Where to cut my budget?
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| Wed, 02-08-2006 - 6:46pm |
Okay, my family has switched our diet to entirely organic foods. This is fairly expensive, though I'm gradually getting the hang of shopping this way and finding the best prices on things (and we've almost eliminated meat from our diet, which helps).
But, I still need to find money in the budget to cover the difference between our food budget and what I actually end up spending now. So I'm hoping you all can help me come up with creative and/or radical ways to cut my expenses elsewhere to do this. All suggestions are welcome--even if I don't end up doing something, each idea will trigger additional ideas.
Okay, here's my current budget:
Monthly Income: $3136
Monthly Expenses:
Mortgage $1004
Groceries $245
Gasoline $215 (don't usually end up spending this much, and spend it on groceries instead--but I want a buffer against increasing gas prices)
Allowances $120 ($50 each for dh and me, $10 each for the kids, both under five)
Electric and gas $135 (I actually have been ending up spending a bit more than this lately, on average)
Internet $45 (no land line, so dial-up is not an option; both dh and I work from home at least occasionally so internet is important)
HOA dues $10
Date night for dh & I $45
Water $55 (another category where I usually actually spend a bit more on average--need to do something about this too)
Auto loan $313
Debt payments $520
Life insurance $45 (would like to buy a bit more insurance, so wouldn't hurt to raise this amount some)
Dental savings $10
Medical savings $10
Cell phones $39 (no land line, we use the cell phones instead)
Charity $180
Internet hosting $10 (dh and I each have a domain name we host; his is for fun, mine is for my business, though I haven't been using it much lately)
Auto insurance and misc auto expenses $135
I look eagerly forward to your suggestions!
Heather

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Hmmm... My first thoughts are the date night and the allowances. I know babysitting is expensive, and $45 is not extravagant by any means. Do you have anyone to trade babysitting duties with? Does your place of worship ever offer a "Parents Night Out"? Our church does this with the youth (with adult supervision) providing the babysitting. As for cheap dates, if you are anything like me, having adult conversation and eating with two hands without having to cut up anyone's food is a treat! You could go to the library and only have to have time in the grownup section and then go out for coffee. When the weather gets warmer, you could walk/hike in the park and take a picnic lunch. If you are into the arts, check out your local college. Often the admission for concerts, exhibits, and plays is reasonable, even free. You could always alternate cheap date months and more expensive date months.
As for the allowances; I think it depends on what the money gets spent on. We all need our "mad money", but could you cut back a little without feeling the pinch too badly? Do the kids need $10, or is most of that money being saved for them? My twins are almost 2, and they don't get an allowance, but we put money from each paycheck into their savings accounts. Could you give them $7 each and yourselves $40? I think you have mentioned before that a big chunk of your debt will be paid off this year. Could you make any of these spending cuts temporarily, with the idea of restoring them, in total or in part, once your debt is paid? That might make any adjustments you make easier to tolerate if you know that they are temporary. If you find that you are perfectly happy spending less in certain areas, then all the better.
HTH
-Sarah
Sarah
Mom to Gina & Tony
Date night for dh & I $45
Ask the group to come up with inexpensive date night ideas for you and DH. I'm sure you can also find ideas if you look online for "cheap date ideas", particularly on sites targeted to college students. =)
Charity $180
I have had to cut out tithing and *monetary* charity donations until we can lower our minimum payments significantly. You could look around your house and see if there are old clothes, books, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, etc that you could donate to a worthy charity (and receive the tax writeoff) without donating money.
Allowances $120
Although your DH may be unhappy if you reduce his allowance, you may be able to get him on board by showing him how much quicker your debt would be paid off if he got $25 per month, etc..
Auto loan $313
Check and see if your auto loan can be refinanced for a lower rate (but same term) with a local credit union, if you don't have an account with a credit union already. My credit union automatically reduced the interest rate of any car loan that we transferred by 1%. You'd be surprised how much difference that 1% makes over time!
Life insurance $45
Have you contacted your auto insurance provider to see if "term life" insurance (as opposed to whole life) could be added to your account for a nominal fee? I pay less than $7 per month to insure myself and my husband and receive a discount on auto insurance with State Farm because I also have life insurance with them. Some employers offer life insurance benefits that you can have deducted from your paycheck automatically. Normally those are much cheaper (since it's through a group plan) than individual life insurance.
Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished
Just some suggestions, but you could stop going out for date night and have a date night indoors. We have always done this. My husband and I don't believe in babysitters for our son (he's 7 1/2), so we just wait until our son is in bed, and then we have our candlelit dinners, dance to our favorite romantic music, curl up on the couch to watch a movie together, etc. It's a money savings, and it reminds us of the dates we had when we were still dating. It's nice to tap into that old inexpensive romance that we shared back then. :-D Also, having an inexpensive date night means you can have them more often. :-D
Pat :-D
I'm just curious how much expensive the all organic diet will be? That's a change I would like to make someday and haven't done anything about in a while due to cost.
I'm not a kid allowance person so I would probably cut that until your children are a little older (I could be wrong-I'm thinking neither one is in school yet?). I would also try to cut back on allowances for each other for a while at least.
Could you maybe do a date night every other month instead of each month? Alternate doing the at home thing with going out.
I might have more later-started typing before I realized how late it was getting!
Taleyna
I don’t actually have much to add in terms of savings. I think $245/mo for food is great, we eat mostly organic. My food budget is $200/mo. (But its offset by quartley Costco shopping $500).
My weekly allowance is $50/wk. I cannot imagine lowering it, however, I try to spend less to deposit into my freedom account. I also use the extra at the end of the week to treat my kids (2)– movies, pizza etc. The $20/ mo for each child I assume covers their treats which is a cool way to pay for it.
As for your date night I have a “me night” – where I go out w/friends or SO. I NEED me time.
Some of the other ideas I think are worth while – term life etc. Maybe bi-monthly date nights, bi-monthly charity – give to one set this month and another set next month etc.
Please no one yell at me but I'd probably cut back on charity.
I think it's great to give, and I believe there are many ways other than monetary to do so like another poster suggested. Donating clothes, toys, furniture etc is a great way to contribute! Donating your time (if you have it) is another great way. Even if you cut your donation in half it would help someone and help you with your new food budget. :)
My kids are 8 and 4 and we haven't done allowances yet. We let them pick out a dollar store toy if they have behaved. That adds up to about $6 a month. I love those dollar stores~ and the kids think it's the greatest because they can pick anything in the whole store!! ;)
Please don't give up your date night. $45 is not a lot and you could even eat out at less expensive restaurants too. Just think~~It's cheaper than marriage counseling!
Our work schedules are so conflicting, dh and I hardly ever go out alone. We still haven't gone out for our anniversary which was Jan 11th!
Nicki
All my best,
Danni
Hi.
I don't know how helpful my suggestions are going to be, but just for brainstorming's sake:
Instead of $50/month for an allowance, I'd switch it to $10 per week. (Right now, I have no allowance and DH gets $5-$10 per week, so I may be biased here). I'd keep the kids about the same, I think. (I assume the $20 is for treats?)
My mom used to cut back on water when we visited my grandmother (who had water come in in a truck) by: setting a timer for our showers, washing dishes in a tub in the sink instead of filling the whole sink, etc.
I'd keep the date night, just because I think you have to be happy. Maybe it can be done with less expense, maybe it can't. DH and I do "date breakfast" every Saturday which is cheaper and a really nice way to start the day. We used to do date lunch each Friday, but then our schedules went wonky.
Let us know how you do!
These are all terrific ideas! Keep 'em coming, gals! I like the brainstorm atmosphere here--no censoring, just lots of great brain juice flowing :). I'm open to any and all ideas.
I'd like to hear more about how one poster manages a mostly organic diet on $200 a month. I thought I was doing great to eat on $200 a month when we *weren't* all organic! Granted, I do include toiletries and such in that budget.
As for the question about how much more expensive it is... well, time will tell. I've only just started keeping a price book, which is the key to keeping grocery costs down. I used to keep one for non-organic foods, but now I've got to start a new one for organic. Organic foods *do* go on sale, but finding the best price requires a lot of driving around town, and I'll be more sure of getting the best price when my price book is complete. Health food stores tend to carry a lot of items in bulk--beans, and grains, and herbs, and such--and those are the cheapest ways to find those items. But the regular upscale groceries tend to have other organic items for cheaper than the health stores. And produce is best bought locally. I'm also seeking sources of local, organic, humane meat. Part of how we keep our cost down is we eat a lot of vegetarian meals, and meat only as a small portion of larger meals when we eat it at all. Organic meat is EXTREMELY expensive, but we feel it's actually *more* important than organic produce, because A) pesticides accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals, which means they contain higher doses of the poisonous stuff, B) industrial agriculture (i.e., the farms where most non-organic meat is produced) are horrendously inhumane, and C) beef and other large animals contain the additional problems associated with high levels of hormones. I'm also planning to grow our own tomatoes and beans and squash and basil and corn and carrots this summer, so that should help some. Oh, and spinach and peas (which are already poking up through the mulch!) and a few other minor crops. Oh, and garlic--it's so stupid, the organic garlic at the grocery store is $4 for a single bulb, and it's got to be the easiest thing in the world to grow organically, since it contains its own pest deterring chemicals (yeah, bugs think it's stinky too! LOL). I HOPE the garlic I planted this past fall will provide all the garlic we need for the following year--I've planted about 30 bulbs.
I know I can cut back on some of the convenience foods I've been buying. I used to not buy convenience foods at all, but since they're organic they seem somehow healthier and so I've been splurging on them, LOL. So that's a place to start.
Anyway, keep those ideas flowing. I'm all ears.
Thank you so much!!
I said that we eat "mainly" organic. Meaning fruit, veggies, eggs & milk always. I also buy, pasta, rice, coffee, cocoa, soap etc.
I shop at Trader Joe's I find them to me much more reasonable than say "Whole Foods". Also Costco is starting to carry some organic foods also. I buy my toiletries and most meats, most juices and all snacks at Costco. I try to eat mainly fruits and veggies with sides of meat.
I do my main shopping at Costco - quarterly $500 and then fill in with Trader Joe's.
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