Your Family Budget is part of the Saving 201 series that looks at financial life after coupons – because it can’t all be about coupons.
Here we are, it’s the last week of our Family Budget series. And the final week before YOU start your new Family Budget in February.
We’ve talked about setting goals, figuring out where your money goes, and creating a monthly budget.
But this week, we will talk about ways to lessen the financial belt so it doesn’t become a noose that strangles you.
Because here is the deal – the majority of us have been living either right at or slightly ahead/behind our means for a long time. So when add up all of our new long-term financial goals with our daily/monthly expenditures, more times than not, we will end up short.
And be forced to make cuts.
A bunch of cuts.
However, make the belt too tight and you’ll start to starve.
Which is fine – for awhile. But eventually, you’ll get tired of the belt being too tight. You’ll decide one month to loosen it just a bit “because you’ve been so good” or “you work hard and deserve a good time”. And before you know it, your will-power is gone and you are on a 30-day binge.
So start slow. Rome wasn’t built in a day and your budget won’t be either.
In fact, here are my top 10 ways (with handy dollar amounts) to help you tighten the belt up slowly.
10. Sell Some Stuff (+$300)
Take a good hard look around your house. Are there items in good working condition that you no longer use? Sell them. Have a garage sale, list stuff on Craiglist or Ebay, or if you have unused gift cards for places you don’t like – then sell gift cards for cash at exchange websites such as Cardpool or Plastic Jungle.
And then put that money toward a bigger goal – like a vacation. Somehow the thought of getting rid of Aunt Mable’s old tea towels sounds more appealing when you think about going to California Wine Country.
9. Start Eating Out On A Different Day (+$50)
Eating out is the most expensive on Friday and Saturday. Think about eating out on either Tuesday or Wednesday. The specials are cheaper (and there are more of them) and Kids Eat Free at many restaurants on those nights.
8. Reconsider Memberships (+ $150 or more)
When is the last time you went to the gym? If you can’t answer that, consider getting rid of your membership or finding a cheaper alternative. Don’t quit exercising – just find a more cost effective way of doing it.
Got your kids in activities every night? Rethink. Have them pick their favorite per season. Enjoy the extra money and extra time at home.
7. Reduce Entertainment Costs (+ $50)
Start checking out books and DVDs from the library. Almost every library has an online catalog that allows you to place holds from the comfort of your couch. Sure, it may take a bit longer to get a new release – but you have it for a week and won’t pay a dime. Can’t wait that long? Use Redbox. It is only $1.00 per night.
6. Creative Gift Giving (+ $100)
If you are exchanging gifts with in-laws, parents and siblings out of “commitment” – then it is time to rethink gift giving.
Instead of shelling out big bucks to buy gifts that people may or may not like – think about doing a fun outing where everyone is involved, having a consumable Christmas exchange, or just writing heart-felt cards to one another. Believe me, I don’t want to take the fun out of the holidays. But there are ways to do it for less.
5. Don’t Shop Out of Boredom (+ $50)
The more you are in a store, the more you will shop. I was a notorious “shopper” when my DS and DD were in Mothers-Day-Out. Even though I was finding bargains – those bargains were adding up and breaking our budget. Now I shop with a purpose and will give myself a 24-hour cooling off period before making big purchases.
4. Research Your Health Expenses (+ $100 or more)
Ask your doctor for generic medications or samples. If the prescription is still too expensive, keep asking for an alternative. Once DS had an eye infection. The eye drops prescribed were going to be $127.00. I pushed back and the pharmacists found an ointment alternative for $13.00.
If you have high-deductible insurance, use CVS or Walgreens Clinics for routine diagnoses. It is under $70 per visit vs. $145 at the doctor’s office. Even better – you don’t pay if they don’t diagnose you.
Make sure your dental insurance is worth it. We were paying $25.00 per month for our family and still had to pay high out-of-pocket for any non-preventative work (fillings, crowns, etc.). We did the math and found a dental discount plan (which is $100 for the whole year) as a cheaper alternative. I had two fillings at the end of the year. With the plan, they were $200. Without the plan, it would have been $400.
3. Get Rid of Cable (+ $40)
With Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iTunes and players that stream from the internet, you can almost guarantee seeing your favorite show.
It may be the next day, but it will be there and in many cases for FREE (or a reduced cost). And with local channels sending HD over the airwaves – we have the best local picture quality we’ve had in a long time.
2. Get Rid of Your Landline Phone (+ $40)
Do you have a cell phone? Get rid of your landline.
90% of the calls you make or receive are on your cell phone. And the old adage that “911” can’t figure out where you are at – most cells phones now have GPS. They know exactly where you are at any time.
1. Use a CASH envelope system (+ $50)
A cash only envelope system stops “spur-of-the-moment” splurges. It’s harder to part with cash. It’s psychological. But it’s true.
Also, once your money is gone – it’s gone. You can’t charge a movie without a charge card.
We’ve been a cash envelope system for our grocery, clothing, family fun, and baby sitter for a couple of years. The reason we picked these categories is because we were always going OVER when we used our credit cards. With cash, we don’t go over, because we can’t. Have line items that you consistently go over on? Think about switching to cash.
What about you? Do you have any tips for making the belt less tight? Let me know in the comments.
(Join me next Tuesday as we end our Renew For You Series with a few giveaways. Great prizes picked out by me – you won’t want to miss it. Also remember to check out these fellow bloggers posts on ways you can Renew for You in 2011.)
Organizing a Price Book– from My Coupon Teacher
Self Esteem – Take the Leap and LIVE – from Maven of Savin
Detox Your Body – from Stockpiling Moms
Care for Yourself: Art of Saying No – From Give Me Neither
Selling stuff was how I paid for my grain mill (one of my best investments). And who can beat homemade bread and rolls.
We stopped our satellite TV at least 1.5 years ago. We use Netflix and Hulu and it’s worked great. Only channel we miss is Animal Planet.
These are awesome tips. Thanks Kelly!
We are going to have to buckle down for the next few months to stay on track and pay hubby’s hospital bills. Thank you for the ideas!!
Great ideas. I have a questions regarding dropping home phone service. We already don’t have cable, so we get our Internet service via the phone company. Is there a way to get cheap Internet when you aren’t getting a bundled package from either the phone company or cable company? The last time I looked into it, it was going to cost us the same amount each month to continue having Internet service even if we dropped our phone service, so that didn’t seem very worth it.
I have a couple of different answers. The first it depends on your phone/internet provider. We were able to drop our home phone service and while our internet increased, it was still less than we were paying before. Also, check with your cell phone provider. Many of them have hotspot technology available and it can be bundled with your cell phone service.
Great tips! I appreciate you sharing 🙂 I have enjoyed your series. We have been living by a detailed budget since 2005 and it makes a huge difference in your life!
As for the cable bill, I’ve been cable free for over 5 years and haven’t regretted it yet. I use btjunkie.org and u torrent to get my fix when there’s a show I want to watch. While some might frown on pirating this is how I see it. When thousands of people are starving and teachers have one of the lowest salaries how does Hollywood get off paying their actors and actresses millions of dollars and charging us insane amounts to pay for the bill?
The movie industry already makes enough without me having to pay extra to watch their shows. I still go to the movies on occasion and if it’s something I really feel strongly about promoting I will find a way to give them money. But how often do you watch something and feel it wasn’t worth the money? Torrenting is a good way to see if it’s worth it before you give them the money.
Is there anyone that has dental ins through work and took out this “dental discount plan” too?? it looks like you might be able to do both.. And that it could really save some $$ if you knew you had some BIG time things coming up ( like yucky crowns). I am going to call my dentist office tomorrow!
Thanks for posting about this!
Getting rid of my landline was probably the smartest thing I’ve ever done. Why pay for an extra line that you would be available to answer only a couple hours a day?!?! I also switched my cell phone carrier to a prepaid service. I basically cut that bill in half and probably have better service and more min/texts than I did before. I’m using StraightTalk and only paying $30…