My husband and I are starting our journey to financial peace. I was hoping we could get some advice on what else we could do to save more money and get ahead a little quicker.
We make approximately $1600/month after taxes. Our expenses per month are as follows:
Rent: $440
Electricity: $75
Cable/Internet: $80
Car Insurance: $45 (was $67 but we sold 1 of our cars)
Groceries: $200 ($50 per week)
Gasoline: $100 ($25 per week)
Phone: $30
Laundry: $30 (no washer/dryer at our apartment - we use laundry mat)
Car Maintenance: $25
Credit Card: $75
Cat Food: $6
After all of our expenses, we are putting in about $400 in our savings account each month.
For more background:
At home it's just me, DH, and our kitty Flakes. We don't have children and don't plan on having them anytime soon. Probably TMI but we have about 75 condoms from a deal at Target back in October so we won't need those anytime soon. We have shampoo, soap, feminine products, and cleaning supplies pretty well stocked but we have to buy toilet paper and trashbags every month.
Are there any things we should do to cut back on expenses even more? I am ready to get $1000 in our savings account so we can move on to paying off our credit card. We have about $3900 in debt right now.
I also wanted to add that I'm doing some online stuff like surveys and get paid to websites to generate some extra income. It hasn't really taken off yet but I'm hoping that it will soon. I also occasionally work for ChaCha but that doesn't pay very well.
We are moving to a new apartment at the end of July and I'll be able to walk to several grocery stores and other places so I might get a part time job then.
__________________
Mary Hunt method
mortgage free, debt free
10% gross to retirement
10% takehome to tithe and offerings
rebuilding contingency fund 3/15/2010 $5413 (cap at 10,000)
freedom accounts/sinking funds that ebb and flow (cap at 5100) $991 3/15/2010
then live on the rest!
Pocket money for what? When we started our budget, we figured any extraneous spending would be nixed. No going out to movies or to eat, no buying things we don't need, etc.
We have been buying groceries at $50/week for 2 weeks now and it really hasn't been that hard. It helps that my husband is okay with taking bologna sandwiches to work and I eat sandwiches for lunch while he's at work. Also,we live in Southern Indiana where the cost of living is lower than other areas. For reference, milk is $2/gallon at most grocery stores; $1.49/gallon at Aldi.
Can you hand wash your clothes and hang on hangers in the bathroom or rack in the bedroom to dry? If the two of you do laundry together, hand washing isn't so bad. . . use a new toliet plunger to agitate the clothes in the bath tub. . . then rinse, and each of you grab an end of clothing and twist the excess water out.
Can you advertise for some occasional baby sitting now? Like a weekend evening or an occasional day time?
There are lots of points programs out there that will generate a few $$. quick rewards seems to be my best and fastest paying one right now. . . clixsense. . . mypoints. . . swagbucks. . . .
$50 a week for 2 is reasonable for the midwest area. With careful shopping of the sales and markdowns you can eat pretty well on that amount.
Unless the savings is for something else I would put most of that $400 a month into the credit cards right now. You could get rid of that debt in less than a year. You're *paying* interest on the card and getting nothing on the savings.
Are you running the AC yet? You might try holding off until temps get really high, esp if it is just you at home during the day. You could squeeze a little bit on the electric bill. Keep stuff turned off or unplugged.
Laundromats... I remember that hassle. Are you allowed to line dry at your apt? Maybe just heavy stuff like towels and jeans, they take forever to dry and always used to cost me more than one cycle.
Does your phone service include long distance? Do you use it? We canceled ours and I use a dial-around service (10-10-220) when I need to, costs about $1 for a short call.
__________________
Use it up, Wear it out,
Make it do, Or do without. ~unknown
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need ~Rolling Stones
Can you hand wash your clothes and hang on hangers in the bathroom or rack in the bedroom to dry? If the two of you do laundry together, hand washing isn't so bad. . . use a new toliet plunger to agitate the clothes in the bath tub. . . then rinse, and each of you grab an end of clothing and twist the excess water out.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to talk DH into hand washing unless I volunteer to do it myself but I think I can probably do it.
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Can you advertise for some occasional baby sitting now? Like a weekend evening or an occasional day time?
I'm really not much of a kid person. I might try advertising dog walking/sitting though.
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There are lots of points programs out there that will generate a few $$. quick rewards seems to be my best and fastest paying one right now. . . clixsense. . . mypoints. . . swagbucks. . . .
I have a lot of survey sites that I do but the point sites never really pay off, in my opinion, unless you hoard referrals. My friends and family just aren't interested in those sites so I tend to just do things where I can earn even if I don't refer anyone.
$50 a week for 2 is reasonable for the midwest area. With careful shopping of the sales and markdowns you can eat pretty well on that amount.
Unless the savings is for something else I would put most of that $400 a month into the credit cards right now. You could get rid of that debt in less than a year. You're *paying* interest on the card and getting nothing on the savings.
The $1000 savings is an emergency fund so we don't have to use the credit card if an emergency pops up. We've had bad luck with cars so we definitely need it. We are almost maxed out on our credit card so an emergency would probably drive us to take out a payday loan if we didn't have that $1000 in savings.
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Are you running the AC yet? You might try holding off until temps get really high, esp if it is just you at home during the day. You could squeeze a little bit on the electric bill. Keep stuff turned off or unplugged.
Yes, we are running the AC. It's 80-90 degrees here. I do turn it off from 6am to around 10am because it's too darn cold in the morning. We have a crappy air conditioner at our apartment (it's a wall unit like in hotels) and it just doesn't do well in this heat - it's either on or off. Once I turn it on, it won't kick on and off like a normal air conditioner. I have to manually turn it off when it cools down in the apartment. We tried getting the maintenance person at our apartment to get us a new air conditioner, but he said that was "normal". I just checked our electricity bill online (about 5 minutes ago) and it was $95!!!!!! It is normally only $75. I am SO ready to get out of this apartment.
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Laundromats... I remember that hassle. Are you allowed to line dry at your apt? Maybe just heavy stuff like towels and jeans, they take forever to dry and always used to cost me more than one cycle.
At our current apartment, there would be nowhere to line dry. The shared balcony makes that impossible. At our new apartment we will be able to line dry because we'll have our own balcony.
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Does your phone service include long distance? Do you use it? We canceled ours and I use a dial-around service (10-10-220) when I need to, costs about $1 for a short call.
We have cell phones and they do include long distance. My husband uses a pre-paid phone - that's where the $30/month goes. I am still on a plan with my mother because she started a family plan last year before DH and I got married and she just let me keep the phone until the contract is up.
If there's any advice I could give, it would be, "Make the most of your time, because well-spent time creates value."
For example, if I spend 1-2 hours on the internet every day, I get networking interaction, some freebies, coupons, connections, ideas and support. That's the plus side.
The other side of it is that in 1-2 hours, I could be baking bread for a week--saving about 2/3 of what it costs to buy it. Or I could bake 2 or 3 desserts, make a big stockpot of soup, make homemade pasta or several casseroles, homemade juice, jam/jelly, mend stockings and sew on buttons, sew linens, repair towels with a new edge, start seeds or plant seedlings, balance my budget or chequebook, make homemade craft gifts, do little home repairs and improvements, clean & freshen my home and decorate it with grasses or flowers from outdoors, give myself a home-spa which is very refreshing and boosts my spirits, etc.
And any of these things is actually going to save money for me, and all of it adds up over time to big savings.
TIME IS MONEY.
Personally, I need to be doing more of this again too.
Lately, I've been over-involved in internet interaction and spending my time and energy on various "money-saving" websites. For a time, that's what I needed to do to meet a personal need; but there comes a time when it's wise to take stock of things, and the value that is created or lost from involvement with them.
My personal tangible resources are: time, ability, energy, money & posessions.
Where/when/how can I make the most of them? And being only human, the process of discernment comes through trial and error sometimes. But my goal is wisdom...and action...and beneficial results.
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I think you are doing great on the expense side and I agree with you putting the 1K into EF but in my opinion, your best bet would be to increase your income.
That would mean getting a job ~ waiting tables, or finding some type of work . So once you move, if you get a job you will be able to get the CC's paid off much faster.
Everyone else has given you great advice too especially TIME IS MONEY. Use your time to cook, coupon and earn money to pay off your debts !
good luck
__________________ pay down debt:
condo loan as of 12/15/09 - $45,116.03
goal is to pay this off by 12-31-12
2010 Goal:
save up 10K emergency fund / currently have $3,500.00
If there's any advice I could give, it would be, "Make the most of your time, because well-spent time creates value."
For example, if I spend 1-2 hours on the internet every day, I get networking interaction, some freebies, coupons, connections, ideas and support. That's the plus side.
The other side of it is that in 1-2 hours, I could be baking bread for a week--saving about 2/3 of what it costs to buy it. Or I could bake 2 or 3 desserts, make a big stockpot of soup, make homemade pasta or several casseroles, homemade juice, jam/jelly, mend stockings and sew on buttons, sew linens, repair towels with a new edge, start seeds or plant seedlings, balance my budget or chequebook, make homemade craft gifts, do little home repairs and improvements, clean & freshen my home and decorate it with grasses or flowers from outdoors, give myself a home-spa which is very refreshing and boosts my spirits, etc.
And any of these things is actually going to save money for me, and all of it adds up over time to big savings.
TIME IS MONEY.
Personally, I need to be doing more of this again too.
Lately, I've been over-involved in internet interaction and spending my time and energy on various "money-saving" websites. For a time, that's what I needed to do to meet a personal need; but there comes a time when it's wise to take stock of things, and the value that is created or lost from involvement with them.
My personal tangible resources are: time, ability, energy, money & posessions.
Where/when/how can I make the most of them? And being only human, the process of discernment comes through trial and error sometimes. But my goal is wisdom...and action...and beneficial results.
I never really thought of it like that! I have lots of time at home because my husband works 12 hour days and I normally just get online to fill the time.
I think you are doing great on the expense side and I agree with you putting the 1K into EF but in my opinion, your best bet would be to increase your income.
That would mean getting a job ~ waiting tables, or finding some type of work . So once you move, if you get a job you will be able to get the CC's paid off much faster.
Everyone else has given you great advice too especially TIME IS MONEY. Use your time to cook, coupon and earn money to pay off your debts !
good luck
When we move, we'll be living less than a block away from my FAVORITE grocery store. I'm going to try to get a job there. It would be awesome to have a discount there on top of the great deals they have.
I agree with time is money. I would invest in some dryer racks and hang your clothes indoors-that way they would pay for themselves in a month or two and the rest would be profit. Have you thought about cutting the cable? Also making sure not to waste food as that is money. People have given you a lot of great ideas. Handing out food samples might be a good part time job.
__________________
The problem with a living sacrifice is, it always trys to crawl off the alter.- Chuck Swindoll
debt 106,397/148,000 first mortgage 487,230/ 515,000 2nd mtg,creative fin.-rental houses fix up 342-100+242000.AM-10466,B-8,965,FCU-9.9,CH-6612,AAA-5835,BA-4861,TG-4581,NOR-3034 kohls 721-55595+40-95595 H-8080.27 16,783.00 /22,000 land payment
32,600.00/ 38,000 land payment
balance owed 705,000.00/599,161
40000 or less- final fix up for rentals
100000- total high interest debt pay down
My husband and I are starting our journey to financial peace. I was hoping we could get some advice on what else we could do to save more money and get ahead a little quicker.
We make approximately $1600/month after taxes. Our expenses per month are as follows:
Rent: $440
Electricity: $75
Cable/Internet: $80
Car Insurance: $45 (was $67 but we sold 1 of our cars)
Groceries: $200 ($50 per week)
Gasoline: $100 ($25 per week)
Phone: $30
Laundry: $30 (no washer/dryer at our apartment - we use laundry mat)
Car Maintenance: $25
Credit Card: $75
Cat Food: $6
After all of our expenses, we are putting in about $400 in our savings account each month.
For more background:
At home it's just me, DH, and our kitty Flakes. We don't have children and don't plan on having them anytime soon. Probably TMI but we have about 75 condoms from a deal at Target back in October so we won't need those anytime soon. We have shampoo, soap, feminine products, and cleaning supplies pretty well stocked but we have to buy toilet paper and trashbags every month.
Are there any things we should do to cut back on expenses even more? I am ready to get $1000 in our savings account so we can move on to paying off our credit card. We have about $3900 in debt right now.
After subtracting everything from your income, I see $494 available. What is the $75 for Credit Card? Is that a different credit card from the $3900 debt you have now?
Invest in a fan, small or big, that you can use to help circulate the air in the morning. That way you can keep the AC off for that much longer. Actually, it would be better if you are not in the house at all during the day. Unless you are doing things to cut your expenses and you are doing that in your house, you can do other things to curb your expenses:
Go to the library and read there, or watch shows or use the internet. Which means: Get RID of the CABLE - there is no need for it.
Sell whatever you do not need anymore. I actually had a small business when we were getting rid of stuff, I would go to garage sales and pick up DVDs, CDs and books at really cheap prices, (I'm talking bags of books for a $1, CDs and DVDs for $1 a piece etc.) and sell them on Amazon. I had a postal weight machine, shipping tape dispenser, lots of stamps, and the time to do it.
Your grocery is actually pretty low, which is great. If you can go lower, go for it, but make sure you can still eat healthy.
Car Maintenance: Is that for oil changes every month or something else and do you have to do that?
Like others have stated, you should get a job, even flipping burgers brings in something. Don't waste your time on these internet surveys and that kind of garbage, they will send you tons of spam to your email and it takes forever to be paid. And usually it is not in cash but in "gift cards" where you have to spend more to get the money. The only way to make money in gift cards is if you sell them on eBay. We did that as well. Sold a ton of stuff on ebay, craigslist, and Amazon.
But it would be better if you had a regular job. Work as many hours as DH does or work two jobs. Get rid of that debt. You'll be glad you did.
Good Luck, Work Hard and Clear out that Debt,
__________________
Laura Jevtich
www.Laura-n-Sasha.com
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Is there anything else could do to save more?
I was hoping we could get some advice on what else we could do to save more money and get ahead a little quicker.
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