Cutting $1000/month from our budget

[Anonymous]

Any tips on how to do this? We've quit eating out, killed our newspapers and tried to slim back grocery shopping. But has anyone else been able to trim around the edges and found success?

[Anonymous]

well, what's your breakdown?

Easy things to do:

Kill Cable
Cell phones to smaller plans
Plan all meals and economize
Change thermostat settings
Look at commute expenses, try to save on gas mileage

[Anonymous]

- cable
- cheaper phone plan
- groceries like juice, snacks
- if paying car, refinance for lower monthly installment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:well, what's your breakdown?

Easy things to do:

Kill Cable
Cell phones to smaller plans
Plan all meals and economize
Change thermostat settings
Look at commute expenses, try to save on gas mileage

OP here. Kill cable is the one we haven't done - DH really loves his sports. It's on the chopping block, though.
Cell phones- I can't figure out a way to get data on the cheap, which is what I really use- any ideas?
Commuting - DH and I carpool together. Parking is expensive, but there's not an alternative I can see.
Thermostat - pretty low as is. 70.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:- cable
- cheaper phone plan
- groceries like juice, snacks
- if paying car, refinance for lower monthly installment

There's an idea! We pay about $300/month. Might be worth looking into. Is it hard to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, what's your breakdown?

Easy things to do:

Kill Cable
Cell phones to smaller plans
Plan all meals and economize
Change thermostat settings
Look at commute expenses, try to save on gas mileage

OP here. Kill cable is the one we haven't done - DH really loves his sports. It's on the chopping block, though.
Cell phones- I can't figure out a way to get data on the cheap, which is what I really use- any ideas?
Commuting - DH and I carpool together. Parking is expensive, but there's not an alternative I can see.
Thermostat - pretty low as is. 70.

Kill cable. Use Netflix or Amazon. This takes time- my DH is the same way.
Leave cell.
Thermostat to 68.
Meals should have more veggies and less meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well, what's your breakdown?

Easy things to do:

Kill Cable
Cell phones to smaller plans
Plan all meals and economize
Change thermostat settings
Look at commute expenses, try to save on gas mileage

OP here. Kill cable is the one we haven't done - DH really loves his sports. It's on the chopping block, though.
Cell phones- I can't figure out a way to get data on the cheap, which is what I really use- any ideas?
Commuting - DH and I carpool together. Parking is expensive, but there's not an alternative I can see.
Thermostat - pretty low as is. 70.

Kill cable. Use Netflix or Amazon. This takes time- my DH is the same way.
Leave cell.
Thermostat to 68.
Meals should have more veggies and less meat.

PP how did you convince DH? What was your technique?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:- cable
- cheaper phone plan
- groceries like juice, snacks
- if paying car, refinance for lower monthly installment

There's an idea! We pay about $300/month. Might be worth looking into. Is it hard to do?

Not at all, can be done online. If you have Penfed or another credit union i would highly recommend using them because of very low interest rate. Just think that instead of paying off in 2 years it may take you longer. Penfed has a calculator that let's you see numbers and make a decision before applying.

[Anonymous]

Many sports are available streaming online these days. I haven't missed my favorite college basketball team at all this season, and I have no cable.

[Anonymous]

Cell phone how much do you pay and how much data? Why do you use so much data habit or work? There are cheap plans, like real cheap for unlimited data..under $30 a month, some are like $10.

[Anonymous]

I switched my phone to a basic Tracphone, went to Sunday only newspaper, I eat out once a week for approx 10 bucks. I color my own hair and get it cut every six weeks or so at Hair Cuttery for cheap. I have the cheapest gym membership money can buy (10 bucks/month) and I exercise for free outside.

Kids are involved in low cost activities. We take advantage of the library. I buy clothes on sale at Walmart. I use points at Giant towards gas fill ups. I buy meat/dry goods/paper products in bulk at Costco.

Our grocery bill (fresh food) has inched upward lately, so I really need to work on knocking that back down to size. I also need to use coupons...I'm always forgetting to bring them.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Kill cable is the one we haven't done - DH really loves his sports. It's on the chopping block, though.
Cell phones- I can't figure out a way to get data on the cheap, which is what I really use- any ideas?
Commuting - DH and I carpool together. Parking is expensive, but there's not an alternative I can see.
Thermostat - pretty low as is. 70.


Look up how much data you use. Are you using it out and about or at home? If you have wifi at home and work you should not be using cell phone data. If you need maps and email away from wifi, it should be minimal and you can reduce your plan. What are you doing - watching YouTube? You can reduce your data to the minimum and get a family palm where you all share 1 amount of data. If your kids have smart phone, cut their data. They can text.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many sports are available streaming online these days. I haven't missed my favorite college basketball team at all this season, and I have no cable.

Trouble is, his sport is Soccer. Hard to find and now there are 2 soccer stations on cable.

[Anonymous]

Kids walk to/from school or take bus. I only drive them approx 1X per week.

[Anonymous]

Get a programmable thermostat. 70 or 68 is really not that low.