How to NOT take forever in paying off your mortgage! 2 friends are now mortgage-free!

[kokotg]

If you get rid of trash service, what do you do with the trash?

 

For a family of 4, we use about 3/4 to 1 can of trash a week.

 

We used to take ours to our county's recycling place/dump. They charged $1 per big bag (i.e. one that maybe 3 kitchen sized bags could fit in). Then DH changed jobs and it wasn't on his way to work anymore and they raised the prices some, so it was no longer worth it.

[sheryl]

As mentioned my dh read ALL of your replies. I must say though that he is knowledgeable with finances, etc. However, our degrees are not in that area so hence my reason for posting the thread.

 

Well, he reminded me that we are paying a little additional each month which goes toward the principle and we are 2-3 years ahead/closer. As we talked, I mentioned to him that I'm going to revamp "how" I buy and maybe just as importantly as "why" I buy. Taking suggestions from my friend C and y'all you said the same thing, I will now keep receipts and budget.

 

As we were talking I mentioned that I'd like to pay more than the extra we are paying now toward our principle. So, he's working that out now. Also, any bonuses we (dh) may get etc will go towards lowering our mortgage. I need to relist some things on Craigslist for selling.

 

So, we are headed in the right direction with:

 

Extra money towards principle each month

Keeping receipts

Grocery list overhaul...make a budget here and budgets for all categories

Odds and Ends: bonus money, selling books/clothes, etc

 

Thanks for your input, it has been incredibly helpful to me.

 

You all are experienced with already putting this into practice, now it's my turn...;)

[Lovedtodeath]

Sheryl, forgive me if you are already aware of this, but another thing to think about is if no mortgage is your ultimate goal. In other words, how will things work out if you have no mortgage (yay) but no retirement fund or income (not so good). Many elderly have been forced to sell their home in that situation, or even had it seized for taxes.

 

In our case, we are saving up an emergency fund of 6 months worth of expenses before paying that toward our mortgage because if DH loses his job before that 10 years is up (mortgage is paid off), having that cash will do us much more good than having a lower mortgage balance.

 

It sounds to me like you all are where we were a few months ago. You know what you are doing already, but haven't looked into it more yet.

Edited August 12, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[sheryl]

Sheryl, forgive me if you are already aware of this, but another thing to think about is if no mortgage is your ultimate goal. In other words, how will things work out if you have no mortgage (yay) but no retirement fund or income (not so good). Many elderly have been forced to sell their home in that situation, or even had it seized for taxes.

 

In our case, we are saving up an emergency fund of 6 months worth of expenses before paying that toward our mortgage because if DH loses his job before that 10 years is up (mortgage is paid off), having that cash will do us much more good than having a lower mortgage balance.

 

It sounds to me like you all are where we were a few months ago. You know what you are doing already, but haven't looked into it more yet.

 

 

Camille, I hope I remembered your name...oh queen of wtm posting!:D

 

Well, that's so true. As I mentioned J and her dh are mortgage free with NO retirement...age 50-56.

 

My friend C and her dh are mortgage free and HAVE retirement....early 50's.

 

We are early 50's and HAVE mortgage and HAVE retirement.

 

My dh was saying last night that being mortgage free from current home is not as important as having retirement and once we move, which we're planning....same city, just different area, house, etc then it will behoove us more to be mortgage free in our next home.

 

Emergency fund is a wise choice. My dh and I need to sit down soon and discuss all expenditures and graph it out for budgeting. Thanks!!!

 

Adding: My dh says you can pay the regular house pay't AND the "extra" on the SAME DATE and you do NOT incur any additional charges. At least that's so in our case.

Edited August 12, 2010 by sheryl

[Mejane]

I was hoping I could get rid of trash service in some magical way.

 

Can you haul it yourself? Pick-up is double what a dump sticker costs here. Saves us about $70/year.

[fairfarmhand]

go to

 

http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/mortgage-calculator/

 

This mortagage calculator will help you figure out how much chunking 100 a month will cut off of your mortgage.

 

Also, one thing that we do is we never buy a NEW car. We never borrow for a car. We save up and pay cash for it. Not having a car payment has been a REAL blessing for our family.

Get a 15 yr mortgage if you can swing it AT ALL.

 

(dh found that mortage rates are incredibly low right now. For every percentage point you drop, the closing costs will be paid off in 1 year!)

[JenC3]

We too bought a great house with an acre in a working class neighborhood that is outside of the city. We sold our first house for only 25k less than this house and definitely moved up in space, has a pool etc. The school district is not the best, but b/c we HS we didn't care. It's safe, lots of cops and firemen:) Starting in January we are implementing our 5 yr plan that will play off the house. We have to finish funding our EF though since we've used lots doing home projects. Dh will be 46 & I will be 42 when we will be mortgage free granted thing stay the same.

 

We have also started perennial edible gardens and tons of fruit trees and bushes. We raise bees and are adding chickens in the Spring. We plan to live off my midwife's salary in 5 yrs and pocket all of dh's for "retirement." Dh plans to pursue woodworking and beekeeping as his retirement income stream. As long as we can garden and have an annuity to pay our taxes/utilities dh and I can live well.

[lynn]

My dd and I just returned home from a playdate/visit with friends. She informed me just in passing conversation that she and her dh no longer have a mortgage! They are 50 have 2 sons (homeschooled) and a nice house that's valued at maybe $300,000 which is alot of money, but the state in which we live and the city, that's an average price. I do not know what his salary is....he is a professional working from home. My freind, "C" has partnered with her husband to form budgets, for every.thing:

 

groceries (food and staples)

gasoline

mortgage (until recently, it's now paid off)

homeschooling

clothing for EACh family member

retirement savings

utilities

car repair

car pay't (they deduct the money still so that when they buy another car, they will be used to the money "out" every month)

......and the list goes on.......

 

C told me they keep recipes for.every.single.expenditure!! They have retirement savings! Every.thing.

 

She said they follow Larry Burkett's plan <>< .

 

 

 

Now I have another friend "J" ....same scenario. She's 51 and her dh is 56. They have 4 grown children (20-30). I don't think she keeps receipts like C, but she "bargain shops". I do too. She shuffles money here and there and has been able to pay off the mortgage. J's dh makes around $90K/annual salary. They have NO retirement savings.

 

Now, I'm happy for my friends. J I've known for 18 years and C I've "known" about 7 years, but our friendship has deepened for about 2 years. I asked C a little bit ago, what are we doing wrong and proceeded to tell her the content of this thread....that I have 2 friends that have paid off their mortgage....what's going on.

 

What a blessing to be mortgage-free, but that is hard in any economy and especially in this one.

 

Now, for you economist's HOW, HOW, HOW can one accomplish this? This would be a great position to be in, but it's just not happening. We have my dh's salary only and one 11 yo dd, 2 pets...:D

 

My dh DOES save for our retirement. We are not big spenders on anything. Our house is not as nice as C/J's houses. We have a 10 yo Pontiac Montana van and a pre-owned 2004 Toyota Camry. We do go out to eat maybe 2x/month at average of $15.00 each time for entire bill. I won't list all the expenditures, but we're not lavish in anything. Shouldn't we have more than we do? Where does the money go. My dh is a professional working outside the home.

 

Suggestions? Ideas? Anything to help us get this mortgage paid off sooner rather than later.

 

PS....Forgot to mention, my own sister with her dh paid off there mortgage this past May when J paid hers off!

 

HELP. Sheryl <><

 

We followed Larry Burkett principles also and are 100% debt free at40.

 

Let me see if i can explain what Burkett advised. You don't put extra money towards your mortgage each month. You save the money then when you have enough to pay the mortgage balance at one time you pay it off. that way if something happened you would not loose loose your home and all the extra money you paid into your mortgage to pay it off sooner. Does that make sense. In other words if something happened and you would have the extra money on hand to help through rather than have it all in your house.

Edited December 15, 2010 by lynn

[jld]

We followed Larry Burkett principles also and are 100% debt free at40.

 

 

Way to go, Lynn!

[G5052]

It is rare in our area to pay off a mortgage early, but houses are extremely expensive and most have long commutes which are expensive with the price of gas now. We're also older and are making retirement savings a priority because we didn't do as much of that when we were younger.

 

We did recently started paying double on the car payments with the goal of then applying that to the mortgage when that is done. Maybe debt-free in five years or so?

[Pippen]

Did they purchase the house for $300K? That may be part of it.

 

Our first house was purchased for $142K but went up to almost 500K during the big housing boom. It is now valued around $380K.

 

So, while the value may be 300K, they may have paid far less.

 

For us, our salary has increased so much since the purchase of our first house, that we could easily paid it off in the 11 years since we purchased it. Especially if I had continued working.

 

Dawn

 

The initial cost of the house makes a huge difference, as does the down payment. When we bought we were both working. The real estate agent did the calculations and informed us we could afford a payment of $1400/month. We'd done our homework and told her we were sticking around $400 (based on one income as Larry Burkett recommended). It's not my dream house but it's served us well and we haven't had problems making the payments, provided we budget carefully elsewhere. If I'd have kept working on a teacher's salary we would have had it paid off in five years.

[LizzyBee]

My dh and I have tried budgeting, but after having kids it was so hard. For ex. when your kid is having an asthma attack and the meds are over $100 with insurance, you can't exactly say no, that's not in the budget this week. We've read Larry Burkett's books and taken Crown Ministry's class. But we never seem to get ahead.

 

But... I'm 46 and dh is 51. Our retirement savings is ridiculously low, we have 29 years left on our mortgage, and I am tired of always being broke in spite of a decent salary. I bought Dave Ramsey's marriage bundle for Christmas, and I told dh that the best gift we can give our kids is to get our finances in order. We are not doing them any favors when we buy "stuff" instead of working toward a secure future. They need us to model responsibility. I hope I can get dh on board before I lose my motivation. :tongue_smilie:

 

I really like Dave Ramsey's slogan, "Live like nobody else so you can live like nobody else." I think if we can really embrace the concept of planning for a secure future (instead of buying whatever we want today), we can at the very least pay off our credit cards and start putting those monthly payments toward the mortgage or into retirement. I'm not thinking too much about paying off the mortgage yet...one step at a time. After we get some money in the bank and pay off the credit cards, then I'll figure out the next steps.

Edited December 15, 2010 by LizzyBee

[jld]

Good for you, Elizabeth. Remember, a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. You're being a great model for your kids!:)

[FaithManor]

I know several people who have done this. Even on a 30 year mortgage, $25.00-50.00 extra per month makes a big difference in the date of the pay off. Dh and I agreed at the beginning of our marriage that we would never have a mortgage financed over longer than 20 years which also helps. Yes, the payment is higher and so we didn't live in quite as nice of housing as many of our young married friends did, but it played out well because in the early years of his career, we moved often and we always had good equity in the house which made our houses easy to sell and always have money to invest in the next one. Most of our mortgages were 15 yr....you really build equity fast on a 15 yr. mortgage and the reduction in interest was quite nice. Every bank we worked with were impressed that we were willing to make the higher payments and build equity faster. On our 15 yr. mortgages. 3.75 - 4.0 percent was the highest interest rate we paid.

 

We'l be mortgage free here in three years if we don't pay any extra on it between now and then and that was on a ten year land contract.

 

Our friends that have had 30 year mortgages have all paid them off early by paying extra every month. They financed on 30 years so that the monthly payment was affordable but they budgeted more than that when they considered purchasing or building their house. Two couples made the 15 year payment though they financed on 30. Some have not paid extra each month but always allocate their tax refunds and any other unexpected monies plus up to 3/4 of any raises received to their mortages.

 

We are looking forward to our "mortgage burning".

 

Faith

[Laura Corin]

Any money that we have in our bank accounts reduces the amount of interest we pay on the mortgage that month. We are saving towards the mortgage but have not paid it down officially - the money stays in our bank accounts and thus reduces our payments whilst giving us continued flexibility in case we need to use our money for something else.

 

As an example, if our mortgage is £100 and we pay 1% interest per month, if we have £50 in our bank accounts, we would only pay £0.50 interest that month instead of £1.

 

Laura

[RahRah]

What a blessing to be mortgage-free, but that is hard in any economy and especially in this one.

 

Now, for you economist's HOW, HOW, HOW can one accomplish this? This would be a great position to be in, but it's just not happening. We have my dh's salary only and one 11 yo dd, 2 pets...:D

 

[...]

 

Suggestions? Ideas? Anything to help us get this mortgage paid off sooner rather than later.

 

HELP. Sheryl <><

 

I'm coming in late to the thread, but we're probably about a year ahead of where you are now - had the lightning bolt hit us about a year ago that we needed to really do something with our finances and set our goals.

 

The first step for us was to actually sit down and see where the money was going each month and try to set some sort of budget. We didnt use a system or program - just sat down one night and started a list of all the potential things we spend money on in a month, quarter and year. The list seemed a mile long! But it included everything we could think of, from the big stuff, like the mortgages, to the once a year like our septic service contract (paid annually)....we also, even though we don't always use this much, built in 1% of our home's value for repairs and maintenance each year as a goal to have on-hand just in case.

 

We decided to begin using cash for pocket-money, groceries and incidentals. DH is paid monthly, so when I deposit his check, I take out cash for his and my pocket-money, groceries and miscellaneous (which is DS's allowance and dining out money for the most part).

 

We opened a savings account to set aside emergency funds (we didn't have any before) and I deposit a check for 10% of DH's take-home each month into that.....once the money is gone from the checking, it's outta sight, outta mind for me.

 

DH also contributes the max he can to his 401(k) so we never see that either.

 

In doing this, I am now forced to work with what we have in the checking account for paying down debt and paying bills.

 

For us, we decided a step-by-step, incremental approach would work....so first we tackled DH's student loans and were able to pay them off 8-years ahead of time. It didn't take much to do it, but it felt great when we had that monkey off our back! We then took the entire sum we were paying to pay off the student loans and rolled that to the next item on our list - the credit cards.

 

So, as example.....pretend DH's student loan payment was $300, we paid $500.....paid it off, then used that $500 + the payment we were already paying to the credit card, pretend $300.....so we paid $800 a month until that was paid.

 

We weren't carrying much credit card debt, so that was paid quickly....so then we moved on to my car loan.....paid the normal payment for the loan + the hypothetical $800 above and that was paid very quickly.....DH needed a new (used) car, so we financed part of that and kept the new loan within my car's payment and continued on (the car loan is something we realize and accept, for now, is just part of our budget - and this new loan has 0.9% interest, so it's costing virtually nothing to carry the loan).

 

Anyway, we've now moved onto the mortgages....aside from the new car loan, they are our only debt. Second mortgage right now is getting all the extra from above - payment money we are used to paying now - adn that'll be paid off in the next few years, then we'll tackle the primary and hopefully have that paid off before DH turns 60 (he's 49). We bought our house four years ago, so if we can pull it off, we'll pay the house off in 15 years instead of 30.

 

Feels good since we are "older" and looking ahead toward retirement and DS (and soon to arrive baby) going off to college around the same time! At this point we do not maintain a separate college fund since DH will be able to tap his retirement accounts in ten years anyway, so all major savings is going toward those accounts rather than separating out college versus retirement....plus, with the house paid, we'll likely downsize since our house right now is actually a bit too big for us as it is.....so we look at paying that off as a big way to have access to money if/when needed down the road when we're older, with a significantly less cost burden on the sale....ie. if we took 30-years to pay it instead of 15, the interest would mean what we sell for won't likely be a return, but breaking even - I'd prefer we keep the interest saved by paying early!

 

Anyway - make a plan and do your best to stick to it....that's waht we're doing and even if you have a month here or there where something comes up, you have a plan you can get back on track with!

[Lovedtodeath]

My dh and I have tried budgeting, but after having kids it was so hard. For ex. when your kid is having an asthma attack and the meds are over $100 with insurance, you can't exactly say no, that's not in the budget this week. We've read Larry Burkett's books and taken Crown Ministry's class. But we never seem to get ahead.

:grouphug: I know how that is. DS broke his two front teeth and lightening struck our 50' tall ash tree in the same month. Our emergency fund took a big hit. We are happy that we didn't have to put it on credit... but when the ax comes down on DHs job the fund isn't there. :confused:

 

It can be discouraging to read examples of people with twice your income and 10 more years to save, but you are right... we are setting an example for our kids. Thank you for pointing that out!

[Oak Knoll Mom]

Just like others mentioned, pay extra on the capital every month. When we started out, I got an amortization table and saw how much of our loan payment was going toward capital and then paid that much more each month. I was basically paying two payments every month. The amount I paid in capital each month got bigger as the years went on, but by that time we were making more money.

[Soror]

We have done similiar as others. We took out a very, very small loan. Houses in this area are cheap anyway(same as salaries) but we took out about 1/2 of what others did. We put the house on 20 yr loan but have always paid it the same as it was a 15 yr plan, so it will be paid off in 5y11m- when I am 38 and dh 41. We have tried to keep our expenses fairly the same when our salary has went up, although we have had some splurges as we have been able to afford them.

 

We have sure had some setbacks as well but thankfully we had the savings there. We had to replace the car 3 yrs earlier than planned as we had a house/garage fire. The same fire meant that we had to rebuild- fire was 5 days before our coverage increased. We got to upgrade the house but have paid out tons of money out of pocket as well to do so. Dh had some weird genetic anomaly surgery and we had to pay our OOP max last year- which is a lot on high deductible health insurance.

 

I guess that is life though and better to be prepared for it though. Having gone through that though makes me even more determined to make sure we have emergency funds for as long as possible. That we have money set aside to replace vehicles- I don't plan on it until the wheels fall-off but you never know. Dh's job has done great through the recession but I cannot help but feel paranoid about what might happen. Having the mortgage paid off will be a great reassurance as then I know that even something happened to his job we would be in a lot better place.

[sheryl]

this thread made a come back. I was just thinking about these topics this week.

 

After my original post date, I'm pleased to say I keep receipts.for.every.thing! However, it does require time to log all of these into the appropriate category/envelope.

 

It's been several months. Now at the close of this calendar we will take these receipts and come up with a budget.

 

So, if you're short one month in budget A and plentiful in budget B and you need to buy from budget A, do you "transfer"? :bigear:

 

Lastly, to what percent do you say you "keep" your budgets and not exceed? :bigear:

 

Thanks.Again! :lol: Sheryl <><

[LibraryLover]

:iagree:

 

Good for you, Elizabeth. Remember, a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. You're being a great model for your kids!:)

[Lovedtodeath]

this thread made a come back. I was just thinking about these topics this week.

 

After my original post date, I'm pleased to say I keep receipts.for.every.thing! However, it does require time to log all of these into the appropriate category/envelope.

 

It's been several months. Now at the close of this calendar we will take these receipts and come up with a budget.

 

So, if you're short one month in budget A and plentiful in budget B and you need to buy from budget A, do you "transfer"? :bigear:

 

That is what we do.

 

Dave Ramsey says to write up a new budget every month. He also says to allocate every penny.

[sheryl]

That is what we do.

 

Dave Ramsey says to write up a new budget every month. He also says to allocate every penny.

 

Camille,

 

I r e a l l y need to get DR resources. So many of you have referenced his name, that it must be a good source for practical advice.

 

Now about that every penny. That is hard, but I'm trying.

 

Budget "every" month. I don't understand. Explain more fully. I wouldn't even know how to go about doing that...on a monthly basis.

 

I was going to take our totals for groceries, for example, and divide by 12 months to come up with average to spend each month. And, I'm sure I'd spend less if I used cash.

 

I need to repeat until I do it....DR book, DR book....:lol:

[kalanamak]

ACCCCCCCCK! Thread resurrection.....run for the showers.

Edited December 16, 2010 by kalanamak

[Mom0012]

I haven't read all the other posts, but I think the best way is to refinance to a 15 year mortgage. Your payments will be higher, but not as much as you might think. If you can squeeze the difference out of your income, you will make a lot of progress in paying your mortgage off quickly.

 

Lisa

[Lovedtodeath]

I r e a l l y need to get DR resources. So many of you have referenced his name, that it must be a good source for practical advice.

 

Now about that every penny. That is hard, but I'm trying.

 

Budget "every" month. I don't understand. Explain more fully. I wouldn't even know how to go about doing that...on a monthly basis.

 

I was going to take our totals for groceries, for example, and divide by 12 months to come up with average to spend each month. And, I'm sure I'd spend less if I used cash.

 

I need to repeat until I do it....DR book, DR book....:lol:

 

Monthly Cash Flow Plan

 

:) This is how we figured out how to budget. We do not use this plan. We have 6 envelopes and a list of bills. We were spending twice as much on food as we do now. Budgeting our groceries and cutting out fast food has made the most difference in our budget. I budget my medical expenses too... with an autoimmune disease it is easy to spend $1000 a month on a bunch of suggestions from nutritionists and the like. The book we got was Total Money Makeover. It consists mostly of inspiration and this cash flow plan. HTH!

[sheryl]

Monthly Cash Flow Plan

 

:) This is how we figured out how to budget. We do not use this plan. We have 6 envelopes and a list of bills. We were spending twice as much on food as we do now. Budgeting our groceries and cutting out fast food has made the most difference in our budget. I budget my medical expenses too... with an autoimmune disease it is easy to spend $1000 a month on a bunch of suggestions from nutritionists and the like. The book we got was Total Money Makeover. It consists mostly of inspiration and this cash flow plan. HTH!

 

DD and I went shopping today...rarely do that, but we're doing a little Christmas shopping. We went inside the Christian bookstore and before me was TMM. I didn't buy it b/c it's not in my budget right now.....:lol:

I kid you not. But, I'm going to research a used copy somewhere if used would work.

 

Will check out the link. THANKS!

[RahRah]

I was going to take our totals for groceries, for example, and divide by 12 months to come up with average to spend each month. And, I'm sure I'd spend less if I used cash.

 

 

 

Since I switched to using cash for groceries, I spend at least $200-250 less each month.....probably because I'm more price sensitive now and pay attention to sales more than I did before, when I'd just grab what I needed, regardless of on-sale or not and swipe the bank debit card. I have not changed the quality of what I buy - just the timing of many things....I wait if I can, until it's on sale, then stock up if it's something non-perishable so I can wait again if I need to!

[Tree House Academy]

I didn't read through all the threads, but something that struck me from your original post is that C and J were both in their 50's. Are you also in your 50's? When did they buy their houses? When did you buy yours? Did you get a 15 yr loan, a 20 year loan, a 30 year loan, etc? Does your dh make what their dh's do salary wise?

 

My dh and I own a home valued around the same as C & J's homes and dh makes a bit over what you posted salary wise. We did a 15 year Mortgage and we currently have 12 years left to pay. Dh will be 52 and I will be 42 when our mortgage is paid and this is just by paying it every month!

 

My husband is an engineer and my budget is something that would truly drive even the most organized person batty. We budget to the penny and have over 40 categories where I have to account for each and every little thing we buy/do/use. We have retirement savings, stocks, etc. Our budget includes everything from a home expense fund to a vet/dog food fund. Each section is given a portion of each paycheck and when we don't use the money from a section, it adds up in that area. When we need it, it is there. Does this make sense?

 

I guess there are a lot of factors that go into each situation.

Edited December 17, 2010 by Tree House Academy

[Tree House Academy]

Ha ha..I have to share my grocery shopping with you. Again, remember my dh is an engineer and a budgeting FREAK...LOL...but he actually has a file in excel that lists every grocery we buy. Before we go shopping, we go through and mark which groceries we need in a column on the file. Then, he sorts it to see which stores we need to go to and puts each item in order by AISLE in the store (LOL). Then, I walk around the store with the laptop and put in the actual price for each item. The program automatically adds up the price in each store and adds tax based on the location of the store (we live in a tri-state area). Yes, it is totally geeky and I feel completely ignorant and annoyed each time I go to the store...but we NEVER overspend! NEVER.

[elegantlion]

Ha ha..I have to share my grocery shopping with you. Again, remember my dh is an engineer and a budgeting FREAK...LOL...but he actually has a file in excel that lists every grocery we buy. Before we go shopping, we go through and mark which groceries we need in a column on the file. Then, he sorts it to see which stores we need to go to and puts each item in order by AISLE in the store (LOL). Then, I walk around the store with the laptop and put in the actual price for each item. The program automatically adds up the price in each store and adds tax based on the location of the store (we live in a tri-state area). Yes, it is totally geeky and I feel completely ignorant and annoyed each time I go to the store...but we NEVER overspend! NEVER.

 

I wonder if there is an app that would do that on Iphone or Android? Seriously. I used to have the food prices memorized on the items we buy on a regular basis. I would do a mental calculation before I even went to the store. I was usually within two dollars of my estimate, which is great when you only have a certain amount of cash. But when grocery prices got so volatile a few years they would change every week, it made it truly hard to create a mental budget.

[Lovedtodeath]

I wonder if there is an app that would do that on Iphone or Android? Seriously. I used to have the food prices memorized on the items we buy on a regular basis. I would do a mental calculation before I even went to the store. I was usually within two dollars of my estimate, which is great when you only have a certain amount of cash. But when grocery prices got so volatile a few years they would change every week, it made it truly hard to create a mental budget.

Almost everything I buy is on one of the ads for the grocery stores. :)

[Renee in NC]

Almost everything I buy is on one of the ads for the grocery stores. :)

 

That's what I do, too. However, that isn't always the lowest price for that week. You used to be able to keep a price book so you knew the rock bottom price. Now, though, prices change weekly - nothing ever seems to stay the same.

 

I got frustrated going to get a certain item because that store had the lowest price and finding the price significantly higher. Even WalMart prices fluctuate week to week and by a LOT!

 

The only thing that seems to stay the same is that milk is $3.29 a gallon just about anywhere.:tongue_smilie:

[Lovedtodeath]

IDK I almost always pay the same price for everything. It might be different here. I am in Indiana.

 

examples: every week or often enough that I can stock up and not pay more.

 

Milk is 2.19 a gallon for regular, 2.50-3.00 per half gallon organic

 

Ground sirloin is 3.99 per lb for Laura's Lean

 

Chicken thighs or breasts on the bone or a whole roaster are 99 cents per pound

 

Cheese is 2.00-2.35 per 8 oz.

 

Eggs are 1.10 per dozen large or 88 cents medium

 

cereal is 2.00 for my brand and 3.35 for Tim's

 

Coffee is $6-7 for the month

 

Now, which store will have these prices does tend to vary.

 

ElegantLion, like the new sig line :)

Edited December 17, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[Renee in NC]

IDK I almost always pay the same price for everything. It might be different here. I am in Indiana.

 

examples: every week or often enough that I can stock up and not pay more.

 

Milk is 2.19 a gallon for regular, 2.50-3.00 per half gallon organic

 

Ground sirloin is 3.99 per lb for Laura's Lean

 

Chicken thighs or breasts on the bone or a whole roaster are 99 cents per pound

 

Cheese is 2.00-2.35 per 8 oz.

 

Eggs are 1.10 per dozen large or 88 cents medium

 

cereal is 2.00 for my brand and 3.35 for Tim's

 

Coffee is $6-7 for the month

 

Now, which store will have these prices does tend to vary.

 

ElegantLion, like the new sig line :)

 

:001_huh: Cheap groceries!

[cathmom]

That's what I do, too. However, that isn't always the lowest price for that week. You used to be able to keep a price book so you knew the rock bottom price. Now, though, prices change weekly - nothing ever seems to stay the same.

 

I got frustrated going to get a certain item because that store had the lowest price and finding the price significantly higher. Even WalMart prices fluctuate week to week and by a LOT!

 

The only thing that seems to stay the same is that milk is $3.29 a gallon just about anywhere.:tongue_smilie:

 

That's one of the things I like about shopping at Trader Joe's now. The prices stay the same, no sales, no calculating, no 50 million kinds of everything - just in and out. At all the other stores around here, the prices change like you said. I can't even try to keep track of it anymore!

[katilac]

:001_huh: Cheap groceries!

 

yeah, if I had those prices, I could pay off a mortgage in milk savings alone! ;)

[Renee in NC]

That's one of the things I like about shopping at Trader Joe's now. The prices stay the same, no sales, no calculating, no 50 million kinds of everything - just in and out. At all the other stores around here, the prices change like you said. I can't even try to keep track of it anymore!

 

Well, pretty soon Trader Joe's will be on *my* list again!!!:D No Trader Joe's here - what is wrong with people?!?!?!

 

I just try to buy what's on sale, but sometimes a sale isn't a sale at all. So, I kind of have "max. prices" for things I buy - if it costs more than $x, then I have to find an alternative. Good thing I am not brand picky on most things.

[Lovedtodeath]

:001_huh: Cheap groceries!

I noticed that when we lived in the South the groceries were more expensive. The housing was much less though, and the utilities were a little less so I think it evened out. (OH, office type jobs seemed to pay less there too though.)

 

I just try to buy what's on sale, but sometimes a sale isn't a sale at all. So, I kind of have "max. prices" for things I buy - if it costs more than $x, then I have to find an alternative. Good thing I am not brand picky on most things.

:iagree:

 

Sometimes my grocery list will say "$10 on meat" and then list the sales. I then figure out how to spend only $10 after I am in the store. :)