Cable Cutting and other Budget Savers?

[Anonymous]

We're having to tighten our belt with my husband being a stay at home dad. My salary is decent, but we're definitely living month to month and we recently had to dig into emergency savings for a new oven (ugh) and know our air conditioner compressors and coils will need to be replaced in the next year or so ($$). The fact they are dying also is driving our electric bill up (plus having someone and a baby home all day...)

We currently have DirectTV and I'm considering dropping them in favor of Playstation Vue and an indoor antenna. Has anyone done this? Experiences?

We are also working to reduce our cell phone bill and I am packing lunches for work...

What else can we do short of moving (won't happen)

Take home is ~$6200/month

Budget (not including anything unexpected) -- ~$4500 (not including lunches, which I dropped but did daily as I hate packed lunch at $200 a month)

Mortgage & Property Taxes -- $2100
Utilities:
Electric -- Has been about $300 in summer, it's usually closer to $100 in winter
Gas -- $100
Water -- 40
Trash -- 30
Internet and Home Phone -- $60
Security Alarm -- $40 (have considered dropping, but would increase our insurance)
Insurance (Cars, House, Umbrella) -- $120
Car Loan-- $400
Food (2 adults and a toddler -- some organic, meat eaters) -- $700
Gas/Miscellaneous (month to month varies, includes things like haircuts, household goods, baby supplies etc) -- ~$350
Pet Insurance (A must as we have a dog breed that is known to have lots of future health issues) -- $40
Cell Phone -- $120 for 2 phones (working on reducing this)
DirectTv -- $110 (ugh!)

[Anonymous]

We dropped cable TV years ago. Apple TV, attic antenna and netflix and have never looked back. Netflix is $10 a month so you'd save $1200 a year by dropping DirectTV. With little kids I wasn't keeping up with TV anyway, so watching a show a year late wasn't a big deal.

I pay $80/month for two phones on a family plan (government employee discount but there are many others) with T-mobile. That's for the contract only, we bought the phones outright so there's no fees to cover the phone.

Where is your other $1700 a month going?

[Anonymous]

Do you need the home phone? You might be able to cut another $15-20 if you go to just internet service (but that depends on the provider). Or if you add cable to your internet/phone package instead of having direct TV you can probably spend less than what you're paying now without losing cable altogether.

[Anonymous]

Our budget is almost exactly the same as yours except with a daycare bill and HOA fee added in. Dropped cable four years ago when my oldest was born. As a PP said, I don't keep up with shows anyway. We have a Roku box (for streaming) and a Mohu Leaf Indoor HD Antenna (for broadcast). Cut home phone about a decade ago, but you might need that for the alarm/security system? Also our HVAC is 16 years old, and seems to be on last legs, too (but our electric bill is about $100 lower).

[Anonymous]

I'll second the T-Mobile recommendation. You probably don't need unlimited data.
You can get a reliable car for less than $400/mo. Something used but still relatively healthy.
Security Alarm - you can go cheaper than $40/mo with something like Simplisafe ($15-$25/mo), and still get the insurance discount.
Solar panels - even a full on lease will save you money (in DC - I'm not sure how the 0% down places work for other places).

[Anonymous]

We cut costs on our cell phones -- I use Ting Wireless for about $25 per month, DH uses Republic Wireless for about $12 (includes phone and texting, but data requires Wifi). We also cut the cord with cable and are relying on Netflix and Amazon Prime (which we use already for just about everything).

[Anonymous]

How long until you pay off the car loan? That will free things up.

Once you're done with the high utility bills for the summer, take that $200 a month and pay off the car loan early. I don't think it will make sense to sell it and get a cheaper car at this point unless you just bought it and financed a large part of the purchase price.

[Anonymous]

No direct tv and not home phone. We into have Internet and it's $60 a month. You can probably get cheaper cell phone.
A dog is expensive.
We run the ceiling fans more and have the AC at a higher temp but it feels cooler.
And yes of course the car loan. How much is left on it?