Budget?

SeahorseMama

Does anyone else here budget? DH and I went over one a couple weeks ago to make sure we could keep both kids at our current daycare once 2.0 arrives.We really love the center DD's at but it's kind of pricey. So we crunched numbers and it looks like everything is good to go! Except I just got a notice from my HOA saying our dues are going up on 1/1/14 and that they're going to require the whole neighborhood to stain our decks (it's unclear if that is our responsibility to pay for or not). Now we need to figure out someplace to cut corners.
So, for those of you who budget- what is your first place to trim down when necessary?

reils500

Eating out, take out food, beer & wine (this is more for DH who likes his microbrews). We also don't buy new clothes & shoes unless really needed. We have lucked out with getting handme downs for DS. Good luck!

1982Babies

I was budgeting hard core to get my house paid off last fall/this spring (and it's paid off.. woowoo.. it was cheap... lol)... but since then, I've kind of fallen off the wagon.

If I went back to a tight budget, I'd be getting less take out (not that it's a lot now, but DH has stopped at MCD a few times for me on nauseated days), and cook more from scratch.  Also, I stockpile food, so I'd work on my stockpile before buying more.  Actually, I'm working on that right now.

I don't pay for any TV and I don't visit the salon too often (got a $7 hair cut last week...)... and I don't buy new clothes too often, but if I do it's with a huge coupon and rewards from my CC at Gap.

I'd also make my husband cut down on his milk drinking.  I think we're spending like $8 a week on just milk for him right now!  

lindslalala

We very rarely eat out, got rid of our landline, stop fun shopping as much as I like, go longer between hair cuts, do my own mani/pedis

bzbear2

We look at monthly subscriptions and see what we can cut out

cbpj2012

We are getting rid of cable and relying on our Roku with Netflix and Hulu. I also learned to cut my husband's hair which saves us $15 every 3-4 weeks.

Mungojim

We've gone cable free for a while (Roku with Netflix and Hulu) and it saves us a ton of money and we don't even miss.  We also still have our ancient flip phones and pay very little in cell phone bills each month.  My DH would like us to get rid of our landline but at our Infant Safety and CPR class they emphasized the importance of having a landline during emergencies.  If you call 911 from a landline they can locate you immediately, but if you do it from a cell phone it can sometimes get routed far away.  Also, when Michael Jackson died we lost cell service for 20 minutes so I wonder what would happen in a real emergency (we're in Los Angeles).  

We are planning on using more coupons and being more frugal about spending at the grocery store.  

SuperKim13

I might save enough on wine to put this kid through college!

OK, maybe not that much, but the lack of packie runs will definitely save us some dough.  We will also cut back on eating out, something that I love to do.  Other than that, we clip coupons, shop the sales and meal plan.

abrazz

We can't cut much more. I could use more coupons but we don't get circulars in the paper so I just use what I can print online but it really doesn't add up to much. We are not going to be able to afford 3 kids in daycare. It's the only daycare in town and home care costs as much or more and they most likely wouldn't all 3 be in the
House. We couldn't find one last year that could take both kids so went with the daycare center. We will have to figure out if I'll go part time or PRN once the baby comes. Life is expensive. I need to get my MSN so I can make more money. College is going to kill us lol.

reils500

@a_brasuell have you thought about hiring a nanny? I know where I live a nanny would be the less expensive option.

abrazz

Reils500
We could maybe find a college student to come to the house but our town is pretty small and I've never heard of any nannys around. My friends' parents or grandparents watch their children. Thank you for that idea though

AutumnBonfire

I'm also budgeting so we can afford daycare for two. Right now my biggest thing is meal planning and trying to stick to a grocery budget. I buy very little processed food and try to make things from scratch. We hardly ever go out to eat. I also make my own cleaning products and using things like cloth napkins instead of paper. My biggest problem with this is my husband. He just can't stick to a grocery list and has gone way over budget the last two weeks, so this is probably going to become my chore. I'm thinking of taking out the month's budget in cash, rather than a credit card, and when its gone, its gone. I think I'm budgeting more than enough for two adults and a picky one year old. 

We just cancelled DVR and digital cable on the tv in our basement. We're thinking of cancelling the texting plan on our phones and just living without texting. We don't have smartphones, so we're also toying with the idea of getting a landline and then just having track phones instead. I guess if money gets really tight, DVR and digital cable on the tv in our family room is the next thing to go. We also don't buy too many things for ourselves, necessities only, and we don't go overboard on toys and clothes for DS and we won't for the new baby either. Basically, I'm trying to get us to have a more simplified lifestyle and quality family and husband/wife time rather than "things." 

clk723

Since the deck staining is a one time deal, I would probably look at discretionary spending. I know for us when we need to cut back the first area we address is our general spending (clothes, haircuts, home decor, etc.), then we usually cut eating out and try to meal plan. I'm not a big coupon clipper but that is definitely something you can do to help out. The only other thing I can think of is with the holiday's coming up to try to cut back on gifts or make gifts for some people you might typically buy for.