It started with cancelling cable and now we have saved ourselves over 2K per year!!!!

[gabriellyn]

Wow - what a difference a few phone calls make! DH wants to cut back on our monthly obligations so we started with the obvious: cancelling cable - $80 savings.

More monthly savings:
Switched our cell phone plan: $35 savings
Removed unused services on home phone: $15 savings
Cancelled various other little used subscriptions: $48 savings

Monthly Grand Total: $178!!!!!!

Thank you Budget Boarders! All these fabulous posts and topics have been so helpful!!!

The annual savings add up to...

$2136

And DH isn't done - he's on a rampage now.

We are so shocked and amazed at how the little things can creep into your budget. Budget creep is insidious!

Woohoo - more money for Disney!

 

[englishteacha]

Good for you!

 

[weluvdizne]

Love it! We are doing the same thing right now. It is truly amazing! We upgraded our internet and since there is an intro rate, we are locked into a rate for 12 months with no obligation to stay after that, and we got it for $15 less per month.
Also, we cut our satelite down $30 per month, and will cancel it when this season of Biggest Loser is over. Will just use Netflix for TV. Savings will then be $75 total for the month!
Otherwise, we are already pretty bare bones around here. Looking for more ways to cut things that we haven't cut yet. But as it stands, we are looking at saving $1260 per year!
Keep up the great work! It's fun to see the savings add up!

 

[gabriellyn]

Love it! We are doing the same thing right now. It is truly amazing! We upgraded our internet and since there is an intro rate, we are locked into a rate for 12 months with no obligation to stay after that, and we got it for $15 less per month.
Also, we cut our satelite down $30 per month, and will cancel it when this season of Biggest Loser is over. Will just use Netflix for TV. Savings will then be $75 total for the month!
Otherwise, we are already pretty bare bones around here. Looking for more ways to cut things that we haven't cut yet. But as it stands, we are looking at saving $1260 per year!
Keep up the great work! It's fun to see the savings add up!

Isn't that truth - every little thing adds up!

I thought we were pretty bare bones too - but clearly that wasn't the case. I think we used to be bare bones and then slowly the budget creep began. DH and I have decided to have a "Quarterly Budget Committee Meeting" to make sure we are on target.

 

[tweedlemom]

Awesome! We cut our newspaper subscirption down from 6 days to 3 days and it saves us a decent amount each month. Every little bit adds up!

 

[MickeyDisneyFan]

We cancelled cable tv and got a mini pc we stream hulu and veetle and saved 80 a month

Cancelled the iPhones and got 2 droids with virgin mobile which saved another 70 a month

Stopped running out to pick up a few things and overspending which saved about 50 a month

Brought lunch to work instead of buying it 25 a week.

Raised the deductable onthe car insurance and saved 55 a month.

I too went on a rampage.

 

[gabriellyn]

We cancelled cable tv and got a mini pc we stream hulu and veetle and saved 80 a month

Cancelled the iPhones and got 2 droids with virgin mobile which saved another 70 a month

Stopped running out to pick up a few things and overspending which saved about 50 a month

Brought lunch to work instead of buying it 25 a week.

Raised the deductable onthe car insurance and saved 55 a month.

I too went on a rampage.

Pure AWESOMENESS!!!

This board has been so helpful! Thanks to all that post here!

 

[disneyfreakk]

That's awesome!

Now don't forget to check on your car insurance rates! I saved alot of money switching to AAA.

 

[gabriellyn]

That's awesome!

Now don't forget to check on your car insurance rates! I saved alot of money switching to AAA.

Good idea - it's on our list now! THANK YOU!!!!

 

[zurgswife]

We did similar
Got rid of house phone through cable carrier and have an internet type phone for the home phone number
Switched cell phones around and combined a few phones
Down graded cable to basic, got rid of HD. Bought an HD antenna in case there was something we wanted to watch on local channels in HD.

I won't know until next month what the savings will be. But hoping for about $150 per month.

 

[DawnM]

Wonderful! Make sure and actually save that! I often find that when I cut in one area, I end up spending it in another! I have to really be mindful of actually saving it.

We have cut and cut and there isn't too much left to save on.....although we haven't given up Directv yet.....but we don't go to movies and are out of debt other than the house, so it is my one luxury.

And I will not give up Disney vacations! Although we do it quite economically.

Dawn

 

[luvthatdisney]

We too are cutting way back, but I did want to mention something we learned the hard way about raising insurance deductibles.

A few years ago we raised our auto insurance deductibles and removed the "medical payments" portion of our coverage to "save money". This is great and will save money, but if you do this you need to make sure you have available the amount of that deductible and extra cash for medical bills in case of an accident.

We learned this when our DD16 had a car accident last year and since she was at fault we had to come up with the deductible ($1000) and pay our portion of the medical bills (we have a $2500 deductible) so we are looking at paying at least $3500 out of pocket and it may be more when you add the coinsurance due after the deductible is satisfied. Her hospital bill alone was 6k.

We may have had to pay a little more each month in insurance premiums, but that would have worked better than trying to come up with $3500 all at once. We have now lowered our deductible (car) and added the med pay coverage back. If we ever get a fully funded emergency fund set up, I may re-visit adjusting those two items again.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I never figured out our monthly/yearly savings until now and I'm amazed at how much it is after doing only two things.

We refinanced our mortage and got our payment down by $350 per month. We bundled our home phone with our cable and internet and saved $80 per month.

That adds up to $430 per month or $5160 per year!

My DH just went back to work in January after 20 months of unemployment. During that time, we cut back most everything to the bone. I learned to shop more carefully and we became much more picky about what we spent on entertainment. We love seeing musicals and used to go all the time. Now we've cut back to no more than one per quarter. We also started eating out no more than once a week and we've continued that habit as well. We don't feel deprived of anything and we love seeing the extra money in the bank each month!

 

[Darcy03231]

We too are cutting way back, but I did want to mention something we learned the hard way about raising insurance deductibles.

A few years ago we raised our auto insurance deductibles and removed the "medical payments" portion of our coverage to "save money". This is great and will save money, but if you do this you need to make sure you have available the amount of that deductible and extra cash for medical bills in case of an accident.

We learned this when our DD16 had a car accident last year and since she was at fault we had to come up with the deductible ($1000) and pay our portion of the medical bills (we have a $2500 deductible) so we are looking at paying at least $3500 out of pocket and it may be more when you add the coinsurance due after the deductible is satisfied. Her hospital bill alone was 6k.

We may have had to pay a little more each month in insurance premiums, but that would have worked better than trying to come up with $3500 all at once. We have now lowered our deductible (car) and added the med pay coverage back. If we ever get a fully funded emergency fund set up, I may re-visit adjusting those two items again.

The other thing to keep in mind is that as we get older we (usually) have more assets to protect (savings, retirement accounts, investment accounts, equity in a home). Make sure you're not underinsured. Years ago $100,000/$300,000 coverage was more than enough. Today, $100,000 doesn't go as far as it used to. If you (or your teen) was in a really bad accident you want to make sure you have enough coverage to protect you. I work in a law firm that specializes in insurance defense and you wouldn't believe some of the awards I've seen for car accident victims that haven't suffered life threatening injuries, or the ones that have, or are now severely disabled. A couple hundred dollars a year for an umbrella now is better than a $1 million dollar verdict and you only have $100,000 in coverage.

 

[Frannie115]

Thanks to DISboards, we are also cutting back .

Just cancelled cable and home phone - savings $80/mo.
Raised deductible on home insurance - savings $150/yr.
Bring lunch to work - savings $45/wk. (work downtown, expensive)

Now to only figure out a good way to save on all the K-cups we use in our Keurig coffee maker. Tried My K-cup and K-cap. Both leaked and messy

We have never been budget minded, but boy have times changed .

 

[DawnM]

My friend raves about this for her Keurig. I have never purchased one because the pods/cups things seemed too expensive for me. I do buy expensive coffee, but I make a latte every am.

Anyway, here is what she likes and says doesn't leak:


http://www.amazon.com/Solofill-Refillable-Brewers-1-6-Ounce-Package/dp/B004CXG07S/ref=lh_ni_t_

Dawn

Thanks to DISboards, we are also cutting back .

Just cancelled cable and home phone - savings $80/mo.
Raised deductible on home insurance - savings $150/yr.
Bring lunch to work - savings $45/wk. (work downtown, expensive)

Now to only figure out a good way to save on all the K-cups we use in our Keurig coffee maker. Tried My K-cup and K-cap. Both leaked and messy

We have never been budget minded, but boy have times changed .

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I switched our auto insurance to USAA in Dec and it is going to save us $600 a year, even with DH's bad record and was also able to open a checking acct with them that will be a huge benefit if he ever gets deployed, as they refund any ATM fees, no matter what, and we get free checks, which I do still use several a month. This also allowed DH to do direct deposit at his new job.

I had already cut out cable last year, when DH lost his job in Oct, I called T-mobile and they cut out what they could and even made DH's phone a free line until sometime in 2012. We have their home phone service for $5 a month and it is wonderful and also allows us to have our WiFi, when we couldn't get other routers to work.

I did just get a notice our Internet is going up to $24/mo, but they are the only provider that I don't have to have cable or a home phone for. I may call and see what I can do about that.

We have cut out everything else. I put our Netflix on hold anyime we aren't going to watch much, not a huge savings, but sometimes we will go 3-4 months without watching and that is a $30 to $40 savings. I just reactivate when ready.

I do eat lunch at work most days, the cost is $2-$3/day, because I work in a hospital and get a huge discount and much better food than I would if I packed it myself. Yes, our hospital has wonderful food.

Suzanne

 

[Seventh_Evil_Ex]

That's an amazing saving!

I've been fortunate enough to not have to regularly do this, but now I'm planning a trip to Disney I might just start cutting back on things.

I think I'll keep a note each time I don't spend on something I'd like to, and see what it gets to by the time I go.

Will be very nice to see!

 

[Frannie115]

My friend raves about this for her Keurig. I have never purchased one because the pods/cups things seemed too expensive for me. I do buy expensive coffee, but I make a latte every am.

Anyway, here is what she likes and says doesn't leak:


http://www.amazon.com/Solofill-Refillable-Brewers-1-6-Ounce-Package/dp/B004CXG07S/ref=lh_ni_t_

Dawn

Thanks for the link. We may give it a try.

 

[gabriellyn]

All you guys just rock - I get so many ideas from the posts here.

DH tried to see what he could do about home owners/car insurance today, but as it turns out our current insurance has everyone beat.

We did get a few more things chopped for a few bucks more - I think we are up to $2200/year now.

Thanks again y'all!