budgeting (vent/suggestions needed)
cbb722
member
ok so DH and I have never been particularly great with our finances but we have ZERO debt, we pay our bills on time and we save whatever we can. however, we splurge more than we need to.
since finding out i was pregnant, we have had various conversations about cutting back and making changes (not eating out as much, not buying coffee on the way to work at dunkin, etc.) and it feels like i may be the only one who is really making any effort. both of our companies have coffee at work for free and we have 2 coffee pots in our kitchen. granted, after a long day at work the last thing i want to do is cook so we have been eating out a little more.
does anyone have any tips for cutting back spending? our goal is to buy a house before or right after the baby is born (our lease is up june 1st). i have even started shopping at the dollar store for basic supplies because some of the prices are really getting ridiculous.
any help is greatly appreciated!!
Re: budgeting (vent/suggestions needed)
Hmm... are you trying to save? Or just watch your spending.
One idea is to take out what you want as "misc funds" in cash and spend only that. No debit cards, no checks. When you're out of cash, you're out.
ETA: Maybe once your husband starts running out of cash because he's getting coffee on the way to work every morning, he'll rethink it. Or, maybe he'll decide to cut elsewhere to keep that morning coffee. That kind of idea.
At the beginning of this year we went cash only and it has made a huge difference. I went back through our bank statements for a couple of months and categorized everything to figure out how much we were spending on eating out, groceries, gas, etc, and then set a budget based on that (I have tried to just set a number in the past based on what I think we "should" be spending...but that never works. It was much better to start with what we were actually spending, and just cut the few things that weren't necessary). Every time we get paid I go to the ATM and withdrawl a specific amount of cash, split between DH and I, and that's what we have until the next paycheck (we get a paycheck every week between the 2 of use). Bills still come out of the account, but everything else is cash. It's funny, the first couple months both of us would routinely run out of cash mid-week and scramble to find money for gas, or just not eat out that weekend. But now that we've gotten used to it a lot of times both of us end up with extra money at the end of the week, even though we are still starting with the same amount.
As someone who has always had problems budgeting, this was the best thing I have found so far, and the only thing we've stuck to!
Try to figure out what it will roughly cost for baby each month (diapers, formula, insurance, dr. appts, clothes, toys, etc.and if daycare or you not working is a factor include that too) and start setting that aside NOW. You'll have time to get used to your financial changes and have some money in savings.
I have heard the suggestion for if you would like to buy a home. If the mortgage, taxes, upkeep and utilities will be more than your rent an utilities are now, you should start setting that extra amount aside to see if you can really afford the house. If you do that for about a year you will know you can afford a home (and what your lifestyle would be like) and you'll have money to put towards your down payment, closing costs or moving expenses.
The cash suggestion is a great one! I have seen an envelope system (I'm sure you coudl google it) where money for food, clothing, entertainment, misc is put into envelopes at every pay check. When the cash is gone that's it and you can't spend more. If you have leftover money you can put it in savings, put it towards a specific item or use it for a treat like eating out.
This. You'll find you'll spend so much less money on food in general when you have a weekly meal plan prepared. DH and I are amazed at what our weekly grocery bills look like these days (usually come in under $50).
We've also made an effort to quit shopping at the fancy grocery stores (where DH paid $5 for 5 white potatoes) and shop the flyers at the discount stores instead (where we bought a 10lb bag of potatoes for $2 instead). We try and limit any processed treats to those that are on sale that week.
I like the cash idea in theory, but it can be tough trying to keep it all separate. DH gave-up trying to manage all his different "categories" in cash when he went on a strict budget and just takes-out a lump sum to cover EVERYTHING. Luckily it works for him and he's able to stick with it, but the "categories" that we originally laid out all blended together in the end.
Good luck!
We have a joint checking, joint savings and then our own checking and our own savings. I rarely eat out during the week. I have gotten in the habit of using trader joes frozen foods with fresh veggies to make lunch and I always eat breakfast at home. DH's current assignment does not afford him the luxury of a fridge during the day, so he eats out during the day. We also limit our take out/restaurant meals to two times a week (or once if it is a splurge).
Putting money into savings immediately is super helpful. We also do most of our grocery shopping right after payday. Our big issue is that we are remodeling and have no kitchen, so it has been hard to save on food expenses and miscellaneous money since it is going to the remodel monster.
We used to eat out every night and every lunch-but cutting out those two things have made a HUGE improvement.
Here are some suggestions that have worked for us:
1. Make a budget so that you know exactly where your money is going each month.
2. Examine all of your bills and cut back or readjust where necessary. We switched cable providers for a comparable package at $25 less per month. Now that that contract is nearing its end, we're looking to cut back on channels and subscribe to Netflix. Also, look at your cell bill and see what you're using versus what you're paying for.
3. Look at your grocery bill and look into using a site like www.couponmom.com It matches up coupons with sale items at your local stores to help you get the lowest prices. It also displays unadvertised sales at stores across the country. A lot of food items with coupons are things we don't eat, but I have saved a lot in terms of paper products, home health and beauty, etc. It's also helpful to study sales and know when something has reached its lowest price- that's the time to stock up.
4. I agree on giving you and DH a budget for the week for personal spending then when it's gone, it's gone. If he wants to spend it on coffee, that's his business. But if the money's gone by Thursday and he wants lunch out, tough luck.
5. Also, and this probably should have been first, pay yourself first! Decide what you need to save and have that automatically sent to an account. You live on what's leftover after that.
6. Stop eating out. Seriously. Turn this into a once in a while treat, rather than a regular occurrence. I get what you're saying about being tired when you get home, but this is where meal planning comes in. Prep stuff the night before or chop veggies when you get back from the store. Make big batches of things like sauces, soups and chilis and freeze the extra for a night when you're exhausted. Some people swear by their crockpots, but honestly I have only liked about 3 recipes I've tried. And if you're seriously exhausted and there's nothing in the fridge or freezer that's easy to make, maybe go for take out instead, as it's typically cheaper (you're not buying drinks, paying tip, etc).
BFP#1 11/12/11 ~ No heartbeat 12/12/11 ~ D&C 12/19/11
BFP#2 3/25/12 ~ Heartbeat 141 4/16/12 ~ No heartbeat 4/25/12 ~ D&C 04/30/12
BFP#3 7/16/12 ~ EDD 3/26/13 ~ It's a BOY ~ DOB 2/26/13
I definitely think setting up an "allowance" for extras is really helpful- cash is great for this b/c its more tangible that when its gone its gone.
I also agree that there are some great resources to help manage and visually see where your money is going- a great free resource is mint.com. You set up categories, link it up with your credit cards/check cards and each purchase you make comes through, gets deducted from the appropriate category (you can go through and relabel some stores if they don't come up how you use them...like if you get gas station coffee or something you can change the tag from gas to misc.) It shows how much you have left in the category for the month, what % you are at (if you are using up 80% of your grocery budget in the first 2 weeks of a month thats a problem for example). It's been very helpful for a lot of couples we know plus you can set up savings categories- vacation savings, baby savings, etc. and move your funds around so you know how much you have for when you need to dip into those savings accounts.
I also agree about meal planning- eating out is our biggest expense but it definitely helps me to have my meals planned. Even if that means you plan a take out meal 1x/week to use for a night you feel particularly tired it helps to have it in writing what the options are for that week. I plan 4 meals a week, 1 night of leftovers (sometimes 2) and 1 night of take out- we usually do Pizza on Monday's b/c the place near us has a special so its only like $10 for the whole family to eat. I can pick which days to use the leftovers and take out on based on how busy our week is- we have a couples bible study we do every Thurs and that evening is hectic so we almost always have leftovers.
I also have to say- get rid of cable! We got rid of cable 2 years ago and I've been shocked at how little I miss it and I am a COMPLETE tv junkie! We have netflix and tivo (there are other dvr options, thats what we picked since it streams netflix too). Between being able to record prime time tv and netflix we never run out of things to watch and we are saving roughly $60/month! Trust me, those stupid TLC shows or Bravo marathons are NOT worth $60/month. We also switch our internet provider based on who can give us the lowest rate for the year-we usually can get a discount by telling them what the competitor is offering and they say "well we can only guarantee this price for a year" then we switch as needed if they can't keep it up. We currently pay $30/month for internet which is the best we've found in our area. HTH!
Excuse me, but why aren't you over on the SAHM board giving me this advice?! That site sounds amazing. As in, exactly what I was looking for. Are there any drawbacks to using this service? (Okay, haha, I already see one.. my bank isn't supported yet).
One thing that used to help me to stay on track at work was to literally leave my cash and credit cards at home. I kept an emergency $20 hidden behind my work ID, but that forced me to stay on track with free office coffee and a brown bag lunch. I used to do it to avoid eating unhealthy snacks all day, but it totally helped me to save money too.
I agree with the meal planning suggestions, but I would add to that it's important to plan fun stuff to look forward to if you're trying to cut back on going out. Do homemade takeout on Friday, and plan something fun that you wouldn't usually do otherwise. Dust off a boardgame you haven't played in awhile or make some margaritas (alcohol free for you) and eat outside. We also have no laptops nights sometimes, because we discovered that what we missed about going out was that it forced us to actually pay attention to each other. It sounds so lame, but you might be surprised that a stay-at-home date night can actually be fun.
Also, do you have a crockpot? I can't tell you how much money my crockpot has saved me.....especially once I figured out that I can just put frozen meat directly in there before heading out for the day. That way you don't have to worry about making dinner when you get home at night, because it will already be ready and waiting for you. Here are some ideas to get you started: https://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2012/02/slow-cooker-tv-dinners.html. I absolutely love this website, and totally plan to stock the freezer with a bunch of these things before baby comes!