July 2017 Moms
theweevee
member
GTKY Money saving tips & tricks
theweevee
member
We had a time saving thread yesterday...how about a money saving thread? We just found out finances may be tighter than expected, and I'm guessing others would like more ways to save as well!
Re: GTKY Money saving tips & tricks
- We're going to cloth diaper and use re-usable wipes. I did a ton of research and you can save roughly $600/year by going the cloth diaper route. Bonus that it's also better for the environment. However, it does take more work, especially if you have more than 1 child.
- I plan on buying most of our baby gear from Craigslist, consignment stores (like Once Upon a Child, I don't know if that specific chain exist outside of Canada), and mom buy/sell/bid groups on Facebook.
- I'll be hustling my family, friends, and colleagues to see if I can borrow/buy there unused baby gear/clothes.
- Maybe we could post awesome deals we stumble across online for baby gear on this thread.
- Depending on how long your mat leave is, it may be worth looking into cheaper car insurance options since you'll no longer be commuting to and from work.
- Cut back on Starbucks
I'm going to add more as I think of them.Edit: added more stuff
Join local BST (buy, sell, trade) groups. You can get amazing deals on baby gear and clothes and sell stuff you don't need, would want to buy new for next baby etc. I have sold all the ugly outfits people gave us , things like the bumbo that everyone said I HAD to have and used once, and stuff that just didn't work for us.
This only works if you are disciplined enough to pay it off every month but we use a cash back credit card for everything we possibly can from bills to groceries to a pack of gum. We don't pay interest and get money deposited to our savings account for stuff we buy anyway.
I have a line in our budget called deal shopping. Every month I transfer a set amount into a savings account and use it to stock up when there is an amazing sale on something we use anyway. That way I can take advantage of great prices without throwing my budget out of whack.
Every other Saturday is my meal plan and grocery day. I go through my fridge and pantry and first build meals around what we have then fill in the blanks with my grocery list and try to base as much as possible on sale items. This was a learning curve to get perfect because I would always forget to plan a meal to use the rest of something I needed for a previous meal. For example if I plan a meal that needs half a container of sour cream then I need another meal in the next 2 weeks that will use it up before it goes bad. Keeping control of food waste has probably made the biggest difference in keeping our expenses down.
We pay our car and home insurance annually instead of monthly because our company charges a premium to pay monthly.
I was skeptical at first because I thought it would take up so much time and be disgusting. It's really not bad at all and it saves so much money. There are a lot of up front costs but you can put cloth diapers on your registry or go the used route to save money.
Our families give DH and I restaurant gift cards for holidays so we have some of our date nights covered after Christmas and our birthdays. We also trade off babysitting with other friends with kids so that we all get a few nights out a month without paying a ton for babysitters.
I'm a fan of Gerber packs for convenience on the go but it's easy to make (and freeze) your own baby purees and it saves a bit throughout the month.
-I didn't buy any of my own baby gear - I put everything on the registry, and the shower and gift cards took care of that.
-Not eating out makes a huge difference.
-I use a travel CC to get point for our summers, since I'm a teacher.
-I learned when paying down debt to transfer the (embarrassingly large) balance to a 0% CC until it was all paid off. Unfortunately I made some terrible CC choices in my youth, and have paid off $10,000 or more multiple times. I do not pay interest. On the plus size, the transfers counted as purchases on my Disney card, so I had enough points to go to Disney for free twice. It also made my credit phenomenal. I don't recommend getting way up there like that, and I won't be doing it again, but I made the best of it.
- I put EVERYTHING we purchase on a cash back credit card. We have a few credit cards, and I pick which one will yield the best rewards for the particular purchase (one card is 3% on groceries, one has rotating categories, etc.). Then pay it off completely every month so we don't pay interest.
- I just started trying to get into couponing. So that is definitely more of a 'goal' for me going forward. I also follow websites like Krazy Coupon Lady and TotallyTarget to keep an eye out for really good deals.
- I plan to make my own baby food when that time comes.
- I second ebates for online shopping.
- Raise.com. You can buy gift cards at a discount (depending on the store and availability). Then, since it's a gift card, you can stack that savings with any other coupons/discounts. Bonus when raise.com is doing ebates cash back! We used Raise when we built our deck a few years ago and saved SO much. We are currently getting ready to start finishing our basement and will be using it again.
- ETA Ibotta/Checkout51 apps. You submit your grocery receipt for cash back. Or if you shop at certain grocery stores (like mine) you can link your rewards card to the app so you literally don't have to do anything except go through the savings options before going shopping, and then it automatically submits for payment when you check out. These are smaller savings ($0.25 on milk, $.50 on bananas, etc.) but it adds up.
@chiquita928 We also recently did a CC transfer to 0% too. We had some wedding debt and debt from when we built our deck that we have been trying to pay off. I actually have us on a plan to have it gone in 6 months, but with baby coming now and us trying to finish the basement, I am sure we will accrue more.
1) we're doing some home upgrades and ideally I'd like to pay the architect, contractor, and engineer with cc so I can get points. The engineer only accepts PayPal or check. The cc fee to PayPal my deposit is $23 ($800 deposit). I like to horde points for flights etc. would YOU pay the $23 charge for paypal to get the points?
As far as baby stuff goes, I didn't notice that it had much of an impact of the budget, really. We basically couponed the day-to-day stuff, got everything we could from the shower, and then the rest was a natural trade-off. You don't go out to eat/shop as much because you're exhausted, so those savings are applied to baby stuff. Maybe it was just me, though.
I keep a pretty intricate spreadsheet (accounting nerd lol) that I updated monthly, and I have us on a good system to pay everything off. I am really proud of how much we have paid off in the last year. Just gotta keep trucking. I can't wait for it to be gone!
@satsumasandlemons I guess it depends what the CC rewards would be if you do the paypal deposit. If the reward is higher than the cost, I would probably go for it.
@satsumasandlemons If the value of the points you would get is more than the fee then yes. I earn 2 points per dollar I spend and when I redeem them they are worth $0.01 each. In your case I would earn 1600 points which would be redeemed for $16 so paying the fee wouldn't be worth it.
Plus if you pay the $800 in cash, nothing will come up so you accidentally get charged interest on that amount.
Highly monitored internet and no cell service in the office, so I'm postin' and ghostin' while I'm workin'
DH and I are middle-class and I've always had it in my head that we are good with money but we really aren't. I see that now so something's gotta give. I've been doing budgets since I can remember and it just doesn't work for us. Maybe going cash is the only option?! Who knows. I have dug us out of many, many debt holes but we need to stop creating said holes in the first place. We aren't poor. There's no reason we should be living paycheck to paycheck! We need to get our sh!t together before baby gets here. LOL Leave is going to be tight but between my universal child tax credit (Canada) and what I'm saving on gas/maintenance, that should bring me back up to full pay.
Met: 08/2001 ~ Dating: 07/2004 ~ Engaged: 11/2009 ~ Married: 06/2011
TTC: Since 09/16 ~ BFP 10/28/16 ~ EDD 7/5/17
Team Pink * Canadian Bumpie
https://www1.macys.com/shop/product/martha-stewart-collection-produce-keeper-only-at-macys?ID=2556462
Edit to add: Prior to getting pregnant, I was unaware that you could use tax-free funds to pay for childcare. Once the baby is here, we are dumping all our childcare costs into the FSA so it is considered tax-free spending. I am a FTM and I don't think you can start adding funds before the baby arrives. (Could be wrong about this?) Also, I live in the US so not sure if there is a equivalent for all you Canadian mamas.
Met: 08/2001 ~ Dating: 07/2004 ~ Engaged: 11/2009 ~ Married: 06/2011
TTC: Since 09/16 ~ BFP 10/28/16 ~ EDD 7/5/17
Team Pink * Canadian Bumpie
I opened a SmartyPig account. They do goals-based savings. At the time they were the only one to do that; now a lot of other banks have similar options. I can use one account and set up many individual goals. I enter what I'm saving for, how much I'd like to save in total, and my goal date for completion. It then suggests the amount of $ I'd need to save each interval to meet that goal. I have my funds deducted from my checking account every pay day so the "extra" money is never there for me to spend. If I do get extra money from something, I can still do one-time deposits into the savings account.
I removed the totals, but you can see what part of the dashboard looks like. It makes it very easy to track progress. The bank has a pretty good interest rate (for a savings account) that scales depending on how much money is in each goal. It has made it so much easier to save, and we end up taking out fewer loans because we pre-plan for major expenses. It's really helped me shift from a paycheck-to-paycheck existence to something more long-term.
DS1 - 7/2011, DD 12/2012, DS2 - 4/2014, MMC - 12/2015
Before DD was born 3 years ago, we read Dave Ramsey's book "Total Money Makeover." It changed how we though of money. We stopped spending on credit cards almost immediately. Saved $1,000 in an emergency fund. Stacked our debts (credit card, student loans, car) and started using the debt snowball to knock them out one by one. We haven't followed the program to a T. We aren't gizelle intense, but we are paying it off faster than we would have before. We have more now in savings than we had in credit card debt when we started. We pay cash for everything. New HVAC for the house? Had that, easily- never thought I would say that because credit was the norm in my family. I recommend it for anyone who needs some motivation or help getting started. You can even save the $25 and check it out of your local library.
For us, it was realizing how much we were wasting; groceries, entertainment, eating out. We had no idea. Now we tell our dollars where to go. We have 9 bank accounts and debit cards for all of them so if we are buying something for the house, it comes out of the home/home improvement account. Not enough in that account? Keep saving and put off the purchase until the money is there. It's helped us stay disciplined.
It also helped us to realize that at a certain income, you no lonher get to deduct student loan interest. Well then we need to pay those off faster because they don't have any benefit.
Love hearing everyone's ideas, sorry mine aren't specific individual savings ideas, but I wanted to share because it was such a difference maker for us!
If you're having trouble with food waste, maybe try a website or app like My Fridge Food, where you go through a list and select the items you have on hand, and it generates recipes based on those ingredients. I've tried it before with a few successes (and it doesn't really work if you have like nothing on hand) but it could be useful if you find you have lots of fresh produce that'll otherwise go to waste!
Kind of touching on what others have said:
- In addition to FB buy/ sell/ trade groups, Craigslist, etc I shop at Goodwill about once a week to look for items too. Last week I really lucked out. I had this pack and play from Target on my registry in the Milan color ( https://www.target.com/p/graco-pack-n-play-playard-with-newborn-napper-bassinet-lx/-/A-15290359) and I found it at Goodwill for $60 and it was BRAND NEW - never opened!!
- I shop at Walmart a lot because I have had bad experiences with Aldi and as soon as I get into the car, I scan the square bar code on the bottom into my Walmart Savings Catcher app! I have got a lot of money back that I could use towards a future purchase
- I also love couponing! I find it really fun! I don't go crazy with it but I do go through the papers, adds we get in the mail.
- I also sign up for freebies sites and sample sites (I have a separate email address just for that so I don't have to deal with 100 emails from them lol)
- Also, a lot of times if you contact a manufacturer they will send you coupons or samples if you ask.
Married: 07-2014
TTC #1: Since November 2015
Restarted TTC "count" Oct. 2016
due to previous issues.
***TW***
BFP: 11/4/2016
*TW*
I paid off almost $10,000 in debt before baby # 1 arrived. We had no debt until this past month when my husband got into a car accident, and now we're looking at $500,000+ in ICU bills, ouch.
But, aside from that issue, I'm good at budgeting, shopping smart, and staying out of debt...after all that hard work. Having a weekly money budget is essential, so much money is wasted when you're not paying attention to where every penny is going. And if you have extra pennies, throw them in savings!
Shop smart with coupons, discount stores, holiday sales etc. I always stock up on bulk stuff when it's on sale. I don't have Amazon Prime anymore but it was a useful tool, I just got a little wasteful with my purchases and I hate that.
Ultimately, just spend within your means, even if that means going without some stuff. Babies really need SO LITTLE! They don't need you going into debt for them. Diapers, blankets, a couple outfits, coconut oil, breastmilk, boom! Babies first 8 months are already taken care of haha.
We "pay ourselves" first every payday - automatic deposits into retirement accounts, and savings accounts for travel/big purchases and education. We live on what's left and will not go one penny into debt. If that means eating rice and beans three times/day for a week, we do that.
I am a Ramit Sethi proselytizer. His book is I Will Teach You To Be Rich. It's like the financial KonMari.