- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
August 2012 Moms
Msbean22
member
NBR: Your budgeting tips
Msbean22
member
Hey dudes! tl;dr abbrev. at the bottom.
Currently TTC baby #2 (too early to poas yet, will give it a go this Sunday,) and also budgeting for the future ie. affording a second in daycare and other expenses related to two babies instead of one. I'm going to include what my current budgeting method's are and would LOVE to hear your own.
1. Grocery and meal planning
- I will write out a list of likely meal ideas for two weeks and plan my grocery shopping accordingly. Since I work about 11 hours a day and don't get home until 6pm, and almost always homecook everything, my meals are usually crockpot or semi-crockpot related, or a protein + carb + veggie (I cheat and heat up frozen veggies in the microwave.) My freezer is also full of pre-cooked and seasoned ground beef and boiled chicken breasts, chopped for quick meals.
-Kroger meat deals! Even though it sort of grosses me out, I buy a lot of meat from their almost-rotten meat pile (appetizing, eh?) I usually freeze it right away or cook it that night. Kroger also has a lot of bogo meat deals that I take advantage of.
-I shop at four grocery stores - Kroger (meat and produce,) Aldi (all dry goods, eggs, dairy,) Walmart (there's a few things here I can't find anywhere else,) and our local grocery store. Sometimes there's another local store with super great deals on dry goods, but not often. I ad shop like it's my job to find the best deals.
2. Half-assed couponing
-I only cut or print coupons if it falls into my meal plans already or is a product I really love. I usually only buy toilet paper, paper towel, and laundry detergent when it's on sale and I have a coupon. If I'm super lucky and the stars align, I can stock up this way. Sorta stock up, anyway, I have a $250/month grocery budget that's bound by monthly income.
3. Fixed fun money
-My husband and I get $20 a week, each, to do whatever with. We can either use it for lunch through the week (we both typically pack a lunch with leftover or sandwiches,) or save up for something for ourselves. It's curbed our small debit purchases and allows me greater control over our checking account to know what is there and available for bills (we have a shared checking and savings account that both our paychecks are deposited into.) I also budget at least $100/month extra besides this, just in case.
4. Detailed expense and bills calendar
-Bill due dates and credit card payments are monitored in a calendar. I control all the credit cards because my husband can't remember anything (I say this in as endearing way as I can muster.)
-I currently have a timeline on when our credit cards are going to be paid down to a manageable amount. In the past year, the credit card situation has gotten kind of out of hand (bit of a long story.) I have the credit cards slotted to be down by 75% by the end of January 2015.
-We also have some outstanding medical bills that I have payment plans set that should be cleared and paid by January 2015 as well. It's stretching us tight until then, but it is doable and will free up at least $700 a month (!) after January.
Other things I'm toying with is ways to reduce our electric and gas bill since I have a modicum of control over those things. Does unplugging appliances really work, I wonder? Any insulation tipcs? I'm also switching trash providers which will save $45 a month, and will see if I can't get a better quote on my home insurance. Also, we're going to see what all goes into refinancing our home from an FHA loan to a conventional loan (we've had the house only 2 years.)
I don't do my nails, buy drive through coffee, or really anything at all (pretty low maintenance girl over here.) I actually trimmed my own hair last month.
We have netflix instead of cable and do have internet at home, but I don't really see how I could live without the internet since I occasionally work from home. One of our larger expenses is gas. I drive 120 miles to work and back. My car's mileage is pretty good (38 mpg) but I bought it in March and have a loan which sucks. My husband drives about 20 miles per day. Our monthly gas expense is $560! That seems insane to me - it's the same as our freaking mortgage (that being said, our house is tiny and in podunk Ohio.)
Hinging a lot of hope that in a month I'll be interviewing for a better position that allows me to not only be paid about 15% more, but to also work from home part time (I interviewed for this last month and was second in line behind a sneak attack interviewer from North Carolina who had been doing the same job for years and putting up awesome numbers, and was wanting to transfer to Ohio. She's definitely been getting the cold shoulder from me.) So fingers crossed there.
Anyway, tl;dr, what are your budgeting and money saving tips?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: NBR: Your budgeting tips
Sounds like you have a really good plan. You mentioned insurance quotes but you can also look into raising your deductibles. The only thing I can think of that I didn't see mentioned is cell phones. You could compare rate plans to reduce that expense.
Do you have your car and home insurance with the same company? I saved a truly obscene amount of money by bundling insurances.
I work for my auto insurance company, so I get $100 off a year to stick with them - I was GOING to run quotes to find a better deal, but I went and rubbed against a pole in my new freaking car, so I have to make a claim. If the paint hadn't have rubbed down to the sheet metal, I'd have made the claim, cashed out, and put the money in my savings. But nope. But yeah, I handle auto claims and my deductible is $500 - I would be terrified to have it higher, and it's really not that much difference between $500 and $1000 /year.
The industry works that your own insurance will be more lenient with you on a claim as far as rates go, but another insurance company is going to be like, lol nope. So no luck there. I've had a few quotes from my auto insurance for my house and it's outrageous, for some reason. Ugh.
I would love to winterize my house, but I really have no idea? It seems pretty tight to me - I don't really feel drafts anywhere and this winter would have been the time for it. We get some icicles on one side of the house, so maybe that needs a going over - I just really have no idea how and my dad is in Canada with all his house knowledge and I'm here in Ohio. >.<
Oh, and we have our phones through Sprint and it's $150/month total. Considering switching to AT&T but I'm not there yet - I've been with these guys for 10 years and I don't want to lose my phone number.
Also considering just cheapass Walmart phones, pay as you go, but again with the phone number thing. My husband is addicted to his phone (I think he has sex with it at night honestly) and it'd be a hard sell, I fear. I'm happy to clean and save freezer bags and grow half our vegetables in a garden, but this dbag needs his phone :eyeroll It's a good thing I love him!
Shew - you do a great job. We were really good about not making impulse purchases but since I have been back to work we have not done a great job.
Phones - We have straight talk with Walmart - you can keep your phone number. Most of the time you can just keep your phone and switch it over. It is $47 with tax each month per line and its all unlimited. I do sometimes have trouble getting group text but I think that has ore to do with my phone.
Daycare for two is more than my house payment each month (granted our house is also tiny and in rural VA).
I can't remember what you did with E but man cloth diapers are so much cheaper. I cannot for the life of me get SO on board with this so we still use the sposies for the baby.
Just one more thing on phones - your number should be portable if you switch providers...
Wow! @Msbean22 - It sounds like you've got a lot figured out already!
DH and I really realyl need to be better. I do pack lunches every day but we are addicted to drive through breakfasts! UG! I need help breaking that habit!
DH and I also have a long commute. Close to 100 miles round trip for both of us. I've lost count on what we pay for gas. Plus its so hard to budget for since the price of gas is constantly fluctuating!!! Is there anyway you can find someone to carpool with? DH and I used to carpool oftern before DD was born and that was great! We can't do that now because we are on differant schedules. Or if you are able to work from home more often, that could save on gas too. But obviouslt that depends on your company. My job started letting us work from home 1 day a week last January. And they just added the option for a second day. Just working from home 2 days a week has been helpful. It saves on gas and wear and tear on the car. Plus it lets me do better with making dinner on those days.
You can also meet with your bank and see if they can offer suggestions. We are with a credit union and they offer free consoltations. We met with them a few months ago and helped us with determining what we each needed to do with our retirement plans. They also gave some advise on our credit card debt. But I'd like to go back and have a more detailed conversation with them about our debt. If you have this option, it might be nice to get an outside perspective.
Like you I also get home late (about 6:00). So dinner have to either be crock pot or made the night before and heated up. I'd love for you to share some links to your favorite recipies. I'm in a rut when it comes to dinners!
My Journey to Motherhood
Me 36, DH 42
7.5 years of TTC ... It never gets any easier.
Baby Girl # 1
TTC Since January 2009
Reproductive Endocrinologist diagnosed us "Unexplained Infertility".
After 3 years . . . 3 IUIs . . . and 3 IVFs . . . our miracle GIRL arrived on August 6, 2012.
Baby Girl # 2
TTC Since June 2013
Got pregnant on our own without Fertility Treatments - January 2016! Thank you snow storm Jonas!
EDD 10/15/16
At 20-week anatomy scan found IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Restriction), and very low Amniotic Fluid. Now, I'm High Risk and have weekly ultrasounds to monitor fluid and growth. If baby runs out of room or is too growth restricted, they will deliver ASAP. My current goal is to make it to 28 weeks!