Hawaii Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
How do you cut costs?
DH and I need to make some budget cuts! I'm trying to figure out where to cut. We don't go out to eat or for drinks. We cook at home and shop at a discount grocery store. We clip coupons when we can. We do have cable/internet but it's honestly our ONLY form of entertainment. What do you do to cut costs?
(I also posted on the Eco board to see what feedback I get)
Re: How do you cut costs?
Like you...we're pretty paired down. The next thing we're cutting is our cell phones. We're just not using them and paying $100/mo. (which is the cheapest shared plan T-Mobile offers) is silly when we're not even close to using our minutes. So we're switching to a pre-paid plan that should knock us down closer to $30-40/mo. instead.
We also have a bundled cable-internet-land line plan with COX that runs us about $100-120/mo. and are going to switch to AT&T because they have a one year plan for the same thing that is about half the price.
We plan our meals and shop accordingly...cutting back on groceries is difficult because we're not willing to compromise on nutrition (we buy whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies (rather than frozen or canned), etc.) That said, we do our best to prepare seasonal items that tend to be less expensive (i.e. winter squashes and fruits right now rather than things that are flown in from elsewhere) and buy cheaper cuts of meat (chicken breast tenders instead of whole breasts, etc.). We're also not very brand-loyal on most things...we tend to buy whichever toilet paper, free & clear laundry detergent, milk, etc, is on sale that week.
We've also lowered the thermostat to 66 degrees this winter (although I'd prefer 72) and use space heaters in the room we're in to keep it a little warmer (along with snuggling under blankets and wearing layers, socks, slippers, etc.).
We only run the dishwasher and do laundry with full loads and do most of them on a cold cycle (except for whites and soon...diapers).
Finally, I enrolled in the Flexible Spending Account offered at work so that I can use pre-tax dollars to pay for health care related things (including office copays and OTC items from the local drug store) and childcare costs this year with pre-tax money which saves us about 40% on those costs because it lowers my tax bracket.
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It sounds like you're on the right track, and I agree that posting this on MM would be useful too (they're great at coming up with suggestions, and seldom flame people).
I think my biggest cost saving tip is to plan meals. Not just to cook at home, but to draw up a menu of an entire week's worth of meals, and then ONLY shop for the things on that list. It's amazing how little extras in your cart can add up! Meal planning is a PITA when you first start doing it, but after a while it gets really easy. You can also use a site like allrecipes.com to help - you can plan a week's worth of meals and print out shopping lists from there to make sure you don't miss anything that you need.
We also have a weekly food budget, and our meals HAVE to fit within that number. If it goes over, something has to get put back on the shelf, period. If it's under, we can get a snacky item like coke or chips or whatever if we want...but only if it's under.
Oh! And also re planning meals - we've discovered that it's cheaper to make a meal with 4 servings and eat leftovers later in the week than it is to have a different meal every night. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to eat the same thing all the time, so I thought this would be a difficult adjustment, but because we usually wait a couple of nights before eating the leftovers (unless they don't keep very well), it's spaced far enough apart from the original meal that I don't mind.
My favorite subject! lol. Besides clipping coupons for both the actual store and the manf (you can use both on an item), I never ever pay retail for something. I always use a coupon. In addition, I never pay the regular price of cable, internet or my phone bill. I will always contact them and tell them I get a better deal with someone else (ex Comcast vs Direct TV) and tell them the deal and have them match it and give me something for free (right now its HBO free for 12 months). I always threaten to cancel. When my promo time is up, I call and do the same thing. It can be a pain, but when I pay so little it makes it worth it.
I am constantly perusing websites like couponmom,com and getting things for free even if I dont need it now. It comes in handy later. Like I just got Pepsi 12 packs for $1.50 at Target. We stocked up.
exactly this! there are tons of good sites to hunt for deals when you need to make a planned purchase. i also agree w/the meal planning. and once you shop enough you know what is a good deal w/coupons at the regular store and what a good deal is at the bulk clubs like sam's/costco
we also have mostly energy efficient lighting at home - costs a fraction of the price to have the lights on that way. there's an initial up front cost but we've surpassed that by now...warranty on those is great...whenever we have a bulb go out we just contact them and they mail a replacement for us free
oh, and gasbuddy.com - we always check for the cheapest gas prices before fueling up if possible
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
Oooh these are all really good ideas that we do too! You might be amazed at how much a coffee here and there adds up to - we seldom (less than once a month) buy coffee at a coffee shop.
And ditto on the dry cleaning - really, most things that "need" to be dry cleaned can be washed at home if you're careful and gentle.
And absolutely on the legumes - we usually plan 2-3 vegetarian meals per week. At first it was a bit difficult because Ben used to be a super carnivore, but after a couple of weeks where I showed him how delicious vegetarian food can be (it's more than just lettuce leaves and tofu lol) he quickly realized that it was a great way to both cut costs and have a really tasty meal. I really like meat-free chili - easy to cook ahead of time or in a crockpot while you're at work, very filling, very cheap and tastes GREAT!
Cannot agree more...we don't dry clean anything except maybe Joseph's wool suits (when he has to do them) and winter overcoats, etc. But nothing on a regular basis. All of my sweaters I wash on delicate and air dry (including cashmere and merino wool).
Coffee, water, etc. is always BYO. You'd be amazing how buying a cup of coffee or bottle of water each day adds up. We bought a great water filter and use it to fill refillable bottles each day.
Going meatless a few times a week is a great way to save and healthy too. We do a lot of omlettes and frittatas for dinner. Beans too...especially in a crock pot are super easy and cheap.
When you do get meat, you could but a whole chicken rather than just breasts or thighs and roast it and make several recipes from the one chicken (including soup with the bones...add it to your beans for flavor).
It's all about getting back to basics. When we're looking for a place to cut back we track our spending for a month (writing down EVERYTHING on a little notebook) and see where we might have a "leak." At the end of the summer we canceled Joseph's gym membership, even though it was only $10/mo. because he never went (and now uses the gym at school, in between classes) and also canceled our XM radio subscriptions (two for $22/mo.) which we had when we were living in CA and commuting 1-2 hours a day. We each drive less than 10 minutes to/from work and it just seemed silly to pay for XM radio for 10-20 minutes/day. Total savings with those two cuts: nearly $400/yr.
Also, we raised our deductible on our car insurance (from $500 to 1000) and lowered our coverage (we were over-insured, especially since we don't drive that much anymore) and saved another $400/yr.
Other ways we save...when we do need to buy something we try as much to go second-hand via eBay, Craigslist, consignment shops, etc. Joseph only buys used text books and most of our baby things are second-hand. Same goes for furniture, etc. If we do get it new we try to get it on close-out or the floor model, etc. That's how we got our treadmill for 50% off retail price (still new with warranty, but it was the floor model). My new camera? Factory refurbished for $200 less than retail (also covered by a warranty).
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This is also a good tip. When we moved to our new house, I raised the deductible on our contents insurance - I figured that if we're ever cleaned out in a robbery, even the highest deductible that our insurance company offers will a) still be (relatively) affordable and b) still waaaaaay less than all of our electronics etc are worth. And we're saving several hundred a year! It's definitely worth re-evaluating your insurance on your home and cars from time to time.