In this day and age, it's really difficult to be a single-income family. Our family gets by on just my income, while BD stays home with Babydoll (in the voice of Chandler Bing: "Could we be more non-traditional?"). Some days I wonder how we manage to do it every month, and some months are certainly more challenging than others. It's usually on that one day a month when I sit down at the 'puter to pay the household bills, that I stare at the suddenly shrunken number in my checking account and ask myself: "What can we do to cut back and save more?"
The truth is, we live a fiscally conservative lifestyle. Our house is small ("the shack of the block" according to BD), which translates to a small mortgage, property taxes, and utilities. Both of our cars have been paid off for several years - they aren't fancy, but they run (knock wood). We don't take fancy vacations, or eat fancy dinners, or wear fancy clothes. We just ain't fancy folk. To us, it is far more important that our daughter be raised by her parents, and not by daycare. We are very fortunate that my income allows us to live as we do and that Babydoll is cared for by her daddy during the day while Mama is at work. Here are some ways we make our money stretch further, even in this crappy economy:
Meal planning and cooking at home. This is a big one; most people don't realize what kind of cash they're forking over weekly for fast food or dining out. We plan out our meals on a weekly basis, make a grocery list and stick to it when going shopping. We always have leftovers, which we freeze in lunch-sized portions. I bring my lunch to work every day, BD eats at home, and we always have a great variety of meals from which to choose. We have really minimized our food waste by doing so, and that savings adds up. Big time.
Cable/ satellite: examine your bill. How much are you really paying every month to watch TV? We have DISH Network, and after taking a hard look at what channels we paid for versus what we actually watched, I decided to drastically cut back. I saved us almost $50 a month and guess what? As involved parents, we don't have much time for TV watching anyway. Babydoll goes to bed about an hour or so before we do, so we just don't have the time. We also have a Netflix Instant subscription, which costs a whopping $7.99. BD watches "Hoarders" and old episodes of "The Addams Family." I watch documentaries and the occasional sappy chick-flick. A $600 annual savings makes sense in our case.
Cut out the disposable items. How much do you spend on paper plates, paper towels, plastic cups, paper napkins, plastic baggies, disposable diapers and wipes? A whole hell of a lot, I bet. If you switched to reusable items, you'd save yourself a ton of money and a ton (literally) of landfill waste. We use cloth napkins, cloth diapers and wipes, glass food storage containers. I cut up old t-shirts for cleaning rags and we use dish towels in the kitchen. If you have a baby, you are spending at least $20 a week in disposable diapers, right? You'd save your family so much money if you switched to cloth diapers, not to mention, they are a far healthier option for your sweet pea.
Practice conservation with your utilities:
- If you are not actively using the running water, like when you brush your teeth or shave your legs, turn it off. Run only a full load in the dishwasher or washing machine. The most brilliant tip I've ever been given about conserving water was this: keep a bucket near your shower or tub. When you turn it on to warm up, place the bucket in there and collect the water you're not using. Use that water to hydrate your house plants and outdoor landscaping or garden. How genius is that?!?!?
- Turn down your water heater. Line dry your laundry. You'll save $5 - $25 a month on your gas bill.
- Use surge protectors for everything. Plug your TV, DVD player, Wii, etc. into one. When not in use, turn off the surge protector.
- Unplug kitchen appliances and chargers when not in use. You'll extend the life of your appliances by doing so and lower your power bill.
- Program your thermostat. Keep your home at one temperature. We keep the temp at 76 in the summer, 70 in the winter.
Review your insurance policies, especially your auto. Call your agent and tell them that you need to save X amount of money on your policy(ies) and make them work for your business. If they can't do anything for you, get quotes from other companies. I've been with my insurance company for almost ten years; I wasn't interested in switching companies, but I needed to save some money. I called them up, explained my situation and voila! $100 savings annually.
Skip expensive cleaning products, and switch to vinegar and baking soda. You really can use these two items to clean everything in your house (except wood - you still need lemon or orange oil for that). Vinegar can even replace your fabric softener.
Plan out your errands to maximize your gas mileage; in the summertime, run errands in the evening, when it's slightly cooler.
Here are some websites I visit regularly to help me stretch the family dollar even further:
Restaurants.com (they often run a 80% off sale, which means I get $25 worth of yummy for $2)
Groupon
One more thing. You will never save a cent if you don't budget. And keep budgeting. I am a non-CPA accountant, by trade, so I live in a world of budgets. I've never met a spreadsheet I wasn't able to make my bitch. Therefore, making a budget, reviewing it regularly, and sticking to it are easy for me. I know it's not necessarily an easy thing for some people to manage, but you have to do it. It's a grown-up thing. Check your local continuing education programs for a course. Or, if you're in my area and willing to make me brownies (with nuts, please), I'll be more than happy to show you how to get bossy with your money. It's YOUR money, YOU earned it. Make it work for you as hard as you work for it.
One more thing. You will never save a cent if you don't budget. And keep budgeting. I am a non-CPA accountant, by trade, so I live in a world of budgets. I've never met a spreadsheet I wasn't able to make my bitch. Therefore, making a budget, reviewing it regularly, and sticking to it are easy for me. I know it's not necessarily an easy thing for some people to manage, but you have to do it. It's a grown-up thing. Check your local continuing education programs for a course. Or, if you're in my area and willing to make me brownies (with nuts, please), I'll be more than happy to show you how to get bossy with your money. It's YOUR money, YOU earned it. Make it work for you as hard as you work for it.
JLo, I love you...that is all
ReplyDelete