Shaving the budget :-)

[phorsenuf]

So today is shave the budget day. So far I've changed the insurance, cable and cell phone bills. Also told the kids (adults) it was time to pay their share of the cell phone. I'm up to $410. in savings a month. I'm on a roll.....what else can I cut?

 

[hereyago]

That is good so far. Do you eat at home mostly? eating out even for lunch several times a week can be expensive. And I put my change every day into a container and let it mount up.

People on the budget board are really good with this stuff.

 

[DawnM]

We are shaving the budget some too. I need to start a car replacement fund.

I am calling Directv as soon as I finish watching my show on DVR!

Here is what I found out. I use YNAB to track my spending. I found some "holes" in the budget that were really just "overspending catch alls." I have an eating out budget, his/her fun money AND an entertainment budget. This was in addition to the Directv budget.

So, I am cutting the entertainment budget and making our "fun" money cover any entertainment we use. This will mean cutting back.

Oh, and I am cutting the chiropractor and the supplements. I don' think they are really helping.

So far I have shaved $300, but I would like to find another $100-$150. This may come from our grocery fund. I am couponing and hope to get another $100 shaved that way.

I won't cut the Disney budget (unless it is a necessity), but I may have to cut it back more.

Dawn

 

[phorsenuf]

That is good so far. Do you eat at home mostly? eating out even for lunch several times a week can be expensive. And I put my change every day into a container and let it mount up.

People on the budget board are really good with this stuff.

No, we don't eat out so much, at least not as much as we used to. I'm trying to start by shaving my fixed bills.

 

[laurafergie]

Subscriptions and memberships are a good one to cut.

Take a hard look at your car insurance, maybe up some deductibles, or drop comprehensive on an old car.

I cut out napkins and paper towel (purchased cloth to replace, a one time cost of about $30)

In grocery, cut out all prepared drinks. I only buy milk and tea bags to make tea.

Experiment using less laundry soap, and dish washer soap. I discovered that I only have to fill to the 1st line in the laundry soap cup, not fill the cup and only have to fill the dishwasher halfway. Use vinegar instead of rinse aid. I also use vinegar in the rinse for my towels.

 

[pah-fla]

I called AT&T on Friday and dropped my home phone - now I won't be getting all the collection calls for other people who have had this phone number. I also downgraded my tv package and eliminted all the extraneous channels I don't watch and then downgraded my internet speed for a total of $60.00 a month savings. I was quite happy at this effort. Next is my car insurance and seeing how much I can save there. I've also been on a major effort to pay off all my credit cards. This is all in an effort to get ready for retirement next July. I should have the rest of the credit cards paid off by then and will be able to retire debt free. Yah!!!

 

[tvguy]

I called AT&T on Friday and dropped my home phone - now I won't be getting all the collection calls for other people who have had this phone number. I also downgraded my tv package and eliminted all the extraneous channels I don't watch and then downgraded my internet speed for a total of $60.00 a month savings. I was quite happy at this effort. Next is my car insurance and seeing how much I can save there. I've also been on a major effort to pay off all my credit cards. This is all in an effort to get ready for retirement next July. I should have the rest of the credit cards paid off by then and will be able to retire debt free. Yah!!!

Probably would have saved more keeping the land line and dumping the cell phones.

 

[Planogirl]

We cut our budget when we added satellite! We found ourselves going out too much but now Dish keeps us entertained...most of the time. I'd like to get a lower cost cell phone plan when our contract ends. We already did away with the landline.

 

[Swan4Me]

Also told the kids (adults) it was time to pay their share of the cell phone.

Drop the "kids"-seriously if they are adults they should be paying their own cell phone bills



I also dropped my land line-$50 savings a month. DH gets his emails on his cell-for work-as he is on the road- a cell is a necessity in our family

 

[Kath2003]

We did this a while back - saved $24/month by changing to (faster, more reliable!) internet from a different company; saved another $10/month by switching pet insurance to another company; saved $11/month by switching our home insurance provider too. Total savings only $45/month but $540/year.

We refuse to pay for more TV channels since it's a legal requirement to buy a TV license here (at a cost of $220/year).

 

[LuvOrlando]

Nothing makes me more sick to my stomach than paying our cell phone & home phone bills. If it were just me I'd have a trac phone, cancel the home phone and be done with it but the rest of the family would never go along with it. I try not to add it up but we are literally paying hundreds.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Drop the "kids"-seriously if they are adults they should be paying their own cell phone bills

True - we discovered a long time ago that it saved everyone money for us to keep our family plan, and we (the "adult children") pay our share to my mother every month.

 

[Liberty Belle]

According to the magazines I've read you should cancel your lawn service and cut your own grass and not go to Starbucks and make your own coffee! Why didn't I think of that?!

(Dripping with sarcasm, incase you didn't notice).

 

[Conservative Hippie]

According to the magazines I've read you should cancel your lawn service and cut your own grass and not go to Starbucks and make your own coffee! Why didn't I think of that?!

(Dripping with sarcasm, incase you didn't notice).

I know - if I wanted my own coffee, I would make my own coffee!

 

[DawnM]

Wait, what? I didn't know you could do those things yourself! Next you will be telling me I need to drive MYSELF around town and fire the limo driver.

HA! Yeah, useful tips. Sarcasm dripping here too.

According to the magazines I've read you should cancel your lawn service and cut your own grass and not go to Starbucks and make your own coffee! Why didn't I think of that?!

(Dripping with sarcasm, incase you didn't notice).

 

[phorsenuf]

Drop the "kids"-seriously if they are adults they should be paying their own cell phone bills



I also dropped my land line-$50 savings a month. DH gets his emails on his cell-for work-as he is on the road- a cell is a necessity in our family

The kids are going to pay their portion. We are on a family share minutes plan. It wasn't too bad till we changed our phones to Droids and got hit with the darn data packages (x4)
The kids are 19, 21 and 23. The one that is 23 is in college and dad felt that he should be exempt from paying for his own since he's in school. The other 2 are out on their own though and we were just helping them out.
But as I said, we have decided enough so they were informed that they need to pay their share and they were fine with that so I'll keep them on.

Our home phone is bundled with our internet and cable service. It's very minimal a month and I keep it because of 911 mostly. With my health issues I want to make sure it's there if I need it. Plus my son is overseas and it's cheaper to use a landline for those calls then a cell annnnnnnddddd when I am on business calls I prefer the land line over a cell phone so I don't have to worry about and dropped calls and such.

 

[C.Ann]

Someone mentioned this on the BB - and I thought it was pretty interesting, so I did some research..

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/penny-pinching-save-energy-by.html

I'm going to give this a shot when I move back up to the lake (hopefully this Friday), because there are quite a few items I don't use on a daily basis so there's no point in having them drain electric that's not needed.. I dug out my bill from last year (from this time of year), so if I do this for a whole month I will actually be able to determine how much less I've used by the break down..

Other things I will be doing:

Dropping my cable to Basic and internet (the only game in town) if they won't give me a "too good to be true deal" on the Standard Service that I currently have.. (I only pay a seasonal rate when I'm not there so I don't have to pay the disconnect and reconnect charges every year..)

I'm in a "dead zone" up there (in terms of cell phones) and don't have one anyhow - however, I do have the "bare bones" land line.. Because of the area I'm in at the lake, even a simple phone call to my post office is long distance.. So - I normally buy calling cards - when they go on sale, buy one, get one free.. However, several times I have seen them in the Dollar Store (I think they were 30 minutes for a buck), so I'll be checking that out before I leave.. If I can't find any, it's no big deal as I still have 200 minutes left on one of the cards I purchased the year before last when they were B1G1F..

I have a pretty large grocery/shopping list for my stock-up trip this week and have been printing coupons off the internet like mad.. Whatever I can't get at Aldis for rock bottom prices, I will try to get elsewhere using these coupons.. I'm especially fond of the ones you can use on "any" size because with it just being me, the smallest size is fine and costs next to nothing with the coupons.. Once I do this one "big" trip, I should be pretty well set for months and months - aside from milk and anything else that can't be frozen or stored for long periods of time..

I have been gathering up all of my recipes that call for the fewest ingredients - many of which are staples that I normally have on hand anyhow - and will be doing lots and lots of "batch" cooking/baking and freezing the items for future consumption..I'll be returning to the budget plan for my electric when I get back to the lake and since I paid the full balance of the budget plan shortly after I left there, they will be starting off my "base" budget on the past 6 months use (of which only part of one month had any use at all..) Had there been no use at all, I wouldn't be able to do that.. It would be based on the 6 months of use prior to leaving and that useage was pretty high.. Of course they will adjust it again in 4 months or so - to be more reflective of my actual use - but until then, it's extra money in my pocket..

My anti-virus program is up for renewal the day after tomorrow and I'm really considering going with one of the free programs - AVAST or something along those lines.. I've never been thrilled with what I have now anyhow, so it's worth a shot.. If I find it's not sufficient, I'll go with a paid version later on..

My Dson-in-law just got my car inspected today at the shop where his best friend works and all is well there.. No need for brakes or anything.. Phew! Gas is going to be a challenge though.. Just heard on the evening news that it has reached $4.05 for regular here in New York.. Not sure if that's our particular area or not, but I do know that I will only be purchasing my gas "as needed"..

I have found that with dish liquid, shampoo, and conditioners, you can pretty much mix them half and half (half water and half product - or if that sounds too scary, do 1/4 water and 3/4's product) with little to no difference in the performance.. Also, unwrap your bar soap as soon as you purchase it and it will last longer that way..

I've just about had it with HP - and their ink cartridges.. I swear they're only filling them half full - if that - and passing them off as "new" - so I may start having them refilled at one of our local supermarkets for $7.99 per cartridge.. That would be a tremendous savings for me with printing out coupons; printing off recipes (that I later copy over on index cards); etc.. The other day I was up in the attic and found a huge box of eBay/Paypal info that I had printed out back when I was a seller and noticed that I had only used one side.. So - guess what I'm using to print out my recipes (in draft mode) in my printer? Yup - the blank side.. Since I'm only going to copy them over again by hand (at my convenience - outside; down at the lake; etc.) why waste "good" paper - right?

I won't be ordering tons of books online this year (even though I purchased them used mostly on half.com), but instead will re-read quite a few from 2008and 2009 (glanced through them and don't remember what I read - LOL); get back into reading the shelves and shelves of books I still have up to the lake; and will only "purchase" books in garage sales; thrift stores; the City Mission; library book sales; etc..

Also doing away with the bottled water this year - something that is a necessity at the lake (the water isn't safe for drinking) - but instead will be purchasing this filter pitcher that my DD bought for here (the water from the tap here at their house is really nasty tasting) and will just keep refilling that as needed with the jugs of water DD's DH brings up to me from here every week..

That's all I can think of at the moment.. It's actually become somewhat of a game with me.. I just pulled a figure out of the blue that I wanted to see in one of my savings accounts by the time I come back here from the lake next year and now I'm on a quest to see if I'm up to the challenge..

Basically my mind set right now is pretty much "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"..

My dad always used to say "if you don't save dimes, you'll never have dollars" - and it's really true.. The real killer are those "little things" - that don't seem like much..

I'll be keeping my eye on this thread myself - as time allows - to see if I can pick up a few new ideas that I can put in place..

Hope you're able to shave your budget to the point you would like it to be.. Good luck!

 

[Kimberly]

Pennywise and pound foolish... just saying.

My budget actually had to go up. Making more money at least...