We both work full time in professional jobs but I clean our house and we never go out to eat. I feel like both of those things are pretty unusual among our friends, but then we make less than most of our DC friends.

1.) No daycare bill. We work opposite schedule.
2.) Old cars which seem to run forever.
3.) Cheap insurances since cars are old.
4.) Low property tax bill since we live in condo.
5.) Hardly ever sick. Great eyesight and fix teeth abroad if needed.
6.) Public schools.
7.) No spa/ no manicure/ 1 haircut a year(grows slowly) and even that abroad if we go.
8.) Wear uniform to work and they have free food.
9.) Live close to work and school.
10.) Older kid's expenses paid 50% by ex.
11.) 1 mortgage paid by renter.
12.) Free parking since we work in the same zone and free at DH work.
We earn some cash back, but it's small. Don't cut coupons since I know rock bottom prices and buy usually then. No new clothes since closet is full of clothes and we hardly ever got to an event that requires nice clothes.
We spend money on traveling and books ($1a piece in thrift) and 529s.
One of the mortgages will be paid soon. Then we will upgrade and have 3 people pay for the house.
I think the best thing is that we don't know any Joneses. Nobody to impress.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How? Especially if they are not in government. I bet you would have no idea my DHs income ranges from 120k/yr to 650k/yr. Mine ranges from 150k to 240k. We live on both of our base salaries. 90k &120k. Every single comission check is banked and invested, excwpt once a year we pull out for a big vacation. We won't be wage slaves forever and this is the only way out.

In many professions commissions don't exist and salaries are much more in accord. I wouldn't have the first idea what sales people make but I can pretty accurately guess salaries in the legal profession.

I call bullshit. I'm a lawyer with my own small firm. What do you need to know in order to guess my salary? You'd have NO idea by looking at me...I guarantee you.

Anonymous wrote:I stopped doing all of the stupid small stuff like reusing ziploc bags years ago.

Here's what's actually saved me real money:
- All major expenses - including business expenses - go on a travel rewards credit card (paid off each month). I've barely paid for a plane ticket or hotel room since - all points.
- When I buy furniture, I sign up for the company's email list to get the 15% off coupon. I also put furniture in an online shopping cart without purchasing so they send me coupons to entice me to finish the transaction.
- I renegotiate cell phone, internet and cable plans regularly by threatening to leave until they lower them.
- When I purchase a car, I refuse to go into a dealership and instead insist on email quotes which I use to make the dealerships bid against each other. Saved thousands.
- I take advantage of stores that do price adjustments post-sale. (hold onto receipts)
- All of my clothing coordinates, so I have a pretty lean wardrobe of quality things - two pairs of jeans, three sweaters, etc. Don't end up spending a ton of money on shoes or accessories to go with random one-off outfits. Also, I rarely buy items that require dry cleaning.

+1 in bold

I stick with classic styles, stay out of stores and don't look at Internet shopping sites. Cook at home, where I use great ingredients and fine wines. Most restaurant food is garbage.

^^also one of the reasons I pumped for a year with both kids was to avoid buying formula. I know it's a drop in the bucket compared with housing and childcare costs, but what can I say I'm cheap!

We don't take vacations other than driving to stay with family for a weekend.
All the clothes for the kids are hand me downs from a coworker, toys also (kids are both very young)
My office has free bagels on Monday and I wrap up extras and eat them all week. They also provide fruit and crackers, I eat those instead of buying snacks.
All maternity and nursing clothes I've used have been borrowed from friends.
I carpool to work even though the times are not ideal. Saves money over public transportation which is surprisingly high!
I sell off things we don't use/need on Craigslist - like wedding gifts that are still in the boxes.

My budget all goes to 401k, 529s, mortgage/utilities, daycare, health insurance, and food.

Ways we save:
1. 15 year mortgage instead of 30 year.
2. Small house, insulated, very low energy bills.
3. No food waste, cooking unprocessed from scratch.
4. Very little consumable entertainment such as movies and restaurants.
5. Clothes mainly bought second-hand.
6. Public school.

To spend on this:
1. Extra-curricular activities.
2. International trips for 4 people to see close family.
3. Medication.
4. Future retirement and college.

Anonymous wrote:We don't have a dog. Saves $$$.

Yup. Our aging dog is crazy expensive. Prescriptions and food are at least $200/month and that doesn't count the increasing vet visits and occasional kennel stays.

Anonymous wrote:I stopped doing all of the stupid small stuff like reusing ziploc bags years ago.

Here's what's actually saved me real money:
- All major expenses - including business expenses - go on a travel rewards credit card (paid off each month). I've barely paid for a plane ticket or hotel room since - all points.
- When I buy furniture, I sign up for the company's email list to get the 15% off coupon. I also put furniture in an online shopping cart without purchasing so they send me coupons to entice me to finish the transaction.
- I renegotiate cell phone, internet and cable plans regularly by threatening to leave until they lower them.
- When I purchase a car, I refuse to go into a dealership and instead insist on email quotes which I use to make the dealerships bid against each other. Saved thousands.
- I take advantage of stores that do price adjustments post-sale. (hold onto receipts)
- All of my clothing coordinates, so I have a pretty lean wardrobe of quality things - two pairs of jeans, three sweaters, etc. Don't end up spending a ton of money on shoes or accessories to go with random one-off outfits. Also, I rarely buy items that require dry cleaning.

I do a lot of this too. Also check retailmenot before any online purchase to make sure I get any available deals. Have saved a lot that way.

I have cashed in points for at least 4 international flights and 4 domestic flights in the last year. Also used points to get $1000 of hotel gift cards.

I am not particularly frugal but also not wasteful- I want to take advantage of what's available.

"Just" one compact car with two kids. (We metro to work.) I am resisting the cries of "an SUV is essential with 2 kids" because to me that's a "want" rather than a "need."

We don't have a dog. Saves $$$.

Anonymous wrote:I invest exclusively in Vanguard index funds rather than pay a fund manager or financial advisor 2%. That saves about $30,000 per year.

We send our kids to public school, which saves about $80,000 per year.

DW sometimes uses a single tea bag for two cups of tea. That saves about $1.50 per year.

I wash gallon ziplock bags that I store frozen baby food in and use to carry stuff (food mostly) in the diaper bag. It would be such a waste to use a new bag so I wash and dry them.
DH makes a lot of coffee at home and keeps it in mason jars on tre fridge for his first morning cup.

We do many things that are frugal, some thing we do to be more green too. Some things I have been doing my whole life.

1) Smaller house close to work
2) Thermostats set high in summer and low in winter
3) We use very few ziplock bags, but we do wash and reuse them when we do
4) No dry cleaning
5) Take good care of cars and keep them from birth to death
6) No gym membership- we use the great outdoors
7) Apparently using public school is frugal, but we do it because we prefer public school
8) I do clip DH's hair and I have gone to the same person at Hair Cuttery for almost 20 years- about 5 times a year
9) We compost
10) We cook from scratch using locally grown if possible
11) We have 4-6 loads of laundry a week for a family of 4 (two teenagers)- we wear clothes 2-3 days before we wash them (except for underwear which is changed daily) Some clothes we wear more often.
12) We use public transportation when it makes sense
13) We use the library heavily
14) We fix things first and replace only if they are not fixable
15) We have a lower cost internet/cable set up, same for phones- we don't use tons of data
16) We use one major credit card for everything and payoff monthly.
17) We usually have 2 large kitchen bags in our trash that is picked up once a week. Once the kids are gone we will go back to one bag a week. We make sure everything possible goes into recycling.
18) We don't buy too many clothes/shoes- but get good high quality things that last for years
19) Generally when we fly we use frequent flyers, including trips overseas. For example, when we took a 16 day trip to London and Paris (including a 3 days weekend in Belguim/Nederthands/Germany/Luxembourgh)our flights were "free" and we found apartments to rent for a week in each city. We ended up spending around $7k for a family of four.

We have been able to fully fund college (one is at an out of state public university and one looks like he is going to a private), probably over save for retirement and go on nice vacation trips on a salary that DCUM would find impossible.