What kind of changes are you making to cut spending and save money?

[proverbs356lady]

I've been reading the recent thread about the state of our economy and wonder what changes you have made to cut back on spending? When in a pinch, what things can we really go without? If you had time to prepare for a job layoff / recession / depression what would you do to prepare? Anything I should stock up on? Any recommended reading materials?

So far, we haven't been hit hard, but I'm in the process of preparing for the worst. Would love to hear your suggestions!

[Love2Smile]

I started line drying all our clothes

We stopped eating out

Turn off the light ALWAYS

My dh and I decided to NOT buy Hallmark cards for each other for B-days and all the other holidays. Or any other cards. All they do is get read and tossed aside.

Instead of buying a book, checking out the library first

Not buying snack type foods

[Liz CA]

Aside from the smaller things, pay large debts off if you have any. Cars for example or your house if you can.

It is a tremendous relief to be free from mortgage payments, doubly so when things get tight.

[Heather in AL]

Here is a similar thread from just a couple of weeks ago: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188401

 

Maybe there are tips in there you can use. I know I was interested in the sock tip (among others)! :D

[mom4him]

We no longer have cable tv, we NEVER eat out, we watch lights, air conditioning etc to make sure they are needed and not just on, NO new clothes unless really needed, I have started making some of my dd's things from fabric that I have on hand, cut birthday/Christmas giving WAY back, limit how many times we go to town/consolidate trips, cut back to 1 vehicle thus one payment and insurance(This one has been a difficult one but it works and we save over $400 a month).

I am not afraid of loosing our jobs but we are on a pretty fixed income. We have consolided all our credit cards and will have them paid off in 5 yrs(yes, it was big). We also canceled all our cards except our Sears. We would use that for an emergency appliance if needed.

I am sure there is more but that is all I can think of right now.

[proverbs356lady]

Guess we're heading in the right direction. We've made some of the changes that ya'll have suggested. That's good. We've also started buying less paper goods like paper towels, tissues, napkins, etc. and are using reusables instead. Menu planning, making our own laundry detergent, and household cleaner is helping with the grocery/household bills.

Heather, I'll visit the thread that you suggested. I'm sure that'll be very helpful.

Where I struggle right now is getting my family to understand the importance of some of these changes. Especially with eating out. We've gotten into the bad habit of eating out way too much!

Thank you all for your input! You're suggestions are so very appreciated!

[Renee in NC]

The thing that has really helped the most is being on a strict budget. I have a spreadsheet where I take each paycheck and spread it out where it needs to go. I have to budget to the penny (even when we have more bills/expenses than income.)

[Ellen_TX]

Like most people said here first find out where all of your money is going. Bank fees eat a lot of money out of your accounts. Credit unions don't.

 

Books and magazines are little fees that eat at funds.

 

I make my own cleaning products which is better for the environment and healthier for the whole family. Plus it cost pennies to make effective cleaning products this way.

 

Use memberships to get cash back. Buy food and gas at places like Costco or Giant and earn money back or discounts.

[missmoe]

No cable, no internet, no snack food, do not eat out, dry clothes without drier, no newspaper, nothing extra when shopping---have a list and keep to it. Make finding bargains your new job. Buy only on sale. Walk or ride bikes whenever possible. Have a yard sale---put that money towards paying off a debt or paying for something that you would have used a credit card for. Shop for clothes at thrift shop. Use Craig's List and Freecycle instead of automatically

going to the store to buy things.

[keptwoman]

We checked all our insurances to see if we could get better prices elsewhere, we changed from landline to VoIP, buy clothes 2nd hand as first option, but the biggest thing is being considered with our spending, no more "oh it's payday I'm going to buy X" we have made our list prior and decided what we will buy this week. We don't impulse buy. We don't shop ever for the sake of shopping, if we go shopping it's with a very specific aim in mind.

[Carrie12345]

Where I struggle right now is getting my family to understand the importance of some of these changes. Especially with eating out. We've gotten into the bad habit of eating out way too much!

Thank you all for your input! You're suggestions are so very appreciated!

 

This school year, I'm setting ds up with his own pretend household budget. Nothing terribly intense. He does understand that the average person can't afford *everything*, but I'd like to see him work on his prioritizing!

 

While we don't GO out to eat much at all, we tend to order in much more frequently than I ever did growing up. A simple pizza night cost us over $40 a few weeks ago, and Chinese can go even higher. SO, we're stocking up on pizza fixings, and I'm determined to learn a few Chinese dishes. Even if I bought those things boxed or frozen in the supermarket, it would make a huge money difference! (Not that I want to. We try to go preservative-free at home. Ordering in was our "cheat" when it comes to that.)

 

I'm also a Grocery Gamer. That CAN be a budget buster in the beginning if you aren't strict about what you really need. If you do it right, you can manage to save money while also increasing your pantry/freezer stash.

 

Our next step is attempting to Craigslist a lot of our "junk". Garage sales don't typically go well in our secluded little neighborhood.

 

We're trying to pay down dh's car. He gets a generous car allowance but, if he were to lose his job, he'd have no allowance and still have a payment. If we pay it off and he continues to be employed, that allowance is extra income. :D

[Margaret in GA]

We have almost entirely stopped going out to eat. I've not run the clothes dryer a single time this summer. Our thermostat is set at 80. I am staying out of trouble stores: target, academy sports, clothing boutiques. I hate to be so stingy because I recognize how important spending is in our economy (I did buy a book from our locally owned bookstore last week rather than check it out from the library because I am worried that this bookstore will close and I think it's a real asset to our community). However, I think we have to get away from this consumer-driven economy in which we buy things we don't really need from China in order to be "prosperous".

[FaithManor]

No Cable T.V.

No cell phones - though DH has one for work but his employer pays for it

No purchased birthday cards - I was given some stamping up supplies and expect the kids to help me make a bunch of cards each year....it's far cheaper since I didn't pay for all of the supplies and if we run out, we'll make them on the computer which is still cheaper

 

Very rarely purchase coffee out...this was one of my addictions. But, occasionally dh treats me to one at Barnes and Nobles.

 

I buy our entire year's worth of school supplies at the Target back-to-school sales and I try to think of absolutely everything we will need for the year so I won't have to purchase it at higher cost later on.

 

Most of the kids clothes come from the clearance rack and some nice resale shops we have in this area. Except for shoes (can anybody tell me why ds13 insists on going up a shoe size every 2 months for the past six months???????), pretty much everything costs me less than $4.00. Oh, and if you watch those endcaps at Target and explore the 80% off clearance at Kohls, it is entirely possible to pick up six packs of nice socks and underwear for $3.00 a package.

 

We have a large garden and so do my parents. We can, dehydrate, and freeze. The initial investment in canning did not make it a cost saver at first. But, now that I've been doing it for several years and picked up a lot of canning jars at garage sales (plus I save all of my rings so that all I need to do is replace lids), I know have my costs down to $.30 per quart jar and less for pints. That's pretty good when you consider that I make all of my own spaghetti sauce, pizza, sauce, salsa/taco sauce, green beans, tomatoes for chilli and goulash, pinot beans, kidney beans, black beans, canned chicken breasts (these actually cost me $.75 per pint jar but still much less than in the store and much more meat - I can make it into chicken, veggies, and gravy and serve it over potatoes for my family of six), canned venison (that one probably costs about $2.00 per pint jar - we pay a hunter to bag our doe), etc. I also dehydrate apple chips for snacking on as well as red pepper, celery, and grape tomatoes for our winter salads. I freeze two bushels of corn each year and many heads of broccoli plus rhubarb for pies, blueberries for pancakes and muffins, and strawberries for ds's smoothies. Even though we eat a lot of seafood and I buy organic from Meijers, my grocery bill is still less than most families.

 

We drive used cars and we run them into the ground. Dh does all of his own maintenance unless the breakdown is bad enough to need serious equipment like a hoist. Then we decide if the longevity of the car is equal or greater to that investment in the repair or we sell it to the junk yard for parts and find another used car. It's much cheaper to insure used cars and especially if they don't have a loan on them.

 

We have netflix and do not use any of the movie rental places. This saves a lot of money but allows us our fun entertainment. When we do want to see a movie, we wait a very long time for it to make it to our local historic theater which only runs on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings - one showing each - and costs $4.50 per adult and $3.50 per child. $23.50 for six of us and we don't buy pop or popcorn.

 

I bake a lot, which I actually don't enjoy but thankfully ds 13 is turning into a chef and I can shove some of it off onto him, and so we don't keep much for pre-boxed snacks in the house.

 

We are working to become debt free. On our current timeline, we will have no debts in 40 or less months.

We invested in a wood exterior boiler to heat the house. It costs us approximately $100.00 per month in wood during the heating season and this year will be less than that because we've got a couple of oak trees in very bad shape that must come down. One of the young married men in our church, who works for a tree service, really needs some extra Saturday work because his hours have been cut back. He negotiated with DH to come on a Saturday morning and bring the trees down for $100.00 each which is an amazing bargain. So, these trees are so big that this will provide all of our winter heat.

 

Dh works from home a lot now thanks to being on a global account and so he doesn't have to spend much on gas. This is nice because we pay for all of dd's commuting costs to her paramedic classes.

 

We are currently trying to stool money away for a roof. Dh thinks we will need to put one on next summer. He's planning on doing a lot of the work himself but will hire a local Amish man who does great work to help him. So, I think we will need $4000.00 in materials and labor costs.

 

As for hobbies, Dh's hobbies are funded in large part by contributions from family members on his birthdays and Christmas. Same for me....I am addicted to quilting but my favorite quilt shop has an after Christmas inventory sale every year - 50% off the entire store. My parents, mil, sister, and a dear friend with whom I exchange holiday gifts, all purchase gift certificates to the store for me...also, my Christmas gift from Dh is to go with me to that sale, he lets me spend a nice sum of money, and he carries all of the bolts around for me and pretends that he's really interested in all of the color and pattern coordinating! Since I mostly stitch in the ditch and rarely ever pay for long-arm quilting, my only hobby expenditure is for the batting but I wait for it to go on sale at JoAnn's fabrics for 50% off and then use my 15% off teacher's discount on top of that. So, my quilts aren't nearly as expensive as most.

 

Oh, we also raise a pig each year. The total cost is around $175.00 and we have 135-150 pounds of yummy meat. It's raised organically on free range grass, kitchen scraps, and such. It's a real bargain.

 

Our big splurge is for Mabel, our organic cow who is boarded at an organic dairy. We don't have the land, barn, or other necessities for maintaining her ourselves at this time. So, we have a deal with an organic dairy farmer for him to keep her. We pay $60.00 per month for boarding fees and he milks her for us but keeps all of the rest of the milk which is quite a bit. She's a guernsey/holstein cross and that gal gives some serious milk! We take three gallons per week or 12 gallons per month unless I am making yogurt and cream cheese and then I will go fetch five or six gallons that week.

 

Faith

[FaithManor]

Carrie,

 

I have a couple of ideas about the chinese and pizza. We love those take out foods as well. But, here is my no-fail chinese stir fry that the whole family loves!

 

Dice a couple of large chicken breasts and saute in a large skillet with olive oil, sesame oil (don't use a lot - this can be very zesty, unless your kids really like "hot" chinese), and soy sauce...when it's thoroughly browned, butter and sliced portabella mushrooms, red pepper, yellow pepper, chopped celery, pea pods or just some frozen peas, a can of bean sprouts, and a can of water chestnuts. Put some more olive oil and another drizzle of sesame oil and soy sauce so that the whole thing remains moist, lightly sprinkle with a hint of ginger and garlic, and saute on low until it is done through. About 10 minutes before the mixture is thoroughly done, start some pasta and cook until done...get out another skillet, turn burner to medium, add a little garlic, soy sauce, and a tinge of olive oil, drain the pasta, and heat through in the skillet. My family inhales this and never asks to buy chinese anymore but they clamor for this.

 

As for pizza, we still do sometimes get pizza from a local pizzaria. This is only because the family lost their oldest child to a massive coronary this year six months before his high school graduation. He dropped dead in the school cafeteria. Though two teachers that have paramedic licenses were on the spot just about immediately and the hospital is only four blocks away, no one ever got a heart beat on him....Some sort of genetic defect in the electrical wiring of his heart that had gone undetected. They had a real financial struggle paying for his funeral and so we've tried to be regular customers. But, when we do want homemade pizza, one thing my boys like, is to make individual pizzas using bagels for the crust. They love it and its pretty cheap.

 

Faith

[mommyoftwinboys]

Faithmanor-

Not to hijack this thread but gosh you are a bundle of information! Can I come over and just learn from you?:001_smile:

I was curious about the pig...could you explain your setup a little bit and is the pig in grassy or wooded area? What about fencing? Does the pig need shelter? We just purchased 5 acres of wooded land and want to have some animals. I'd love to get a pig but don't know where to start.

[proverbs356lady]

No Cable T.V.

We have a large garden and so do my parents. We can, dehydrate, and freeze. The initial investment in canning did not make it a cost saver at first. But, now that I've been doing it for several years and picked up a lot of canning jars at garage sales (plus I save all of my rings so that all I need to do is replace lids), I know have my costs down to $.30 per quart jar and less for pints. That's pretty good when you consider that I make all of my own spaghetti sauce, pizza, sauce, salsa/taco sauce, green beans, tomatoes for chilli and goulash, pinot beans, kidney beans, black beans, canned chicken breasts (these actually cost me $.75 per pint jar but still much less than in the store and much more meat - I can make it into chicken, veggies, and gravy and serve it over potatoes for my family of six), canned venison (that one probably costs about $2.00 per pint jar - we pay a hunter to bag our doe), etc. I also dehydrate apple chips for snacking on as well as red pepper, celery, and grape tomatoes for our winter salads. I freeze two bushels of corn each year and many heads of broccoli plus rhubarb for pies, blueberries for pancakes and muffins, and strawberries for ds's smoothies. Even though we eat a lot of seafood and I buy organic from Meijers, my grocery bill is still less than most families.

 

 

I bake a lot, which I actually don't enjoy but thankfully ds 13 is turning into a chef and I can shove some of it off onto him, and so we don't keep much for pre-boxed snacks in the house.

Faith

Wow, Faithmanor, I'm impressed! I could learn a lot from you! My neighbor has begun gardening and canning and I would like to head in that direction. This summer I'm working on small changes and organization. Next summer I hope to garden and work on canning. Looks like it would be a good time to start looking for supplies. Can you suggest any good websites or books that teach how to can/preserve foods? I have the More With Less Cookbook, Joy of Cooking, and Betty Crocker Cookbook, which all have instructions on canning but don't know how good their instructions are.

 

About baking, do you also mill your own grain. Is milling your own grain cost effective? I'm not ready to purchase a grain mill yet. For starters I'm baking more and foregoing the packaged snacks, desserts, and breads. Once I get more into the routine of baking everything myself I wonder if a grain mill would be worth the cost. What do ya'll think?

[MomOfOneFunOne]

However, I think we have to get away from this consumer-driven economy in which we buy things we don't really need from China in order to be "prosperous".

 

I am so with you on this.

 

And I, too, try to be local. We've also stopped eating out, with the exception of something celebratory. If it is something, we skip the chain and go for locally-owned dining.

 

I wish, WISH, I could do this in other areas. Seriously, though, where do you buy underwear and batteries, tissue and dental floss if not at a target or something. You know what . . . I think I feel a spin off coming . . .