- 15 year mortgage
- Never buy a new car!
- Shopping at Aldi/ discount grocers
- Put money in savings right away when getting paid
- Consignment sales for kids clothes
- Straight Talk cell service and keeping the same phone for 3-4 years
- Cooking at home (for the most part - sometimes mom needs a break!)
- Cutting the cable cord
- Way back when we were first married, we took on a 30-year mortgage BUT paid it on a 15-year schedule (if you do this, be sure you have no pre-payment penalty). We made this choice because we didn't know how our budget would work out when we had children/whether I'd go back to work or not, and we wanted the flexibility.
- We only buy new cars, but we pay cash and keep them 'til the wheels fall off. Because my daughter needed a car, I got a new one last year -- the car I passed on to her is 13 years old and in wonderful condition. If she hadn't needed it, I'd still be happily driving it.
- Yes to Aldi -- Lidl too.
- Yes to direct deposit ... we used to have our savings diverted to an out-of-the-way bank so we couldn't make a withdrawl without making a special trip.
- Yes, our kids had small wardrobes -- almost all purchased used from various sources.
- I LOVED IT when my kids wore school uniforms. Huge money-savers because they didn't need a whole closet full of clothes.
- Yes to keeping a phone until it literally breaks. I don't particularly enjoy having a new phone /having to arrange everything as I like it /learn a new phone.
- Yes to cooking at home and getting rid of cable (with so many new options like Sling, that's become easy in recent years -- but keep an eye on what you're paying; don't keep carrying subscriptions you're not using).
Our biggest one? We cloth diaper. Between my older two and this one I'm due with in a couple months, we're estimated saving thousands on just diapers.
Thousands is an exaggeration.
Right now a pack of size 1 Target diapers (44 count) is $4.59 (not on sale). Let's say that's 5 days of diapers -- 8 1/2 diapers per day. Newborns will use a little more, older children will use a few less.
Let's assume that's an average: If you use disposable diapers for 2.5 years, you'll spend about $850 total to diaper one child -- though in reality diapers go on sale pretty often; a person who stocks up when they're on sale could literally never pay full price for diapers. (In all fairness, I ignored tax.)
You think 8 1/2 diapers is too few per day? Okay, let's say 10 diapers/day -- that'll raise the cost to $951 -- again, that's store brand diapers, never once catching a sale.
If you find Aldis diapers acceptable (which everyone doesn't), you could slash that number by 20%. Their diapers are about 40 for $3.99.
Also, I am assuming that your child doesn't have sensitive skin and can wear any brand of diapers.
In contrast, if you're using the plainest of the plain cloth diapers -- the type women used generations ago -- they're $12.99 for ten at Target right now. If you want pre-folds, they're $12.99 for five. Plus plastic pants. But the people I know who use cloth diapers today are buying the fancier pants-style with snaps, etc., and those can cost $15-30 per pair. Let's say you use half of each type ... let's assume one 10-pack of plains + 10 pair of plastic pants @ $4 each + 10 fancy-type diapers for small baby, then 10 in a larger size (let's assume you get the cheaper style or buy them used and pay only $15) ... you'd end up spending just under $355 to set yourself up for cloth diapering the first child.
Regardless of what type you're buying, you have to wash them. That's probably an extra two loads per week (hot water and soap), so maybe $1 per extra load. If we estimate the same 2.5 years (130 weeks) of diapering, that's an extra 260 loads -- or $260 in washing costs. And your time /effort. So $355 for diapers + $260 for washing ... you'd spend $615 to diaper the first child. You'd save $235 on the first child's diapering.
Of course, the second child would cost less because you'd already have the initial investment done. You'd save $590 over the course of 2.5 years on the second child -- if you bought no new diapers at all. And still, your time /effort.
Savings? Yes. Thousands? No.
In all fairness, articles on cloth diapers run the numbers up much higher -- they assume way more diapers than any baby really uses /don't decrease that number as the child grows older and diaper changes become less frequent / assume the most expensive type of diapers. They "cheat the numbers" on the other side of the coin too: they assume that a small quantity of cloth diapers will last through multiple children /ignore the plastic pants /don't include your washing costs.
By my estimation, if you cloth diaper three children (and never buy new diapers for the younger children), you'll spend $1135.
If you use disposables (and never once buy on sale), you'll spend $2250 for those same three children.
Run the numbers for yourself and see what you find, but use realistic numbers.
And, in all fairness, this is ignoring the environmental concerns.
We don't go to movies. Our kids don't play sports or have extracurriculars that cost money. We don't buy coffee out (we brew at home and use travel mugs). ... I only get 4 haircuts a year or so.
Do you still have dollar movies where you live? We enjoy them.
We didn't skimp on extracurriculars for our kids -- that seems like false economy.
I don't drink coffee -- never developed the habit.
I don't count my haircuts, but I go to the walk-in places and get JUST a cut.
... I'm still using my original sleeping bag. My inflatable pad is still good ...
Buying quality and taking good care of things = savings.
I'm still using the sleeping bag that was my 15th birthday present, and we've had our sleeping mats since around the time our children were born. So that's almost 40 years old for the sleeping bag and 25 years for the sleeping mats.
I use a combination of apps and credit cards cash back and save about 12% on Disney trips.
Those apps also add up to pay for things like an Apple Watch.
I use a variety of credit cards, apps, reward systems ... but the real point is that every time I make a purchase, I consider the best way to optimize that cost. I compare costs /rewards.
We have always lived beneath our means.
Yes, even when we were first married and were poor-poor-poor, we spent less than we earned. And that wasn't always easy.
Our latest big savings was convincing DD17 to accept her offer from the local State U, versus her dream school Pricey Private U.
Yes, we told our kids they could choose any in-state state school. Both did very well and are now working in their chosen fields.
I was talking about the people who make min wage, live in govt housing, no phone, no internet/cable etc. beater car to get to their crappy job.
Those people have it MUCH harder, but at least in America they get a free education, they can qualify for Pell grants, and they have a chance to work their way up the ladder. Not easy -- not easy by any means -- but possible.
Something we plan to do when we retire next year: we'll get rid of one car. We only had one car for the first three years of our marriage (which wasn't easy because we lived way out in the country and both worked), and it was a MAJOR money saver. Once we're retired, it won't be difficult -- consider that it's not just the cost of the car that's a savings: it's also tags, tax, maintenance.
now i will initially pay for it using the insurance company's no fee credit card which pays a 3% cash reward for any of their products (i will pay it in full as soon as the statement arrives). that brings my savings to 14% on just my auto. i receive comparable discounts on the other policies (and i save the cash rewards until the end of each calendar year to apply as a statement credit to pay towards the premiums that come due in december). i shop regularly and compare different companies but i've yet to find the coverage/cost i can get with my current.
