Your thoughts on what to cut...
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Anonymous
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With the shutdown and furlough, DH is imploring me to cut expenses. I think I am bare bone as it is. Here is what I spent last month for our family of three.
Credit card payments: $689.00 Groceries: 616.45 General Merchandise: 466.13 Gas: 258.60 Cell Phone: 191.01 ATM Withdrawals: 80.29 Other: 345.61 Total: $2647.09 That accounts for about 37% of DH take home. It is only form the amount he gives me for groceries, household expenditures, etc. The rest covers the mortgage, utilities, etc. So, all of the above, is basically so called "discretionary spending. DH does not drive to work - spends about $6 per day on his commute. His car - paid for - sits in the driveway most of the time. I drive my car about 15 miles a day, picking up and dropping DD off at school, doing errands, etc. Looking for help here. |
Anonymous
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You can get a program like Quicken and download the credit card payments and input utilities, groceries and mortgage.... all your expenses. Keep track of your cash expenses and input those too. Then you will be able to see where things go. Clothes? eating out? books?
You have to know what you are spending before you can tell if it is too much or not enough. |
Anonymous
| Umm obviously "other" |
Anonymous
| What is general merchandise and other? Both of those categories seem like an |
Anonymous
| What is general merchandise and other? Both of those categories seem like an obvious place to start. |
Anonymous
| Cell phone, unless you have a contract. You should be at about $30 a phone. |
Anonymous
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OP, way too broad. General Merchandise, credit cards, atm withdrawals and other could all mean a thousand things. Exactly what are those dollars going towards?
The real question is what is your discretionary spending? There are ways to cut your grocery bills, unless you're already practicing all those concepts (coupons, valued customer programs, no organic, less meat) Cable is discretionary Eating out, Starbucks and so forth Find a cheaper cell phone package Shop around for better prices on things like gas, dry cleaning and so on. Right now the weather's gorgeous, hopefully you haven't been running your AC. As we move into fall, wear an extra layer and set the heat at 65 during the day and 60 at night. |
Anonymous
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We signed up for mint.com and saw how much money we were spending on pointless things. We cut out "general merchandise" and probably whatever you're categorizing as "other" and we're back to saving again.
You can cut back a bit on groceries, although this was the hardest for us as I like to cook a lot of nice meals. I started shopping sales and clipping coupons. Also, your cell phone sounds high. We are on a family plan that includes me and DH. We both have iphones and it's about $120 a month. If you have wireless at home, you probably don't need to pay for the unlimited data plan. Sorry, you aren't "bare bones" here at all. I hope the shutdown doesn't last long, but if it does, you're going to have to get used to spending a lot less. |
Anonymous
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Are all your errands en route to school or are you going out of your way? At what stores are you buying "general merchandise" and "other"?
Some strategies: Limit errand running (shopping) to once or twice a week, as long as it's less than what you're doing now. If you run out of something, tough, plan better next time. Switch up your staples store. Swap Walmart for Target, Safeway for Giant, or vice versa. Getting out of your comfort zone makes you pay more attention to what you are buying. Try shopping with cash and a list. Conversely, try online shopping, Amazon subscribe and save or Peapod. Having a running total and the forced discipline of consolidating orders to save on shipping is very good for the budget. Do you really need to pay retail for what you buy? You will never know if Aldi cereal or thrift store pants can work for you unless you give it a try at least once. Besides, everyone is doing it these days. |
Anonymous
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log on to mint.com and start to track your expenses. You'll see each CVS, Safeway, Costco, TIVO subscription, gym membership, netflix, RCN, etc. transaction. You can then see the pattern and figure out what's essential (PEPCO) and what's not (TIVO).
I would sell your car and start using his. That would cut out the car payment and some insurance/gas $. A lot of people just have one car these days; use zipcar if you need two on a weekend. Look at your cell phone plans, any memberships that you have, ongoing expenses that are just taken out of your bank account. Get rid of that stuff. Keep your receipts for individual stores and you can see the waste. We cut out probably $1000 doing this, just being more mindful and tracking everything. |
Anonymous
Cell phone is high. We got stuck in the verizon plans and spend that much for 5 people and smart phones. If the credit card payment is $689 what is on it besides gas, groceries, general merchandise, etc? Get a credit card with a good rewards program and use it for everything that doesn't charge a fee for payment with the card. Pay it off in full each month. You can download the activity on the card and do a sort-don't need to buy quicken. Use bank bill pay with free postage for everything else. I use the credit card for gas or electric [one charges for the card so it's a check], car gas, verizon, groceries, home owners & car insurance. I pay the same to vendors but get rewards. Therefore OP's list really tells me nothing. |
Anonymous
I would cut credit card payments, general merchandise, gas, cell phone, atm withdrawals, and other. |
Anonymous
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My DH keeps telling me to cut back the CC payments. I am trying to pay off a balance - $12,000 - which is mostly medical expenses. I hate paying the interest!
General merchandise is largely clothes for me and DD - mostly bought at thrift shops. DH says I can cut this out too, but I save so much over retail! Other includes things like dining out, petcare, entertainment, home improvement, etc. My driving routine is actually closer to 25 mi per day. DD to school, me to gym, grocery or other shopping, back home or to school to pick up DD, back to gym to "train" her and then home. I do groceries: fresh vegetables Great Wall, Merrifield (usually buy sale items); Giant or Safeway depending on sales and coupons and Trader Joe's for milk (usually stop there after school as it is next door). |
Anonymous
How many outfits do you need? $450 plus is a closetfull at a thrift store. |
Anonymous
+1 you don't need to spend $450 each month on clothes, even if you aren't shopping at thrift stores. |