Simplify Budget Help

[MouseloverJD]

so grateful for all the tips I have found on this board. The most helpful tip was to track my spending. I write down all the bills that I have, the amount of the bill and then pay them based on due date. This helps me keep track of my spending habits.

 

[maleficentmom]

Learn basic pet care...We have a Persian,I shave her down periodically(would probably cost 75 plus at groomer)with good clippers I paid $80 for at Petsmart.Practice cutting pets nails,grooming etc. on your own..ask a pet savvy friend how.I use a neighbor guy who is a vet for emergencies,and little things,but I also use a country vet that is an hour away for the big stuff/shots as they are much cheaper(I also buy my cats special food there).We adopted our purebred dog and cat,saving us and helping them.My fish tank came from a garage sale. .......Learn to color your hair,do your own manicures,eyebrows,etc...find a reasonable stylist to do anything you can't.I went to beauty school years ago,and even though I am a SAHM now, I still do our family.We try to go out and eat only one time a week,and that has cut our expenses a lot.I pack lunches for kids and hubby.We use entertainment book and other coupons or lunch specials when we go out.I do Walgreens/RiteAid rebate on free items.Today i went to walgreens and got free fiber lax, free vitamins,free floss,free eggs.There I get a lot of clearance items,and often use my instant rewards on stuff like eggs,bread,milk,crackers...instead of just another bottle of nail polish.Put liability only on our ancient car,get multi line disc. for cars and house through state farm.Refinanced our house for 30 yr.(after paying on a 30 for 7 yrs)...but we saved in interest and they dropped pmi,we are still putting the difference toward the principle,so we should have house paid off in about 15-16.Wanted a new Toyota van for about 28,000...got one 2 years old,certified plus extended 100000 mile warranty for 17000.Husband does tutoring for MBA students and I occasionally babysit,sell on ebay,garage sale.We also have Modern Woodman life ins. They have monthly dinners at local restaurants and usually pay 2.50 per person toward meals,they also have service clubs with fun activities for kids and opportunities for scholarships.

 

[dizluvah]

Such great tips. A few I can add

Wash clothes in cold, hang clothes outside if possible, turn down the temperature a few degrees on your water heater, wrap water heater in a $20 insulating blanket, install programmable thermostat - turn down the thermostat a few degrees (same applies for A/C) you might be surprised that a few degrees can save money on the bill

Lastly, I try to combine my errands/trips to cut down on gas. The other thing I have had to start recently is not always filling up the gas tank in my car - for example if I have to stick to a specific dollar amount for gas/commute budget line - I might only put in $20 (which means I actually have to walk inside - gasp the horror!!)

Either way, I'm paying for gas but if I budget $100 a week and only have $20 left for that week I don't need to fill the tank....

 

[JCMHutch]

We decided to forgo cable - we have a netflicks account and bought a ROKU player to attach to the television. Now we can watch all the netflicks play it now movies on our television and not spend $100+ on cable.

We also use the library a lot for books & movies. We rarely buy new books.

We don't eat out much. DH & I also bring lunch every day. If you do like to eat out check the values on restaurant.com.

Another good way to save $ is to clip coupons for items that you use. We also maximize our local warehouse club for items and use coupons there too.

 

[Sagginit]

do you scrapbook? i do and had a ton of stuff i wasnt using. i bought ivory cards/envelopes at target on clearance along with a pack of stamps (happy bday thank u etc) and inkpad on clearance. all combined were the cost of one card, i use that stuff with my scrapbook supplies to make cards for friends bdays- they definately appreciate it more and its pennies compared to buying a card. sometimes they have small cards/envelopes in the $1 store at target. you can also get creative with giftwrap this way. i have a pile of tiffany boxes in my room and i might just cover up the logo with a nice strip of ribbon and reuse as gift boxes. that cust out the cost of buying a card last minute at hallmark for $5, they are basically free for me now.


share, we share dvds with other people in our family, i lend books to friends sometimes, and i still often carpool with my girlfriends when we go out. i have a Wii and invite people over to play it, what snacks cost me is a fraction of what dinner out with them would cost (plus my friends often bring me a bottle of wine as a hostess gift- its a nice bonus ) having a movie night/Wii night makes giving up going out to dinner less painful.

 

[Katie's Butterflies]

All I can say is, I asked the right group of people. You all are geniuses and I thank you for sharing your wisdom! I have so much to learn!

Here is out I cut $25,000 in debt down to $12,500 in a year. .

Can I just say, WOW! That is amazing!

In addition to saving money, you can also earn more money every month by selling your old junk. I make approx $400 a month selling stuff on Ebay and/or selling dvds/cds at local used cd/dvd stores. I've made $1236 so far in 2010.

Is almost anything sellable? I thought that in order for stuff to sell online, it needed to be new in package, sealed.

Stop dining out. This includes fast food & junk at work. $3 for coffee adds up.

Another vote for planning your meals ahead of time.

We don't eat out much. DH & I also bring lunch every day. If you do like to eat out check the values on restaurant.com.

I am going to try planning out meals so we eat out less. I think this will save us a bunch of money. As many of you mentioned, the $3 here and $5 there really do add up.

Does anyone really need to have 327 cable channels? No. Cancel them. Get a cheap Netflix account. Or better yet, make a game out of watching every dvd you already own. .

We decided to forgo cable - we have a netflicks account and bought a ROKU player to attach to the television. Now we can watch all the netflicks play it now movies on our television and not spend $100+ on cable.

Personally, I want to get rid of our satellite television. I think it’s a waste of time and money (for us), but I’m the only one who doesn’t want to keep it. I have been able to get them to agree to downgrade. Maybe I can suggest netflix, as several of you mentioned, and they’ll agree to try to go without television for a while.

!

 

[Mom2Ben02]

A few things...

~if you are downgrading car insurance, make sure you understand what that means. I, personally, would never do that. We have two older cars - a 2000 and a 2001. If we were to get in an accident and did not have full coverage, we would get nothing to repair or replace our cars. To save $20 a month, it is not worth it to us.

~a GREAT meal planning tool is recipezaar.com . You can search by ingredient, so if pork chops are on sale, it makes it easy to find a new recipe to go with that.

 

[ali2000]

A few things...

~a GREAT meal planning tool is recipezaar.com . You can search by ingredient, so if pork chops are on sale, it makes it easy to find a new recipe to go with that.

I like this idea! Thanks! I always have that problem... have something in the fridge and pantry, but am not creative enough to put it together.