budget/money saving ladies

kaylakim · March 2014

DH and I are hoping to refinance our home and switch to a15 year mortgage instead of our current 30 year. We sat down to look at our budget last night and decided we need to cut things out abd start saving better.

What's your biggest money saving advice? Favorite blogs?

karen0477 · March 2014

My husband set up all out finances on his laptop in simply accounting. We currently monitor every penny we spend. We get receipts for every purchase and then log it.....it has definitely made a huge difference for me in how I spend money.....I have to be accountable for everything I buy!! I walk away from a lot these days!!!!

chiboo9 · March 2014

I know a lot of families that use the envelope system with much success.

We don't use it since we use a credit card with a rewards program. But it sounds like a great system to me.

pantsarella · March 2014

I read The Simple Dollar. I think it's a good way to start, especially if you don't have a lot of debt other than a house. His advice is reasonable and I never feel like it's impossible to start making little changes. I find the "nothing but beans and rice, rice and beans" too overwhelming, but we don't have debt outside our mortgage.

We also use mint.com which is great for tracking budgets and spending if you only use credit cards like us. I've also heard unsubscribing from sale and deal emails is a great way to spend money- zulily definitely sucks a ton of my money!

alimegan · March 2014

One thing we have done is meal planning. Just by writing down what we are going to eat on Monday, Tuesday, etc. We have cut down nearly 150$ a week. I hope to start doing more like cutting on demand tv and some of MH video game subscriptions and hopefully more from there.

KMRR86 · March 2014

Meal planning was a big thing for us. It cut our grocery bill way down. Also, we recently got netflix, downgraded our cable and got rid of our home phone since we both have cell phones. We use a lot of coupons and stockpile when things are on clearance. I have a year's supply of laundry detergent because of this.

rondosa · March 2014

We don't have cable, instead we have Netflix and watch a lot of shows online wherever we can. If you have parents with cable that are willing to share their log-in information with you, you can access all the shows on ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX (or via their iPad/iPhone apps too). You can get a High Def antenna that will get you the major networks for free over the air. That saves a ton.

I second doing weekly meal planning. I sit down with the weekly flyers (I have an app called Flipp that shows all of them in my local area) and go through to see what's on sale in meat/fish as inspiration for recipes, which helps a ton too. I save buying anything non-perishable (sauces/toilet paper, canned goods, toiletries) until I see them on sale and then I'll buy a few to keep on hand.

Don't go to the mall. Seriously. Out of sight, out of mind.

Lastly when I feel like I want to buy something, I ask myself if it's something that's a NEED or a WANT. And I have to be real about it. We're not this dire, but I still ask myself if it's more important than eating a meal...know what I mean?

geoffandjen728 · March 2014

All of the above. Shop the sales/coupons and buy bulk when you can. We don't buy meat unless it's 2 per lb or less. They typically rotate every four weeks so it is easy to stock up chicken to keep in the fridge for example. Make as much as you can from scratch.
I know many people are against this, but buying used clothes saves a ton! We get almost all of LOs clothes at Savers (a chain thrift shop similar to Salvation Army but with better work ethics) and buy off EBay fairly often. Where she grows so quickly buying new clothes every few weeks would cost ten times as much.
Similarly I try to find ways to make the clothes that we have renewed. Taking one of DHs old shirts and turning it into a tunic to wear with leggings. (No sewing for me,it just needed a belt) Helps make me less likely to want to shop.
We also cloth diaper... But that's a big up front cost and it is possible that the cost of the extra laundry makes it just about even. For us the cost is less than disposables.
Made a spreadsheet to track every penny. And use cash for groceries helps prevent impulse buys...
Good luck!

Married071709 · March 2014

Meal planning. Making stuff at home (taco seasoning, dried beans instead of canned, etc). Cut back on little purchases such as coffees from stands. It's hard but worth it.

atlvol · March 2014

We log every receipt, Meal plan, make our own detergent, limit going out to once or twice/month, we both take our lunches to work every day (usually leftovers, so we don't have to buy much extra "lunch" items).

LauraB1016 · March 2014

We use a spreadsheet to help is stay on track and do a lot of things similar to other people.

Each week DH and I have so much to spend on groceries. If we need something say like lightbulbs that comes out of grocery. If we want to go out to eat, grocery. Also we get a weekly gas/allowance money. We get so much and have to use that towards gas in our car and the remainder is for us to spend how we like.

We also save a certain amount no matter what each paycheck. This amount and the extra money we pay on the house is not negotiable in regards to cost saves.

chiboo9 · March 2014

geoffandjen728 said:

All of the above. Shop the sales/coupons and buy bulk when you can. We don't buy meat unless it's 2 per lb or less. They typically rotate every four weeks so it is easy to stock up chicken to keep in the fridge for example. Make as much as you can from scratch. I know many people are against this, but buying used clothes saves a ton! We get almost all of LOs clothes at Savers (a chain thrift shop similar to Salvation Army but with better work ethics) and buy off EBay fairly often. Where she grows so quickly buying new clothes every few weeks would cost ten times as much. Similarly I try to find ways to make the clothes that we have renewed. Taking one of DHs old shirts and turning it into a tunic to wear with leggings. (No sewing for me,it just needed a belt) Helps make me less likely to want to shop. We also cloth diaper... But that's a big up front cost and it is possible that the cost of the extra laundry makes it just about even. For us the cost is less than disposables. Made a spreadsheet to track every penny. And use cash for groceries helps prevent impulse buys... Good luck!

I am VERY pro this!

We've yet to buy a brand new piece of clothing for LO. Everything she has that we've bought is from a resale or consignment sale. She's destroyed so many onesies and sleepers already, and I don't even feel bad because they cost no more than a dollar each.

MRads · March 2014

You can use the envelope system and still use your debit or credit card by using good budgets app.

Budgeting to the dollar, giving ourselves a bit of fun money and meal planning are the biggest assets in cutting costs.

We also got rid of cable and just use Hulu, basic cable and amazon prime.

hollandmama · March 2014

As PP said, I question myself if I really need something before I buy it.

Also I translate the prices into work hours, for example: fancy purse costs 200 bucks, that would be 1.5 days of work which means 16 hours away from LO including commuting time... Would I really spend 12 hours away from LO for the purse? Probably not!

GL!

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