How does your family save money and cut costs?

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If you have not put pen to paper to write a budget then that is a first step. I make sure there is extra money for savings. If there are unpredictable or optional expenses, I know that it reduces my savings.

We also work on a cash basis for groceries and weekly personal expenses. I find it harder to turn loose of cash than writing a check.

Finally we have consolidated our grocery shopping into a once a week trip. We make a loop and stop at 2-4 stores so that we get the best price on everything based on sale circulars and coupon bonuses. This beats WalMart prices almost everytime.
 
Wow, so many more great suggestions…thank you, everybody!

sarah–i, too, have noticed the varying costs of items from store to store. it’s part of my coupon obsession 😉 for the most part i stay away from walmart and super target because they don’t double coupons, even if their item is marked to a lower price–it ends up being less expensive at the grocery store with a double or triple coupon.

tom–very good suggestion! we, too, use debit cards very carefully throughout the month. before i was married, i never used a credit card for anything–if i had the cash to pay up front for something, then i would buy it. if not, i’d forget about it. now we use debit for everything up until the very end of the month when we may have to charge something here or there just to be sure all uncashed checks from different bills are fully covered.

legeorge–i think you are on to something 😉 i don’t have to worry about gifts for my immediate family (siblings and parents) as we don’t exchange them–we just write “Christmas letters” to each other. but, i still have a baby neice i would love to do something for, cousins and friends that all insist on giving us gifts and sometimes it’s a struggle to reciprocate or to do so in an equally generous manner. up until this year, when we were in better contact with my dh’s parents and siblings–gift exchange with them was a complete nightmare. his parents were very offended if a certain amount wasn’t behind whatever gift–no matter what the actual gift was. his sisters have similar “strange” issues–very concerned with what their brother can buy them. fortunately that is not going to happen this year. (although, i do have some compassion for them after reading The Five Love Languages and realizing that some people show and receive love through gift giving–it’s not just overzealous materialism!!!) 🙂

bear06–I love your storie!. my dh and i are absolutely so excited to start a family someday soon, we hope. and this period of ‘juggling’ and sacrifice is really only whetting our appetite for that which is still to come, when we have little ones who must come first.

fitz–thanks for sharing your experience of ebay. i’ve been thinking about half.com because i don’t want to pay all the ebay fees. i have a friend (in a different part of the country) who sells things she gets at store warehouses (like pottery barn) that are brand new but on sale–she sells them for just under ‘new’ price and makes so much money! that sounds a bit “involved” for me, but i could see selling my old books and making a few bucks a month.

jrabs–car insurance is a very good point! that is something we have talked about but not really done much about. my dh is somewhat of a AAA snob 😉 he seems to think it’s “the best” insurance out there and that Geico would somehow have “less coverage” since it’s cheap–we haven’t checked it out, so there’s no basis in him sayint that 😉 it is so expensive in philly to own a car and have insurance…15% savings would be huge. i will talk to him when he comes home from work! thank you!

Thanks everyone!
 
pnewton–we do have a budget, all written out in quicken (a software program), including a (small) amount allocated for savings.

i only go grocery shopping once a week too, and often buy more than one paper on sundays for the extra coupon savings to stockpile on savings with different sales! 🙂

we don’t use cash, but we do use our debit card and i know what my budget is each week for groceries 🙂

thanks!!!
 
There are already lots of good suggestions on this thread. Here are a few that come to my mind.

Buy the more expensive item if it will last forever so you won’t have to pay to replace it.

Simply do without furnishings in some rooms. Only get the furnature you need, and then get it at a garage sale or at a thrift shop, even if it is ugly as can be. Even better, figure out garbage pick up day for the richest part of town and go cruising there on the morning of the pickup. I’ve gotten nice plush chairs that way.

Learn how to cook with rice and beans, and don’t buy expensive rice in little minute made boxes. I get my rice in a 25lb bag at an Asian grocer. That lasts forever and costs about $10-$12, and I buy Jasmine rice, which is more expensive. Be willing to eat drab food. Make the expensive items count, like buy fresh fruit which is full of nutrition. Only buy fruit and veggies in season. Discover the ethnic groceries. I buy cumin and other spices from the Indian grocer and meat from the Mexican butcher. It is much cheaper than at the main supermarkets.

Simply do not own a cell phone, cable, internet, special calling features (call waiting, etc). Do not subscribe to anything, no newspaper or magazines. Use the library instead. Oh, our library has the same thing about its service area, but you can pay $50 to get a library card if you are out of their area. Do not buy books or videos or computer games, etc.

Do not skimp on maintenance tasks, least you incur a large expense. For example, brush your teeth and re-tar your roof.

Never buy on credit cards unless you pay it off before it charges interest.

Take a short car trip or visit relatives for your vacations, nothing expensive.

If you have some money to save, pay down the principle on your mortgage. It is probably at a higher interest rate than anything else out there. Mine is done this month.
PUG = NO Mortgage!!! Yeah!
 
Here’s one idea for some nice gifts on a budget. In January every year Bath and Body Works has a huge sale. I buy enough to last me a year for myself and for little birthday gifts for my sisters and closest friends. The soaps are often $1. So I might get one for each and then a couple little purse lotions. They are usually $2. I keep them in a box and when I have the need I grab a couple of the items and put them in a gift bag (which I save from gifts that I have received over time) and it is nice but inexpensive. It is now Oct. and I still have some in my stash! I make all my cards on computer.

For Christmas: We all pick one name and we make one gift. It has become a highlight of the Christmas season for us. The gifts have been outstanding and inexpensive. I bought yarn at a garage sale one year and made an afghan. We don’t have a limit, but we keep it simple. Here’s some things we have come up with: candles, picture frame, scrapbook of vacation pics, no sew fleece blanket, necklace, table, table cloth and napkins. You get the picture. We all love doing it now, and I don’t think we will return to the store bought gifts. We like how simple things have gotten since we started this. My youngest child was 11 when we began the tradition.

All the ideas that are in this thread are awesome. People really get creative. God Bless!
 
Oh, in my last post I forgot a biggie…cut one another’s hair. A basic man’s cut isn’t too hard with a scissors, but you can always go for the buzz if you have no skill. A lady is easy if she has long hair (trim the ends).
 
I can tell you some good advice but you won’t like it and you probably won’t take it, anymore than my daughters do, but you’re free to scroll through it. Cut up your credit cards and go on a cash only basis. If one of you must travel for work, keep one card locked up and take it out only for work expense that will be reimbursed. Negotiate for a zero percent card, put all remaining credit card balances on it, and spend every extra penny each month to pay it off. You are probably making less than 3% on your savings, and paying 15 to 20% or more on your credit card debt. dumb dumb dumb.
when credit cards are paid off put the amount you were paying on student loans and other debt, largest interest debt first. when debt is gone, but that amount into a rainy day fund. Tithe every source of income to remind yourselves that it is all a gift from God and does not belong to you. Family gifts should be homemade or token only. Readjust your ideas of what is important to spend money on, let your recreation be time spent together, not money spent together. You don’t say what the reason for the counselling is, so I won’t ask, but if it is marital problems, start trusting in God and obeying the commandments, stop contracepting and open yourselves up to the abundance of God’s grace, which will help more than any counselling.
 
um

excuse me, puzzleannie, i will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant well with that last post, but…

first of all, i did clarify what the counseling was for: inlaws. my dh’s parents are very controlling, intrusive and hateful. they have tried to wreak havoc upon our marriage and emotions. we live 10 miles from them and 1200 miles from all of my family and friends. we have barely any friends here and lack any support system. it has been very stressful and in order to detach healthfully from his parents, we have obtained the advice of a nationally-renowned catholic therapist who is also very expensive.

my husband and i love each other very much and it has nothing to do with any problems between the two of us. we are being proactive in learning how to be sure the problems of his parents do not infiltrate our marriage.

furthermore, because we love each other so much, we do not contracept. we have always and will always practice NFP. i am insulted that you would assume otherwise, and that you would even think of judging how open we are or are not to God’s grace. we tithe EVERY week and give to two independent charities until yes, “it hurts.” we also go to confession every week so as to receive the graces from the sacrament and to live in the abundance of our Lord’s sanctifying grace. we try to attend daily mass as well.

the reason we are ‘juggling’ our finances right now is because we are paying and paying and paying off our debt. we have negotiated or rotated all of our credit card debt so that it is basically interest free.

thanks for your concern.
 
Okay, I am hijacking my DHs username to reply, because this is pretty much my favorite subject!

He warned me about space constraints, so I’ll probably put this in a couple of different posts, just to be safe.

BOOKS:
I second (or third!) the Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dayczyn…this was REALLY helpful when DH and I were both in grad school and living on one teaching assistantship.
Also look into Miserly Moms by Joni Mitchell (I think) which has a great recipe section for really cheap ways to eat. She is far less extreme than the Tightwad Gazette, but has some very good ideas. She also has a cookbook called Miserly Meals, but I have never read it.
Another really great book is The Average Family’s Guide to Financial Freedom by Bill and Mary Toohey (I think) which has chapters covering things from having an “Attitude of Gratitude” to setting up a filing system, to living in a one bathroom house with a family to investments. This one is my hubby’s favorite of my financial books.
Also, if time is an issue as well as money, check out the Frozen Assets cookbooks. They are full of recipes that you prepare large quantities of at once and then freeze.
There is also a pretty good book by Larry Burkett on money and early marriage (don’t remember the title) Once you get over the “born again” language, it is very good.
As for budgeting itself, we aren’t done with it yet, but we have been using the Catholic Answers Guide to Family Finance and it is also very good.

As for the library issue, DH and I used to havee “dates” to the library where we would go, find books, sit near each other and read (a great weekend activity!)

I’ll post more in a minute!
-Lori
 
first of all, i did clarify what the counseling was for: inlaws. my dh’s parents are very controlling, intrusive and hateful. they have tried to wreak havoc upon our marriage and emotions. we live 10 miles from them and 1200 miles from all of my family and friends. we have barely any friends here and lack any support system. it has been very stressful and in order to detach healthfully from his parents, we have obtained the advice of a nationally-renowned catholic therapist who is also very expensive.
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Hmmm…Any chance of moving? :rolleyes: Once again, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the in-law thing will only get worse when you have kids! The good news is it can make your marriage even better when you two are fighting on the same side! This actually took us awhile to kind of realize that we weren’t his family or my family, we were our own family. I think this is quite natural especially when you come from two completely different kinds of backgrounds. It used to cause friction in our early days but a few years ago my in-laws pretty much attacked my whole life and my husband rose to my defense. I never thought I could love him more but I did! The funny thing is that I actually thought my MIL was pretty great until I was told I was ruining my childrens’ lives. I’m sure, for my part, it was a badly needed lesson in forgiveness. We’ve all moved on and I think that my husband explained our position to her well enough. It probably was hard for her to understand the mechanics of a large family when she only had two kids herself. It’s not that she doesn’t think we should have the kids. I think that it’s just that she doesn’t understand that the family dynamic of a large family is a lot different then a small family. I think she’s come to realize that now and I’ve come to realize that she will probably never really accept me as one of her kids too. That was hard for me coming from the very welcoming and social family I came from. I’m just thankful we couldn’t talk them into buying the house behind us! :eek: I’m loving the 450 miles now!
 
Okay, on to making and saving money!

As for the selling books thing, we did this quite a bit in grad school through Amazon. It worked pretty well for us, and we even bought books at thrift stores upon occasion to sell online. Be careful with this, as you can never really tell what will sell well, or what won’t. Also, because so many people are now doing this, it has driven the prices down (great for buying used books, not so great for selling them!)

I second the cutting hair comment. A pair of clippers costs between $10 and $15 new, and lasts for a long time. If your hubby can handle a few experiments, it is a great money saver. I once made DH cut my hair, and I’d have him do it again, but he refuses! (Of course, I get it cut about once a year!)

I don’t use coupons, because generally staples don’t go on sale with coupons…they just aren’t worth the money to me (see the arguements against coupons in the Tightwad Gazette)

Garage saling is great for fun and for getting stuff you can use. My family is now getting used to their Christmas presents coming from garage sales. Not to mention the great deals you can get on baby stuff (when you get to that point!)

On to tips about babies, not that I know that much yet, as DD is 5 weeks old today…Breastfeed if you can (of course! I’ll assume I’m preaching to the choir!) But if you can’t (I had no luck) keep in mind that store brand formulas are mostly made by Wyeth (they manufacture vitamins) and a federally regulated, so don’t be tricked into buying the name brands. Also, cloth diapering is very cheap! (And you can register for diapers as baby shower gifts…get online diapers, much better than what you find in the stores!) They aren’t too much work either! Also, look into Snappis if you go this route (the best thing since sliced bread!) Oh, and when you do get pregnant, look into WIC, because there is a very good chance you would qualify (I’m assuming your incomes are comprable to ours!) and it REALLY helps out with the grocery bills.

Can’t think of anything else right now!

HTH!
-Lori
 
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puzzleannie:
I can tell you some good advice but you won’t like it and you probably won’t take it, anymore than my daughters do, but you’re free to scroll through it. Cut up your credit cards and go on a cash only basis.
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Friends: YES–great advice!!!

If you want to live within your means–there is no other way but to cut up ALL credit cards. It only gets yourself and your life into misery. If you don’t have the money–don’t buy. Plain and simple. This has helped our marriage tremendously! It’s hard though --but worth it!

Remember they didn’t have any such thing as a “credit card” in the 50’s. Men worked!!! And I still say men—work–women–keep the home.
 
bear06,

yes, our therapist has told us to move and to refrain from any contact with them (his parents) at all. they are really vicious and unstable. fortunately my husband has completely taken the lead and protected both me and our relationship…which i am very grateful for.

so, it looks like we will be moving to kansas in the next year and a half or so (where most of my family and many good friends live). it will be quite a change…but, the primary purpose of marriage is to have children, and we need to be in an environment that is conducive to doing so peacefully…with a support system! i am fortunate to have a wonderful set of parents and siblings who are loving, very fun and will love us instead of inflicting torment (like dh’s parents)!!! 🙂

Lori–

thank you for all your insight and suggestions!!! all are very good!!! 🙂
 
Abby,

I don’t have a whole lot to add, sounds like you are doing great actually. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but, it will probably never really get easier. (financially that is) My husband and I were married at 19 and started our family right away. We have a mortgage, a student loan, (I did not go to college, he did to help get a better paying job), and a car loan. While his income has increased a little bit since then, the number of mouths to feed, bodies to dress, and people to shelter has increased much more. For us, it all comes down to completely trusting in HIS providence. HE has never let us down.

I just wanted to tell you that I can’t wait until you and your husband have children. You will be so prepared, and so grounded in your faith. What beautiful souls you will raise for the kingdom!!
 
Abby

I am married and have 2 children who are going to elementary and middle schools.My spouse is a house wif.WE have a mortgage loan,car loan .The way you save the money depends upon your income and how much you are spending.As far as we are concerned we try to limit gas,eletric,phone,cable bills.We buy clothes etc only when they are necessary.I normally take lunch to my office .
We always pay off credit card bills on time
 
Ok…I hear a lot of mention of cutting up credit cards and going without.

Now, I understand this if you are living above your means because of credit. But what if you need the credit to live?

We don’t use our credit cards for routine purchases like gas or groceries or household bills. Those are all budgeted for. But, if an unexpected expense comes up, we need that card. I am talking car repair, vet bill, etc.

If we did not have our credit card to fall back on we would end up getting behind in household bills or something else we would have to take money away from.

Also, it seems you need a credit card to get along in society. You can’t even rent a hotel or car without one as backup.

So, in my opinion, credit cards are fine if used responsibly. And for some people like us, theycan be a life saver.

Finella
 
A few more:

Plan trips wisely. Minimize time and energize spent driving.

Research products ahead of time. Know what you want and what you will settle for.

Have the correct amount of witholding of taxes. Do not build up a big refund. This is giving the government an interest-free loan of your money.

Watch out for the little items that eat in aggregate up a lot of in budget. You can be nickeled and dimed more than your realize.

Do most of your enterainment in house. This saves a lot of money.

Avoid fads.

If you are close to medical in IRS deductions, maximize medicine in one year and minimum in the next.
 
okay everyone, just got back from my Pathmark shopping spree and had to share! i am so excited. our total was $293 (i buy several items at once if it is on sale and i have many coupons), but after my up-to-99cents coupons were tripled …our total was knocked down to $85!!!

i think i’m going back tomorrow night because i still have more coupons, and the sale doesn’t end until thursday 😉
MamaAtHome–thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement. there are many days i have to remind myself that this is all for the greater good of our future family!!! thank you for being so gracious–honestly, i often marvel at your signature on this forum and think about how wonderful it would be to someday have seven babies of our own 😉

Finella–i agree with what you said about credit cards. there are just some months when we have to buy “extras” like new eyeglasses, an unforseen medical bill, a car repair, etc. we are blessed enough to have savings, but instead of digging into it every time we need to float our spending…we just charge it and pay it off responsibly. we have little or no interest on our cards. you are also totally right about not being able to survive in this world without a credit card–the amount of times i’ve “had” to use it–with no alternative–are countless.

TA Stobie–thanks for more ideas. we do, actually, withhold a bit more than we need to and often get a large tax return in the spring. it’s around the time that my husband usually gets his bonus, and it’s nice to have one huge windfall that can be used to put toward debt, savings, etc.

i’m not sure what you were saying about health care though…feel free to explain more. most of our health care premium is paid for, because my husband works for a pharmaceutical company. but, certain things are out of pocket and/or out of network. counseling, from the therapist we chose, is not covered at all. but, prescriptions are covered for the most part, especially if it’s a drug from the company my husband works at–those are free.

Abby
 
Just thought I’d chime in on the medical expenses (because we are currently doing just that!)

With taxes, you can only deduct medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your AGI (I think that figure is current…at least it was when I took my tax classes in college!) SO…if you have a lot of medical expenses in one year (say, having a baby, in particular for us, having a baby via complicated c-section) then you should get other medical procedures you need done in the near future in the same calendar year (for instance, DH and I both plan to see the eye doctor and get new glasses and see the dentist and get any work done that we need before the end of December.) This will get us over the 7.5% AGI (honestly, probably dd got us above it no problem) so we will be able to deduct medical expenses. I believe medical expenses are only deductible when you itemize, so this may not be of any use to you (YET!!! Just wait for babies and houses!)

So, to explain with another example, you could have a dentist appt. every year, but plan them so that both fall in the same calendar year, and every other calendar year you don’t have any dentist appointments (schedule one for Jan, and the next year’s for Dec. for instance!) This can also come in handy with dental insurance, if you have to pay for your first visit in a year, but the second one would be covered.

I hope this helps explain that!

-Lori
 
Lori–i dont think i thanked you for your wonderful advice and tips! the haircut suggestion made me laugh…we tried that once…let’s just say it was very hilarious. i’ve let my hair grow for an entire year and recently got it cut, but will probably just let it grow again. my dh gets his cut once a month; it grows really fast on him, and with his job he has to look professional.

thanks for explaining Stobie’s idea… hmmm, yes it makes sense and is something to consider for us, with some things we have going on medically. thank you !

congratulations on your five week old princess!! i’m sure she is precious 🙂 you sound very joyfu!!

Abby
 
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