I never thought Hubby and I could do without cable. We were addicted to our DVR, liked our HD channels, and had a steady rotation of shows we would watch throughout the week. It wasn't like we were spending a fortune on cable...just over $50 is not bad at all, considering some people we knew were spending well over $100/month for similar packages. I added it up one day and realized that over the course of the year we were spending over $600 for tv. We weren't even watching half of our channels. I was interested in looking further into streaming tv through our internet connection and socking that extra cash into our emergency fund. This is what we found...
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Grow Your Emergency Fund
It is so difficult to save for your emergency fund when there are so many things competing for your hard earned cash. The bills, mortgage or rent, student loans, vacations, retirement, saving for kids' college, etc etc. But if you don't have any sort of emergency fund, or at least 6 months expenses socked away, this should be at the top of your priority list. Yes, even over paying down debt--especially if you have kids or a spouse depending on your income.
The first step to growing your emergency fund is figuring out exactly how much you can contribute. This is where I have to use that nasty little word... BUDGET. If you don't have a budget it will be very hard to determine how much you have available to devote every week/month/year to your savings goals. Without a budget, you're most likely just spending without a plan until your bank account is empty, or until you get your next paycheck, with absolutely nothing to show for it and little to no safety net. You work hard for your money so you should fight to keep it.
The first step to growing your emergency fund is figuring out exactly how much you can contribute. This is where I have to use that nasty little word... BUDGET. If you don't have a budget it will be very hard to determine how much you have available to devote every week/month/year to your savings goals. Without a budget, you're most likely just spending without a plan until your bank account is empty, or until you get your next paycheck, with absolutely nothing to show for it and little to no safety net. You work hard for your money so you should fight to keep it.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
7 Ways to Be Lazy and Still Save Money
Saving money for us definitely takes work. We have to stay disciplined all day, every day.
For us, the less thinking and less work involved in saving that money, the better. These are just a few of the passive saving tactics that have helped us cut our budget and continually save money (and also happen to be pretty eco-friendly.) Most of them you only have to perform once, with a time investment of anywhere from 5 minutes to an afternoon.
1. We installed a programmable thermostat...and actually SET IT! Programmable thermostats are a great thing because they allow you to have the best of both worlds--lower/raise the temp while you're away to save energy and money, while still being comfortable while you're home. Pick one that will suit your family's needs and schedule--you can even set totally different schedules for every day of the week if your thermostat has that capability. But, you have to take the time to set your desired schedule and temperatures and use the programmed settings!
Obviously there is an upfront cost for the thermostat itself. Comparison shop online at sites like Shopzilla or Pricegrabber and be reasonable about the features you need and will use so you're not spending more than necessary. Prices start around $20 for a basic model and go up to $150 and above for a high end touch screen version.
One tip, though...be realistic about your temperature settings. Don't set the temp to drop to 60 degrees at night if you know your kids will kick their covers off and freeze or the whole family will get the sniffles. Just set it to drop (or raise) a few degrees and you still will see some savings. I sometimes make the mistake of bumping it up or down a degree or two temporarily, then forgetting to put it back on schedule later that day. Leave yourself a bright colored post it note if you do that!
For us, the less thinking and less work involved in saving that money, the better. These are just a few of the passive saving tactics that have helped us cut our budget and continually save money (and also happen to be pretty eco-friendly.) Most of them you only have to perform once, with a time investment of anywhere from 5 minutes to an afternoon.
1. We installed a programmable thermostat...and actually SET IT! Programmable thermostats are a great thing because they allow you to have the best of both worlds--lower/raise the temp while you're away to save energy and money, while still being comfortable while you're home. Pick one that will suit your family's needs and schedule--you can even set totally different schedules for every day of the week if your thermostat has that capability. But, you have to take the time to set your desired schedule and temperatures and use the programmed settings!
Obviously there is an upfront cost for the thermostat itself. Comparison shop online at sites like Shopzilla or Pricegrabber and be reasonable about the features you need and will use so you're not spending more than necessary. Prices start around $20 for a basic model and go up to $150 and above for a high end touch screen version.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Update: Cleaning out the Pantry
Okay, so the final grocery budget for November is...$522. That means we went over by about $75 this past month. In our defense, $20 of that was for Hubby to buy lunch to reward his employees at work one day. But I'm human (I'm saying "I" and not "we" because I do almost all of the grocery shopping.) And like I said before, that is the hardest category for us to stick within and I will try and do better this month.
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