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[Elysiana]

We're finding ourselves in a huge bind with the baby on the way. Daycare alone is at least $400/month in this area. Ryan's company just got acquired, and while he gets a $0.50/hr increase, insurance is going to go up by about $250 - almost double what we're paying now. Essentially he's getting a paycut. We pretty much live paycheck-to-paycheck already because we have so many loans and neither of us makes more than $30k/year. It seems like every time we save a little bit, it goes into fixing a vehicle or some sort of emergency.

Things I'm thinking we can do to save money:
Cut back on food costs. We have a bad tendency to eat out a lot and buy prepackaged stuff (like those pasta bags).
Refinance our loans. I already did this once last year so I might be able to get another $100/mo by making lower payments but that's about it.
???

What are some things you guys have done to cut back on your cost of living or increase your net per month? Got any tips for me or, really, any of the forumites? Is there anything you've done to cut back that you're really proud of?

[Joseph]

If there is any way in the world you can get by without driving, do it. Even the money saved on gas by cutting back can be pretty tremendous, and if you have two cars, but can really make do with just one, you can save a bunch on insurance that way. I don't know what your situation is, and maybe driving is necessary to some degree, but it does eat a lot of money.

Avoiding overuse of air-conditioning and heating can also be a pretty good way to save some. Not sure where you live though, so maybe that's not a big thing, but certainly in Montreal it's pretty easy to go overboard in the winter and end up with enormous heating bills.

[Katherine]

I would recommend keeping a spending log for a while to see where your all of money actually goes and see if you can cut anything out, or at least cut back.  Grabbing breakfast or a coffee on the way in to work really adds up!

Cheaper food is definitely a good idea.  It is much cheaper to cook at home and there are websites with recipes geared specifically toward making cheap meals.  There are also websites where you can select and print coupons for things that you need/buy, etc.

Do you have any recurring monthly expenses that you can get rid of?  Netflix, gym membership, cable TV?

[The Seldom Killer]

First thing I do to reduce outgoings is to review contracted costs. Gas, electric, phone, internet, water, etc. I'm not sure how it is the other side of the pond but the general good practice here is to check about once a year to make sure that you're getting the best deals. On top of that, spending to save is worth considering. We've got a massive legacy of poor house building in the UK and at the moment you can get your home insulated either free or at a massively discounted rate. Free CFL bulbs can be obtained pretty easily for free as well so on the whole it's pretty easy to knock down the energy consumption, which accounts for a large part of your household costs. On that front, the other thing to do is behavioural change. A lot of people trip up here because like anything else their in a habit and can take it negatively when they don't get it right. I can offer tips on ways to get this working for you as well.

Joseph is right about the car use. Again, check your insurance so that you're getting a good price for this and make sure you're aware of where sells petrol/deisel the cheapest, plan your regular journeys and drive efficiently (tips also available here). Carpooling, public transport, cycling, car clubs, loads of other ways to basically avoid getting in your own car will save money and if you can avoid the commute in one car, call the insurers and take commuting off the policy.

Food is a very easy saving. Start buying bulk for staples, like 5kg bags of rice, pasta etc. Remember that most supermarkets will discount around 5pm to 6pm and food can easily last well beyond sell by dates, display until dates, best before dates and even use by dates. Cook in bulk and make good use of your freezer. If you have a garden, a patio, a balcony or even a large, south facing window, you can start growing your own food and that is always cheaper, especially on things like salad items. Also look at buying cheaper cuts of meat. I still only buy free range meat of good quality, I just buy the bits that don't command a high price. I buy and portion whole chickens for about a third of the price you'd pay for a supermarket or butcher to do it. It gets a bit all consuming for a while but like anything it becomes second nature and slips into the background.

Avoid refinancing your loans now. Even as a non-parent I'm aware that babies can have sudden and unexpected costs, keep the refinancing option available until you really need it. Other than that, walk to your granny, chances are good she grew up in a time where you didn't have disposable nappies and all the gizmo's you have now and don't really need either.

My greatest saving, it's probably the library. I used to spend quite recklessly on books but can easily get by for a couple of months with none.

[Barmymoo]

Disposable nappies are really a huge cost - I think we use between 6 and 10 a day on our 15 month old (ok she isn't mine but whatever) and the four year old is still in them at night. If you can get your head around resusable nappies, do it. They are not as gross as people think, it's not terrycloth and safety pins any more - if you'd like more information I've got tons of links but I try to keep my incredibly weird geekiness regarding babies I do not yet have a little under wraps.

I second the bulk-buying, and also if you have time bulk-cooking and planning meals in advance really helps you avoid pre-prepared stuff or grabbing something while you're out.

I have no idea what it is like where you are from, but I'd recommend asking around about daycare and finding out if there is any kind of finance available. In the UK you can get childcare free for children of certain ages if you go to an accredited provider, which is obviously a big saving.

Oh and I'm sure you don't need to be told this but there's no need to spend $800 on a pram/stroller/carrycot/superstar combo and three million toys. If anything, you're going to spend the next five years trying to stop your child from playing with your keys, your makeup, your soap bottles, the laundry detergent, empty cans, boxs, shoes etc. Assuming you have friends or family who are going to want to help out, you may not even need to buy very much at all.

Also eeeeeeeeeeeeeee I am excited about a forumite baby! Congratulations!

[valley_parade]

Never planned on having offspring.

Then again, all my money goes to my record collection. 

[Papersatan]

Bulk food buying is great.  With a baby I'm sure extra time is not a thing you will have a lot of, but you can save a lot of money by taking the time to package stuff yourself. 

We buy massive packages of chicken breasts and I cut them in to strips and cubes and freeze them on a cookie sheet.  Once they are frozen I put them into ziplocks. This way when I want to add some diced chicken to our pasta, bam, there it is.  Also it made it so I used less chicken, because I could just take what I wanted instead of using it in one breast increments.   I do the same thing with beans.  I buy them dry soak and cook and then lay them flat to freeze.  It is a pain in the ass, I won't lie, but I never used a whole can before so I was just throwing half of what I bought away.  Now I am paying the same price from a gallon bag of beans as I was for one can.

Bulk is great, but only if you will package, and or use it all before it goes bad.  Case in point for us, celery. Steve puts it in his chili (as a low cal filler) and I use it in soup.  But even if we plan to cook in the same week we can't use a larger one, so we pay 10 cents less for half the celery.  It is more per pound, but less money overall.  If there is something you use a lot of though, your local farmer's marker is great for bulk veggies.  You would be amazed how cheap some things can be there, especially in season.  I can spend 10 dollars and come home with bags so heavy I have trouble getting them up the stairs. 

Also, baked potatoes are the shit for cheap food.  Steve and I have baked potatoes a few nights a week because they are cheap and filling.  A potato is like 20 cents or something.  Coat in olive oil and kosher salt, bake at 425 for 45 min or so and eat.  We put butter and cheese on ours.  If we are very hungry we put some chili on top, either the homemade stuff Stephen makes, or Hormel canned chili (1.49 a can, 4 servings in a can, so even with chili and a little cheese and sour cream it is well under a dollar a person).   

As far as non-food savings, I second shopping around for car insurance, you might be able to save a bit.  Also, if you are not already, get better about turning lights/tvs off when you leave a room.  Dial your heat/air down/up a degree or two, and make sure you have them on an automatic thermostat so if you get cold and turn it up, it will turn back down later, so if you leave you are not heating the house all day.

Do you have a local university with a medical school? If so I would see if they have any medical studies for pregnant women/new mothers or newborns.   Medical studies are not as scary as people think.  Many of them are not giving you anything new or untested, they are just studying you to look for a correlation between symptoms or behaviors.  So they just have you fill or diaries of symptoms and give blood, or keep track of your breast feeding, etc.  The compensation can be anything from a 5 dollar gift card to a few hundred dollars.   Just make sure you read everything and make sure you understand the study.

[David_Dovey]

Kill two birds with one stone: California Cheeseburgers



(too soon?)

[Elysiana]

Wow everyone, this is really helpful! I am taking copious notes. The food stuff is especially great because while I do know how to cook, I honestly don't know how to cook on the cheap, or how to buy that way. Money hasn't really been tight for me before, so I'm kind of freaking out.

Katherine - I almost wish we had extra expenses like that so that I could cut them haha. We did both get rid of our WoW accounts. We don't have cable TV. We are paying quite a bit for internet ($70/mo) but with four people in our house we need the higher speed. Um, only other thing I can think of is our phones, but Ryan uses his for one of his jobs so we can't really cut that down any farther.

TSK - I do hate refinancing because it means we'll be paying more interest and for longer, but that extra $100/mo would help so much. I'm pretty worried that we'll be overspending our paychecks if we don't have that extra bit.

Barmymoo - thanks for the congrats! I've actually been thinking about cloth diapers because I've heard mostly good things, and the cost especially is insanely cheaper, but I'm afraid I'm going to try them out and then not like them. I actually put up a blog post about it yesterday (link if you're interested). I would definitely love to hear more info about them (and anything else baby-related that you think would help) though.

I don't think the US really has a childcare finance plan. I haven't heard about one anyway, and I've been looking for answers on how people afford it. At $400/mo I'm actually getting it CHEAP, believe it or not. A lot of places I've read about charge $800/mo and up.

If Ryan had more stable hours I could drop him off in the mornings and then go pick him up, but right now they're all over the map. But, with the acquisition, that might be changing. Right now he works about 30 miles from home and I work about 20 miles from home. It's better than it was - I used to work 85 miles away.


Keep 'em coming, folks. I'm hoping this will help other people too, not just me!


<edit> Dovey: You are a butt and your post is also a butt </edit>

[pen]

In Boston, you're lucky to get full time childcare for $1200 a month.  But there sometimes are financial aid programs that you can apply to that are associated by state.  I'm not sure what your state regulations are, but it's definitely worth looking into.  The ones in MA are linked with welfare programs, so whichever dept handles that in your area might know where you can call.

Use your library.  Libraries often not only carry things you can borrow, but they offer GREAT discounts on local museums and other activities.  You don't have to cut out all of your leisure activities when you're poor.  I use our library all the time for tickets to the aquarium, science museum, the zoo, etc.  It's a phenomenal resource. 

For food, plan a menu.  I find that if I plan my meals ahead and know what's on my grocery list, I spend a lot less on crap that I just think "hmm, that looks yummy" and then gobble it up between meals.  Figure out what you NEED.  Try to spend less on junk food, or make junky food from scratch.  Bake a cake from a box for $2.  It'll last longer than a box of oreos. 

[Papersatan]

Do either of you have flexible work schedules at all and or do you know anyone else who is having a baby, or recently had one?  My brother and his wife save on child care by working out a deal with another couple they know.  Between the 4 of them they have worked it out where they stagger their "weekend" at their respective jobs and watch each other's kids.  My brother only has to seek outside child care one day a week, or if something comes up.  Even if you can get one day a week taken care of this way it could save you money. 

[calenlass]

A note on the not-driving thing: If you keep a(n extra) car but cycle/walk/train/bus to work, make sure that you drive the idle car at least once a week. It keeps the oil and transmission fluids circulating, and if you just let it sit you might have problems (gasoline eventually evaporates, for example) that could cost you unnecessary money.

[Elysiana]

I am really hoping that I can talk my place into being more flexible. I have the ability to work from home on occasion, but they really prefer people to come in. If Ryan ends up with any weekdays off, he could watch the baby then, and maybe I could work from home on two of the other weekdays, and maybe just get a sitter for like $50 for the fifth day. That would be pretty ideal, but I think I'm going to wait to bring it up to them. They've just recently started discussing what my maternity leave will entail, and part of that is letting me work from home, so I kind of want to wait and prove to them how well it will work first.

[Barmymoo]

I was all set to be horrified at $1200 a month, but then I worked out how much that is per hour and assuming an 8 hour day, five day week, that's the same as here.

I have just been searching for ages to try and find the website/blog I read about food storage - it was really good, and really interesting, but sadly I have no idea what the address was and don't keep my browsing history. If you google for food storage LDS you will get loads of tips, as Mormons are advised to keep a year's supply of food in their homes. I'm not suggesting you go to this extreme, but in terms of bulk-buying and where to do it, that would be a great resource. Places like Sam's Club and Costco come up a lot, and I've used Costco myself, it's fantastic.

In terms of diaper advice, it looks from your blog like you've already thought about it quite a lot! This is not the website I was looking for, but it is quite comprehensive and well laid out.

Elysiana, would it be weird for me to follow your blog?

Oh in terms of daycare, what do you think about moving to Canada? Maternity leave there is a full year and I think daycare is cheaper too! (This may or may not be a joke.)

[Elysiana]

We've been debating on doing Sam's or Costco. Weren't sure if it's worth the cost of the membership but maybe we could find some friends who would be willing to chip in and we could pick stuff up for them too.

That diaper page is great, I like how they have the comparison charts. I think that's the most info I've seen on one site about clothies, actually.

No, you're absolutely welcome to follow it! I'm not very good about posting to it though haha.

Sometimes I think moving would be easier, but we're staying put. I just moved to B'ham about 3 years ago, after 12 years of moving around every 2 years because my ex was military, and I'm tired of moving lol. Plus we're renting his parents' house so that's kind of handy.

[calenlass]

A membership at Sam's is about $50 per year. You will save so much more than that, I promise it is totally worth it. And it is great for buying bulk food!

[Johnny C]

in terms of eating on the cheap, too, here's eat for eight bucks, a regular feature on serious eats. there's like close to a hundred recipes on there. that's just one website, too; there's plenty of websites and books and stuff out there to help you get good cookin' done on a decent budget.

[Alex C]

Sam's Club is decent enough where a membership isn't a bad idea, but it is big enough and has just enough recognizable brand names that impulse buying can still rear its head a bit. You may want to consider shopping at an Aldi every once in a while if you just need to grab a few quick staples. The prices are dirt cheap and if you do find yourself grabbing a bag of chips at least it won't be some expensive Doritos.

[Barmymoo]

Aha! I have found the food-storage website I was thinking of. It maybe isn't directly relevant to this thread but I think it's fascinating to read, and does contain some useful tips about food on a budget.

Yes, forums, you have discovered my darkest secret hobby - I read blogs about food storage, babies and homeschooling. I am basically a Mormon mommy in training.

[JimmyJazz]

Petty thievery

[JimmyJazz]

no but in all serious I actually rely on coupons. It seems insane to all my friends but saving coupons from newspaper clippings is a great way to save cash. Just be sure to get to the grocery store before they expire and you can get tons of good food for mad cheap. No one else does this besides me and some grandmothers so please people, spread the word!

[Lunchbox]

I have made a rule that every meal can cost no more than $10. I shop every day on the way home from work, so it's easy to monitor. This is pretty easy if you don't use meat, or if you use less expensive cuts or just cut down on the amount of meat you would use (get 300g instead of 500g for two people). I also try to get leftovers out of that $10 meal so that I can take lunch the next day. I also don't buy coffee or snacks at work anymore, and instead use the supplied tea, milk, fruit, chocolate and bread we get at work.
My boyfriend thought it kinda funny that I worried so much about penny-pinching but yesterday we found out that we have to move house, and it's going to get a lot tougher for the both of us.

[tania]

cut take out and restaurants out of your diet altogether. never eat anything ever again that you haven't prepared in your own home. buy food on sale or use coupons. eliminating takeout can be frustrating when you're busy and have time commitments, but you'll be surprised how much the savings rack up when you cut all those little things out. instead of getting coffee and breakfast/lunch at school, i prepare lunch and coffee in the morning and bring it to school in containers and a travel mug and it costs about 1/2 as much. i get by on approximately $35-40 a week pretty okay. i am not a real adult though

[tania]

also: make a budget and stick to it! i don't think a lot of people do this. i make a budget at the beginning of every semester that factors in exactly how much my job will pay me and how much all of my expenses for the next four months will cost and then i stick to it like my life depends on it (which it kind of does).  if the budget you've calculated for that week or month says you can't buy it, then you can't buy it, period. it's really hard and your fun bucks will all but disappear into oblivion but on the plus side i'm one of the only students here i know who's actually managed to build up and maintain a pretty impressive savings account despite being a pathetic broke-ass university student so it really does work, in my experience.

[Papersatan]

yeah the Sam's club thing didn't seem worth it the last time I checked it out.  Things I looked at at the time: tuna fish, peanut butter, canned fruit/veggies, cheese.  What I found with all of them was that they were not really cheaper per unit because they were name brands and I usually buy generic.  Pasta might be worth it there, or rice, but I just get that at an Asian food store. But if you go with disposable diapers that might be your savings right there. 

[Jace]

I actually save money by eating take-out, but I am definitely not the norm. I usually eat off of dollar menus, so I can have a full meal for about $5. Occasionally I will get chipotle, which is $10 ($12 if I get chips and guac). When I buy food that isn't frozen, it usually goes bad before I do anything with it, and I really don't like leftovers unless it is soup or stew. Pretty much every time I've bought groceries, I've lost money because the food went bad before I did anything with it. This probably won't be the case for you, but it certainly was for me and a few people I've known, so be wary of that.

Where I live now, it is super easy to just toss a box fan ($10 at walmart) in my window in the summer to pull in the air from the outside, then I have another fan that just sits in my room and I'm a little warm, but its not too bad. The highest our house was heated to during the winter was like 66F. Our gas bill has never been over $60.

[tania]

yeah all of my meals work out to like $2 or $3 apiece and i don't even eat badly, that includes all four food groups and everything

[Lines]

Buying generics on basic things helps out a lot, too. That's something I've learned since moving out. I mean, there are a few things that I will stick to brands I like, like cream cheese, but it does not matter on other things, like graham crackers. My roommates and I also plan out what we're having for dinner for the entire week (minus Friday and Saturday, which are days we'll get take out or pizza), which makes shopping easier because you buy less if you stick to a list of exactly what you need.

Also you can cut down on your electric bill by paying very close attention to what things you leave turned on and what stays plugged in. If you're not in a room, turn off the light. If you're not using your printer, turn it off. Some things will also still take up energy when plugged in, so unplug appliances, etc. that aren't consistently used.

I save money by also having very little of a personal life, but that is because of school. So I don't have too much advice on that. 

[calenlass]

I have actually just had a thought about trash. Back when I was a wannabe tree-hugger, I learned a lot about how much crap gets thrown away that doesn't really need to be: after recyclables are sorted out and organics are composted, there is practically nothing left to go in the bin. Newspapers, magazines, phone books, any glass, most sturdy plastics, cardboard, aluminium/tin cans are all recyclable; any extra paper can be saved as a fire-starter for when it's cold; any food that is meat- or dairy-free can go in the garden or, if necessary, in a plastic air-tight tub to cure until you can find someone who wants it, because it really doesn't smell (except for coffee grounds); meat trimmings can be given to pet cats or dogs, or fed to strays. If you take the time to set up a well-organised sorting system like the one I did a few years ago for my parents, this stuff becomes second-nature in no time (note: parents managed it). If there isn't a recycling service center* nearby, check and see if your work has one and totally dump your shit in with theirs, they won't care.

Now, I know that some places charge a lot for rubbish pickup and other places don't. My neighborhood charges $20 per month (my landlady pays this, along with the homeowner's association fee, because it's required by the neighborhood covenant), but my boyfriend's apartment complex covers it in the rent price so it's essentially free. Basically what I am getting at is that, unless you would have to make extra (costly) trips to the recycling center or pay for a pickup service for that instead, you could feasibly cancel your garbage service. It might only save you $5, but even then it's still another $5 you wouldn't have had.

Lots of places that are not near me, I think, also do that lovely "old-fashioned" practice of making deposits on things like glass bottles at stores, and you can get like 5˘ or something back on every empty item you return!

Plus, either way, you get to feel warm and fuzzy inside for being a good hippie.



*Make sure to do a little investigation into any purported "recycling" that garbage companies do. Companies in the south are pretty notorious for spreading word around that they pick up recycling as well as your rubbish, or they have separate dumpsters for recyclables and trash, and then they just dump it all into the same truck, which completely defeats the purpose.

[The Seldom Killer]

Of course life shouldn't be some kind of eternal money saving hairshirt and you need to plan a few luxuries in life. You absolutely should have something in your budget for going out and having fun. It also doesn't need to be much and if you don't spend it you can chuck the surplus against debt. Get familiar with which restaurants do specials on which days along with early birds and so on (a romantic dinner out can still happen between 5 and 6). Which cinemas do a special on which days of the week (take your own snacks and drinks) and other attractions. Get together with friends, especially when the baby is born, to share childcare duties and go out in groups.

You said that your partner uses his phone for work. Are they paying for that, should they be? Actually, with his pay increase and insurance increase is there something he can do with that to reverse the negative impact. It may be worth him speaking to his HR about that to make sure that he's getting the most take home out of his earnings. For instance with the recent income tax changes in the UK my partner was looking at whether she would be better off by buying extra days holiday from the company to bring her down a tax bracket and thus pay a lower rate of tax.

Good news is that now that it's April, it's time to start buying Christmas presents. Not aggressively by any means but if you see something that you think would make a great present for someone and the price is pretty good right now, buy it and store it. It's out of the way and the cost won't hit you in November/December. I have a constant list of things that I keep an eye out for on Ebay so that when they come up I might get them at a better price than when everyone else is looking. And that gets onto a bigger thing of buying off season. Need to replace old winter things (coats, tires, etc)? Buy it now and wait until the season is over before replacing things that are wearing out and won't last a whole new season.

If you do refinance your loans, make sure you build in the option to overpay them. If you do come up with some surplus in a and have had a bit of luxury, put it in savings. If you can come up with the same surplus again, put it straight onto the debt. There I two reasons I advised against refinancing. The first was as mentioned it may be a necessary option in the near future, the second is that you want to avoid jeapordising your long term economic future to make the current situation easier than it needs to be. Also, do you have credit cards?

[Lupercal]

I guess what I've learnt after being a student at University for almost 2 years is that you can cut back on the smallest things and it actually makes a difference. For example, I started drinking my coffee black because I couldn't afford to spend money on more milk - just enough over a bowl of cereal was my limit. I also avoided stuff like Weetabix or what I call "milk heavy" cereals that require a shit ton of the stuff to make it taste normal.

It was through stuff like this that I just learned to like things. Black coffee was originally pretty gross but now I love it. I always used to buy the cheapest pints when going out for drinks - it soon adds up. When I'd get funny looks from my friends for buying John Smiths at Ł1.90 a pint, everyone else was paying Ł2.50 upwards for stuff like Guiness or Budwiser. It does make a difference.

I also second, third, fourth the idea of bulk cooking. I manage to make a casserole or stew (sometimes nicely layered with potato slices like a lasagne) for insanely cheap. Buy a pack of vegetables for Ł1, half of that goes into one casserole, that one casserole feeds me for 3 dinners. So Ł1 means 6 meals, which is damn cheap by my book. And its tasty!

I'm pretty sure that some places do insane clothes sales every now and then, or you can pick up something discounted if a button is missing or it has a rip - something easily repairable if you have the time. Same goes for charity shops or thrift stores - you can always make your clothes look modern/trendy/classy with a little work on the sewing machine.

If you excersise, buy some running shoes. They may cost Ł30 or so, but the fact you can use them for miles and miles, year after year, means you're saving a hell of a lot compared to a monthly gym fee. Why pay to use a treadmil when you can use your legs for free?

None of this is really "new" advice but I kind of know how you feel. The reward is when you start to put money away and you can feel good that you didn't just cave and get say, another loan or borrow money from friends/parents. You'll get there.

[StaedlerMars]

Heyayeaaaaaahaaaaaah, eat noodles everyday.

[nobo]

There is a fairly big community on reddit devoted to being frugal. You can always take a look there for ideas.

[jmrz]

I've just moved out of home and am paying off a heap of debt as well, so I am trying really hard to be good with money. As everyone else has said, the thing that makes the most difference is cooking and making your own snacks rather than eating out. Making casseroles is a fantastic idea and I have recipes for two that my mum makes all the time and they are wonderful (I can post them if you'd like) and they are really cheap to make! You can just put the leftovers into containers and freeze them and defrost when you want some. Soups work well for that too (although I've not made any myself yet).

Mum told me about the system she used to use when she was short on money. She'd take out all of her "spendable" cash from her pay (after bills and rent and such) and sit down and divide it up and put it in separate envelopes. Each envelope was labelled (food, entertainment, clothes etc) and she could only use the money that was in each envelope for what it said. If you have leftovers at the end of the pay cycle, that was great because you could roll it over to the next week and it just built up. You also get into the mentality of realising "I only have $30 for food, what can I buy that will utilise what I already have at home".

[Elysiana]

Recipes would be awesome!

I like the idea about dividing up spending money so that we can SEE what we have to spend. I think part of our problem is that we do have a bit of a cushion and it's easy to say "Oh look, we still have this much sitting here so we're okay" when really we shouldn't be going all the way down to that point every month. Like we've got $1000 saved up and I keep that in my checking account so it doesn't overdraft if we have an emergency. When I get paid it goes up to $2000 so I'm like "Yay, look how much is there" but it quickly goes back down to $1000, then I get the next paycheck and go through the cycle again. So I guess you could say it's not technically living paycheck-to-paycheck since we do have that cushion, but we're spending the entire paycheck each month. I don't know how comfortable I feel about moving most of that cushion into a savings account because it's not as easy to access.

Which brings me to the credit card question - yes, we have one, and it is almost maxed out but we do pay regularly on it. In fact, that is a question I have - right now I've got good credit (at least, last I checked). We just got our tax refund and it was pretty sizable this year. Is it better to put most of that into paying off part of the credit card right now, or just increase my monthly payments for a while?

TSK - Ryan uses his phone for his personal company, not the day job. We run a poker company that has games three times a week and so he uses that to call and text people about the games - sometimes 30 people a night. We're actually sharing the cell plan with my mom and it's "only" $80 for the two of us, which really isn't horrible. I'm not sure we need all the minutes that we've got, but if we cut back on minutes, the texting cost goes up and makes it about the same in the end.

Right now we use two banks - we're both listed on each, but "mine" is USAA which doesn't have any brick-and-mortar buildings, and "his" is Wachovia because all the poker income is in cash and we can't send that in to USAA. But I'm starting to wonder if it would help us keep better track of our spending by putting it all into one account instead, or use one for checking and one for savings, or something like that. Any suggestions on how to split that up?

[Jimmy the Squid]

I'd like to point out that I'll be getting my first full paycheque from my new job next week. I owe Riz something in the $1000 mark and I owe my girlfriend around $200ish. I also have a leftover phone bill to pay and there will probably be other stuff that comes with moving house over the weekend.

All that said, I really want this leather jacket I saw the other day. It's awesome but it's also $250. Fuuuuuck.

[Katherine]

Elysiana use your tax refund to pay down your credit card right now.  That is less interest that you will have to pay back over time than if you just increase your monthly payments.

Another thing I thought of which is small but small adds up - you can totally make your own re-usable dryer sheets instead of buying the boxed kind (assuming you use dryer sheets and don't add fabric softener to the wash cycle.)

There are tutorials online if you Google, but it is something like: mix some liquid softener with water, soak an old washcloth in that and let air dry.  Then use the washcloth as a dryer sheet. Works for like 10 washes then just repeat.  I have yet to try it as I am using up the last of my boxed sheets but people swear by it and you can make a bottle of liquid softener last for years this way.

[Verergoca]

Well, once you have figured out your budgetting, you should also make agreements with your significant other about which account is used to pay which budgetpart. (For example, i send money to my lady for the rent, which she pays, while we have a combined account for groceries). With your situation, one for emergency's and one for normal use might be an idea.
Spreadsheets win for this btw.

Also, you say that a savingsaccount isnt as easy to access, but that depends a lot on the kind of account you pick. There are a bazzillion types of savingsaccounts, one of those will have accesability, combined with a wee bit higher interest. (Not sure if your bank is as handy as mine, but i can start a new account from home (huzzah internets!)).

Oh, and with the baby on its way, id recommend in starting a savingsaccount now, for when he/she becomes an adult and wants to study. (That one should be locked down for maxx interests over about 16-17ish years) (My parents did it for me and my brothers, and while it helped me study, they also got a nice new car because my brother decided not to study.)

[The Seldom Killer]

With regards to the saving account, at the moment it would appear that savings are pretty much worthless in as much as the interest that they pay is typically less than the rate of inflation so don't get a savings account for the interest. However, a seperate account into which you can put surplus and access it quickly will be beneficial. When I was last in Canada my bank was a supermarket because it was free and like most Brits, I take exception to paying a bank to hold on to my money. I also got loyalty points for spending at the supermarket which resulted in money off and coupons. As with any cushion, put it where the dog won't piss on it.

Pay off your credit card. Paying monthly just means that you are paying more interest for longer when it could be in your pocket. Once you have good credit, it pretty much sits with you until you do something stupid or do so little that you get considered dormant, which is almost impossible these days as credit agencies are a bunch of sticky beaked fuckers who want in on every shit you flush down the toilet. All you're doing now is handing over money to the lender for what amounts to no good reason at all. Pay off what you can now and with anything else it's time to be a rate tart. Find the next lender prepared to offer you free balance transfers and get a credit card from them. Once you've transferred the balance then cut up the old credit card and cancel it if this won't piss off your financial institution. Now pay off that card as quick as you can. The best advice is always to find the debt with the most interest and pay that fastest while servicing the other debts. A free balance transfer period on a credit card is the only exception to this because when that interest kicks in, it will always be worst. If you need to do it again, keep jumping lenders until that credit card is payed off (terms and conditions may apply, always read the small print). I know someone with eight cut up credit cards through doing this because they're too shy to cancel anything, the damn fool. Once credit card debt free, the only reason to keep one is if it offers you benefits such as airmiles, extended purchase protection etc. Even then, only use it when you have the hard cash to pay it off before the next bill lands.

Rationalise - is sharing that cell plan really working for you. If not you may have to hang your mum out to dry on that one. If you're broke and proping up someone that needs it less than you then that basically isn't fair. I'm sure your mum is a lovely person so look at the options and talk to her about it. See also about web-based texting services for costs as they may be cheaper. I presume that you're claiming a portion of the costs of the phone use against tax as a legitimate company expense along with travel costs and any other costs that you might reasonably incur such as venues, subsistence etc. See if one of your banks will offer a bit of free business advice to maximise income generated or perhaps a state advisor. That is, of course, presuming that the company makes a profit. If not, sell it on or wind it up now (selling may be a viable option even if the company is profitable in order to bring in a lump sum and mitigate debts and free up some important paternal time when the baby is born).

Try keeping track of spending without changing anything first. A free copy of Open Office and use of spreadsheets will allow this. I or a more local forumite will probably be able to offer support with this if needed. Speadsheets are a great source of joy and delight when used in your personal life.

[Katherine]

Actually you can kinda fuck up your credit score by canceling credit accounts.  Your credit score is based in part on the length of time you have had credit and the ratio of your outstanding credit versus your credit limit(s).  Pay them off but don't cancel them right away unless they are relatively young accounts or they charge you a monthly fee.  If you want to prevent yourself from using your credit cards impulsively, stick 'em in ziploc baggies with water and freeze them.  Then you have to work to get at them to use them (don't use the microwave!) so you have time to think about your purchase while they are thawing and possibly change your mind.

[tania]

Speadsheets are a great source of joy and delight when used in your personal life.

i use them to keep track of the average amount of sleep i get every week! turns out it's a lot worse than i thought  

[Edith]

I have two checking accounts and three savings accounts. Every 2 weeks when I get paid, the check direct deposits about half into one checking account, 1/4 into the other checking account, and 1/4 directly to my mom's checking account (I owe her a hefty sum and this way I pay her first and always on time).  The smaller account I have access to is debt/luxuries. I make the same payment every month to my credit card, even though it is now far more than the minimum payment. At this rate, that debt will be gone within 3 years. When I really really really want to order something online, I allow myself to use that account, but I'm only allowed to use up to half of the remainder after payin g that month's credit card bill; the other half goes in savings. If I don't want anything, it all goes in savings. If I want something that costs more than the allotment, I make myself save for it. The other account, the one with 1/2 my paycheck, is for all the necessities - rent, food, car, insurance, etc. If there's any leftover, it gets split in half and goes into two separate savings accounts, one of which I can access online like normal, and the other one which is a "goal-setter" account. To transfer money out of the goal-setter I have to actually go in to the bank. When I get $500 in there, the bank will double the amount of interest I've earned on the account up to that time.

It is kind of a shell game, but hiding money from myself seems to help.

[bicostp]

Look at value-for-money when you buy things, not just the bottom line. For example, let's say the dollar store has a 10 ounce bottle of dish soap for $1, but Target has 24 ounces for $1.99. Buying something decent that will last a long time is better than buying something cheap.

Store brands are just as good as name brands 99% of the time, and sometimes they're exactly the same product underneath the shiny packaging.

Depending on how much you use the cars and how old they are, it's a good idea to know how to do basic maintenance yourself because quick-lube garages and the dealers charge a premium for labor. Oil changes are actually pretty simple and inexpensive to perform yourself (especially if you have a neighbor you can borrow a pair of ramps or a jack and jackstands from). Even brakes and rotors are fairly straightforward to do yourself, if you have the right tools. (If not, you can usually borrow tools from Autozone. They charge the price of the tool up front as a deposit, but give you a full refund as long as you return their stuff in the same shape you got it from.

Whereabouts are you? Up here in eastern New England we've got a few local discount chains that have decent stuff. (Market Basket has cheap groceries, and Building #19 has good stuff as long as you're willing to buy slightly imperfect goods.)

edit: VVV On the subject of DIY cleaners, a spray bottle filled with distilled water and a little ammonia works just as well as Windex, since that's all it is anyway.

[calenlass]

frozen assets lololol

Savings versus checking: Most banks let you use online banking now, which means that your savings account is pretty much just as easy to access as your checking account! I do all of my money stuff through the Delta Employees Credit Union, so things are a little different because it is members-owned, but I assume there are equivalents for other banks out there! With DECU, I can set up my check card AND my credit card to also function as an ATM card (so I don't have to buy checks!). My savings account has a $5 minimum, and my checking account has a $0 minimum, and free transfers between accounts, so I keep all my money in my savings account to let as much as possible earn interest for me, and only transfer the grocery money or the dinner check amount to my check card right before I use it, and then transfer the leftover back (even if it's only 50˘). Online bill pay saves me on postage and envelopes. My credit card also earns points that I can use (eventually) at certain restaurants, hotels, or for Sky Miles.


Also: save on fabric softener by not buying it. Fabric softener actually works by weakening the fibers in your clothes. Save money by having your clothes last a little bit longer, too!

[Eris]

White vinegar can be used isntead of fabric softener anyway. Chuck it in the wash and it won't smell like vinegar once it is dried (unless you put heaps in, I guess). It also can be used isntead of spray and wipe stuff for your kitchen. My mum uses it and she is a bit of a clean freak, so it definitely works.

I am alright with my money, I guess. I owe my mum $2000 now (down from $5000), so I have my everyday access account where my pay goes into, and an online saver account that makes much more interest than my normal account. When I get paid I straight up send ben two weeks rent money, because I get paid fortnightly,  then  leave maybe $300 in that account, with the rest going over to savings. which ends up being about $400/500. I try and stick to that money for the next two weeks, because I dislike taking money out of my savings and like watching the money build up, but I don't have a budget so sometimes I buy too much rubbish and have to transfer stuff over. My mum and I have an agreement that I won't do regular payments but wait a while and pay her a lump sum (my decision was $500 at a time) at once, so she can use it better than $50 a week or something. I normally wait until I have $1500 saved up then send some over to her, so I still have that buffer in case there is an emergency.

When I had no job and was borrowing money off my mum for a year I basically cut out verything fun. I would go shopping and buy what I needed that was the cheapest, ate basically the same thing all the time, ate leftovers all the time. I basically never went out. My only real luxury spending I made was buying bus tickets to go to Sydney because otherwise I would have lost my mind. I don't really know what to say that people haven't already.

[bainidhe_dub]

As far as laundry goes, for things that are hard to wash and/or only get lightly worn, you can clean them between washing with vodka. Mist with plain vodka, the cheaper the better, and hang them to dry. It kills any b.o. bacteria and doesn't leave an alcohol smell when dry. It's pretty standard practice with theater costumes.

With food budgeting, I don't know how well it would work for you, but my mom developed a big spreadsheet of all the groceries and things we needed on a regular basis, and price-checked them across the 4 or 5 stores she went to regularly. I guess it depends on your area, we lived in a town with one small (rather expensive) grocery store, so any real shopping required a 30 minute drive out into the "real world" anyway. So she figured out that Target was best for bulk paper goods, the Asian mart had the best prices on produce, and so on. And since she knew the best prices, she knew if the sale price somewhere else was actually worth it. (I'm still working on the idea that just because it's on sale doesn't mean it's a good use of money.)

It might also be worth checking to see if your state has deregulated energy suppliers. In Maryland now, you can choose what company to buy your energy from, so you can shop around and try to find a lower kwh price for electric, and natural gas too. You still have to pay your same company for transmission but it's nice to have some option.

[Alex C]

My science teacher in middle school talked about this and while fabric softeners are indeed an overpriced waste of cash they shouldn't actually -harm- your clothes given that most of them are nothing but a scented hydrophobic coating for your clothes. Anyway, if your only goal is to avoid static cling you can also just chuck a ball of foil or two in the dryer.

[Darkbluerabbit]

A really simple thing that might help a food budget is to drink a lot of water.  Some research has found that people can misinterpret thirst as hunger, so being hydrated can reduce food cravings when you aren't actually hungry.  I go through a lot less food when I make sure I'm really hungry, and not just thirsty or bored, before eating.  I read this somewhere as a diet tip, but I've found the idea useful just for making sure I'm not "wasting" food. 

Some good, cheap food items I haven't seen mentioned yet are eggs and oatmeal.

Eggs are really really cheap.  I actually get them for free most of the time because I know people who raise chickens for fun, but I don't save too much money because they're dirt cheap to begin with.  They get a bad rep because of the cholesterol, but as long as you average about one egg a day, you're fine, and they contain lots of good stuff too.  For one thing, they're a good source of folic acid, which is one of the most important nutrients to get during pregnancy.  They're also a protein, which helps keep you full, which helps prevent you from spending money on snacks. 

Oatmeal is my other cheap as hell staple.  It's full of fiber and some protein, and therefore really filling.  If I have oatmeal for breakfast, I won't be hungry for hours. 

To make things healthier and more interesting, I really like to have frozen fruit and veggies around because they're cheap and keep for a long time.  Broccoli can be added to an omelet, berries to your oatmeal, etc.

[Akima]

Lots of good advice here, and most of the things I would have suggested have already been mentioned, except perhaps for one. Shopping lists. Make a shopping list before you go shopping, and stick to it unless you have simply forgotten to add something you need. It's a good way to ensure you don't impulse-buy.

[The Seldom Killer]

Although if you see items discounted, don't dismiss them because they're not on your shopping list. If it's something with a limited time offer or reduced for quick sale, definitely worth consideration, or substituting it for something on the list.