How to cut costs and save money?
I need some help with how to cut costs. We don't make much money but of course make to much for help from the state for insurance and foodstamps, but we are in that median between making to much for help but not enough to make ends meet. We do have some bad habits but not really as bad as a lot of people so when I read all these columns on how to save money, well they don't pertain to us. We already buy the generic brand groceries, my husband and I aren't big on coffee, we don't go to restaraunts and spend all our money on drinks, we have limited our cell phone and cable bills, we don't do any traveling because we can't afford it. We are not in debt…we have maybe 2 or 3 hundred on our credit card but we never let it get above that and we pay 30 to 40 more than the minimum every month, we don't have two expensive cars, his car will be paid off next year, mine is paid off. I'm not a shopaholic, we don't do movies or anything like that. I mean we stay at home and usually fight about money, that's what our entertainment and fun has diminished down to because we can't afford to do anything with each other or our daughter. We have to buy diapers and baby food (she just got her teeth a couple months ago and we've tried solid food and she just hasn't gotten yet so we buy the baby food jars and that's already half our grocery bill, we're trying to eat healthy and in florida groceries and everything else is not cheap, we don't have a butcher or farmers market around and we don't have time to garden) And I don't know how to buy cheap healthy things and make them at home in ess than 20 minutes after I get off of work so we usually don't eat or we eat sandwhiches. I work about 25 hours at my job because they won't give me more but I work 5 days a week for 4 to 5 hour shifts, They refuse to work with me to let me work 3 really long days so I work 6 days a week, he works 40 at his and is not aloud to work overtime, and our parents watch our daughter so we don't have to pay childcare. I don't know how else to cut costs. We do like takeout on the weekends but that's all we really do extra. We have no form of budget for entertainment and we don't know how to really entertain and have fun with each other at home because we'ree so stressed. We just want some serious ideas on how to save money and have a better life for us andd our daughter becasue this is not working and nobody I talk to knows how to help. Thanks!
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I agree with Trishyann. I use Netflix too. When we had the money we got a Roku box to watch movies on our TV. WE don't rent DVDs in our town. We just get them in the mail from Netflix and Blockbuster. We bought bikes for us all. I have a husband who works full time and 3 kids. So we bike ride and talk. I understand the stress. Find something that you like to do as a family for free and something that you like by your self. I know you are a MOM but you need to breathe. Join a freecycle group and trade away your unwanted junk for stuff you can use.
OH and use coupons. I save bunches with them. Email all the companies that you buy stuff from. Don't forget the diaper and baby food ones. They all have mailing lists that will send out samples and coupons. I know its a lot of work but it pays off for that few hours of your time.
Good Luck!
do what my wife and i did,,,,we each got another job…worked worked saved saved….it's not a big mystery….
Unless you are living in an expensive area, sounds like you're doing as much as you can; if you can scrimp and save any more pennies try to put aside enough to pay off the credit card entirely.
Have you tried offering transportation to illegal imigrants across the U.S - Mexico border? If not, you could buy nuts separate and mix them together at home instead of buying pre-mixed nuts.
There are many ways and tips on effective ways to manage money in general. Technically, all these tips talk about one thing: being able to have money when needed, where needed. A lack and wanting desire to acquire money when the call arises does not necessarily mean not being able to manage money effectively, but may just be an overshoot of unexpected events. evertheless, the person should be able to acquire and find ways to come up with the needed amount if ever there is a strapped budget from the unexpected event that needs to be complied.
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Hmmm… this is my life you are talking about!!! The only thing i can think to do is really sit and think about your budget, write down every single thing that you have to pay, get the credit cards all paid off, they extra 50 bucks or so a month could really help. Even though you buy generic you should try only shopping sale adds, the dollar store has some okay crackers, snacks, water, juice shampoo… just the little things. if you have cable internet and house phone, try to get a bundle deal, and even if you can save on the weekends cooking at home. tacos of any kind a cheap and easy. good luck
You are throwing money away on credit card interest. Pay them off a stop using them. Go to the library, borrow a few budget cooking books.
You should not be eating takeout at all.
Shop the supermarket special. Spaghetti and Meat balls, you make yourself using chop meat costs 10 and can feed your family dinner for 3 days. Buying skinless chicken breasts, pkg of three for under 5 dollars, You fillet the breasts and can also get dinner for two nights.
We are two adults with no money problems and I still shop and cook this way. A meatloaf is dinner and lunch for 3 days.
Free movies at the library. Start a pot luck dinner group with neighbors and friends. Take walks. Join a book discussion group. Plenty of ways to have a night out for pennies. Do some volunteer work as a family.
I feel for you, I know how hard it can be. I turned my cable off and got Netflix. I got the $14.99 plan which allows 3 movies at a time so you could get a movie for your daughter and 2 for you which would be some entertainment if you made popcorn at home. It's not the greatest but it's better than having a $50 cable bill. Check on changing car insurance or cutting coverage if that is possible. Do you use coupons for diapers?? Other Entertainment could be spending the day in the park & having a picnic. Maybe you could pick up a 2nd job like babysitting a child close to the same age as yours or even 2 children. I know that good babysitters are hard to find so you could probably take on enough that you could quite your job & spend more time at home with your child which would cut down on your gas & wear on your car. Maybe you husband could cut a few lawns in the area or do some weeding of flowers for the elderly. Shoveling snow or raking leaves when it's time.
It sounds like your income and outgo are about the same amount. That is better than spending more than you make. I know it is frustrating. We have all been there. Please read a book called the total money makeover by Dave Ramsey. His words on debt and finance are so absolutely inspiring. You may need to get a second job a couple nights or weekends for a while. You are about even on the income and outgo side. You need more on the income side of the equation. Do not spend frivolously on things you do not absolutely need. Use cash or debit card for everything from now on. Cut up the credit card and never use it again. You have a very low balance. Do not pay a little and then use the card again to raise the balance back up. You can't get out of the debt hole by digging it deeper every month using credit cards.
I am sorry to hear about your arguments with your husband. The number one cause of marital stress and divorce is fights about money and finances. Please do not let yourself become one of the statistics. You sound like you have a lot of stress and sleepless nights in your life due to your finances. Sorry. You need to develop and get on a plan that will help you. Nothing great was ever built without a plan.
My wife and I are using Dave Ramsey's plan and it is absolutely fantastic. We make great money, but we had nothing because we never budgeted and just spent on anything we wanted. We were throwing a fortune out the window every year. At the end we just looked around and wondered where all the money went. We came across Dave's show on the Fox Business Channel and have never been the same. We are now on a budget and have a monthly spending plan on paper. You must do it on paper to see where every dollar goes. We now have low 5 figures less debt just by getting organized and intense about it. Your husband will have to read the book to and get on board. If one of you spends and the other saves, it won't work. These are two opposing forces. You both need to be on the same page pulling together as a team. Once you start to see the organization paying off and the work paying off, an amazing thing will happen. You will have less arguments about money. Once you have a plan that both of you are working towards, you will have less stress in your relationship and mor open honest communication with him. Once you start winning with money, you will sleep much better at night as well. It really all starts with you and your husband. It sounds like you are frustrated enough by your situation to really do something about it. You may have to sacrafice to pay off the debt and car early. Once you clear the debts, you can start saving for the kids college, build up an emergency fund, start saving and many other things. Debt is the enemy. Debt is the biggest detractor to true wealth building there is. You may have to take on extra work for a while. This will up the income side of the equation in your case. Right now you are at
Income = outgo. Wouldn't it be better to be at Income > outgo. If your income gets higher than the outgo every month, you will have extra money to pay down debt and save for the kids college. See how this works?
Do a strict budget this month and every month. On paper. Both of you have to agree to stick to the budget. If it is not on the budget, you can't do it. Period. You each get a vote and each vote counts equally. Remember you are a team pulling together towards a common goal.
Dave's book has some beginner budgeting forms in the back. We used them as a starting point. We modified them to suit our individual needs though and put them on computer. It's just easier that way. There are many thins you will learn by reading this book. I hope you take the steps to implement them. It has worked wonders for my wife and I. Just imagind how you'll feel when you kids come home one day in the future and tell you they got accepted to Harvard, Yale, Princeton or the like and wopnder if they can afford to go there and you say don't woory, got it covered. How cool will that feel? You will need to start planning and doing now. Do yourself a favor and get this plan. It is easy to understand and you do not need a doctorate in finance to implement it. It is all commons sense stuff that most of us have forgotten laid out in a very easy and logical progression of steps.
Sorry, got a little long winded here.
Good Luck, I wish you all the best. I hope this plan works for you as well as it has worked for us.
My god what a long question!
You have to start thinking S-M-A-R-T. What kind of cutbacks can you make? For example: I drink bottled water. Paying $1 a bottle on something that covers over 65% of our planet is not smart. So I bought one of those water filters that screw into your faucet. I have bottles that I refil over and over again. This doesn't take much time and you will reduce your carbon footprint as a bonus. Do you have a lot of small appliances around the house that are always on? Televisions, subwoofers, sterio equipment and microwaves use the most energy when they are left plugged into the outlet, even when they are turned off. Plug all your plugs from entertainment system into those 6 prong outlet plugs with the switch on them. When you are not using these items shut the switch off. I noticed a huge difference on my electric bill just by doing this. I also bought some of those florescent bulbs that look a lot like a regular bulb. These things use 80% less electricity than regular bulbs. Ave 60Watt incalescent bulb (old school) runs you 2 cents per hour. Ave 60Watt energy bulb averages 0.5 cents per hour. Wanna be creative? Find yourself leaving lights on? Buy a motion sensor switch, the lights will turn on when you enter the room and will turn off (by a set amount of time) when you leave the room. I have one, they cost $15 at HomeDepot. You would be surprised, but these small things add up. If you really need the money right away start cutting back on your food costs. Romain noodles cost a dime and they taste just as good as campbells chicken noodle that costs over $1 a can. Ok no chicken in romain noodles, but you are probably just missing about 4 tiny pieces of chicken. Adjust your toilet to use lesser water. If you don't know how to do this then put a brick inside your toilet 'chamber'. You will use a less water each time you flush, this adds up over time people. Before you know it you will be ahead. Need new windshield wipers for your car? Who says you have to buy 2? You only need the new one on the drivers side, leave the old wiper on the passenger side. Are you an impulsive buyer?? Listen here's what you do……always save the receipt. Find a place to save all the boxes, packaging, etc. Try to get obsessed with folding all the packing materials, making them neat and tape the receipt onto the box/package. Make a game out of it. And get yourself into a new habit called "impulse returning" I once bought a shampoo rug cleaner to scrub my carpets. After I was done I didnt need it anymore so I returned it to the store. I like to think of it as free rental. So remember you have to start thinking S-M-A-R-T! Yours truly seahorsehawrey.