My wife and I need to buckle down on the finances.

[Tobin S.]

I've been going to school for the last 2.5 years to finish my degree. I'll be done next week and hopefully on my way to a better job. However, we have accumulated a lot of debt and we need to be more frugal to stay ahead of the game.

We've been eating out a lot and we decided to cut that out. We planned out our meals for the next week and went to the grocery and got everything. Our goal was to spend $100 or less and we came in at $97.50. We also figured that some of the stuff we bought would last longer than a week, reducing or grocery bill for the next week.

What are some other ways in which we could be more frugal?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Do you have space for a garden?

Growing your own vegetables would be a good way to save money. It's also healthier!

Of course, you can't do it in the winter, in your part of the world, but hey spring is coming!

It's also healthy exercise.

Good luck my dear Tobin!

[Tobin S.]

4. We could put a garden in but it won't be until April.

And we wouldn't be seeing any edible results until mid-summer.

[elleng]

2. Sounds like a good first step, Tobin.

Should result in big change in cash flow.

I hunt for 'best' price for gas, so would have some effect for you, depending on amount of driving you do. Check your utility expenses too, figure if there are better ways than you're employing now.

Good luck!

[magical thyme]

3. buy in bulk and/or on sale, cook in bulk, freeze the extra so you only have to re-heat.

Buy only fresh by the week; everything else buy in bulk and when stuff is on sale. It can cost more in the short run, but allows big savings in the long run. For example, I only buy boneless chicken breasts when they are on sale for $1.99/pound. Even though I'm single, I'll buy 5-10 pounds whether it's in the week's budget or not. Cooking it up all at once uses less fuel. Then package in ziplock bags and freeze. I only buy other meats when they are on sale, such as a manager's special. Cook them up or freeze right away and cook later and freeze the extras.

I was able to maximize that when I saved enough to buy a small chest freezer. Another advantage is once you're stocked up if you have a setback, you don't have to worry about buying food for a while.

Once you've stocked up on the major essentials, then you can start planning meals by the week. But to start with, plan meals by the sales.

Combine all trips and errands to minimize driving.

I keep the thermostat low and use electric blanket at night, double-sweats if necessary by day.

Only leave lights on when you're in the room.

Interior storm windows are low cost to make and can save quite a bit on heating plus eliminate drafts.

Every time you come up with a way to save some money, invest the saved money toward another way to save long term.

[Tobin S.]

5. Thanks, mt

We have space for a chest freezer in the basement should we far enough ahead to afford one. I appreciate the suggestions.

[magical thyme]

6. the gardening can help a lot too. it's a long-term project with long-term savings

my freezer is filled with veggies from my garden, and I harvested 70 pounds of purple and red potatoes this year.

[LawDeeDah]

8. If you are a Costco customer,

we (2 of us) got this Huge bag of frozen veggies (carrots, green beans and probably peas, can't remember). It was around $8.00 and still in the freezer after more than a month with lots left and we eat veggies quite regulary.

[csziggy]

24. I get a lot of my frozen vegetables from Costco

Their "Normandy" mixed vegetables has broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and yellow squash. The broccoli florets comes packaged in the larger bag in smaller sizes so there is no freezer burn. I liked the "Farmer's Medley" which has summer squash, zucchini, asparagus and onion. My husband loves their organic green beans. Their stir fry vegetables work well with left over meats to make a quick oriental dinner. All of then come in resealable bags so you can pour out what you need and put the rest back.

Last time we went to Costco we got one bag of each of those. That was three months ago and we're almost out of vegetables - we have about one batch of green beans left.

Everything but the stir fry gets cooked in the microwave - dump some in a pyrex dish with a cover, nuke for three and a half minutes, stir, nuke 2-3 minutes until desired doneness.

[haele]

25. Check your local Craig's list after New Year's.

People will be moving stuff back around in the garage and re-organizing; they might decide they don't need that old chest freezer anymore, or might be upgrading with all the after Christmas sales. I noticed last year that in late January/early February, a there were a lot more appliances and tools that usually occupy spare rooms or garages are up for sale.
Mainly because we had just purchased a double-wide we were in the process of renovating, and wouldn't have the space to put a washer/drier combo and perhaps a small chest freezer until June or July when we would get to the laundry cubby.
There were plenty available up until March, then everything started drying up - until September, after we had gone ahead and got the washer/drier at a ding and dent store, which was still about $200 more than we were seeing on Craig's List.

Good Luck; I'm going to be graduating with my BSB in April. And I'm really looking forward to the $20K in student loans I've accrued.

Haele

[DebJ]

18. What she said! And my small freezer chest paid for itself in less than 6 months!

[LawDeeDah]

7. cleaning supplies?

I used to buy all that crap, one for toilet, one for everything.

vinegar and water for windows and all kinds of cleaning (if you don't mind the smell), any kind of cheap liquid soap for cleaning toilets and tubs and whatever.

Once in a while I buy Fantastic but otherwise rarely anything expensive brandyish, and our house is clean enough and don't stink contrary to all the over cleanliness propaganda!

Also got a $20 used rug shampooer which I only use water in and works fine.

[LiberalElite]

10. I use vinegar for laundry softener too - nt

[DebJ]

19. Better for the environment also! n/t

[LiberalElite]

9. cut cable TV?

[Tobin S.]

11. We already have.

We have a $40 DSL internet connection that also serves as our TV viewing entertainment. We might not see everything exactly when it airs for the first time, but that's okay.

Other utilities are as follows:

Water about $30 a month
Sewer about $27 a month
Gas $54 a month level billing
Electric about $100 a month right now- lower in the fall and spring, higher mid summer and mid winter.
Phone $140 a month for two smart phones with unlimited usage, no land line.

About the only area we could cut would be electric, but we keep the thermostat at 66 as it is. I don't think it would be worth it to cut it much more.

[magical thyme]

23. I pay <$10/month for my tracphone.

I got it with triple minutes for life. I still have 700 minutes left with 3 weeks before my year runs out, so I'll be running a surplus when I renew.

[csziggy]

26. When you renew the Tracfone - watch for the added year at the end

During check out. I still had 1200 minutes after my two year deal so got the lowest number of minutes (400) with 365 days for $99. Then they offered me another 365 days for $49 - and once everything got added onto the phone I realized that I am on a double minute plan so I now have two years and 2000 minutes.

Since I probably don't use 100 minutes a year, this is going to continue to add up. I may see if I can transfer minutes to my husband's phone - he's down to less than 40 minutes with 100 days left of service. I tried to add more to his phone but something went wrong with the transaction and I have to sort it out over the next few days while he's off work.

[MADem]

29. Tracfone user here--we've got three of 'em. You can't transfer minutes, unfortunately.

What you can do, if your husband uses the phone more than you, is trade phones. Get a year long card for his phone, hand him yours, then when the one he is using gets low, swap 'em out again.

Tell him to start texting--you use way fewer minutes/units that way!

Also, you know your husband's phone has to be plussed up before the days run out, otherwise you'll lose those few minutes on the phone.

[csziggy]

31. Neither of us use our phones much

And I don't want to switch phones because I don't want to get calls from his friends! Plus he hates my phone - he loves his flip phone.

He mostly uses his to call home when he gets off work to check to see if I need anything from town. Since he's calling the landline, texting won't work.

I don't go places very much and get no cell signal in the house, so I almost never use mine. Even in 2012 when I got my knees replaced and used my cell while at the rehab hospital and last year when my Dad died and I was on the road a lot, I didn't use it much. That's why I have the free phone Tracfone sent me years ago to replace my original $20 Tracfone when the cell tower technology changed. It's an ancient Nokia brick but it does everything I need for the few times I use a cell phone.

Some day if we start traveling, I may upgrade to a smart phone and then I will use my minutes. For now, I'll just have to buy more minutes for my husband and keep collecting minutes on my phone.

[MADem]

33. Tracfone is coming out with smart phones. I might get one, one day.

We're in the same situation with one user who uses all those minutes, another who has over 4000 units on the phone, and me with almost 2K on mine. None of us takes calls on the cellphones, we have a land line. If we're not calling out or texting on our cellphones, they're turned off!

You can upgrade easily if you buy a new phone, you can have your number and units switched over. Be careful though--make sure you note how many minutes you have before you make the switch. They tried to rip me off for six or seven hundred minutes when I swapped my phone over--I ripped 'em and got the units back.

[csziggy]

35. I've been watching Tracfone upgrade their available models

But as I said, I get no cell signal here at the house or on most of the farm. If I walk to the top of the ridge I'm in sight of a cell tower and get five bars, but that's not at all convenient. So there is no point in having a fancy smart phone unless we start traveling more.

I think when my husband replaced his old flip phone he lost some minutes but since he doesn't keep good track of what he has, he didn't notice. Considering we spend less than $100 a year for both phones, it's no big deal. He went to Radio Shack to replace his - he had to get one quicker than I could have off the web site since his old flip phone literally fell apart. For $25 he got a new phone and they did the activation and transfer for him in the store for no additional charge. Not a bad deal since the time before when he upgraded it took hours of calling and a month to straighten things out.

Maybe by the time I get around to getting a smart phone they will be simpler to use!

[MADem]

40. You have a big farm?

Maybe you can rent a far corner of it to the cell people and they can slap up a tower? They pay you, and you get five bars everywhere! Win-win!

I have a goofy dumb phone that I really like. It takes video, pictures, I have a decent music library on it (used a cable to my computer to transfer this stuff) and I have a little speaker I can attach to it to get that Big Music Sound if I'm so inclined. It also allows me to text by writing with my Big Fat Finger on the screen, much easier than trying to pick out those letters on a keyboard/dialpad, virtual or otherwise. I can connect to the net with it, but it's slow and ponderous and only good for a quick search--like directions that I'd write on a piece of paper if I don't have a garmin w/me.

Since I don't use the phone all that much, except when I'm travelling, I really don't need anything fancier. If they made something jazzier available at a low price, I might be motivated to upgrade, but for now, I'm OK!

[csziggy]

41. We have 60 acres

Back before cell phone towers were built, when companies were preparing to bid for the areas, a company contacted us about leasing an acre or two to put up a tower. We were perfectly willing to do it - they were talking about paying us $5000 a month for that little bit of land.

Unfortunately that company didn't get the contract and the tower was built a half mile down the road. Our location might have been better - we're on a north-south ridge and the are to the east is in a "shadow" that makes it hard to get cell reception. If the tower had been put on the ridge at our place, it would not have that shadow to the east and the area to the north would also get better coverage.

On the other hand, the family that did get the cell tower on their property benefited a lot. They are a black family with a large extended family who had been sharing a small poorly built house dating from probably close to a hundred years ago. With the income from the cell tower, they've built two or three houses, much better quality, they drive better cars and I suspect their children got better educations.

Over the last twenty years since the area to the east of us has gotten developed there have been several proposals to build new cell towers to the east. Our farm is too close to the existing tower to provide enough additional coverage to justify one here. I saw a proposal for a site two miles to the east on the corner of two rural roads near a historic site but apparently the county didn't approve the application - or maybe the economy tanking made the people who had applied withdraw it.

[hunter]

38. I've got a similar plan, but that doesn't work for my wife and kids.

They simply use their phones too much for work, staying in contact with family, and socializing.

If there's any positive in it, calling seems to replace a lot of driving.

Compared to me at their age, our kids just naturally do a lot of ride sharing and the kids who have access to cars don't seem to begrudge giving rides to those who don't.

[Le Taz Hot]

12. Husband was out of work

for 3-1/2 years and we learned much:

1) Review every outlay item and see if you can cut it down or eliminate it.
2) Eliminated TV service (don't miss it)
3) Cook at home.
4) Cook from scratch
5) Find a breadmaker at a Thrift Store and make your own bread for about 25 cents a loaf
6) Learn how to make stocks and soups.
7) Plant a garden if you have the room -- you probably can't live off of it but you can supplement your grocery bill
8) If you live in/around a farming community, look into canning and preserving food when it's in season. In season is when it's at it's freshest an cheapest.

Those are just off the top of my head.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

14. My stepmother taught me how to can years ago. She would take me out to farms after harvest and

we could buy the gleanings for next to nothing.

[Le Taz Hot]

15. I teach Home Canning and Preserving classes

at our local Adult School. I also enter stuff into our local fair every year. This year my $8.00 worth of entry fees netted me $43.00 in prize money plus I got to eat the prizes.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

16. cool! Canning and pickeling is fun and tastes better than the processed crap.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

13. 1. If you own your home, go solar. Most companies will give you a 20 year lease

and don't charge a dime to install it. Got my panels lit up in October and cut my electric bill by over 60%.

2. Get a wok and some Asian cook books from the library. It's amazing what you can do with a little piece of meat, some veggies and rice. For a few dollars you can cook up a wok full of food. The two of us usually get three dinners out of a wok full. Good too!

3. When buying ethnic ingredients, buy them at an ethnic store. All of the Asian sauces I use, including Soy are about 1/3 the price for the same thing at Safeway. Veggies too. Ginger-Safeway-$3.99 # Asian market-0.99#. A fifty # bag of rice is about $23.00 and will last for many, many months. Same thing with Mexican food. Limes at Safeway, $0.50 each. At the Marcado, 10 for a dollar. Veggies, Cilantro etc, all about half what Safeway charges.

If you do decide to get a wok, get a cast iron one. Once it's seasoned it's better than Teflon and it will be handed down to your grand children. Got mine online from "The Wok Shop" in San Francisco. About $30.00

Good luck.

And turn the lights off!

[rurallib]

17. Pay yourself first

meaning be sure to put a set amount in some savings vehicle every month just in case. May really come in handy

[Kaleva]

20. A link to a thread where I wrote about my experiences at frugal living

Some ideas here may be of help:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1128&pid=1493

[MissB]

21. Cooking at home will help.

If you haven't already done so, check out Budgetbytes.com. You may be able to shave a few more dollars on food- $400/mo for two is a bit steep.

Question everything- if you have car insurance, call and ask how to reduce your rate. That pretty much goes for every bill - home phone if you still have one for example. Even garbage service.

Not sure where you are spending your money so it's kinda hard to figure out where to suggest cutting!

[Orrex]

22. If you buy coffee at Starbucks, stop.

If you buy soda from a machine, stop. (Might as well stop it altogether, but one step at a time.)

Figure that two sodas daily from a vending machine is about 60 bucks per month. Add Starbucks to that and you could easily top $150.


Good luck with your budgeting--I know it's hard!

[csziggy]

27. I buy almost everything when it's on sale

As I mentioned in another post in this thread, I buy a lot of frozen vegetables from Costco but if I don't make it there I keep an eye out for sales on frozen vegetables at the local stores.

I check their weekly sales flyer online so I can make my shopping list while comparing what is on sale to what I have on hand. I only buy meat that is on sale and try to buy in bulk so I can put meat in the freezer.

Most of the meat goes into dishes that stretch the meat as far as possible. Stews rather than steaks, chicken casseroles rather than a breast for each of us, etc. To make it more efficient, I'll plan ahead for that kind of thing. I'll buy a "family pack" of skinless, boneless chicken breasts, bring them home, season them lightly and bake the entire package. Then I cut them up and package in roughly 1-2 cup quantities (I use 16 ounce margarine tubs for this) and freeze those.

With the chicken, I can pull out a package the day before, leave in the fridge to defrost, fix some vegetables & rice or pasta and have a meal. Those little "instant" pasta side dishes that come with a light sauce make a nice change for a quick meal.

Make sure you label and date everything - no sense in trying to save money then having to throw stuff out because you don't know what it is or it's been in the freezer too long. A Sharpie and a roll of freezer tape stay in one of my kitchen drawers for adding labels to my recycled containers.

I also cook large batch stuff ahead of time and freeze in smaller quantities for easy meals. I started doing that when I ran our farm full time and continued to cook ahead in between my various surgeries and health problems. I couldn't manage without a good sized freezer! Mine is about 17 cubic feet and sometimes I wish for more freezer space.

When both partners are working, planning ahead and having easy to prepare things in the freezer or pantry can save immense amounts of time and money!

[MADem]

28. Use the crock pot! One pot meals, produced cheaply, almost always good.

Watch your heat when you're out of the house (assuming you live in a winter climate). Insulate. If your windows suck, get window kits, or use bubble wrap to keep the drafts at bay.

Hit thrift shops for stuff instead of buying high priced items at big box stores.

Carpool.

Take a second job over the Xmas holidays (temp retail) and throw all of that money you make at your debt.

If you have a lot of stuff, have a yard sale. Take the money you make and throw that at your debt, too!

[riderinthestorm]

30. I'm not very frugal as a rule but one area we save tons is by doing our own hair

My hair is a wild mess that actually looks better long, either put up or loosely braided. My husband simply trims the dead ends and I'm good to go.

I'm handy with clippers and scissors and can trim his hair in 15 minutes since he wears it simple and unfussy (mostly because he always has helmet hair and wears a baseball cap when he isn't wearing his helmet!)

I'm sure we've saved thousands of dollars by avoiding the hair dressers. I'll go further and admit I've never had a manicure or a pedicure but if your wife is going for that service, you might want to do it for her. Its incredibly sexy having your husband massage your feet and hands, and paint the nails.

[NNadir]

32. If possible, bicycle for commutes.

It's great for your health; great for the environment; and, frankly, great for a marriage.

[oldandhappy]

34. I use the Costco connected credit card

and each year when I get the rewards money I use the money to buy house basics for the year -- toilet paper, paper towels, toothpaste, mouth wash, dish detergent, laundry detergent -- anything you can tuck into a closet and not worry about expiration dates. I am one person so usually a package of tubes of toothpaste lasts me several years. Makes me smile to think all these things are free to me! Of course, I had to buy something to get it. I use the card for groceries and gas. Congratulations on your degree. And congratulations on your determination to win over the finances, smile.

[Fla Dem]

36. Shop at a discount food store like Aldi or Sav-a-Lot. Prices much lower.

Cereal at regular grocery store...$3.49, at discount, same size $1.49.

Canned fruits and veggies at regular $.89 or higher, at discount $.69.

Of course buying fresh fruits and veggies at a food market, or even in a grocery store may be more expensive up front, but they are better for you, and depending on how you cook them may last longer.

[devils chaplain]

37. Coupons, if you haven't been using them

It's worth it to get a Sunday paper. Be willing to switch brands to get better deals. On eBay sometimes you can find good deals on bulk coupons for stuff you buy regularly.

Minimize auto travel.

Also, make sure you don't have any recurring accounts for stuff online you've forgotten about or neglected to cancel.

Good luck, I've been there and found my way out.

[Lars39]

39. Humidifier when running heat...makes the house seem warmer than it is

so you can actually keep the heat lower than you normally would. If you have ceiling fans use them. Make sure the blades are bringing the air down from the ceiling in the winter, though.
Another idea I've been working on is to divert air from under furniture.
Our living room is kinda small and we have big furniture. One of the couches is in front of the only air vent in that room. I'm going to make an air diverter out of some insulation board to bring the air from the back of the couch to the front of the couch and out into the room.

Grocery-wise, Aldi saves us a lot of money, if you have one near you, I highly recommend it.
When you get a new job with your new degree, put the difference in salary towards that debt and pay it off as quick as you can if possible.
Oh, one more thing...if you know that you'll need a new wardrobe for a new job, start buying gradually so you can take advantage of sales. We had to buy dress clothes(XTall sizes) for my husband recently for a new job and it was a major hit to our savings, even with coupons and sales.

[Xipe Totec]

42. Food is a relative thing; more expensive some places, cheaper in others

Having said that, cooking at home is always cheaper, no matter where you are.

It's hard to give generic advice, not knowing where you live.

Some of the best meals I've had have been at home. Cooked by myself and my spouse.

Look for what's cheap locally and use that as your staple.