Just One Thing

[kymom99]

one of the things that helped us w/the kid expenses was to start throwing a fixed set amount each month into the 'christmas' account I have set up (regular account so it can be accessed all year but I have a set amount budgeted each month that auto transfers for Christmas and birthday spending). I looked at the average we spent the prior year, bumped it up a bit then adjusted my auto transfer to include that amount. that way when those expenses came up we at least had a little cushion of designated funds set aside.

My brother has 2 older kids, and when they were in high school (Catholic school like my son) I remember him saying his vacation was to ______ (insert name of school). Boy do I know what he meant!

 

[njpyro]

We cancelled cable and the landline. We still make the monthly payment, only now it goes into the vacation fund!
We are planning on a Europe trip this summer. Every time I consider stopping for an iced coffee, I think to my self- that iced coffee will taste a whole lot better while I'm sitting in front of the Eiffel tower or the vatican....
We still occasionally go out to dinner, but when we talk ourselves out of it, whatever we would have spent gets moved to the vacation fund.
A lot of it has been training my husband to spend money the way I was raised to. You have to spend less than you make. It's as simple as that. Never buy anything you can't pay for right now. With the exception of our mortgage, we have no debt, but everyone in his family is accustomed to buying what they want, when they want, and are all in debt.

 

[Pembo]

Automatic transfers to savings and Automatic bill paying - if I don't see the money, I can't spend it.

 

[bcwife76]

Eat at home!!
Drink coffee at home!!
When you grocery shop make a list and stick to it!! If it's not on the list it does NOT get purchased. Clip coupons as well.

 

[lauradis]

Automatic transfers to savings and Automatic bill paying - if I don't see the money, I can't spend it.

 

[barkley]

Automatic transfers to savings and Automatic bill paying - if I don't see the money, I can't spend it.

the only thing w/auto bill pay (I love auto savings transfers!) is to make sure you check the actual bill and auto payment amount EVERY BILLING CYCLE. some companies (like satellite, cable, alarm and such) have it written in fine print in the contract (which you obligate yourself into agreeing to when you sign on and make the initial deposit/1st payment) that if a billing discrepancy is discovered after the fact limits how many months they will go back and either credit an account or refund money. some also have it hard written in auto payment arrangements that an auto payment requires 30-45 days notice to cancel so if you end up in a dispute with the company your bank can be contractually obligated not to stop the withdrawal until one or two billing cycles down the line (and if you try dealing with it by closing the bank account some banks will use their vendor agreement/your original contract w/the vendor to create overdrafts which either pull from other open accounts or generate debts w/horrendous overdraft fees).

 

[froggibabey]

Mine? Stay out of the stores!

Seriously, if you don't go in, you won't pick up all those unnecessary purchases.

I used to balk at paying shipping for one little thing on amazon, but then I'd go to walmart to pick it up and end up with an extra $50 worth of crap in my cart

Even the Salvation Army and Goodwill add up, you only need so many articles of clothing, I've found. It's so easy to just pick stuff up because it's such a good deal, but... if you don't need it, it's not a good deal!