Do you ever feel like you work and work and work just to "Pay the Man?" That's how I feel and with looking at our budget, I realize that we need to cut back. I need some ideas on ways YOU save on gas, groceries, and everything else. We're GREAT spenders and AWFUL savers.
What are your ideas?
4 comments:
Sorry I am no expert. I am not really a saver either. But I do try really hard to stay in my budget.
You probably already do a lot of this but here is what I came up with.
We only have basic TV-no cable or nothing. We don't have Netflix. We only have a basic home line, no caller ID, voicemail, anything like that.
We don't eat out very often. We only eat out once or twice a month at the most.
Make a meal plan. This really cuts down on what I spend at the grocery store. I try to make really basic recipes that use only a few ingredients. None of this funky stuff that you only use a little bit of and never touch again.
Travis takes a lunch to work, he doesn't eat out.
We use the library. We don't buy any books. We check out movies for the girls from there.
We use redbox. I buy Travis and the kids clothes on clearance. I don't pay full price for things, especially kids clothes. Old Navy has their additional 50 percent of clearance prices in Jan and July. Hand me downs are even better. Try for those. I don't get many so I can't rely on those.
I have in the past used cash. If you take out your money from the bank and put it separate envelopes for each category. Groceries, date money, fun money, clothes. It is much harder to spend cash than it is to put it on a card.
Have you heard of Dave Ramsey? He is a great resource! Check his book out from the library.
Good luck. Money management is one of the toughest things there is!
My biggest obstacle with finances is staying motivated. For some reason I tend to throw my financial goals out the window when faced with certain spending temptations. I try delayed gratification, saying if I really want it I'll still want it a week from now. That sort of self-talk helps my impulse buying.
I also discovered this blog that is sometimes helpful to me. I'm not quite able to put as much money into food storage yet but sometimes they have clever ideas. And she really spells out Dave Ramsey's philosophy which I like some of his ideas but some are a little over the top for me at this time. She gives you the gist. Check it out!
http://positivelyprepared.blogspot.com/
Dave Ramsey. He is awesome! Jeff started listening to him on KSL and then got me hooked. So we bought the book "Total Money Makeover" and have been following it. In the book (and on his show), he talks about the money envelopes. It is definitely easier to only spend what you have budgeted when you have cash. Plus Dave totally helped us get out of credit card debt, which is an amazing feeling!!!
Also, I have been coupon shopping for the past while now, and I save a lot on my grocery bill. I used to be able to save more when Albertson's was still around, but I still used coupons whenever and wherever I can for whatever products I am already buying. Plus, coupon shopping has helped us to build up more of a food storage, which has come in handy during times where money is tighter :)
Good luck April!
Grocery Smarts!! We can get together and I can explain it to you if you want!! It is awesome, and builds your food storage while spending less!!
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