Trimming fat from your household budget

nossmf

Over the recent holiday weekend, my wife and I were discussing all the various bills we had, from medical (dental and veterinary) to car repair. Rather than despair, we decided to find the money wasters in our family budget and work on trimming them, see just how much we could save per month. Our list so far:

Cable (we have Netflix/Hulu/Youtube and hundreds of DVD's)
Home phone (100% cell now)
Gym membership (temporary drop...will reinstate after paying off some bills)
Newspaper
Give away salamanders to another family
Cigarettes (wife was trying to quit already, now has another reason)
Satellite radio (also temporary)

All told, we estimate from doing without these budget items, we're gonna save just under $500 per month. I'm sure this list will continue to grow as we find other expenses we can live without.

What money wasters have you successfully cut out of your life, or intend to cut out?

KosmosKitten

• We haven't had cable since maybe the second year of marriage (going on 15 years now). We found out that we get by just fine with the Internet, Netflix and Hulu.
• Neither of us has a dedicated cell-phone service. We both utilize Tracfone, which is pay-as-you-go and stores minutes/texts that aren't used. They just rollover the next month.
• We don't eat out much (it's a hassle to go anywhere here in D.C.), so we cook a lot of stuff at home.
• We only have one vehicle. While that's annoying, we just pay to have it repaired and kept up instead of having two cars simultaneously. I walk most places, so I'm not spending massive amounts on gas outside of taking it to our Korean class two days a week (the other three are virtual days).
• A lot of media I purchase used or trade for on various websites. I don't buy a lot of books or CDs new anymore. I'll utilize nearly any free service I can for listening music or watching movies. If I like the album/movie afterwards enough that I would want to buy it, I put it on a wishlist and then just kinda keep scouring the Internet until I find it used (and in good condition). Sometimes, that takes years.
  
  About the only personal habit I need to cut out and that would save a little bit of money (not much, mind you) is my Diet Mt. Dew habit. But that might be only $20 a month? Depends on if I find them on sale (which I do a lot).

ythannah

I have NO idea what I spent money on pre-Covid but since last March my bank account just keeps growing. About the only things that stopped were going for coffee with a coworker every morning ($2/day) and dining out once a week (roughly $60 every two weeks, we take turns paying).

The big money wasters I see around me:

• Takeout coffee (and sometimes breakfast) every day.
• Debt. I would never finance a vehicle and most of mine have been used. The two new vehicles I've bought were paid outright. To me, the only acceptable debt has been student loan and mortgage (have neither currently).
• Constant reliance on restaurant meals. Much cheaper to bring lunch to work.
• All the entertainment subscriptions to radio and streaming services. I only listen to radio in the vehicle and I quite like our local station, sometimes I learn things about community events. When they run incessant commercials or play something I don't like, I flip over to the USB. I've got a low end cable package with channels that I actually watch, not that I spend a lot of time in front of the TV.

snowflake954

You don't mention your food budget. Once we were discussing costs in our family with a good friend and he said the highest bill was food for the month. When the crisis hit here, in Italy, in 2009, I took a good look at what I was buying for a family of 5. I was able to cut a lot. I cook just the same, but cutting out ice creams, and expensive fish, and just a lot of extras, cut my food budget by $50 a week. Another thing we cut out were weekly trips to the pastry shop (my husband loves sweets). I had to put my foot down on that one.

I come from a modest family and it wasn't hard to go back to my roots. I also cut out the help I had cleaning the house. In other words, I did my part to help out and my husband has been forever grateful.

wunderkindking

We have a car payment, but no personal phone services - just what work provides - or mortgage (house is paid off), and some recreational/hobby stuff we engage in regularly that is expensive. Cut out horseback riding, dog sport, and my spouses gaming stuff and we could save a lot of money/have it back in the budget for other things really fast.

I suppose from a purely financial pov it's a total waste, but the truth is... From a quality of life perspective it's well worth it - as long as we can afford it. If we couldn't afford it/needed to save or had a big expense come up though, that's what would go.

bekim123

Here are some things that come to mind...I avoid buying retail for anything I can get otherwise from thrift stores, garage sales, estate sales, etc. My company matches my 401K contribution up to a point, so I make sure I put in at least as much as they'll match. If you have it available, basic groceries from Aldi are generally much cheaper than other grocery stores. Stopped going out for lunch, pack one and bring it to work (healthier as well). We cut cable and use Netflix, Disney +, and Philo. Thermostat is set low, we wear sweats and sweaters inside (and opposite in the summer). I do my own yard work and show shoveling instead of hiring help. Not eating out at restaurants for dinner very much anymore, healthier and much cheaper to cook at home. No home phone for several years now. I don't carry credit card debt, use the card for the cash back, but pay the whole bill when it comes. And now the corny one, most of my haircuts are from my $10 Flowbee (thrift store find), which has saved me literally hundreds of dollars through the years (although my wife won't have anything to do with it).

ReenieHJ

I've been spending like I got it, lately, on Christmas. I'd done online surveys to earn amazon gift cards and it was up to $600. That's gone. Plus I've been getting a little extra for taking care of my elderly neighbor, not much but enough for a few extras. And after the holidays I'm going to be searching for a PT job. I get very little in social security and will get even less when dh retires because we'll lose our health insurance.

Now, for places where I know we could cut dramatically but it'd be mostly effort on my dh's part. Cable, cigarettes, lottery tickets and soda. That's all on him. And there'll be no changing it I'm afraid.

Our cars are paid(I could definitely sell mine when he retires), our house is paid. We really have no outstanding bills except the usual utilities, taxes, etc.

I hardly ever do anything or go anywhere that costs much. As someone else mentioned, most of what I buy comes from places like Salvation Army, yard sales. There's the library for books. Any books I pick up at yard sales, etc., I can bring them to a local bookstore who'll give me store credit for any she buys from me.

I'm a cheap date but money still sifts through our fingers.

jjpptt2

The 2 biggest for me would be...

TV / streaming services
Take-out and delivery fees

theworkoutreview

This is a little more abstract, but being content/grateful is very helpful if you can do it. I often find myself comparing my car, house, things, to that of other people, and for some reason the comparison is never kind to me. I never think about how fortunate I am to have a house or a reliable vehicle, etc., its always "I wish I had a house like Bill, or a Truck like John." The reality is that I have a lot more than a lot of people but I am still very discontent. I have clothes to wear, food to eat, a house, a car, I really shouldn't want any more but I do.

Before buying things I don't actually need I ask myself if this will make me happy/happier, and if it will add true value to my life. More often than not the answer is no, I wish I could say I often choose not to buy the item, but that is rarely the case, at least for now.

nossmf

bekim123 wrote: »

And now the corny one, most of my haircuts are from my $10 Flowbee (thrift store find), which has saved me literally hundreds of dollars through the years (although my wife won't have anything to do with it).

When I first joined the military, I realized how much money I was spending on frequent haircuts to stay within regs. I bought a trimmer set for $30 and have cut my own hair ever since. Learning curve sure, but fortunately super-short hair is easy to do yourself. This was almost 22 years ago. Assuming a haircut every two weeks while active duty (once a month since becoming a civilian), the average price for a basic cut, and cutting both my sons' hair (my wife and daughters insist on a salon), I estimate that $30 initial purchase price has saved over $10,000 over the past two decades.

nossmf

A couple more additions:

Netflix Home-DVD rentals: When we first signed up for Netflix, we got both the streaming as well as physical DVD programs. Over the years, and especially the last year or so, we've almost completely stopped watching the DVD's sent to our home, which just sit in a corner for months until I belatedly realize we still have it. When we first started the DVD service it cost $5/month, but without me paying attention the cost had gone up to $25/month. That's $300/year! (We're keeping the streaming portion.)

Language-learning app: when my daughter started taking French in school she found a phone app to help her, which it did. But after she stopped taking the class, we neglected to cancel the app, which happily kept charging $5/month. That's $60/year!