can someone maybe help me ....

[wildflowerpa]

figure out a way to get a handle on things? I am fortunate that I don't have any outstanding bills like loans and c.c. But I can't gt a handle on the regular bills. I have tried everything I can think of. Right now I am on a payment plan with the utility companies which I know takes forever to pay down but otherwise I can't keep on top of them. arghhhhhhhhhhh

[Heluvsme]

You don't have any loans or cc debt.....I assume you either own your home outright or you are renting, right? Are all the 'regular' bills things like utilities and food? I would guess, assuming you are paying rent, to find a less expensive place if you can't get a handle on it. Utilities are a hard thing...I mean cut down on the usage---less heat, less A/C, less appliances usage, and then if you have a land line phone cut back on unnecessary things like call waiting, caller ID, etc. If you have a cell, look at the plans and get the most basic you can find.

I'm not sure which bills you need to get a handle on, I'm sure people here can answer more and help more with a few more details from you. Can you temporarily cut back on your contributions to things like a 401K, etc? Sell off items and put that money towards an emergency fund?

~Dawn

[wildflowerpa]

Sorry I guess I should have included that in my first post. We are buying but it will be paid off 3 years. We have a prepaid phone that I put 25 doolrs every couple of months on. Just use it to call MIL. So its just the utilities and groceries. I have cut back on the heat and electric usage but it seems the more I cut back they more they raise it. And I make everything rom scratch and throw very little away. So this is why I am at a loss of what else to do. My mortgage payment is very small compared to everyone else I know. Under $300. per month. I do have a very hard time with dh spending money but i had the mac card until he lost it so now he just goes to the mbank.I have tried to explain to him about his spending but he doesn't think its too much. Maybe I'm being too tight with the money I don't know.

[Marie78]

Have you set up a food budget? We have a set amount each month for grocery shopping. This month we need to work on a monthly set amount for entertainment; which for us includes eating out too. We are fortunate that our heat is included in our rent, but to help lower our electric bill we turn off the appliances and then the power strips when we aren't using things: like the computer, printer, tv, dvd player, stereo, etc.... We turn off 4 of the 5 power strips we have and only turn them back on as we use things. We have been able to keep two of them off on a regular basis, because one is to my computer that I rarely use, since I like my fiance's computer better, and one is to the tv and electronics in the bedroom that we rarely use. I am excited to see what the savings will be on our electric bill next month, since we just started turning the power strips off recently.

I wish you luck, I feel I'm at my limit of cost cutting for us right now. Turning off the power strips while not in use and not leaving things like cell phone chargers plugged in are the only things we could think of this year to try and reduce expenses. We implemented as many as we could find to do last year and we have kind of exhausted cost cutting. You might have to.

[leezza]

It may be all the little things......

Hubbies they can be hard to convience sometimes....let him know that that coffee or coke doesn't seem like much but add it up per day, per week, per year and it is alot., (example $5 coffee, X 5 days in a week=$25 X 52 weeks in a year $1300 and so it goes).

JMHO,
leezza

[wildflowerpa]

Well I have everything that I can possibly unplugged and shut off when not used. I only get the stuff I need to cook with at the store. No extras and very rarely eat out because when we do sd has to order the most expensive thing on the menu evethough she's been told not too. So maybe I have came to the end of cutting back and have to waitit out and pay extra when I can on the bills. .
Thanks for all the good advice.

[justpeachy92]

I suggest that you track all spending, set up a budget. In the budget allow a certain amount of blow money. This is the amount you and dh can spend each month on what ever and you do not have to account for where that money went. When the money is gone it is gone, there are no trips to the bank for more. An easy way to look at the budget if you get paid weekly. Generally there are 4 weeks in a month, 1 paycheck should cover rent, 1 to cover car payment, insurance and gas, 1 to cover utilites, 1 to cover groceries, clothes, etc. When you get the 5th paycheck that can go into savings, be used for Christmas gifts, or to pay those things that come up we forget about like tag renewal on the car.

[staciah]

Have you contacted the Electric Company and asked to be placed on a budget. We are on one we pay $160.00/month. That is Electric & Gas together but last year we were paying $195/month and they cut our amount down because we weren't using all that we were paying for. Try it it might help.

[qtkitty]

Okay the best way to explain to someone who is being stuborn is to show them what is going on.

Make a little paper up with your Expenses and income on it. Show him how much you need to pay all of the bills completely. Include your Morgage payment, car payments, car insurance, electric, phone, groceries and paper products to keep the house running, car gas, and car upkeep (that little bit tucked away for oil changes tire rotation and balancing), Incase money ( Dr co pays or emergency money), Children's allowance ( if there is one). Once he knows how much that is then ear mark that money by either taking certain bills out of certain checks OR taking half out of one check and half out of another which ever works out best for your family. Open a savings or checking account to just use for bills, banks anymore will let you open multiple accounts.

Starting an Emergency Fund incase something would happen to the income coming in also should be discussed. If yall can come to an agreement on how much should go into it out of each pay check then set up a savings account for just that money to go into and leave it alone unless you are in an emergency.

[FrugalMomof3]

Hi there!

I see your in PA too, what part? I am near the ABE Airport, maybe we can get together if your not too far and I can help you.

Otherwise, you need to set a budget for yourself, that means writing everything down and then adding up all the money coming in and see where your money is going.

For me the first things I did were:
- Cut out phone features (caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, etc.)
- Cut OFF cable
- Unplug things or try hard not to use the lights, use candles or natural light
- If you are using RCN for internet try going down to a MACH 3, it's the same as their MACH5 or MACH 10 and it's still super fast and cheaper too!

I am cheapo with water usage as well...
- No running water when brushing teeth or washing hands/dishes
- Wash all laundry in cold (saves on the electric and oil (heating system doesnt turn on as much))
- Limit showers
- When showering and shaving at the same time, turn off water when shaving, use the water in the tub to rinse the blade and when your ready to rinse off after washing and shaving, turn the water back on.

Food:
- Shop at the Quakertown Supermarket inside the Quakertown Farmers Market, good food cheap
- Shop at Aldi's or Pricerite and bring you own bags or boxes
- Use up everything, if you have food in the pantry use it up before going shopping, I mean you can use your imagination when making meals so they arent always so blah

[wildflowerpa]

hey sorry it took so long for me to get back to you. I lost the thread. I live near duBois Pa. A couple hours from Pittsburgh out in the jing weeds

[FrugalMomof3]

Yikes that's pretty far since Pittsburg is about 6-7 hours from me

The only thing I can suggest is posting your budget here and your expenses and we can tweak it a bit or you can pm me.

[joyofsix]

Can you earn a few extra bucks until you're caught up? Babysit, work weekends/evenings, sell stuff, paper route?

[eyrehead]

This is what worked for me, as I was more like your husband, in my marriage. Each pay period, Brian always got $200 cash, an allowance of sorts. He's the saver in our marriage. I never gave myself cash, as I always had the check book and the debit card with me. Well, a little over a year ago, I started "paying" myself a cash allowance of $200 per month. I can use it for whatever I want; haircuts, lunches out with friends, a new cd or dvd, etc. When I did that, I really started watching what I spent it on, because like most people, I hated spending the cash. I never viewed using the debit card as spending money, since no cash ever exchanged hands. And then when it came time to pay bills, I'd have to transfer money from the savings account to cover checks or debit card purchases. It was a vicious cycle, and now the only time I have the check book in my purse, is when I know I'm going to the bank to make a deposit. This month, instead of using the debit card for groceries, I took out the allotted money for this month ($350), and will use cash. It's just too easy for me to spend more, when I know I'm using the debit card. Make sense? ANyway, I hope this helps. Good luck!!