Where can I cut?

[peanut]

It's been a long time since I posted a budget. But here's some expenses I'd like some feedback on...

Per Month
$400 groceries
$160 transportation (includes car repairs and gasoline, transit, bicycle, parking)
$200 medical (drugs - that's with DH's plan paying 80%)
$400 utilities (water, garbage, electric, natural gas, telephone - landline only, and insurance - house, car, life - internet)
$240 tithe (Charity)
$100 recreation
$1500 TOTAL

How can we reduce this? We have no debt and we're facing retirement on a reduced income in 3 years. Probably around $30K gross/year the first 3 years. These figures do not allow for any travel to visit kids or repairs to the house. And we need lots done. Also they do not account for 22% income tax.

Food - There's only DH and I at home, but we entertain every weekend. Plus I am on a diabetic diet, lactose intolerant, and need a low fat diet as well. Any tips/links for frugal diabetic food?

Transportation - We own a 15 year old Toyota Corolla station wagon which is just starting to cost us money. Today we had 3 belts replaced for a total of $250. We had the money, but still... DH is concerned we might need a gasket job done on the engine this fall. He wants to replace the car now, but we aren't in a good position to do it financially.

Medical - I'm really getting a good deal here. I'm in a drug program which sees me as getting one drug for free this year. Normally it would cost $130 per month! Plus there are two other prescription drugs that total about $50 WITH the 80% discount from the insurance co. taken into account. The rest are doctor inspired/ordered supplements like: wild salmon oil, glucosamine sulfate, co-enzyme Q10, calcium/magnesium. I opted for a natural way to handle menopause with black cohosh and sage. They're cheaper and milder than HRT and other therapies, with fewer side effects. So far they are working fine. But they are an extra $25-30 per month. I try to buy supplements on sale 15% off or more. I am more concerned what might happen when DH retires. Do you get the opportunity to carry the employer drug plan into retirement? Or are you responsible for your own drug plan then? And how much do they cost? And how would I find out about this? We're Canadian.

Utilities - we use minimal water, but are thinking of xeriscaping and raised beds for food production. We live in a normally dry climate, but this summer has been crazy wet! Garbage - Our city is going from alley bins to individual bins on wheels for people, and forced recycling. It will cost more money. Another $8/mth. Electric - everything is on power bars. Most of our light fixtures are either on long lasting incandescents or CFLs. We have a lot of CFLs. BUT I notice in the living room and dining room I have only incandescent lights. I have put them on the list to be replaced. Natural gas - our heat. We keep it at 68 F. Our windows are old single pane (we keep storms on year round) and will cost around $25K to replace all of them. We are really only planning on staying in our home 3 years. We figure we'll need to sell the house to afford retirement.

Tithe - This is not as high as it should be. But it's close enough. I may have to change this when we retire, but I hope not. The church provides entertainment, education, and spiritual growth for me. I figure they deserve something for all the effort they put into my development. This will be about bang on for 10% when we retire. I gave up my allowance to the church this year. That might have to be rescinded in the future.

Recreation - right now we are not putting anything in this category. I am finding I am sneaking the odd drink at a cafe with friends out of groceries. I'm going to have to stop that. I'm packing a drink and snack from now on. Not only will it be more frugal, but it will also be on my diet! This category is cut till we pay out our vacation bills.

Our income for the next 3 years is around $65K. We bank about $1500/mth. and use it for house renos mostly...and travel. I receive an $80 dividend per month that supports my crafting and any classes I want to take.

We have major repairs that need to be done on the house. We need a new kitchen, to refinish 1500 sq. ft. of hardwood floors, a new entry, a new garage, and new fence. Possibly those new windows too. And new furniture. DH has always wanted to try solar heating and I'm debating letting him try on this house, or just saving up and downsizing to a smaller house and doing it there. We also, as noted, probably need a new-to-us car.

Okay, what would you do with this scenario? ETA: We have no outstanding debts. And our mortgage is fully paid.

[Russ]

Not sure where you can cut, but I can help you with your solar power decision. If you plan on selling the house you're in now in 3 years, don't bother with the solar power, you'll never get out what you put in to it.

I have read, and take it for what it's worth, that it takes anywhere from 10-15 years to see a return on your investment. And I believe that's if everything falls into place perfectly.

Do your research carefully before going in to it.

[nuisance26]

~I don't know if you can save much off of what you posted, maybe 10% at the most.
What about clothes, hobbies, gifts, holidays? Do those come out of recreation? Are you just going to not spend money on those things for three years?
Since you're spending so little now and saving so well, perhaps you should shift your attention to earning more.
Can you sell anything? Crafts? Collectibles? Clothes? Furniture? You're replacing that after all and it would be much easier getting all your renos done with empty rooms.~

[peanut]

Thanks Russ. Good point. No solar in this house then.

Nuisance: I knew I was missing something! Clothing, including footwear and haircuts, is $80 per month. BUT I have just ordered the Creaclip mentioned on another thread so I can cut my own bangs, and hopefully DH will take a stab at cutting the rest of my hair. He's promised to try, but isn't hopeful. If he does, it will save us $45 every 2 months on my hair! Haircuts are expensive locally, and I have very weird hair to cut. The local beauty school likes to take people on social assistance, and that just isn't us. Thankfully!

Selling things. Good point too. I wondered if I'd reached that point. I do try to sell stuff online, but with little success. I usually just end up giving stuff away when I get tired of stubbing my toe tripping over it. I also have an Etsy shop, but I am doing something wrong, because I'm not getting a lot of views and I'm not able to access their beginner's guide to selling.

I seem to be able to make money for Crafting for Missions, but any time I try to make money for myself it's like I'm under a curse. Drives me batty some days! I'm tempted to go out and look for a job, but I really don't want to do that. It would be so mega-stressful for me and I don't want to make myself sick again. It would be so much better if I could earn money from home somehow...preferably in the crafting arena, as I find I really go crazy if I don't do creative work on a regular basis.

I do tutor ESL students currently for free. I'm not a trained teacher, though I have 18 years of homeschool teaching behind me. It was suggested by a teacher last evening that I start charging $10/hour, and insist on the student bringing their own learning materials. Might be a plan.

[peanut]

Okay, today I picked up my prescription meds for the first time from my-new-to-me pharmacy, London Drugs. I was pleasantly surprised to find out they were cheaper, AND I can put them on my Optimum card and earn points for them.

I also swapped the living room light over the TV for a CFL bulb. We'll see if it affects the TV. DH and I don't normally watch TV, so I may not notice for awhile! I tried to swap out the dining room light, but it's on a dimmer switch that started humming like crazy, so I took the bulb out. I noticed later on the box it says not to be used with dimmer switches. Might be time to get DH to swap out the dimmer switch for a proper light switch. Next light bulbs up are the bathroom "Fat Alberts". But we need lower wattage CFLs to replace those.

Anyways, that's what I've done today. Not big bottom line savings, but some. Nuisance, I think you're right. I might have about a 10% wiggle room, but not much more than that. At this point I am really fine tuning things.

ETA: Oh! and I found out the tax rate is only 15% on the first $41K of income in Canada. Which will bring our actual Net Income to about $25,500 the first three years of retirement...officially below the poverty line! And SK tax rate is 11% for under $41K. That's another $2000 off...so we'll be at $23,500. Hmm...looks like part time job time.

[Greebo]

I have read, and take it for what it's worth, that it takes anywhere from 10-15 years to see a return on your investment. And I believe that's if everything falls into place perfectly.

My research echos your findings. Solar just isn't worth while yet.

[mom2three]

Peanut -have you tried setting up your business on Facebook?
Sometimes it's hard to find people on Etsy.

[mom2three]

Are prescriptions eligible for 20x days at London drugs? We saved enough last year to buy a camera and a Wii fit by only buying on 20x days and only buying stuff we needed and was on sale.

[peanut]

Nuisance: Sorry, reading over your post I realized I hadn't answered about gifts, holidays, and hobbies. Hobbies come from the $80 dividend. Gifts are usually stuff I've made around the house or come from recreation.

Holidays are the same as travel and vacation for us. They actually come out of our monthly savings at the moment. One reason that $1500 doesn't build up very much over time. We only make one trip a year, and this year it was to the Maritimes. We haven't seen the girls in awhile. Next year it's their turn to visit us. We are encouraging turns. The only really big holiday in our family that costs money is Christmas. I usually make my own cards and deliver them, or send holiday emails. Depends on the recipient. I have a surplus of scrapbooking supplies for cards. Christmas will be simple here this year.

Usually we give the kids all $100 for birthdays and Christmas. There's four of them, so that's $800 per year. Maybe we can cut back there though. I'll have to talk to them and maybe prepare them for a decrease at Christmastime this year. The thing is, with them living so far away, it's hard to make and send anything. I'm better off just slipping a cheque in an envelope. But maybe the cheque just needs to be smaller...

Gifts for friends comes from my larder or sewing room. I can, bake, and do other things to share with my friends. It can often develop into a barter situation, which I like.

[peanut]

mom2three: thanks! I can't see a thanks button to hit on your posts, so I'm saying it here.

Facebook has stores where you can sell things? Hmmm...I guess I better look into that. I know my Etsy store was linked on my FB page, but my FB page is family only. And my family is not the crafty type. They wouldn't buy what I make for the most part.

Oops! I made a mistake! My new pharmacy is SHOPPER's Drug Mart, not London Drugs! Oh dear! Brain f*rt! Must be getting old.

[krbshappy71]

Food - There's only DH and I at home, but we entertain every weekend.

Who are you entertaining and does it have to be every weekend? Is it a potluck at least? Every other weekend and don't provide beverages other than ice tea and water?

Just a thought.

[peanut]

krbshappy: we don't provide anything other than pop, water, tea and coffee. We entertain kids in their 20s who are often a lot worse off financially than we are.

We do small gatherings, at least this year we have. Last year we were doing big potluck BBQs every two weeks. But we found they were still costing us about $50 extra a pay cheque. We usually provided the meat. So we decided to go small this year.

About once a month DD#2's future in-laws come to stay overnight and visit. Then we have their sons over and assorted girlfriends for a BBQ. But that isn't too onerous because the in-laws bring food often. And that will happen less often because one of the two sons is leaving town the end of this month.

I occasionally have church people over, but not often. Usually I like to have someone over for dinner once a week. The thing is, with them all being 20 somethings, I like to send them home with care packages of leftovers for the week.

The real cost for the groceries is the specialty foods I'm having to buy to meet my doctor/dietitian imposed diet. Splenda is not cheap. Neither is stevia. I can't eat any of the cheap processed foods. Nada. I have to eat clean and fresh, or be very sick. And then that racks up medication costs.

We were eating a lot of organic stuff, but I've cut it out because, with the increase in grocery prices, we just can't afford it. Especially this last pay period.

The one thing we are really missing this year is our patio garden. We didn't get one planted because of the weather and going on vacation. However, we're taking this opportunity to redesign and enlarge the patio and sidewalk to make more room for container gardening. We are also hoping to replace at least one fence this fall...and then we'll be able to hang plants off it for gardening next year too.

[savvy_sniper]

RE prescriptions - ask your doctor for samples. I don't know if it is the same in Canada as in the US, but doctors here have closets full of samples.
Ask about less expensive meds that will do the same thing.
AND ask if there is a higher dosage (double what you are currently taking) that you can buy and cut in half. My mom's doctor actually suggested all of these things. So a 30 day supply lasted 60 days. I would buy again at the end of 30 days for several months so that I built up a 90 day supply "in case of emergencies".

[peanut]

Thanks Mary. Two of my meds are inhalers. Can't cut them in half. The other med is already free. I'm on a drug study for it. I'm reacting badly to the cheaper meds...one of the reasons I had to be switched to these. The real cost are the supplements. I react to something in tablets so have to buy gel caps. I usually buy these at the health food store on their 15% off day once a month.

[mom2three]

Peanut, Do you know someone that orders from NutsOnline | Premium Bulk & Wholesale Nuts, Dried Fruits & Gift Baskets Stevia Powder — Powders — Cooking & Baking — NutsOnline

Do you know if you can purchase Shoppers gift cards with Optimum points?

Non-organic is better than no fruits/veggies. Try to go for the clean 15 though.

Do you have multiple children in the same city? Could you send one package?

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