" them LOL! Use the credits to get yourself "new" to you books or books for school. Hmmmmmm.... Check out local museums, zoos, etc. Many of them have a "free day" each month. i.e. In Philadelphia they have the first Sunday of the Month at several places - it's free or "donation" for the Art Museum, and I think the zoo too. Take advantage of those days! That's all I have for now, if I think of more, I'll come back!
All great ideas! I have to say the things that helped us the most.. 1. getting rid of bells and whistles on phone and satelite. (Save $60/mth) 2. didn't shop for insurance, called our agent! Told him things were tight, other companies offering better rates, but since been with them for 35 years...... (Save $85/mth...and that is even with having 2 inexperienced drivers) 3. It's a pain in the butt, takes time....but if you comparison shop before grocery shopping you would be amazed at the $ you save. I'm blessed to have 5 different stores within 3 blocks of each other. With sales, coupons, specials, etc. I put in about 2-3 hrs of work checking their circulars online and can save from $50-100 a week. 4. Cell phone...um....no tomatoes please! We dumped a "monthly" plan and bought a "pay as you go" phone. I get around 300 minutes a month and pay about $15. Only family and one friend have that number. (If you dont give it out, people wont call it.) I leave my communicating to the house phone and internet. And, it really helped to think on things.....asking myself "is this a NEED or a WANT?" Then it was easier to prioritize. *** *** Long distance on the phone was a NEED! If I couldn't talk to my mother at least once a week, my kids would be visiting me in the LOONEY BIN! I've always told my hubbie "$15 unlimited long distance is ALOT cheeper than therapy."
With the laundry detergent do you add a little oxy clean or non clorine bleach? I had to to do that even when using reg. detergent. It had to do with my water here. We also got he pay as you go cell phone plan..saved us a couple hundred a year. Do you get Angel Food? If not you should check and see if there is a pick up site near you. We do not get it every month but we wait until we know we will use what they are offering. Instead of Blockbuster video check out your library. We get all our videos there now. Sometimes I have to wait for a new release but it is worth it.
3. MAKE A LIST AND STICK TO IT!!! I will make a list for each store, looking at the ads. I know that store A has it advertised for .05 less than store B, so I know exactly what I want to buy where. I also stock up when there's a good sale. For example, I bought a "whole beef sirloin" which was sliced into steaks for less per pound that what the going rate is for hamburger, so I have enough steak to last most of the summer. By the time it's gone, they'll be having another sale on it. I also buy at least 10 lbs. of boneless chicken breast when it's $1.99/lb. Roasts will sometimes be Buy One Get One Free, so I buy four, put them all in my electric roaster, and cook them all at once. Then I'll make them into about five packets of pulled beef for the freezer. Very handy to thaw quickly when you don't know what to have, when company is coming, etc. You can serve them over mashed potatoes or noodles, or as sandwiches, etc. We also have one cell phone, a TracPhone. It's Emergency Only. I think when Rachael gets her license, I will want us to get another one to keep in the car. As far as your mother goes, I agree that's a necessity. I know my mom called G'ma EVERY NIGHT after her dad passed away, just to check up on her. ETA: Oh, and one SURE was to reduce food costs is to NOT take your husband shopping with you! LOL!
Can you post some of your recipes to share with us. $450.00 a month is awesome! Ours is more like $600.00 for food and household items for four of us.
Raise deductibles on house, health and car insurance. If you bought an inexpensive car you may consider only putting liability on that car for insurance.
Our food budget (including cleaning and paper products and dog food for two medium-to-large dogs) for five is just about that. I get $200 cash every two weeks.
Wow, you got some really great advice. I really do not have much to add. Now I also did like my veg time for tv, but I cut it and have noticed I do not miss it. I did have out netfilx set at 5 dvds at a time, now I have even cut that back to 3 and hopefully it will be down to 2 and use the red box here and there. We just do not have a need for it as much as we thought. I cut my cable internet when the cable went and put my internet on our cell phone plan. It is slower, but gets the job done. Also it is way cheaper. We do not do the shop around for insurance. I have found the longer you stick with the company the cheaper it gets. Stock up on stapes like flour, butter (freeze extra), rice, beans, canned goods. Buy them by the case when on sale. You really save this way. We buy a lot in bulk during sales and at Sams club. I have found if I stock up on dry items and frozen my food bills drop way down. Also make more from scratch. We make all our own pasta, breads, rolls, mac and cheese, all of it. It does take a little more out of me, but it is way cheaper than buying prepacked items. Oh, and learn to be a crock pot queen. You can make very cheap yet good meals using lower end cuts of meat this way. Another way is grow some of your own food. You will be surprised how much yous save when you grow your own fresh veggies and fruits. As far as the laundry soap I just cut back on the amount used. I only use half of what they say and no longer use liquid. The powder lasts way longer. Also I have found that off brands are not always a great bargain, since you end up using more of it to get it to work better. We do not use out dishwasher anymore. It uses less water and dawn cost less to wash by hand instead of the dishwasher. When you think of it you use electricity, water, soap, (also natural gas to heat the water here),etc to just wash a few dishes. That adds up. Unplug stuff that is not used all the time. It does pull some electricity just sitting there. Use a clothesline for your clothes instead of the drier. This also cuts back on your the price of buying drier sheets and such. You can add some vinegar in your laundry for fabric softener. Then for heavy soiled items you do not need laundry boosters and stain treaters, use some dawn dish soap it works awesome! Walk more and drive less. Print off only things you will use right then. Instead of printing off stuff that "oh I have to have" and never gets used. I know there is tons and tons more. I will have to think about it for a while. We have been cutting back a lot lately.
I have a blog just for this reason! LOL So many people are facing financial situations they never thought they would and they don't know HOW to be frugal or save money. Here's my big money saving post-most has been mentioned here already. http://theskinnywallet.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/money-saving-tips-so-you-just-lost-your-job/ I was iffy about cutting out dish too, but having been with just netflix for a couple of months now, I can say, I'll never pay for dish or cable again. I save over $40/mo (we get 3 DVDs out at a time for $18/mo) https://www.angelfoodministries.com/ works great for some, not so well for others. Here in GA, I can save more shopping on my own. My friend in NY though, can't live without it. Like someone else stated, I don't really do coupons much cause we don't eat a lot of prepackaged food. It is worth it to look for non food coupons though. Check out http://print.coupons.com/CouponWeb/Offers.aspx?pid=13306&zid=iq37&nid=10 and http://www.redplum.com/ Then there is always dumpster diving for food http://theskinnywallet.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/dumpster-diving-for-food/ Rather than doing the illegal in most states dumpster dive, talk with local grocery stores, they will often mark down dented cans, day old bread and on the edge of ruin but still very eatable produce for you. Check local food banks, some require proof of income and red tape, others don't. We go to food bank of NE GA once a month, fill out a simple form, get food. Another food bank requires a referral and can only be used twice every 6 months.... Make your own when you can. I have done the make your laundry detergent int he past, and it is HE washer safe. If you don't want to make it try Allen's Naturally. It's like $50 for a gallon jug, but it will last you at LEAST a year. I had a gallon jug last me 2 years, even using cloth diapers, cause it takes so little in an HE washer. Really REALLY look at what is need vs want. This is why we cut off the dish. TV as much as I think in my mind we NEED it, we would not die without it. So, I took the plunge and cut $40 off our monthly bill by switching to netflix, if I have to, I can cut what we pay in half by switching to the one DVD out at a time, but for right now, we're okay paying the $18/mo. But need vs want is a big thing for us. In today's world people think a cell phone with a million minutes, text msging and web is a need. It's not. This is an area I struggle with, as I know many others do too. Take a look at what you pay for and buy, and see if you really could live without it. What do you pay for "on occasion" or monthly that you can live without. Really think about this. It's different for everyone. I use this program http://www.homeplansoftware.com/shoplist.htm for my grocery list. So I don't go over budget. Menu planning, though a time suck, saves a ton of money, not only in food that doesn't get forgotten about and wasted but also gas to 'run to the store for 1-2 items' If you're going to use coupons, plan them too. Don't eat out is a biggie. I love eating out. But it costs us so much. We just don't do it much anymore. Living off one unemployment check I can't go spend money on one meal out that could buy a week's worth of groceries. We spend about $300/mo on groceries (food only-doesn't count household items like detergent and Toilet paper and such) I have some cheap recipes on my blog as well, I have kinda let my blog go, I need to get to adding more posts, esp recipes. Like others said, my kids very very rarely get new clothes. Thrift store and yard sale all the way baby! (it's a little harder to find adult clothes, but I do always look) IF you have to buy something new, look for online coupons. I got a pair of crocs and my oldest son a pair of crocs for $5.99 each (including shipping!!!) I got a discount on the other son's crocs, they didn't have the $5.99 shoes in his size but I did get like 30% off, just by googling for 'crocs coupon code'
