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Hello! An Introduction and Overview of My Cost Cutting Plan!

3K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  Khayembii Communique 
#1 ·
Just thought I'd introduce myself and share a bit of what I'm trying to accomplish that led me here; sorry if this is in the wrong place!

I'm 24 (about to turn 25 this year). My parents have always taught me great money management skills, and also helped me out with my college (but not all of it!). I'm at the point where I've paid off all my student loans already (except a $5,000 no-interest loan to my dad due by 2015). I guess I'm trying to maximize my savings and cut my costs as much as possible, as I know that the next big step in life that I take will require a large amount of money (buying a house, starting a business, traveling the world).

Anyways, a quick rundown of my monthly finances:

Income: ~$2800 net

Rent: $600
Shop rent: $100
Internet: $50
Phone: $70
Gym: $30
Auto Insurance: $25
Car Maintenance: Minimal (I do all my own repairs when necessary so all I pay is parts cost)
Groceries: $300
Netflix: $10
Xbox Live, Parking, Misc Small Costs: $30 (rounded up generously)
Gas: $100
TOTAL EXPENSES: $1285

Now these are just my normal monthly expenses, it excludes all other spending (buying stuff, discretionary spending). So let me talk about my plan to cut some of these down.

The shop rent is for a workshop to work on motorcycles. I'm justifying that not only for hobby purposes but also because I'd like to flip some bikes to make some money, to at least cover my costs but hopefully cover the cost of rent too.

For internet we're also planning on getting it at our shop, and that would be covered by my rent already, so I think my new apartment (moving July 1) will be close enough to actually use that, so I could probably completely cut it out. Savings: $50

For phone, I currently have an iPhone 4 on AT&T and my contract just expired so I'm on month-to-month. I can't at this point give up texting or data, or having a smart phone as I use it a lot. So I'm looking at either adding it on to my parents' plan, who has a family plan on Sprint, or going to Virgin Mobile's new Beyond Talk plan that's $30/mo. For either plan I'd have to buy a completely new phone but I think it'd be worth it in the long run and I can sell my current one to pay towards it. I need to ask my parents how much it would be to get on their plan. Savings: $40+

For my gym membership I'm currently at Gold's which is $30/mo, but we have a Planet Fitness here that just opened up that's $10/mo without a contract. I can get out of my Gold's contract with some work and paying $50, but it could be worth it. The only thing that sucks is that Gold's has free parking and PF doesn't, and both are downtown so I'll have to check that out. Savings: $20

For auto insurance I pay only $300/yr which is incredibly cheap. But I could probably shop around and get cheaper. This is going to go up when I get a motorcycle on it, though, but I can justify that with the fuel savings.

Groceries. This one sucks. I'm into bodybuilding and working out, so I have a fixed meal plan that I eat every day. Unfortunately, this doesn't work well with couponing, which pretty much requires you to tailor your diet around their sales cycles. Also fresh food does not have nearly as many coupons or sales as it should. I seriously need to reevaluate this and haven't done so yet. I'll check around on the forum for tips!

Gas. I live 12 miles from work. I've biked it before. I'm planning on riding a motorcycle which will save on gas because the increased gas mileage. I'm also planning on biking to work more often for the fitness benefits as well as saving on gas.

Xbox Live, Netflix, Misc. I justify these because they're small expenses, and because I don't have cable and this is a great and cheap alternative.

Anyways, that's about all I've come up with for now. Those small changes would net me like $110 in monthly savings for sure, and probably a lot more that I haven't calculated out yet.

I'm always open for tips and this forum looks like a great resource!
 
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#3 ·
Hi. :D

Here's my 2 cents, just based on what you posted:

Gym membership: skip it all together, you don't "need" it. (savings $30)

Groceries. Do you have a farmer's market nearby? Or a co-op? Or grow some of your own veggis in a container garden??

Cell Phone. We have Sprint. I'm sure every plan is different, but ours is:
Main phone (hubby), plus my phone ($20), plus my son's phone ($10/month)
We share 3000 minutes/unlimited data/unlimited text.
The cost to add my phone to the plan is $20/month. That's $10 for the phone + $10 for the "smart". :) Son's is only $10/month because it's not "smart"

We call his the 'dumb' phone.

That's all I can come up with off the top of my head....

Glad to meet you!! Hope you find great info & I look foward to more posts!
 
#4 ·
Hello and Welcome!!
Kudos to you for being so financial aware!!
At this time, I don't really have anything to add...cause bumplett already suggested it. :)
 
#5 ·
~If you rent a shop could you clear out a corner for a home gym? Free weights and systems sell pretty cheap on CL and at auctions.
You definitely can do better on food but you might not have your favorite things as often and you will almost certainly spend more time in the kitchen. Neither are bad things really. As Calvin's dad says "It builds character". ;)
Some quick ideas are to roast an entire turkey or chicken and pull all the meat off and freeze. Make your own nut butters, trail mix, power bars and yogurt.
If you post your exact meal plan we may be able to help you find ways to still follow it but with cheaper strategies.~
 
#6 ·
Hey everyone thanks for the kind words!

Regarding the gym, I go three times a week, down from going every single day, so I get my use out of it. It's not like I'm not going. Switching to the other gym would save $20/mo but that doesn't include parking I'd have to pay for since I won't be able to walk/bike there every day.

As for putting it in my shop, not really an option for a few reasons. First, because I lift alone and it'd be dangerous to be doing it without anyone else around. Second, because any free space in my shop is going to be filled up with motorcycles I'll be flipping and selling for profit. :)

You definitely can do better on food but you might not have your favorite things as often and you will almost certainly spend more time in the kitchen. Neither are bad things really. As Calvin's dad says "It builds character".
I cook all my food. My diet right now is:

Morning (not exactly a meal)
2 tbsp Metamucil
3 fish oil
1 calcium
1 multi

Meals 1 and 2
5 oz ground chicken
1/2 cup brown rice
21g extra virgin olive oil
Frozen veggies sometimes
(one meal has 3 fish oil)

Meal 3
2 tacos containing:
2 tortillas
6 oz ground chicken
30g full fat sour cream
2 oz shredded sharp cheddar
homemade pico de gallo (tomatos, onions, cilantro, lime juice, jalopenos)
Tapatio hot sauce
3 fish oil

Before Bed
1 serving full fat cottage cheese

I prep all this for the whole week on Sundays and pack it into individual tupperwares so it's grab and go. I take all my meals to work for the week on Monday so I never have to bring a lunch. Heh, like I said I'm pretty serious about bodybuilding and stuff. I've got about 10 more pounds to lose until I increase my calorie intake to start building muscle which means a diet change, but the beauty of this diet is that it's really easy to change the portions of what it's made of, so it will most likely be the same foods just in different (larger) portions.

So my grocery numbers might not have been completely accurate above. I know a lot of this doesn't lend itself to couponing but I've considered buying in bulk and freezing. We're getting a fridge at my shop and I'm going to make sure I own it so I can tell everyone else they can put their beer in the fridge but that the freezer on it is mine so I can store extra chicken/tortillas/cheese/whatever.

I'm going to start making taco seasoning in bulk, might try my hand at making my own sour cream every week, might try making homemade tortillas (essentially flour, water and vegetable oil). I'm planning on building a garden at my girlfriend's to grow stuff like tomatoes and cilantro. I might cut the hot sauce out entirely. These are all ideas I just started kicking around but I know my food bill is something to wrestle with to get down further for sure.

Oh, also I forgot to mention that I'm taking guitar lessons which are pretty damn expensive ($75-100/mo). This and the gym membership I'm justifying as an investment in myself. Plus I have no significant debt so it's not like I can't spend this money, I'm young healthy debt-free and single after all! My hope is to cut spending wherever I can and where I can't or in situations like my guitar lessons find a way to offset that expense with supplemental income. I think I could get my regular monthly expenses down to around $1000 which means I'd have $1800/mo to put in the bank and invest, about double what I'm putting away now!

Some quick ideas are to roast an entire turkey or chicken and pull all the meat off and freeze.
I've thought of this. I get ground boneless skinless chicken breast because of the low fat content, so I'm sort of wary of cutting up a whole chicken with an unknown amount of fat. I have considered grinding my own chicken, but I don't think it's cheaper than the breast (at the store I go to at least).

EDIT: FWIW, I do have a Sam's Club right next to my work, but I'm not sure if it would benefit me, based on what I buy.
 
#8 ·
ok, seriously -


1. you can buy brown rice in bulk.
2. you can freeze cheese if you can find it on sale.
3. coupons would be a benefit for the vitamins/supplements.

Sam's Club is a $40 annual membership fee, it doesn't sound like you'd use it enough to be worth it. Maybe if you have a friend that already has a card, tag along.
 
#10 ·
So I tried my hand at making flour tortillas last night, and they turned out absolutely delicious! About the same calories/macros as the kind I was getting from the store, just wayyyy tastier. Only problem is that they weren't as flexible, but I think that had to do with cooking time so I'll have to tweak and experiment to determine the best cooking time to keep it from doing that. Also, I didn't have a rolling pin so I had to use a soda can to roll them out, definitely going and getting one tonight! Then I'll have to do some testing to see how long they last in the fridge/freezer and I'll be set.

I used this recipe. So I'd just have to buy flour and shortening essentially to make them, which is much cheaper and easier to get in bulk than pre-made!

I also made sour cream, which was just taking some heavy cream and sour cream and putting it in a jar for ~24 hours to let it culture. That's in the process right now, should be ready by tonight.

Sam's Club is a $40 annual membership fee, it doesn't sound like you'd use it enough to be worth it.
Why do you think that? I just found out my girlfriend has a membership which I didn't know about!

stinkbug said:
And you seriously eat no fruits or vegatables???
I have frozen veggies sometimes. I have fresh pico de gallo on my tacos. I snack on tomatoes sometimes and sometimes I'll get fresh veggies, but not that often.
 
#11 ·
You might consider a tortilla press. My SIL uses one everyday to make tortilla since her husband won't eat tortillas from a bag. I don't know what area you are in but they sell them here in the latino markets (I live in maryland near dc). The part of mexco that they are from only eat corn tortillas. So you use mesca (fine corn flour) and water - thats it.
 
#13 ·
cadamsgis said:
You might consider a tortilla press. My SIL uses one everyday to make tortilla since her husband won't eat tortillas from a bag. I don't know what area you are in but they sell them here in the latino markets (I live in maryland near dc). The part of mexco that they are from only eat corn tortillas. So you use mesca (fine corn flour) and water - thats it.
I'll probably end up buying or making a tortilla press for sure. Sticking with the flour because the shortening is a needed source of good fats and it's cheaper than olive oil! Thanks for the tip though!

BTW the sour cream turned out DELICIOUS
 
#14 ·
welcome to FV
could you start using other protein sources instead of chicken? lentils,peas,pinto's much cheaper than chicken and turkey meat. another thing you could try is buying greek style yoghurt and letting it drain through cheesecloth (although I just use a piece of nylon material and a collander) overnight in the refrigerator once the whey's gone it's a nice tart 'sour cream'. make your own full fat cottage cheese (got a recipe on the other laptop will post it if you like) very simple but i've only made it once so don't have it memorized.
do you use the smartphone for work? if not could you downsize to a 'dumb' phone that offer's text plans? this is what my family is doing when the new contract ends in dec/jan- we are going with tracphones - no contract and as little as we use them probably only use new minutes every 2 mths.
 
#17 ·
My South Korean boarders say our rice is not the same unless cooked in a Cuckoo rice cooker. They come with rice cooker or stop eating Korean when living with us. But to answer your question, yes, it would be cheaper than running the stove and A/C longer because of cooking rice on the stove.
 
#18 ·
$75-100 a month for guitar lessons!? That is super cheap. My DH charges $60 for a half hour lesson.
 
#19 ·
I probably won't buy a rice cooker. I don't have much space in my kitchen and considering I make all my food for the week at once, the amount of savings would likely be negligible (which means a net loss after the cost of the cooker).

I'm going to start buying whole chickens and breaking them down instead of buying chicken breast or ground chicken. That's going from $4/lb to $0.90/lb! That's probably the only thing I spend a significant amount of money on.

My grocery store had $0.50 off laundry detergent if you buy 10, so I did. Each bottle was 26 loads officially, but I use like half as much so I can get about 52 loads out of each bottle. I do laundry let's say once a week (probably once every 1.5 weeks). So 520 loads would be 10 years worth of laundry detergent for $30! I think that's a pretty good deal haha.

Started couponing and paying attention to sales, stocked up on quite a bit of stuff. I don't have much room for stockpiling but I have enough for me to get by for quite some time (I'm only one person after all). Following this, I think I've cut my grocery budget pretty significantly.

I'm going to go onto the Virgin Mobile iPhone plan after I get my credit card paid off a little more (moving expenses, ick). I still need to get internet set up at our shop, so I'm still paying on that.

I bike everywhere now, only use my car to get to/from work. Once my motorcycle is done I'll ride that, which gets about double gas mileage. Car will only then be for travel on rainy days and in the winter.

Haha if I can keep this up I'm probably in a pretty good position. Discretionary spending is pretty bad; I need to stop spending so impulsively. I think I'll be able to put about 3/4 of my income into savings once I get the internet set up, switch to the VM phone plan, get my motorcycle done and reduce impulse spending.

I've been unplugging stuff a lot, too. I don't know if any of that helps but it's like no work so who cares! Going to colder/shorter showers, too.

I still need to turn down the heat on my water heater, it's pretty high.
 
#20 ·
Whoo, so I have always had a work phone but don't want to use it for personal use because I hate it, but I had to give it up so they could give it to another employee (they couldn't get another one because of plan limitations or something). So they're going to comp me on my personal phone and I can just use that for work. Result: $0 phone bill! They said it was only temporary but I told them to take their time hahaha.

The guy that runs my bike shop is in contact with TWC to get wireless hooked up, which should hopefully happen in the next week or two meaning no more internet bill either!

No cell bill saves me $80/mo and no internet bill saves me $50/mo. $130/mo savings! :D
 
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