How does your family save money and cut costs?

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Princess_Abby:
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).
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Dear Abby,

Any chance that would be Wichita?

Alan
 
Hi Alan!

Well, it would be wherever the job is. The opportunity in Kansas is just not what it is on the east coast, which is a huge reason why my DH is a bit wary of going. He LOVES my family and friends, but he of couse is very concerned about providing for us and our future children. But, we have faith that the Lord will prepare something for us.

My parents live outside Kansas City, as well as some of my siblings and many, many friends. I do, however, know a few people FROM Wichita–I went to KU, and met some good people from “Ta-Town” there 😉 But, they no longer live in their hometown. However, if Paul found a job in Wichita that was better then in Kansas City, we would consider it! But, our heart is really in KC 🙂 I just don’t know the area in Wichita well enough, and I know Kansas City like the back of my hand.

Did you grow up in Wichita?

Abby
 
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Princess_Abby:
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.
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IRS Form 1040A (itemized deductions) allows for medicals deductions that exceed 7.5% of income. If you are close to this each year, you maximize one year, and minimize the next, to take advantage of it every other year and reduce your federal income taxes.
 
The biggest savings for my family is no car payment. I drive 130 miles round trip to work each day, highway miles, and drive on many of my work trips.

I bought a good used car, paid it off in one year. The personal property tax savings, car payment and insurance savings makes a world of difference! The largest repair bill on this car was $300 (it is a Nissan). Other than scheduled maint (tune ups and oil change), there have been 2 repairs and I’ll have been driving this car for 2 years at Thanksgiving. We take this small car on long family road trips as well (including the 14 year old and the dog).

Would steer AWAY from an SUV - they guzzle gas and are no fun to get a car seat out of…

My advice, buy a good used car and drive it til the wheels fall off.

Good luck!

Kage
 
I work in Kansas City and depending on his field may be able to help.

Oh and don’t forget to tithe, I know it hurts, we are a one income family and I grimace sometimes writing the check out, butt it’s not mine anyways.
 
All great sugggestions for you Princess Abby…I will add one…tonight or tomorrow night, for dinner, put a table cloth on the floor and have a picnic instead of the routine at the table dinner.

I purchased a lot from St. Vincent’s when we were first married - I buy in bulk now - six gallons of milk a week from Costco and we, like you, pay our credit cards off when they are due so as not to carry a balance.

I think it is wonderful that you are thinking of ways to minimize your financial output.

When you begin consider children - consider that no one can truly afford them. The bills are astronomical, but the bills come a little at a time and God will provide.

God Bless you -
 
Abby,
I think you are doing a terrific job with the resources that you have. There are a couple of websites I like that offer a lot of ideas for saving money, www.stretcher.com and www.crown.org and www.simpleliving.net has a great forum.

I listen to Dave Ramsey who is good at inspiring people to pay off their debt. You can listen to his show on the web and he has a couple weeks of shows archived so you can listen to them at your convenience. He recommends starting with a $1000.00 emergency fund and building on it until you have about 6 months of living expense. His book The Total Money Makeover is a worthy read and can probably be borrowed from the library.

Occasionally, I sell my books at amazon and half.com , it’s very easy to do and can provide a nice little income. I’ve tried buying cheap used books to resell, but in my rural area finding good used books hasn’t worked for me. If you live in the city with access to thrift stores and other outlets it might work as a side income for you. There is a good thread at the Simple living forum in regards to selling used books.

Congrats on your shopping spree. When my boys were young I took on a job delivering newspapers and I was able to keep the coupon inserts from the newspapers that didn’t sell. Back then, there weren’t many stores that offered double coupons, but I was able to stock up because I had 10 or more coupons for the same item. I don’t use many coupons anymore, it seems most of the them are for convenience foods and I cook mainly from scratch.

Currently, I work as a tax preparer which provides a good income for a part time job. Conventional advice is to adjust withholding so as to not get a big refund, but I tell my clients to do what works best for them. Personally, I like the $2000.00 refund better than the extra $40.00 in my husband’s paycheck every week.
Betsy
 
Betsy,

Thanks so much for the suggestions and websites! I am eager to check them out!!! Thanks too for your stories…that’s what I appreciate most about this, is the sharing of personal experience that truly helps me realize my husband and I are not alone in our “juggling” of finances and life in general… 🙂

I, too, have started cooking more from scratch…it’s healthier…but I use coupons for ALL my toiletries, paper products, household items (ziplocs, trashbags, etc) and some food items.

Chimakuni,

Thank you for your suggestion 🙂 Tomorrow night I think I will do just that; we are staying home and watching the debates, and maybe a rented movie. I was thinking of having a seasonal meal, maybe with candlelight. 🙂

Thanks everyone! Your encouragement is so appreciated.
 
Put 1,000 on Hoof Hearted at Los Alimitos on the 3rd race this Saturday.

He has 40:1 odds

Just kidding. Do what the above people said. One thing that hasn’t been montion ( I think), is to turn off your lights and conserve your power. Maybe it’s not as bad outside of California, but it adds up.
 
I have another interesting idea.

When my wife and I got married we carried a lot of credit card debt. I got a card in the mail that offered a transfer of debt to their card for no interest for one year. I transferred all my credit to that card and paid on it (without interest) for that year. Then with about 2 months to go before that card would start charging interest. I found another card that had the same program. I kept transferring for 3 years until my debt was paid down to nothing.

Also, find a cheap budget book and stick to it. We started a budget book where all our expenses are taken away from our money. Also try an have more green days (days where neither of you spend any money) I noticed that me and my wife were spending money almost every day. When we got that down to half the days in a month it really helped us to save money.

Hang laundry on the line outside.

Turn off lights and use candles.

make extra food for dinner so that you will have something for tomorrows lunch.

Plan a dinner menu for the week then go out an buy only those items needed to make those meals.

Try and get an insurance provider that will give a discount if you put your auto and home insurance with one company.

Go to garage sales and purchase items and then sell them on Ebay. My wife finds a lot of stuff people practically give away. Shen then goes home takes pictures of it and posts on ebay. She does pretty well. It has enabled her to stay at home with our kids.

good luck and dont worry it will always get better.

Randy
 
I don’t have many tips, but being a college student, this is all really great. I do have a few though…
  • if you need a car…don’t buy new, buy used…even if it is a new/used…often, they are half the price and don’t need as many repairs and insurance is cheaper.
  • when buying a car, don’t buy what all the higschool/college students are buying (ie. civics). The insurance on them are almost tripled
  • buy store-brand…you can’t tell the difference.
  • don’t buy your lunch (though I am often guilty of this, and then kick myself later!!)
  • if you are eating out or getting delivery…calcualte the cost of what you are ordering and then how much a meal would cost if you made it yourself…usually pizzas are cheaper (taste better and are more fun) when you make them yourself.
  • for dinner last night, we ordered massive panzerrotti’s for this place for $6…they are big enough that I will be eating mine for dinner tonight and tomorrow night…that is an exception.
  • EBAY IS YOUR FRIEND…SO ARE THRIFT STORES!!!
  • we buy DVDs from this guy who sells them cheap because the covers are in chinese ($5-$10 CND), but the movies are english…We got the LOTR boxset for $30!!!
That is all I can think of right now…I’m really guilty when it comes to now saving money as well as I should!!
 
We have two checking accounts that both have direct deposit and transfer. In the one account, we put enough money to cover the budgeted items that absolutely have to be paid. This includes, house & car payments, utility bills, etc.

The second account is for those non-necessary expenses that can be controlled or limited. This includes clothes, entertainment, gifts etc. Yes, it even includes food. No matter what my children say, you would not starve if you had to make do with what’s in the house!!!

Anyway, the goal is to limit the spending in checkbook #2 and I’m never fooled by thinking I’m richer than I am when checkbook #1 is high but the house payment hasn’t been made yet.

Kris
 
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