My list is big because we're a big family on one income with one car. (And yes, the one car thing is hard, but thankfully my DH can take the bus downtown and his job sells bus passes.) I'll revisit this thread as I need to get serious too. I've always been pretty frugal, but it's true about the nickel and dimes being the death of a budget. We need to get out of the red and into the black literally or we will lose our car, rental, and God only knows what else.
And do unplug that stuff! My dh is slow to come around on this. I'm having him plug in all the TV/PC stuff. Our plasma flat screen happens to double as the computer monitor. So he has the CPU/TV/DVD players/Xbox/surround sound/cable box all hooked in together. Btw, we didn't have cable for a long time, now sure why he got it back on because we can't afford it. Though our cable company has a deal where if you get cable, they give you a huge credit on the cable modem, so it's not much more $ a month to have both. Ugh. Anyways, he needs to plug it all in to one thing so I only have one plug to pull out. Even though our pc goes into sleep mode, which supposedly saves money, I don't think it's enough. My electric bill was $150ish last month and the gas portion was like $50. It's crazy. And when it comes to the TV, plasmas are huge energy suckers, but he got a great deal on this one and always wanted a big TV. LCD's use a lot less energy than plasmas.
I have been pretty militant about unplugging, turning off etc and I did notice my electric bill go down by like $50. We switched our lightbulbs last year too and haven't had to buy a new one in a long time and they supposedly use less energy. The cheap ones we were getting were blowing out way too often.
First, you need to look at what you normally spend or buy in a month on certain things. Then you'll know what you can cut back on or eliminate.
When it come sto coupons, you'd be surprised how many great coupons are out there if you've never clipped them. My dh usually does the shopping, but he's not a coupon person either and spends more. So I have to start doing the shopping again. I used to get boxes of name brand cereals practically FREE. Get an organizer for them & have Tony or Darien help you clip some to make it go faster. You guys can do this whlie watching a TV show. Don't forget to check them though, it's a shame to let the good ones expire.
Back then my store did double coupons. The one here doesn't, but they do have double coupon day, however they really limit them to a certain amount of coupons etc. Anyways, watch the Sunday paper, but don't forget online sites like http://coupons.com and http://www.mysavings.com/ But FIRST MAKE SURE that your store accepts printed coupons. A few years back some stopped taking them because of scams. I see ppl using them now though, so you have to ask first. There are more sites of course, just google them. What's nice about them is that you can print as many as you'd like. For instance, right now at coupons.com you can save $1.25 off reynolds wrap or parchment paper. You can also save $1.00 off two GM cereals, along with lots of other deals. (print only what you want)
Well, if your store has a sale, even if they don't double coupons, you save that much more. Imagine though, if the coupon was doubled, that's how you walk around with things for almost nothing. Sometimes my store will hae a deal for like 10 GM produts for like $20, plus a free gal of milk. Well, if you printed 5 of those $1 off GM coupons, you'd get them all for $15, plus the milk. You can use these coupons at Wal-mart, Target, grocery stores etc. My super Wal-mart doesn't have a produce or meat section that we care for much. But they *usually* have the BEST deal on snacks, canned goods, frozen goods, cereal, you name it. For instance, Wal-mart has Minute Maid OJ for $2.50 a 1/2 gal EVERY DAY. No sale needed. Whereas at my grocery store, I'd have to wait around for a sale that good. And if you get a coupon, for it, even better. Every penny does add up.
That's why I need to get back into this. I used to get like almost $200 worth of food and supplies or like $60. It was almost a challenge. It really only does take a little bit of prep once you get the hang of it. Also, you plan your meals around what is on sale. This is common sense, but often overlooked. And if there are great deals, stock up if you can. That's why it's ideal to keep some of the money you save an envelope to use towards buying more quanities. So if the next week bread is on sale for 2 for $4 or 2 for $5 (which is more like it now that things have gone up so much) buy 4 loaves and freeze what you won't use in the week. Try not to be in a position to be running out or having to pay full price. It really stinks. This has been us lately. I used to have a pantry and freezer full, now it's week to week.
Oh and I love http://www.startsampling.com I order samples all of the time. The kids have fun opening up the samples. Sometimes we fight over who gets to try the free kashi cookie though. :) I have gotten not only a chance to try things for free, but coupons too. Don't forget to go to the sites of products you already love. You can often download coupons there.
Wal-mart online gives out lots of samples too.
And about generics, sometimes generics really do taste as good as the brand name. I was leary about this too years ago. I have a friend who is a nurse, but is home during the day. So it's like she's a SAHM, but she makes probably as much as her dh or more. I think between the two of them, they easily clear $80k. When we'd go shopping together, I was shocked to see she'd go to good will for herself as well as the kids. I love yard sales and I got that my my grammy. But this friend showed me that resale shops are like one big indoor yard sale. I also saw taht she buys generic brands. Keep in mind, she can AFFORD the higher brand. She does still buy the brand stuff. She'll even tell me which ones she has tried and are really good. So I learned from her which ones are comparable & that you don't know unless you try. Some things it's just not worth it, but other times, you really don't notice a difference. You won't know unless you try though, right?
Try resale shops for stuff for Darien and Amira. My girls are teens as you know and when it comes to the good will thing, they actually like going. They like new things like everyone, but they also like looking around at all the great deals for things you can't find anymore. I've found some great deals for them and for me. And since ppl are always talking about going green and recycling, why not start with places like Good Will? Of course, you want to be careful about things that might be recalled in terms of baby stuff or whatever, but I've gotten name brand outifts in exc like new condition for dollars. I'm also going to pick up a ton of sleepers for this baby from a local mom I found on craigslist. For $7 I'll get like 10 gently used baby girl clothes. Why not? They go through them so fast anyways. I also bought two new outfits at Kohls for $2.50 each. Shop the clearance racks and think ahead for next season. When I worked at Target I learned this quickly. Jan and Feb are the time to shop, shop, shop for great deals on clothes and household stuff, even toys. I used to get great deals on toys and then I saved them for when the kids whent to b-day parties. Make sure you think ahead, so your kids can wear those great outifts or shoes next season that you only paid $5 for or whatever. Don't forget TJ Max or Marshalls. I got my son great flip flops for $1. Brand new, name brand flip flops cheaper than I could find them at most yard sales these days. I got him swim trunks, swim shoes, and hats for super cheap. Crazy cheap. They have insanely great clearance racks. I don't mind sticking stuff in a bin for next season either if it means I save that much money.
Try to allow a little in your monthly budget for things like this though. It doesn't help you to see a great deal and not be able to buy it because the money isn't there. (Thought some ppl charge these things, however, we all know how dangerous that is right now. I have one cc with a small limit which I'm paying down. I have friends with a total cc debt of 40k or more. I don't know how they sleep at night.)
Do netflix instead of buying DVDS, if you're even buying movies. My husband used to buy the new movie or game all of the time years ago. We really couldn't afford that even then when we owed other bills etc. Now we just do netflix and the library. Though occassionally someone will get a much wanted movie for a gift or if we find it cheap on ebay etc. My DH finds used xbox games this way and we've NEVER had a problem with one of games playing well. Plus, if my DH or the kids beat a game, they'd sell it on eBay. So it's a way to save money and back money back.
Let your DS check out movies and books for fee at the library. I'm blessed to have an amazing library. I mean, we love to spend an afternoon there it's so nice. LOL But in addition to books and magazines (that you can check out for free btw- I never buy mags anymore) they have PC games, instructional things, CDS, DVDs, VCR tapes, you name it. Oh and yard sales and good will type places are a great place to buy books too btw. If you see a title you know Darien or Amira will like there, grab it up. Otherwise, check out books and magazines for the kids at the library. I've gotten some great books for like 50 cent each, nice hard covers even.
To help with budgeting, pay bills weekly when you can. This is another situation we're out of and it's hurting us. What we normally do is figure out how much goes to what each month. Then I divide that up into fours and every payday I'd give a little here and a little there. For car payments I did this too and I'd say, "principal" on the check. So when there are months when there are 5 fridays, this really works in our favor in terms in interest and paying it down faster. I can pay my utilities online this way too. So by the time a bill was due, it was already paid and in some cases I even had a credit for the next month, which is nice to use that money for savings or paying down cc debt, etc.
Use the envelopes with cash too if this helps. My dh doesn't like cash around, but I'd like to start doing this again, because we've had too many issues with the visa/debit card. NSF fees are $37.50 and let's just say we've had too many lately for various reasons. Yes, he's not keeping track like he should a lot of the times, but the bank will also let the card be used, just so they can charge you that fee. It's how they make their money. We've noticed our bank even reorders visa charges as I'll be checking daily and will see what is going through. Then a few days later, it will show a totally different posting date. There was a $37.50 NSF fee on a $1.29 charge he had made for parking that was forgotten about. Yes, that's how close our acct is at times. There were a few other little ones he missed too. We have to be more careful. It's costs too much not too. I about threw up when I saw that!
So if it helps, stop using the cards for awhile and use your cash envelopes w/the budgeted amounts. This does work. It stinks sometimes to pass things up, even when it feels like you NEED them, but it's better to not only be under budget, but to have money put away. That's our problem now. Our savings is gone, so when something does come up, my dh does a direct advance on the checking acct, which has put us in the mess we're in.
I guess you could just call around about the cell. I wish my dh would change this too, but he's too attached to his phone w/mobile internet. So our bill is like $140 a month. That does include 4 phones though, all unlimited text and mins. But still, I'd like to see that lowered. We pay $300 in school tuition, which is a lot of money and they school is good about working with us when times are tough and thank God for that, but they have bills too. We have to be able to pay all the important stuff first and for me, I don't see a cell phone as one of them. But my dh got rid of our land line so I'm stuck with this for now.
Did I also mention that I trim my kid's hair? That I do a lot of stuff some ppl pay for.
Cut out the fast food as much as possible. I once mortified once to see we spent like $80 a week on that kind of thing. We couldn't afford that, but we weren't thinking about it. Look for resturants that have kids eat free too. But limit the fast food as much as possible. And if you do go, try to use coupons. I see coupons for Burger King and McDonalds all of the time.
Oh, and this one won't help you right now, but when it comes to back to school, stock up on all that stuff. It used to be that you could get notebook folders for like 10 cents each at Wal-mart or Target in sealed packs. They have all different colors and college or wide ruled. Well, this year I noticed the price went up, but it's still a great deal. Those cheap little note books are like $2 during the school year. So stock up for a few years. And also, kids are often needing new folders and replenishments during the school year and the stuff is like 3 or 4 times more. So if I see great deals on pencils, glue, crayola markers, you name it, I stock up like there's no tomorrow. Just be careful not to let the glue dry out. LOL It's a godsend, let me tell you. One year I didn't do this and ran out of stuff and there were times my kids need something and I had to pay a lot more for it and the money isn't always there for things like that when times are very tough. This goes for back packs too. Remember those great deals in Jan and Feb, that's a good time for bags as well after post after school clearance. Backpacks break during the year, don't get stuck paying $30 for one when there's 4 months of school left.
Bringing lunches and dinners is great too and more healthy. I am so glad my dh likes leftovers. My friend's Dh won't touch them! Oh, and brew your own tea if you drink it. It's healthier than soda, there are a ton of flavors and you can put them in reusable bottles for whenver. My dh got rid of his soda habit doing this & we saved money since he bottle stuff is naturally more.
Also, see if you might be able to qualify for reduced lunch for Darien since you're laid off. We did this once when my DH was laid off, it was great. And since their school had a prepaid lunch program, no one would know, plus they could still take a cold lunch when they wanted to.
Also, see if you can trade or barter stuff. I have wanted to get the kids piano lessons, but with time issues & money issues we haven't found anyone yet. I'm thinking of seeing if someone would be willing to give my kids lessons if I cleaned their house or something like that.
I'll post more stuff as I think of it. I was going to ask everyone the same thing. I am praying we get back on track soon. I'm so thankful for DH's job. Rumor is like 60 ppl were laid off at corporate. He was reassured by his boss all is OK. But when you're paycheck to paycheck and behind on bills w/ppl calling, it's not a great feeling to begin with, nevermind thinking about what would happen if he lost his job.
Edited 10/9/2008 5:20 pm ET by butterflynjesus
