• Date Started: Jul 20, 2006
• Entries: 6
• Comments: 44
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Where my plan goes from here

7 Responses to “Where my plan goes from here”

1. veronak Says:
   July 26th, 2006 at 03:22 am 1153884152
   1153884152
   Sounds like you guys have a plan. I started line drying all my clothes, taking lunch to work, couponing , rent most movies/books from my local library, got basic cable and a basic phone line...lol...I even have dial up. I also stop driving so much, gas is high. If I am going to the library I stop by my dad's versus going to dad's then home and then back to library. Oops I forgot my biggest problem the mall, I stay away from that place all together Good luck, keeping reading the blogs here everyone has preety good ideas when it comes to saving $

2. ima saver Says:
   July 26th, 2006 at 12:51 pm 1153918292
   1153918292
   My husband takes his lunch eat day, I eat left overs. I have no cell. I keep my hot water turned off all day long. I have not been to a mall in 5 years! I don't buy anything I don't really need.

3. mjrube94 Says:
   July 26th, 2006 at 01:56 pm 1153922192
   1153922192
   Do you pay your property taxes and insurance through your mortgage company? If so, I'd look into paying it directly. Depending on the type of loan you have, amount of equity, etc., your mortgage company may or may not let you do it (and they may charge a fee to let you switch) but it's at least worth looking into. When your mortgage company takes your monthly payment, they're allowed to take an amount above and beyond what your actual taxes and insurance costs as a buffer to protect them against the timing of the payments. When I started paying directly, I got my buffer back ($1700, but my taxes are huge), plus I get the interest on the money each month until I pay the bill. This was an unusual source of money for me, and it may work for you as well.
   
   Also, get your car deductible up to $1000. If it makes you feel better, take some of these savings and boost your emergency fund, so if you have an accident, it's no problem paying the extra deductible. This can be big bucks too, depending on where you live. (Note that if you have a loan, some companies won't let you have a deductible higher than $500. This happened with one of my loans, not the other).
   
   Good luck and keep us posted!

4. LuckyRobin Says:
   July 30th, 2006 at 08:36 am 1154248581
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   We phased out lessons for the kids. No more tae kwon do. No more dance class for a year. We dropped the inside line maintenance fee on our phones as DH and FIL know how to replace those if they fail. It was only $4 a month, but still. We got rid of our cable. We got rid of our daily newspaper delivery and I only buy a Sunday paper if my parents or my in-laws did not AND it corresponds with the coupon thingies flash says will be in that Sunday's paper. If I don't need any of the stuff she lists I don't buy it or borrow it. If they do buy it and it has stuff I want, they save the inserts for me. We dry as much of our clothing as possible on the clothesline. If it is raining we try to dry everything on hangers on the shower rod or one of our drying racks. We unplug everything we aren't using that doesn't need to start up quickly. Since we don't have cable anymore, we even unplug the TV as it doesn't need to keep track of the channels anymore and have a quick start. We can wait 5 seconds for the TV and DVD player to warm up and turn on and not have the silent bleed of electricity that comes with them being plugged in all the time.
   
   Before school let out we cut down to one hot lunch at school a week and I bought some great divided thermoses for sending hot food to school next grade. Hot lunch costs $1.90, well it'll cost $2 this new grade. So two kids a couple times a week, it adds up.
   
   We do still have a few luxury items, though. We get a low level subscription to Netflix and Gamefly and we check out games and movies at the library also. We will reevaluate next month and see if we need to drop the Netflix down further based on what we can get from the library.
   
   I've still got a few areas I can squeeze down but I am trying to take it one month at a time.

5. squatto Says:
   July 31st, 2006 at 05:31 pm 1154367087
   1154367087
   LuckyRobin, that is a lot of cutting! Have you noticed any difficulty in changing your lifestyle? We've found a few things that we can cut (cell phone, restaurants, etc) and it's quite surprising how much money you can save simply by changing a few little things!

6. baselle Says:
   August 1st, 2006 at 03:55 am 1154404511
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   I did a lot of cutting with groceries by using a price book, but remember to recoup the saved money as you cut expenses. If you know you are saving money by eliminating an item, pay yourself somehow the difference, then take that difference and put it into savings, then use your savings to pay off your debts. Its important to get into that habit for three reasons:
   1.) you actually save the money, rather than displacing your spending.
   2.) you put your money in a place that earns a bit of interest. Your savings pays you while you wait to pay your debts.
   3.) you have an account that's fun to watch. It'll be something to cheer you up when you think "why am I cutting out these fun luxuries?"

7. LuckyRobin Says:
   August 30th, 2006 at 06:34 am 1156919661
   1156919661
   Of course, you notice differences but not all of them are bad. My stress level has gone down a lot by not reading the paper or watching the nightly news, and not constantly running the kids to lessons (which also cuts the gas down and the eating on the run and usually from the drive-thru). I spend more time outside with the hanging of the laundry and I fold it outside also. So I get fresh air a little more frequently. Do I miss cable TV? Not nearly as much as I thought I would. And anything worth watching will be out on DVD eventually.

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