[hmcart]

I am curious how many of you have decided to make some changes in the new year to live a more frugal life. I feel like there are always areas for our family to improve so this year we have decided that any extra money that comes in from side work for Dh, extra work days for me, ect be put directly towards debt repayment. We will not spend any money outside of bills, gas, and groceries for the month of January unless it is an emergency (illness, car issues, ect). We will try our hand at gardening to save money on produce this summer and fall.

So what will ya'll bee doing differently in 2013?

 

[Nadders11]

Gardening!

Planned spending; no impulse buys.

 

[Spirit Deer]

Pretty much more of the same for us, but we'll be making more effort to use up what we have already instead of buying something new, as much as we can.

 

[frugalwarrior2]

mostly waiting on the cliff decisions to make my finals but

If things go badly we drink less milk and make more tea
keep water in the fridge
move bday checks to $25 from $50.
stop eating out almost altogether
cook a lot more
stop renting movies
We already dumped stocks tonight to use the loss on this years taxes
may have to stop charity donations

If they dont take it all
triple pay the home equity loan into non existance by the end of the year.
do my dogs' knee surgery
think about a much needed furnace
lose weight
pay down more of the CC
beef up savings to $2500 from $1000.

 

[Frugal Nurse]

stick to my budget. Period. If I do that I'll be just fine.
Stop spending frivously.
start selling off stuff aggressively
Visit FV daily for inspiration
never pay full price.

 

[ladytoysdream]

Not real big changes, but basically tighting up the budget.
I am going to track more things. The grocery receipts will be tracked in a notebook for awhile. Maybe not all year, but at least a few months to see what patterns there might be.
Currently I am working down some older pantry inventory. I will continue to buy things on sale, but will keep that stuff on a separate shelf. Gas costs should go down for my truck, as my plan is to only go to town a max of 2 days a week.
Our entertainment will be about the same...the internet for me and direct tv for him. We don't rent movies, rarely eat out as a couple, don't smoke, don't drink, and it's rare to pick up a lottery ticket anymore. Another garden this year. Canning more.
Building up the EF to take care of 2 months of bills. Currently have enough for 1 month.

 

[AmyBoz]

My biggest change will be having as many no spend days as possible. I was getting a little free with the credit card, making multiple trips to the grocery store, eating out, downloading books for my nook when I was out of gift cards, so I had to pay for them, etc. We are able to pay off our credit card bill every month, but we aren't putting much away. That needs to stop immediately.

 

[onencgirl]

To have fewer spend days, tighten up the frugal belt and become more aware of the daily resources I use.

 

[jettsmom]

I plan to stay home more, meaning a lot more no spend days. Try to pay down as much credit as possible. Save, save, save for a new deck, it's been needing to be replaced for years. Eat out less, eat cheaper meals at home. Start making gifts for birthdays and Christmas. Put myself on a tight grocery budget. Only buying what we really need. Eat less, saving money and losing weight.

 

[Hamada]

Right now I know I need to figure out how I can make changes so I can keep the heat turned up higher and the ac turned up longer. So will need to looking into areas where I can save more which means learning more skills and building on habits I already use. Not sure what I can change so it will be a challenge to figure out. All I know is that keeping the heat turned down in the winter may help the purse strings but health wise it is not good. The same with using the AC. So I need to look at this as giving myself a challenge and the ability to learn more things.

Although there is a part of me that just wants to say AAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

[hmcart]

Shoiji, we keep our heat kind of low but not to the point where we are freezing. We have a very old and poorly insulated farm house (one of our projects) and it costs a fortune to heat so we keep a pile of blankets for when we are lounging watching tv. Our gas bill would be over $600 a month if we turned our heat up higher!

 

[Sophiasmama]

To not shop because I'm bored...in 2012 I spent way too much due to boredom...fill life with more hobbies,etc.

 

[Buckeye5]

Different this 2013..EVERYTHING.. I want to be able to quit my job this year, so I am going to become extremely frugal...spent too much $$ goin out w/ friends..this is going to stop...having game nights now....Eat out less, get house organized, and would love to quit smoking...this is so hard for me...so I am going to split my cigarette packs into 2..10 smokes per day....and try to slowly eliminate them one behavior at a time.This would save me $4.00 a day, I have lots of ideas for myself this year, so hopefully this will be my year of change.

 

[Birdie]

Buckeye, that would be wonderful if you quit smoking. And you would save $1460 a year at $4 a day. Great.

 

[ARCMOMMY]

Organization so that we stay on the frugal track. For some reason if I don't have everything organized we all fall off the wagon here. No eating out this year for us. We are going to actually attempt this. Lol! More cooking at home, taking snacks, using what we have before buying anything else. I quit smoking when I found out I was pregnant so that has helped. We will also be doing cloth diapers for this baby. Already bought too stockpiling is a must this year. We really slacked on stockpiling last year but were able to live off our stockpile for most items. Staying home this year too instead of going away for vacation. We are really striving to get out of debt this year. With our income tax return and no vacation this should be feasible. Good luck to everyone and happy new year.

 

[sueh]

Although I try to live frugal I really need to do a better job at it. For 2013 I really need to tighten the belt and start paying down my debt and increase my ef. I also just recently quit smoking. I hope that I can continue with it as I know not only will it save me a bunch of money but it will also have a great effect on my health.

 

[scooby8themall]

We became a one income household we have a small emergency fund but I am trying to cut spending and do more cooking at home joining reward clubs , more couponing , finding the freebies doing what I have to with out being deprived not sure where things are headed in the future but will prepare every week for the just in cases in life !!!

 

[judembc]

Contribute more to an EF, pay down debt, pay more attention to ways to save energy, only eat out if we have a gift card, rotate our stockpile better so nothing is missed. Learn how to have a garden where we live that won't be eaten by the animals that come to visit STOP buying myself clothes so that I look cute and instead wear the millions of items I already have! It was pathetic how many bags I cleaned out of my closet the day after XMAS and donated to SA. I feel like I have a new home and can actually see the hardwood floors in my walk in closet. I have a shoe addiction because it's hard to find a pair of shoes that's comfortable at the end of a 10 hr. workday

 

[telephus]

Honestly, I'm pretty good with our level of frugality and don't plan to change a whole lot. The biggest thing is to not eat out so much, but my motivations are more health related than money related.

 

[meredith1629]

In 2013 I have a few frugal/financial goals:

1) Get my ER Fund back to where it was - and stop stealing from it for crap I don't need.
2) Pay down my $5,000 school loan to at least $4,000.
3) Use up the old food from my stockpile - think about getting back into couponing for a few things - maybe.
4) Stick to the budget I set up instead of moving $ around for frivolous stuff.

That's what I want to do this year.