Help Cutting Expenses

[Anonymous]

one thing you could do is set up some kind of automated savings (whether in cash, CDs, mutual fund account) with each paycheck. that will force you to cut down on the "etc." category.

[Anonymous]

Whenever I have leftovers I freeze them. Then at the end of every month or two I use those leftovers for dinner. When I really try to use up what's in my freezer I can sometimes go 2 weeks without cooking a new dinner. The cost adds up. I make a lot of soups and cook in a slow cooker. I also don't shop at whole foods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1500 - food/gas/misc. household expenses
$200 - personal expenses (hair cuts, clothes, etc.)

This is why you have no money.

$1500 is not a lot to spend on the combination of food, gas, AND household items. In any case, OP is about to owe another $1,800, so starving her family to death won't solve the shortfall anyhow.

She doesn't say how many people in her family, but for comparison, for my family of 2 adults and a 4 year old child, we have a weekly grocery store budget of $150. We don't go over, and we tend to spend an extra $100/month on dinner or brunch out. That's $700 in food. I have Amazon Prime delivering things like laundry detergent and dishwasher pellets and paper products. That costs about $100/month overall (some things are on a 3 month cycle, some aren't).

Food: $700
Household supplies: $100
Gas: $50

OP's budget for those things would give me an extra $650 a month to put toward other things.

How do you feed your family of 4 for only $150/week. Tell me!

Not PP, but I do it easily with 2 adults 2 kids under 5, buy organic for meat, dairy and dirty dozen. Mine is usually less than $150. Only buy what you need. Plan meals ahead. Buy what is on sale. Stock up when things go on sale. Use sales flyer coupons (not full blown couponing, just the store flyer when you walk in the door).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She needs to downsize her home. $2500 mortgage? There was nothing left.

I thought the same thing. If DH has no prospects for employment any time soon, they need to downsize.

[Anonymous]

2,500 seems like a small mortgage to me. We pay 4,500 and I don't see how we could downsize unless we moved out of nova.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1500 - food/gas/misc. household expenses
$200 - personal expenses (hair cuts, clothes, etc.)

This is why you have no money.

$1500 is not a lot to spend on the combination of food, gas, AND household items. In any case, OP is about to owe another $1,800, so starving her family to death won't solve the shortfall anyhow.

Starving to death ? Please, drama queen. The bitch spends too much money on foolishness. A little poverty and starvation might help her change her ways.

Putting the unnecessary meanness aside, don't other people have non-"foolish" incidentals that add up? For example, our dog got really ill and we had to pay a boatload at the vet. The toilet broke and we had to replace it. We had to take a flight to see a very sick relative. We buy small birthday presents for people. In my mind, that all constitutes "misc. household expenses" that are necessary and that cannot be changed. Do the people with $800 budgets just skip that stuff?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She needs to downsize her home. $2500 mortgage? There was nothing left.

I thought the same thing. If DH has no prospects for employment any time soon, they need to downsize.

OP here. We are only in a two-bedroom condo in a non-Metro accessible part of the burbs, which leads to the gas expense being higher. Maybe we will have to move further out. Thanks for bringing me back to reality all. The small cuts seem like they could get us part of the way there, but it sounds like we need to do something more drastic (refinance, move, part-time job not in field) to get all the way there.

[Anonymous]

you might be in the wrong suburb if you are paying 2500/mo for two bedrooms. you don't necessarily need to move further out, just somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Make him work.He can work in a restaurant when you are at home or walk dogs with the kid/kids.Let him pay his own student loans.Both jobs are the kind he can quit in short notice in case he gets a "real job".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She needs to downsize her home. $2500 mortgage? There was nothing left.

I thought the same thing. If DH has no prospects for employment any time soon, they need to downsize.

OP here. We are only in a two-bedroom condo in a non-Metro accessible part of the burbs, which leads to the gas expense being higher. Maybe we will have to move further out. Thanks for bringing me back to reality all. The small cuts seem like they could get us part of the way there, but it sounds like we need to do something more drastic (refinance, move, part-time job not in field) to get all the way there.

You pay $2500 for a two-bedroom in the burbs AND $500/month in utilities? Something is severely wrong with this picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1500 - food/gas/misc. household expenses
$200 - personal expenses (hair cuts, clothes, etc.)

This is why you have no money.

$1500 is not a lot to spend on the combination of food, gas, AND household items. In any case, OP is about to owe another $1,800, so starving her family to death won't solve the shortfall anyhow.

Starving to death ? Please, drama queen. The bitch spends too much money on foolishness. A little poverty and starvation might help her change her ways.

Putting the unnecessary meanness aside, don't other people have non-"foolish" incidentals that add up? For example, our dog got really ill and we had to pay a boatload at the vet. The toilet broke and we had to replace it. We had to take a flight to see a very sick relative. We buy small birthday presents for people. In my mind, that all constitutes "misc. household expenses" that are necessary and that cannot be changed. Do the people with $800 budgets just skip that stuff?

Yes. We have no pets - too expensive. We don't fly to see sick relatives (!) - that's what Skype is for, or send only one family member, not the whole clan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1500 - food/gas/misc. household expenses
$200 - personal expenses (hair cuts, clothes, etc.)

This is why you have no money.

$1500 is not a lot to spend on the combination of food, gas, AND household items. In any case, OP is about to owe another $1,800, so starving her family to death won't solve the shortfall anyhow.

She doesn't say how many people in her family, but for comparison, for my family of 2 adults and a 4 year old child, we have a weekly grocery store budget of $150. We don't go over, and we tend to spend an extra $100/month on dinner or brunch out. That's $700 in food. I have Amazon Prime delivering things like laundry detergent and dishwasher pellets and paper products. That costs about $100/month overall (some things are on a 3 month cycle, some aren't).

Food: $700
Household supplies: $100
Gas: $50

OP's budget for those things would give me an extra $650 a month to put toward other things.

How do you feed your family of 4 for only $150/week. Tell me!

We feed a family of 5 on $150/week. And the answer is simple: Shoprite. I stopped buying much in the way of organic (still get meat straight from the farm), but it's cheap!

On the other hand, there's no way we could get by with only $50/month in gas. We drive to work/daycare about 10 miles each way in DC traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1500 - food/gas/misc. household expenses
$200 - personal expenses (hair cuts, clothes, etc.)

This is why you have no money.

$1500 is not a lot to spend on the combination of food, gas, AND household items. In any case, OP is about to owe another $1,800, so starving her family to death won't solve the shortfall anyhow.

She only needs to cut it by $900.

[Anonymous]

Cut out fast food and starbucks completely. Trim money from the other accounts as much as possible. See if you can cut back on cell phone plans. Buy your kids toys at thrift stores. Stretch out haircuts and get them at cheap places. Stop buying clothes unless it's absolutely critical. Make sure your cars are properly tuned up (tire pressure, no extra weight, etc) and that you don't drive needlessly. Reduce grocery costs (virtually everyone can).

That alone can probably get you a few hundred a month. DH should do whatever he can to pick up some extra income (that doesn't incur childcare costs). Then whatever shortfall you have left, you cut 401K contributions. It sucks and should be a last resort, but it is much better than defaulting or taking on credit card debt.

[Anonymous]

Do you have smart phones? If so get rid of them and get a basic cell phone. Cut your home landline if you have one. Cut cable. Keep your heat as low as possible to save on utilities. Use mint.com to track your expenses and understand where all your money is going.

But ultimately you need to bring in more income. With a take-home of $6K, and spending $4700 on mortgage + student loans + car loan, I think that's your best option. Your DH needs to find some sort of work, and you could also consider getting a second job.