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Saving money... wdyd?
I'm sure there's probably been a thread of this before... but a refresher is always nice 
As we'll be semi-permanently cutting back to 1 income (with minor supplements here and there from me) What do you do to save/make money?
We've already shut off our cable and just do netflix. With me getting done work that will be less gas in my car, so that will save us ~$70/week. We do a Christmas Club through MH work and have $20 a week put away, so we have that big check in late october (we normally use it to fill our oil tank & buy wood pellets, but we increased the amount this year so hopefully we'll have some to actually use for Christmas). We also have $20 a week go into our savings account automatically so we're at least putting something away.
I plan to start making all of my own detergents/soaps - pinterest is great for that! I also plan to set up tables & some craft fairs this summer to try to sell some of the various crafts I make... hats, bows, primitive decor... etc. I also coupon and shop sales for groceries whenever I can. I want to start actually meal-planning so we don't have a lot of waste... and we use up what we have in our pantry.
Ok, so tell me, what you do in your household to save?
Re: Saving money... wdyd?
I also forgot to mention on FB-- we do things like leave the oven door open a bit after using it, to help eat the first floor. I figure, we already paid for the electricity to get the oven up to that level of heat-- why let it just sit in there to cool off slowly, when I can open the door and share the heat with the rest of the kitchen?
All the little things add up! You're off to a great start!
We reduce our necessary monthly expenses by having the minimum cell coverage that works for us, we have reduced our texting and do not have data. We have basic cable and the internet speed that we need without going over the top. We will probably be making changes to this now that our year long promotional period is over. Both of our cars are paid off which seems to be a huge relief to what a lot of our friends have for expenses. Now that LO is on the way I have consolidated my student loans - reducing my payments by $200/month. We are conscious about our electric and water usage.
I look at the Hannaford sales flyer and plan my meals around the sales. I buy larger packages of meat when they are on sale, then portion and freeze them. I go grocery shopping once every week and stick to my list, I usually come in under $75 for two people/3 meals a day and things like TP, paper towels, detergent etc. We eat out once a week, lately it has been more takeout so we have leftovers and don't have to pay for drinks/tips.
I make most things from scratch and make a lot of it and freeze big portions. We eat a mostly vegetarian diet so that saves a ton. Lots of beans. Lots of tofu which is cheap.
We keep the heat low. (at least I do)
We make a date night once a month rather than going out more often.
Our single biggest savings recently has been in regards to meals. Meal planning is part of it, because I'm supremely lazy and unless there's something very specific at home and something very specific to bring for lunch, I'll pick up takeout. Even further down that same road, planning simple, simple meals is what really has been making it stick. I never picked really complicated meals, but now that I stick to pizza, baked chicken and frozen veggies, grilled cheese and tomato soup, it's going better. Apparently my laziness extends to the simplicity of the meal, so if it was anything more than slapping some stuff in a pan, not only would I end up with the takeout and no lunches, but we'd also have those wasted foodstuffs that I'd bought for dinner. I'd obviously love to eat super-healthily, but the slightly-unhealthy stuff we're eating at home is healthier than Taco Bell or whatever, so there's that.
Another thing has been recognizing how/on what we like to spend our money. Like, we used to go out to restaurant dinner (apps, drinks, dessert) every weekend, but I realized that for the most part, I'd rather forgo or reduce the fancier dinners and not feel so bad about picking up takeout occasionally. Also, our cable bill is astronomical, but we've tried turning it off and have decided that it's just something that we're willing to pay for. So we rarely go to the movies, call every six months to get the bill lowered, etc. to make it work for us.
A lot of our expenses are pretty fixed (mortgage, student loans, electricity, pellets, cars, etc.). And I get that things like electricity, pellets, and car payments aren't truly fixed. But again, we've decided where we're willing to cut and where we can make up the difference. I could put on two sweatshirts and a blanket, but I'd rather just have the house be really warm, so maybe that means I don't get my hair colored at a salon every six weeks anymore. And I prefer to have a nice, newer car, so maybe that means that we entertain friends/go to their houses instead of going out to a bar for beers. I don't know if that kind of stuff makes sense, or if it would cut as much as you need to cut. But I think that thinking long and hard/trying things out to see where you'd like to save/spend is an important step. At least, it was for us. Otherwise you just end up miserable or spending more money in other areas because you cut in an area you shouldn't have.
I also use coupons for stuff that I know we'll buy. I don't hardcore coupon - I just keep an eye out for what I know to be a decent-ish sale and buy an extra or two. I tried making my own laundry detergent, for instance, and it wasn't worth it for me, so I cut coupons for the kind I like and pick up a couple when it's on special at Target.
We plan our meals every week so we only buy what we need. I shop at BJ's for paper products and meat. I portion out and freeze the meat for specific meals (ie I use 1 pound of beef for meatloaf so I have a bag specifically marked for that). I have recently gotten into couponing and it has helped a lot. I make sure to look at every store for the best deal on what I am buying and consolidate my driving so it uses the least amount of gas.
Other than that MH and I don't really "save". We don't have cable, we only have one credit card, and our internet is at the minimum it can be. Somehow we still have no money. Oh yeah....my student loans!
I shop Sam's Club for meats, paper products and other things that don't go bad right away. I also buy 3 papers every Sunday so I can get the coupons and coupon for other staples (ie sgetti sauce. I got 15 jars, among other items, at shaws the other day and only spent $35).
We cloth diaper and use cloth wipes. DH has been driving my van to work (yuck, I hate it) but it's better on gas then the truck is. I work from home 4 days a week so that helps and I'm only allowed to go to Dunkin Donuts on the days I actually leave the house (ie, my one day a week I work in the office). Sometimes I do cheat and go when I HAVE TO HAVE it but that is not often.
For us, the key has been creating a budget, tracking our expenses, and adjusting as necessary. Not having a car payment has been super helpful with this. We still pretend we have a car payment and put a certain amount of money in savings every month, so that when we do have to buy a new car, we can use all cash or just take out a very small loan. MH is driving a 14 year old civic so we can do this. It's been great because we initially were saving $400/month, but now that's down to $200 thanks to pricing going up and MH getting crap raises. If we had a $400/month car payment, we wouldn't have been able to take money out of the car budget and apply it to our utility bills and grocery budgets (both which have gone up).
We do all of the standard things like brew coffee at home, rarely go out to lunch, go out to dinner once a month (instead we cook dinner with friends), meal plan, coupon, cloth diaper, etc. When we go out to eat, often we do happy hours so we can save some money. Some other things I do/have done are:
-Each morning I check a couple of daily deal sites to see if there are any groupons that I could use. That has saved us a ton. I also lurk on other boards because people will often post things like, "$20-off code for diapers.com today!"
-Lots of online shopping for everything from toys to baby food to medication to cereal. It's often cheaper at Amazon!
-I never go to Babies R Us without a 20% off coupon. Did you know they also take Bed Bath & Beyond coupons? I also have a Target Red Card that gives me 5% off all of my purchases.
-We refinanced our house last year. That saved us $200/month.
-We changed our auto insurance to a cheaper company. That saved us $50/month
-We canceled our landline and negotiated with our alarm company so they would install a free system that communicates with the cell phone towers (we were only using the landline for the alarm). That saved us $30/month.
-At least once a year, I call the cable company and ask them to lower our bill (because it is always going up), and they always do. That's another $30/month in savings.
-We have a rewards credit card and use it for everything. At the end of the year, we earn about $700 worth of travel rewards, which is very helpful because we have to fly to see family.
Also, I download (free) Clark Howard podcasts and listen to them while I workout and/or clean during DD's naps. It helps keep me in the mind-set of "spending less" and gives me ideas on how to save money!
They only do if you live in an area with a Buy Buy Baby store, as it's considered a competitor's coupon.
Awesome posts ladies! I have my pen/paper in hand, and am writing down all your helpful hints! So far on my to-do list today: call the cable comp, cell phone companies and look into auto insurance rates. Have a great weekend everyone!!
Where do you ladies buy your diapers, wipes and formula? Thoughts on buying baby items on diaper.com, bjs/costco vs grocery store. Looking to spend less without sacrificing quality..
Oh, I didn't know that. We have a Buy Buy Baby here, but I didn't know you had to have one in your city in order for it work. Boo. That sucks because I get so many more coupons from BB&B!
I really have to check into this b/c it's the only reason we have a landline!
As for us. Sometimes we're really good and sometimes we're bad *cough cough*DH! He splurges on things, but its tangible things that we needed or wanted anyways and it doesn't put us in the red. I'm fortunate in that neither of us drink coffee so we're never tempted to go to DD or Starbucks. Both of our cars are paid off, but we'll probably be replacing mine in the Fall since ours are both the same year and that makes us a bit nervous. I coupon big time. If I haven't saved 70% or over at Shaws or CVS I've done something wrong. I bought 9 things of ALL detergent 2 weeks ago at CVS for $11
We buy a cow and half a pig every other Fall and that saves us a ton along the way. I cloth diaper and use cloth wipes. Whenever income tax rolls around we throw a big chunk in savings and the other half to my student loan to keep knocking that down. We just refinanced our mortgage, but not for a lower payment. We opted for a little bit higher and only a 15 year mortgage. That will help us out as we get closed to retirement age and DD gets closer to college! We order a lot of things on Amazon too, although we lost our Mom Prime so I'm' not sure if we'll sign up for regular Prime now. The biggest thing is not going out all of the time. I also don't drive all over the place (mostly b/c of DD) so I'm' not burning through gas. We have different zones in the house so we knock a few down that we're not using in the winter, but I refuse to keep my house less than 67 degrees, but we budget for that. I don't really meal plan, but I never waste food. I always have something I can make with leftovers. I like to try new recipes so I may have weird ingredients leftover and I always make sure to use those that way I'm not wasting. I find the more I try to live green, the more I save in the long run 
This has been a great post! Certainly one to bookmark!
We have a budget and are trying really hard to stick with it. The best advice I can give is that small savings in lots of areas do really add up. It sounds like you're already doing a lot and some great advice so far! If either one of us lost our job, I'm not sure how we'd be able to skimp - we already do so much! Well, besides my car payment :-)
If you are looking for ways to earn money, try selling your books on Amazon.com. I used to do this as a hobby and made a bit of money. (every bit counts, right?) I can't remember the formula off the top of my head, but if the book sells for more than $1.25, you'll make money. You can talk to local offices to give you their used mailers, so your shipping supplies are next to none.
Open an etsy shop! If you're starting to get crafty and go this route you have to! It's a great way to begin with an online presence and then get to the craft fairs. This past craft fair season I had a half a dozen people place orders post fair via phone or online.
Also, if you haven't already, use a program like quicken to track your expenses. I've been using it for over 10 years and can tell you how much I spent ($2337.81) on Dunkin Donuts - it's sickening. That can help to see where you're truly spending money to be able to cut back.
good luck!