From 2 paychecks to 1 - how can I budget?

[mamadonna]

How do you save money for Disney World? At this time we are a two income family going to Disney World in (oooohhh) 11 days. We have always stayed at the Poly and basically just did whatever we wanted. We are very blessed. So blessed in fact we are joining family in Disney World again in May for a short trip, this time at ASMU.ASMU is new for us but important, here’s why. Sometime this summer, My husband will be taking a new job about 70 miles from where we live now. When we move, I’m going to “retire” and stay home to take care of our little guy. This is gonna be a real shock to the system. We will be a single income family. Has anyone else made this move? How did you adjust your Disney vacations, budgeting, etc? I’m already resigned to staying at value resorts instead. Wondering what other tricks are out there?

 

[Golter]

We are a Single Income Family. We have never stayed onsite and it will be a few years before we are able to do so. We make a middle class income of more than 50K but less than 100k. We go every other year and that seems to be plenty. When asked by our parents what we want for BDay or Christmas, are answer is always "hopper passes" and between my parents and wife's over a two year span will take care of family of 5's passes. We stay off site, usually at Blue Tree Resort. 2 bedroom with full kitchen about 500-700 a week depending on the deal we get.

Its very doable and would not trade my working for anything. Enjoy your early retirement.

 

[mamadonna]

Thanks! That’s a great idea asking for hoppers as gifts. I had not thought of that. I bet we could also ask for Disney Store gift certificates to apply towards hoppers too. Great Advice!

 

[apagano]

I lost my job in the recession, bringing our household income down significantly. Even with the loss, our lifestyle has not changed that much because we were prepared for such an event. The most important thing you can do is plan ahead. You should have a 6-month emergency fund available in a savings account somewhere. The fund should be enough to cover your critical expenses (housing, groceries, gas, electric, phone etc.) for 6 months. If you do, that's great. If not, start slashing your budget IMMEDIATELY! Cut out all unnecessary expenses - dining out, magazine subscriptions, anything you can think of. If you don't know how much you spend on these things, pick up a financial program like Quicken and start tracking your expenses. You might be shocked to find out where your money is going. Take a good hard look at your "critical" expenses. When your husband starts his new job, will you be moving? Make sure you are realistic about your housing choice. You should not spend more than 30% of your total income on housing. How about your food bill? Think about cutting coupons and buying store brands when possible. Car insurance? Check out a rate comparison site like insweb.com and see if you can save money there. Adjust your thermostat by a few degrees.

Once you have figured out where you can cut and how much, start budgeting. Again, use financial planning software to set up your budget, comparing your new, diminished income with your reduced expenses. Hopefully you will have a little bit left over each month. Open a special "disney only" account at your bank and start depositing that budget amount into your account each month. Use that money, and ONLY that money, for trips to WDW. Stay off site in a place with a kitchen and save $$$ on dining. Drive instead of fly or rent the smallest vehicle you can comfortably use.

I realize a lot of this sounds very matter-of-fact and that maybe you're passionate about your magazine subscriptions or something. But with an impending job change and a crummy economy there should be no sacred cows in your budget. Start thinking of your household as a business. Companies don't think twice before laying off hundreds of loyal employees. You can't lay off your family, but you might find that you can survive without a lot of things you had been taking for granted earlier.

Or, you can always just win the lottery and forget everything I just said

 

[nativetxn]

This is an excellent topic for our community board, mamadonna. I'm going to move this over there for you.

Katholyn

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

Remember that by your not working outside the home, you will save on some expenses ... commuting, childcare, extra wardrobe, extra taxes, etc.

WDW can be done on a budget. We drive from SW Michigan with our camper and stay at Ft. Wilderness. If you plan your trip for a value season, you can probably do quite well by staying at a Value/Mod resort too. We get PHP passes and don't go into the parks everyday (we stretch passes over 2 vacations) ... we take some of our time to enjoy the resort/pool and other Disney Magic that exists on-site but outside the 4 main parks.

Time your meals so that you have a large breakfast and late lunch. Then just snack in between (from your own stash, of course) when you get hungry.

Limit your expenditures on souveniers. Pick out one or two items for yourself that you will really use/enjoy and pass up all the "junk". Take lots of pictures as your souveniers. Set a $ limit for your child's souveniers ... when the money's gone, it's gone.

It's only been in recent years that we had a little more money to go to a couple of sit-down restaurants, but we've never felt deprived!!!

I had in-laws that would only travel if they could go first class. Consequently, they didn't travel much; whereas, we've taken the kids to WDW many times, LV/California 3 times, Wash DC, Yellowstone/Black Hills, summer camping locally, short trips to Chicago museums, Mammoth Caves 2 times, etc.

It really is up to you and your priorities ... you can save yourself a ton of money on food/restaurants once at WDW -- this is really where you can impact the cost of your vacation.

Good luck with the move!!!

 

[imgoingtodisney]

May have drastic work hr reduction (1/3rd of the paycheck) starting the new fiscal year this July. Planning on stocking up now, have ideas on where I can cut starting July if necessary.

And yes come Nov my family will board the Magic! Just dont know if we'll get off at the ports.

 

[CamColt]

Im have been a SAHM since my oldest was just under 2(hes now 6). We have actually started going to WDW more since then, LOL! DH's career has advanced since then so obviously, him making more money helps. We also get the most amount of taxes taken out of his paycheck. While we do charge things and rack up some debt, we are smart about it and know how much we can handle. Then when tax time comes, we pay it all off.
We enjoy staying at the All Stars. Even so, the Poly is my favorite and if we get a good rate, we will usually move there for the last night of the trip, to get my fix in. We dont do many sit down or character meals, but always at least a few. We also try to not buy too many souveniers. Since we tried driving to WDW instead of flying we have found that is doable and saves us some money(we are flying in Dec though).
With you not working think of what you will save on clothes, gas, daycare, etc... Its really not as bad as I thought it would be. Good luck!

 

[gina2000]

mamadonna....there are alot of ways to save money on one income. We went from a 2 income family to a 1 income family 9 years ago. And we lived on the lesser of the 2 incomes.

Here's a few tips.....

1. Clear out your credit card debt now. And don't carry any balances. It's wasted cash paying interest.

2. Stay out of the stores. Find something else to entertain yourself during the day. The more you are in the mall, the more money you spend.....a bargain is no bargain if you don't have the money for it.

3. Bagged lunch/breakfast/coffee. DH needs to bring some food to work if he can. No more stopping for Dunkin Donut coffee in the morning. It adds up.

4. Plan your dinners out. Don't get caught with the last minute order take-out blues. If that's your treat for the week/month....great....but don't make it a habit because you haven't prepared dinner and don't want to think about it.

5. Grocery shop in bulk. Buy the sales. Stock up. And try to avoid as much convenience food as possible. It's costly.

There are millions of ways to economize if you just think it through. We stayed at WL and Portofino Bay last November - both with deep discounts. Just take the time to plan in advance and continuously look for bargains.

Good luck! And enjoy your time home with your little guy!

 

[Marla Hellwig]

What I did was write down everything we spent for a month - and I mean everything - including that cup of coffee through the drivethrough - when the month ended - totalled everything and then started cutting corners

 

[Cindy B]

We have basically been a one income family for a LONG time. I work part time, but we never factor in my salary into the budget.
So technically, we "Live" on one income.


We pay off debt. We are credit card debt free. We pay cash for everything. We don't go out much, and don't go out to eat much.. which is fine with me, since I know what the restaurant markup is!

We have done some radical things to get income, but also some pretty radical things to reduce spending as well.

I got down to a $27 a week grocery budget for four people. That included everything, toiletries, food, etc.

Now its up more, but you get the idea.. cut out soda/cigarettes/alcohol, which would be the first thing.

Cut out prepacked food/convienence food. Cut out buying the coffee at Starbucks. (My DH makes his own chai for about 25 cents a glass!) Brown bag lunch.

Start shopping at discount stores.. for everything.

We bought a car in cash versus two car payments.

Start making things homemade, and you will be pleasently suprised on how great it all tastes.

And yes, we have gone to Florida for going on four years now every year.

 

[crisi]

(I'm not a stay at home mom, but did have a husband out of work briefly and went down to a single income for a few months.)

Found cash (rebate checks, dividend checks, bonuses, payouts from a Health Care Spending Accounts, etc.) shouldn't be part of your normal budget - stick them in savings.

Don't take Disney trips you can't afford - even cheap ones at the campground or offsite. You may need to go less often than you used to.

Consider doing something to bring in additional income. Could be a job on the weekends or watching a neighbors kid while she works a few days a week or becoming a home party rep a trying to book a couple parties a month.

And watch your SAHM expenses - I've had the occational friend who ran the numbers and figured she wasn't making that much money after paying for taxes, childcare, etc....only to stay at home and discover that it was too easy to spend more money as a stay at home mom - lunch with girlfriends and kids replaced lunch out a work. Home projects (flowers for the garden, new paint in the bedroom) ate the money formerly used on work clothes, gas getting to playdates isn't any cheaper than gas used to get to work, daycare costs included all those arts and craft supplies, etc.

Best wishes in your new career.

 

[Cindy B]

Originally posted by crisi
(I'm not a stay at home mom, but did have a husband out of work briefly and went down to a single income for a few months.)


And watch your SAHM expenses - I've had the occational friend who ran the numbers and figured she wasn't making that much money after paying for taxes, childcare, etc....only to stay at home and discover that it was too easy to spend more money as a stay at home mom - lunch with girlfriends and kids replaced lunch out a work. Home projects (flowers for the garden, new paint in the bedroom) ate the money formerly used on work clothes, gas getting to playdates isn't any cheaper than gas used to get to work, daycare costs included all those arts and craft supplies, etc.

.

Very very true advice! It is extremely easy to do that!

 

[cruisnfamily]

Originally posted by Cindy B
I got down to a $27 a week grocery budget for four people. That included everything, toiletries, food, etc.

How is this possible? Groceries are my largest expense. We also have a family of 4 and I bet I spend $600 a month on groceries (incl cleaning products, paper products, toiletries, etc)

Tell me your secret isn't tuna sandwhiches for dinner 3 nights a week.

 

[DiznEeyore]

Originally posted by Sonya Francisco
How is this possible? Groceries are my largest expense. We also have a family of 4 and I bet I spend $600 a month on groceries (incl cleaning products, paper products, toiletries, etc)

Tell me your secret isn't tuna sandwhiches for dinner 3 nights a week.

LOL!! I'd love to know, too! I've been working on whittling my grocery budget for a year or so now, and I still can't get us under $300/month (family of 3, 2 cats, 1 dog). Of course, I do buy pop (only on sale, though) and bottled water because I *hate* our city water, so I know that adds to the bill. I do shop at Aldi's a lot -- they have a lot of the "basics" at *really* good prices. I know they're not national, but they do have stores in many states. I also buy a lot of store brand items.

For the OP's question about affording vacations: We're basically a single-income family. I make a couple hundred bucks a month as our church secretary, but all of my pay goes toward ds' private school tuition. 18 months ago, my dh was laid off (love the IT industry!) and when he finally got a new job, it came with a $20,000 pay cut. BUT -- a job w/a paycut is waaaay better than no job, right?

So we've made big adjustments, the major one being we don't have a category in the budget for vacation anymore. If I want to go to WDW, I have to "find" the money. We sell stuff on ebay, have garage sales (actually a twice/year flea market that we rent tables at), save our change (I saved over $900 last year), return bottles, and put all rebate $ towards our trips. Dh and I do rewards programs for spending money, and I try to save money from my weekly "allowance" towards our vacations, too.

 

[Disney Doll]

I know I am going to sound like a spoiled brat, but vacation is VERY important to me. I find the money for it,sometimes in very innovative ways!!!

If I don't spend money on something(ie-I really want that Dunkin'Donuts hot chocolate), it goes into my vacation fund. I take a little money each week out the paycheck, and it goes into the vacation fund I will cut corners with buying lunch, sodas etc, and it goes into the vacation fund. All the change we accumulate every day goes into a big bank, and it is for the vacation fund.

 

[Cindy B]

No, I don't eat tuna three nights a week!

I got down to it, but now its up to about $45/50 or so a week.
Just this week alone we have had chicken, (2x), meatloaf, and tonight I am makine minestrone soup with homemade bread.

I make some of my own cleaners.. its amazing what vinegar/baking soda/just plain old bleach does. I rarely buy soda.. it needs to be 89 cents or less for a two liter bottle for me to even consider buying it. (Thats Pepsi brand as well, no store brand). We don't buy juice (DD is allergic to apple juice).

I buy produce at Aldi, and I have considered going to Produce Junction as well. But Aldi can get expensive as well.

I coupon aggressively (I will only use a coupon if it is 50 cents or more and ONLY if the store does doubles or even better true doubles)

I make things cheaper than prepacked. I buy meat when it is on sale, and if they are out, we get rainchecks. We can go for a week without it.

We make different cuisines as well.. Indian food is pretty much inexpensive to make once you get the initial spices. (Remember its a third world country.. mostly vegetables, or less expensive meats) Same with African cuisine.

I use powdered milk for baking. Since I do a lot of baking, that really cuts down on milk consumption.

If you think I'm inexpensive, I read an article called Grocery on $5 a week.. yes $5 a week. (thats for two people), so that would be $10 on my group of four.


I trying my hardest to get it down that much.. sometimes I do (hence $27 a week) and somedays I don't.

 

[mamadonna]

I think that my underlying motive in this post was for some reassurance that it can be done. Just like “well she lost weight, I know I can” or “He lived through the tower of terror, I know I can.” Thanks for making me feel better and for the wonderful ideas.

 

[Cindy B]

As for affording vacations, we do.. its not only because of my low grocery bill.


We set money aside. I do some side jobs.. like I worked for two seasons at the Township. My kids got free camp, I worked at the camp, and for just six weeks of part time work (9-12 for about 5 weeks), I had enough for my DH's and I spur of the moment 10 year anniversary trip.. we did Discovery Cove, Universal, Seaworld and Flight tickets/lodging.. for less than $1000 for five days.