Financial Challenges Support Group
This community is for people who are struggling to meet financial obligations of any kind. Financial challenges include everything from the day-to-day challenges of making ends meet to managing credit card debt to bankruptcy. Get support from others who are going through similar obstacles on the road back to financial stability.
I am constantly trying to figure ways to continue to cut down on expenses. Like I've mentioned, that has been the way that I've been able to manage my cash flow and get out of debt. I want to stay on top of this and stay in position where money works for me and I'm not working for money.
Here are some things I have done and continue to do. I don't have a washer and dryer in my apartment. So, I purchased a drying rack to dry my clothes instead of using the clothes dryer. It cost me $36 and I usually used $6 a month to dry my clothes. So, I paid for the rack in six months and now dry my clothes for free. Yearly savings - $72
- For me the biggest reduction in expenses was quitting smoking. $70 a month or $840 a year.
- I've quit buying soda in cans and only buy it in litre bottles and have started making walmart brand (like Crystal Light) drinks as well. Roughly $20 a month or $240 a year.
- I am a Master Baker and use milk when I bake, but I often throw some away because I don't drink milk, so I went to powdered milk for baking. Roughly $15 a month or $180 a year
These are just a few things that I have changed with my debt reduction plan. As you can see, I like looking at things over a course of a year... it really helps me see how much money I was wasting.
I've mentioned that I round up the checks I write and round down my deposits. The last three months I've also started charging myself $5 a week to use a checking account. In a little under three years, my checking account has $379 hidden in it. Sometime in 2013, I should have enough money in it to have an interest bearing checking account. Like I said, I don't write this in my checking account, so I never base it in my budget.
Except for the quarters I use to wash my clothes I don't use any change. Recently I read an article in Yahoo Finance about not using dollar bills. I just started trying this. For me, it does really make me look at what I spend money on.
An example, I don't ever carry more then $10 in my wallet. Monday, I needed $1 for an office football pool. Well, I had to break that $10 for that $1. So, at the end of the day I took the four $1 bills out of my wallet and placed them in an envelope which I will put in my bank saving's account next week.
Anyway, by the end of the week I still had that $5 bill in my wallet and treated myself to a morning sweet roll... then went home and took a $10 bill out of another envelope for my wallet and the dollar bills went with the others. That $10 bill, I used for some AA batteries for my camera and the dollar bills went with the others.
This past week, I spent $12... that is it. That is a little over $1.71 a day. And by next Friday, I will have 8 one dollar bills that I will put in savings.
I wasn't sure of this plan to cut down on expenses and to save money but it has made me look even closer at my spending habits.
I am going to try and keep this up... don't know if I can but I'm going to try it. If I succeed I will have cut out loose change and dollar bills from my spending habits...
I'd really like to know what expenses you have cut down on or cut out?
Here are some things I have done and continue to do. I don't have a washer and dryer in my apartment. So, I purchased a drying rack to dry my clothes instead of using the clothes dryer. It cost me $36 and I usually used $6 a month to dry my clothes. So, I paid for the rack in six months and now dry my clothes for free. Yearly savings - $72
- For me the biggest reduction in expenses was quitting smoking. $70 a month or $840 a year.
- I've quit buying soda in cans and only buy it in litre bottles and have started making walmart brand (like Crystal Light) drinks as well. Roughly $20 a month or $240 a year.
- I am a Master Baker and use milk when I bake, but I often throw some away because I don't drink milk, so I went to powdered milk for baking. Roughly $15 a month or $180 a year
These are just a few things that I have changed with my debt reduction plan. As you can see, I like looking at things over a course of a year... it really helps me see how much money I was wasting.
I've mentioned that I round up the checks I write and round down my deposits. The last three months I've also started charging myself $5 a week to use a checking account. In a little under three years, my checking account has $379 hidden in it. Sometime in 2013, I should have enough money in it to have an interest bearing checking account. Like I said, I don't write this in my checking account, so I never base it in my budget.
Except for the quarters I use to wash my clothes I don't use any change. Recently I read an article in Yahoo Finance about not using dollar bills. I just started trying this. For me, it does really make me look at what I spend money on.
An example, I don't ever carry more then $10 in my wallet. Monday, I needed $1 for an office football pool. Well, I had to break that $10 for that $1. So, at the end of the day I took the four $1 bills out of my wallet and placed them in an envelope which I will put in my bank saving's account next week.
Anyway, by the end of the week I still had that $5 bill in my wallet and treated myself to a morning sweet roll... then went home and took a $10 bill out of another envelope for my wallet and the dollar bills went with the others. That $10 bill, I used for some AA batteries for my camera and the dollar bills went with the others.
This past week, I spent $12... that is it. That is a little over $1.71 a day. And by next Friday, I will have 8 one dollar bills that I will put in savings.
I wasn't sure of this plan to cut down on expenses and to save money but it has made me look even closer at my spending habits.
I am going to try and keep this up... don't know if I can but I'm going to try it. If I succeed I will have cut out loose change and dollar bills from my spending habits...
I'd really like to know what expenses you have cut down on or cut out?
Cable alone used to cost me $90 a month, with some premium channels and the internet was another $60.
Today, I just have the internet for $55 a month and I can get every channel I want for free, as well as any movie that has ever been made.
I have an tower that all I use it for is TV and use my laptop for the internet and it's just one bill...
I do know that I will never have cable again, why pay for something that can be received for free?
I'm set to receive a Bond that my Grandfather had placed in my name. It isn't all good news as the security issue as a result is a nightmare (and NFU Mutual are so Anal Retentive regarding security).
I hope to use the Debit Card for ordinary shopping, so I can save my benefit payments on my Prepaid Credit Card and possibly spend more on things I always wanted to get.
And as far as second hands things... that is all I basically have. If I needed to move, it would take me no more then two trips with a good pick-up truck and I'd be done. I firmly believe that the more I own, the more I am owned.
For me, it is very freeing not to have loads of possessions...
Desigol and Jokey, I love the UK... been there the last two holiday seasons (Christmas and New Years) and coming again this holiday season.
When I am there I am so impressed with the mass transit that I can't imagine wanting a car if I moved there. I loved during the Olympics, there were stories of the American professional basketball players using the buses and the trains and they loved them as well...
This year I will be heading down to London. Hoping to find Abbey Road and get a photo of me crossing it, just like the Beatles... I do love your country...
I use a lot of wholefood grains as the basis for my meals, such as quinoa and bulgur complemented by fresh veg from the local farmer and soups at night.
I also shop at Lidl( similar to Aldi) for basic stuff like tinned tuna and sardines, frozen fish, white cheese and yogurts
.I hardly eat processed food, expensive and fattening.
I take the bus most of the time and have a library card for the latest books, CDS and DVDs.
I go to the charity shop once a week(Emmaus in France).I have learnt that I must be there at opening times on the day they receive the goods and I search for quality material, which you cannot even find now in shops.I mix and add my own "excentric" touch.
I have an electric blanket I only set up 1 hour before going to bed and then stop it and use nice warm soft flanel bed sheets.
For us women:I do not buy expensive creams.I buy a concentrate cream from the chemist(Embriolisse), as good as any.I also use an eye gel liner which lasts years literally, expensive to buy but lasts so long.I do my own colour for hair.