Reducing spending?

[Serena]

Any suggestions or websites that may be helpful?

 

[JerseyJanice]

This is Cindy B's forte.

Oh, Cindy! Where are you?

 

[Cindy B]

Here I am...

Ok, Serena what do you want to do?

In what areas?
What types of spending?
Food? Clothing? Kid activities?

Do you need frugal ideas?

Let me know....


I kind of need ot know what you want to do, to tailor the advice...

 

[Serena]

everything

 

[snowball22]

Just a few money savers:


Shop at Aldis if you have one near you. Saves you 40-50% on your grocery.

Ask your local grocer at what time of the day do they mark down the meat. Our local Meijers usually marks down it's meat by 40% or more after 10 at night.

Invest in a crockpot or start using yours if you have one. There are alot of great recipes on the internet. You can make alot of great meals for cheap in the crockpot.

Stop buying pop. Make Kool aid or iced tea instead.

Buy gas for your car on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Our gas always seems cheaper on those days.

Check your car insurance and see what you can do to lower your monthly premiums.

Check out your local library. Free books, DVDs, videos and magazines. Also the local library usually offers free how to classes and they usually offer free musical programs for you and the kids to attned. At our library they have free knitting classes, cooking demonstrations, free magic shows, free story telling and so forth.

Cut out the daily newspaper. Most newspapers are available online for free.

Start paying off your credit cards and try to get down to just one card or no cards at all.

Check out your city calendar for free holiday events. Alot of fun for the family can be had at these events. We have a free Halloween fest coming up on Friday and my town has a tree lighting ceremony.

If relatives want to know what to get your kids for Christmas, ask for zoo memberships. Alot of bang for the buck. The zoo is open all year around with special fun events for the kids going on all year.

Good Luck. You can do it.

 

[Cindy B]

Wow!

Lets see, first write down everything you owe...

Not just credit cards, but utilities, rent/mortgage, kids activities, school fees, grocery ... everything...

Lets start with credit cards. First look at your percentage rate. Call the bank/company, and negiotate with them..

Say something like (approx. figures).... I'm at 11%, I know you can offer me a better rate. Other companies are starting at 8 or 9 %, or a zero rate for a few months, and then go up to 5 or 6 %.

What can you do for me?

This works especially if you have had the card for a while, and have carried a balance for a long time as well. They will do anythign to keep you!

Grocery:

Coupons, coupons, coupons.

Don't buy anything (wiht the exception of milk,eggs) without it.
Buy generic anything, and try it. You may find it more quantity in the box, for less money. dont get sucked in by sales, or pretty packaging or going to the store hungry. Stock up during double or (if you are lucky) triple coupons. Buy only what is on the list, and NOTHING MORE.

Cigarrettes and alcohol is very expensive around here. If you do that, well cut down, or more radical quit immediately. You will be healthier and have money in your pocket.

Have buy nothing days... and turn them into buy nothing weeks. Buy nothing is when you don't spend a dime the whole day.. Stretch it into two days, three days, and you will eventually make it about a week.

Write down everything you spend in a day.. from the coffee at the conveinence store, to the take out food, or the candy in the vending machine, to the ATM visits.

You will be shocked..


This is just the tip of the iceberg, so I won't overwhelm you...
I read some really amazing books....

ONe was Affluenza, one was Your Money Your Life, and the other one was Living Debt Free.....

 

[Kermit]

In addition to all of the suggestions already given, record all of your expenses and figure out what percentage of your income is used up by regular, fixed or almost fixed expenses, like car payments, mortgage, utilities bills, etc. I've recently come to the realization that I'm never going to save much more money than we do already by trying to cut costs on groceries, clothes, or stuff like that. We're already as low as we want to go. We're going to have to cut regular monthly expenses, by doing things like getting cars with lower payments, if we want to save much more.

 

[Serena]

I'm in the middle of writing everything down. There's one more thing I really need to do and that's say "no" more.

 

[LuvTigger]

Sorry, I'm a little late jumping in on the bandwagon here...

I've been trying to cut expenses too, and just wanted to say I completely agree that writing daily expenses down really helps, even on a subconscious level.

Also, look at your home phone and cell phone (if you have one) plans. See if you're paying for extra things that really aren't necessary like caller id, call-waiting, etc. Some people I know don't even have a home phone and use their cell phone for everything because they have a good plan that includes long-distance, etc.

As for grocery shopping, the only other thing I would add is to plan your menus and shopping list based on what's on sale. For instance, if chicken's on sale this week, get that instead of the regularly priced steak, etc. Also, I buy things like frozen chicken breasts at Costco or Sam's Club because you can just pull out a couple pieces at a time instead of cooking the whole thing.

Another thing that really adds up is coffee, if you buy it at a coffee shop. I have a friend who goes to Starbucks every workday, so that's about $3 a day times 5 days, $15 a week, almost $60 a month just on a mocha!

 

[Serena]

thanks for all the ideas. I know it'll help.

 

[DocRafiki]

It is SO easy to record your spending if you have something like Microsoft Money. I think another is Quicken. I use MS$. It puts everything into a category and can make charts, graphs, and lists of whatever you want. There are also different planners on it for saving money or paying off loans, even a budget planner, that help you stay on track. You can see at a glance how much you have or owe in each of your accounts, and the total at the bottom of the list. I have added an Excel sheet where I record that total every day. That way I can make sure I keep increasing my net worth. I make a goal to increase it by a certain amt every month, probably a lot more than most people would aim for since I'm in debt. Today, before my grocery trip, my net worth is -$118,850.32. This program has helped me SO much. It also reminds me to pay bills, so I've avoided the hundreds in late fees that I have paid in the past.