If you had to cut $1,000 from your monthly budget

[Anonymous]

We did it last year.

Cut
cable $100
parking $200
food budget by $300
pool & golf club $250
manicures $50
transport costs $100 (sold a car and moved closer to work)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cut back on hookers and blow.

Just buy the blow and you will meet some bar hags that will sleep with you for free....50% cost savings right there!

[Anonymous]

I already gave up a lot to do this -

No cable
No text plan
Go to library for books/movies
Eat less meat, cheese; cook more vegetarian food
No housecleaner
No lawn maintenance
Lower the thermostat in the winter and raise it in the summer
Wash all clothing in cold water (this saves a lot of money, believe it or not!)
Hang laundry to dry (ditto) (You can do this indoors, which is what I do. I have a clothes rack from IKEA)
Cut alcohol (it's expensive)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I already gave up a lot to do this -

No cable
No text plan
Go to library for books/movies
Eat less meat, cheese; cook more vegetarian food
No housecleaner
No lawn maintenance
Lower the thermostat in the winter and raise it in the summer
Wash all clothing in cold water (this saves a lot of money, believe it or not!)
Hang laundry to dry (ditto) (You can do this indoors, which is what I do. I have a clothes rack from IKEA)
Cut alcohol (it's expensive)

I'm intrigued by the laundry bullet. Don't you use up more time to iron all of those clothes?

[Anonymous]

^Hanging things to dry doesn't cause wrinkles, letting them sit in the drier does.

[Anonymous]

consider a part time job. One at crate and barrel or some retail space a few nights a week might do this for you. Cutting budget sometimes isn't the only piece of it, maybe you can up your income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I already gave up a lot to do this -

No cable
No text plan
Go to library for books/movies
Eat less meat, cheese; cook more vegetarian food
No housecleaner
No lawn maintenance
Lower the thermostat in the winter and raise it in the summer
Wash all clothing in cold water (this saves a lot of money, believe it or not!)
Hang laundry to dry (ditto) (You can do this indoors, which is what I do. I have a clothes rack from IKEA)
Cut alcohol (it's expensive)

We don't go out to eat anymore and SBX is a no no
I clip a lot coupons and only buy what's on sale. Some weeks that means we get a lot of chicken and random cookies. Other weeks we get flour and syrup. This week it was toilet paper and paper towels.

Next on the list is the house cleaner and the lawn service will probably follow.

I'd love to give up cable but DH won't here of it.

If I still need to come up with money then the kids activities have to go.

My biggest expensive is private school. As you can see, I give up a lot for that. And I'm okay with that. But if tuition keeps increasing and my salary does not, that will have to go as well. And heck...if that bill goes, I can everything else back

[Anonymous]

I keep saying I need to do these things, but don't. I would:

- stop going out for dinner.

- start price shopping for groceries. Right now, I don't pay attention and just buy what I want.

- cancel Gymboree classes.

- cancel cable.

- put my college daughter on a budget.

[Anonymous]

Cancel extracurricular activities and afterschool care. Done.

[Anonymous]

$250 - early/aftercare
$200 - charitable donation
$200 - food budget
$100 - misc shopping
$300 - cleaning service (by far, the hardest thing to cut)

[Anonymous]

I think the food one is the easiest. We did this- DH packs lunch 4 days a week and buys 1. Once I saw how much we were eating in food per month it was crazy- it all adds up. I also think that if you are smart about shopping the sales and clipping coupons from time to time (not crazy coupon lady) but you can save a good chunk of change with things you use and need.

My only other one would be kids activities. We do them through the county but they still add with swim, ballet, art, etc.

[Anonymous]

Gave up your weekend. Take second job to make up the $1000.

[Anonymous]

We could probably come up with a few hundred by being better about food/eating out and cutting the kiddo's activities. However, it would NEVER get us to $1K. We've already trimmed as much as we can with bills and (although I guess we could probably cut cable and our cell phone plans).

To get to $1K, we'd have to cut savings. We did this last year for a couple months when my income got cut drastically (back to normal again now). We have a monthly draft for 529, regular savings and a Roth for me (my biggest retirement savings vehicle, as my PT gig is not high paid and only offers a simple IRA option).

If things were really dire, we'd have to figure out how to cut back my husband's retirement contributions to his 401K - that would get us a pretty nice chunk of change back monthly.

[Anonymous]

"Cut back on hookers and blow."

Hahahahaha!!

I would cut the two 529 plans for the kids - $900/month. I would stop the over-50 catch-up to my retirement plan - $5500/year. That's $458.33/month. Done!

[Anonymous]

Wish we could get to $1000 but we are already pretty frugal:
--housekeeper $160
--Netflix $20 (no cable)
--cheaper cell phone plan after commitment expires, maybe $50 or so
--takeout once a week ($100)
--gas for random trips ($20)
--work lunch out once a week for me ($50)

That's only $400. We would have to eliminate Roth, 401k (we do up to match now) or life insurance.