HELP......Having to start living on a budget

[rissimo]

Hello all. I am new here and I have been reading alot of the posts. Here is my delimma, DH was out of work all last year and living on just my pay check, which was extremly hard. He is now working and it seems we are still in the crunch that we were in last year. I have cut back on a lot of things. I need all the advice I can get to help with budgeting and trying to save when there isn't that much there to begin with. Thanks in advance for your help.

[Russ]

Hello and welcome.
Your best bet is to start by writing all your bills and all your income down and begin by figuring out where it all goes.

A budget is a living entity, it will take months to get it down to a point that it rarely changes.

[jodihernandez]

you will need to go a step above checking your bills. When we make more money we tend to spend more also. We feel we deserve the little things now that we weathered the storm. Well those little things add up fast. And you deserve peace of mind far more than a magazine, latte, toy for the child exct.

take a honest look at your spending. A look at your bank statement can be Eye opening. Are you shopping for groceries many times a week? Are you spending too much on gas? Do you have small auto bills you have not thought about? And you can stop them there. At that point leaks in the spendiong become blearingly clear. Do that and bring back what you find and we can provide more help when we have more info. You especially need to know were you are starting before you can change it.

Jodi

[krbshappy71]

If you like, after you have it all on paper, you can post it here and the gurus here can help you find ways to cut back even further.

They really helped me get on a tighter budget to meet my goals. Don't have to post company names just "house= $1,000, car=$400" etc. list out your bills. (if you like, post your income as well so we can see what you have to work with.)

Hang tight, you can do this, you already did it last year somehow!

[frugalfranny]

Ditto to what the others said.... and take a long hard look at WHAT you are buying for groc. A lot can be wasted on prepared foods when, with a tiny bit of effort, they can be prepared at home. Shopping sales? Planning meals around the sales? Eating at home......or a lot of eating out?........not eating at home is a big expense too.

Are you going out to lunch at work?.........another waste and big expenditure .....lattes in the morning?

You get the picture........

[ladytoysdream]

Hi.
Yes you need your budget on paper so you can track it.
If you made it last year, you should be able to make it again this year.Just try to remember all the stuff you did then that worked.

Our budget is in the worst shape it has been in a long time. We are making it but there are some days, I don't know how we are doing it, and I am the person with the check book etc. If our budget fails, it's my fault. I have learned to say NO a lot lately. And to keep things on a list in priority order that need to get done around here that need money. I been real creative lately in pinching pennies, and finding a few extra dollars here and there.
I am beginning to think I should write a book

[jackson86]

iii ..Budget Planning and implementing those plans are important for everyone .First of all for budgeting u have to limit your expenses start by writing all your Hbills and all your income down and begin by figuring out..

[annalaurab]

Take a good hard look at your food and entertainment expenses. These are usually the areas where we spend more than we realize and these can easily be cut back.

[arnie]

Hi
I am new to the forum and also am starting to live on a budget.
I am tired of spending all our money and not having anything to show for it.
I haven't written a budget yet, or my bills down. But mentally, I have gone through all the bills I pay every month and starting thinking about where the cuts will be.
1. Cell phone- my contract was up so I shopped around. I get an employee discount with Verizon due to my employer. This was a 45 dollar a month reduction and Verizon provides better coverage than my previous carrier relative to signal availability.
2. Electric- no longer run A/C constantly. I let it get to about 78 deg before I put it on. I unplugged every appliance except the fridge, chest freezer, w/dryer. I turn all lights out and tvs off. I will be hanging the clothes outside to dry.
3. grocery- coupons, sales and trying to use up my pantry. I freeze all leftovers if not used within a few days, veggie scraps go into a freezer bag for soup or stew when full. I pack mine and hubby's lunch everyday. We drink coffee at home. I do not buy soda- we drink water or iced tea.
4. Home phone - is magic jack. Costs 19.95 for the year- we sometimes have reception quality issues but always have our cells as a back up.
5. Sounds gross but helps- we do not flush toilet at night if just liquid waste. saves water.... Limit showers to less than 10 mins.
the hubs and I shower together alot.
I also use the lowest water level possible when washing clothes and use less than half a cap of laundry soap and a scoop of oxyclean.
6. since I wear uniforms to work- when I come home, I will put on a sundress and wear the same one for a few nights in a row- I only wear it for about 4 hours before going to bed. Not really dirty- we usually wear our around the house clothes more than once before washing.
7- cable- I want to cut back here but have a new plan that we are locked into for the rest of the year. we don't watch half the channels anyway.
8. Insurance- the hubs has a few motorcycles. We called the insurance company yesterday after shopping around and found a cheaper competitor. We gave them the competitors online quote and asked what they could do to match and keep our business.After working the numbers- our insurance company cut us a new policy for about 400 dollars less a year. Never hurts to ask! They sure weren't going to offer lest we asked.
Still thinking about other ways to cut back...
ideas are always appreciated.

[mauimagic]

Staying in touch here at FV is one of the smartest things we all can do IMHO!!

One of the best things that I learned over the past year is to take is slowly and not try to do everything at once - something I am very prone to do.

I started by making my own laundry detergent over 15 months ago and still do so - it's a habit and I'm glad it's in my routine.

Making coffee at home is another way we save money on a regular basis.

Started our EF using automatic withdrawals into an ING account.

It all adds up and rather quickly too.

Check out the message boards and see what will work for you - and stay in touch - we all definitely learn from each other.

[Luckybustert]

Decide what is most important to you. Every dollar you spend on item A is that much less you can spend on item B. Every dollar you spend today is one less dollar available to spend tomorrow. We all have a limited amount of money and have to make choices.

[PlainCash4]

STARt with small things like putting all your spare change into a container, make your own coffee, eat at home, bag your lunch. See how far that goes and move from there :^)

[QM]

Thanks for starting this thread. I've been at FV since October 2008, and I still haven't got a budget together. I try to be extremely careful with money, but I haven't started a budget. I need to. I like everyone's tips. I just started tracking our expenses as of July 1st.

[Russ]

IMO... The biggest hurdle in doing a budget is going to be yourself.

Don't lie to yourself, if you spend X amount of dollars on something, even if it's not frugal, write it down. If you got one low electric bill, don't write that down, write down an average of the past 3 months.

[Greebo]

Beg, borrow or buy (no, don't steal) Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover" - it has lots of step by steps on what to do to put your house on a sound financial platform, and budget form examples in the back to help you get started!