Are you able to see the impact of frugality on overall spending?

[Life_is_Simple]

If so, how do you detect the impact?

Like, for example, do you decide to be frugal in certain categories, then see those categories decrease?

Or do you have an overall frugality push, then see your overall spending decrease?

[Tussiemussies]

We do the second method, works best for us....

[Dhiana]

I demand a certain savings rate in our budget and if I see that rate drop for more than a month or two I look at at our spending. Sometimes it's a temporary large expense but if not I look at what area we got lax in our regular spending.

Always like to see that net worth number getting larger
Doing a chart as mentioned in the the 'February Wall Chart'
Post is very helpful.

[Fawn]

I feel that we are in a nice balance now of frugality to pleasure, so other than the continued tracking, I don't really make a frugal effort...just the same old stuff.
However, a couple times in the past few years, I felt that all luxury spending (except music lessons) needed to be curtailed and I just stopped spending on anything that wasn't essential until the crisis past. It was very noticeable when I did the monthly totals.

[Gardenarian]

I also just keep an eye on my savings, as my income doesn't vary.
We just try not to spend any money.

[catherine]

Sometimes I analyze my Excel sheet, which has my discretionary line items on it. I will post a down arrow next to those areas in which I believe I can reduce, and then come up with strategies for doing that.

Like, for my Personal Spending Acct line item (Dave Ramsey calls that "Blow money" but I'm uncomfortable using that term due to past bad associations with loved ones and addiction ) I'll note that I have some online subscriptions that I rarely use, so I've cancelled them.

[Spoony]

I try to maintain a high savings rate and live on the rest. Currently saving 46% of my income and don't feel deprived, mainly due to frugal living. This will make retirement easier, as I am already used to living below my means and won't feel as though I have to give up anything.

[try2bfrugal]

We have a pretty detailed budget in an Excel spreadsheet we review at least weekly. We always have a few money saving projects in the pipeline. We just got Ooma so we can get rid of the landline and have plans to sell a car we no longer need. After that we need to shop insurance rates to see if we can lower those costs.

In looking at a potential 40 year retirement, even cutting monthly expenses by $10 has a huge impact over time ($10 month = $4,800 over 40 years).

[lhamo]

I find it rather hard to see the effects of everyday attempts at frugality anymore, as the bulk of our budget is occupied by several large categories that we don't really want to cut further, namely:

1) Housing -- roughly 22% of spending, though our real cost is not this much because we are gaining net worth as our apartment increases in value and as we pay down the mortgage (more of our payment going to principal)
2) Taxes -- roughly 23% of spending, including US social security/medicare and Chinese income and social benefits taxes. the latter have increased dramatically in the past year and this will likely go up to 25-30% of spending this year
3) Travel -- 8-20%, depending on how many international trips/splurgy vacations we take a year. Last year this was 16% of spending. The international trips are to visit my family, including my aging mother, so this isn't really that negotiable on the low end.
4) Education -- this has typically been in the 10-15% range, but may be escalating dramatically (along with overall spending) -- see my thread on our private schooling debate. Last year it was unusually low because DS got a full scholarship.

So once those categories are taken care of, everything else is small potatoes and even making a big dent in on area doesn't make a big impact on the overall budget. Food is the next biggest category, at around 10-15% of overall spending, split between food at home (about 8-9% of total), dining out (another 2-3%) and school lunches (1-2%). I'm willing/able to cut back on dining out, but it doesn't make a huge impact overall -- reducing our dining out budget by half would only cut overall spending by at most 1%, since I'd have to buy more food for home to make up for it. Similar situation with school lunches.

Right now the frugality item I am most happy/stoked about is the transportation category. A new subway line opened up and it makes a public transit only commute more feasible for me, so I am saving roughly $6-7/day that I used to spend on taxis home. Our transportation budget, even including the occasional weekend taxi for family outings, is going from $180/month to roughly $25/month, maybe lower.

I'm also trying to put off/stretch out purchases where I can. I probably should have gotten my hair cut several weeks ago, but I've been putting it off. Almost stopped today, but decided to hold out. It is kind of silly, as a hair cut only costs about $5, but if I can get 3 cuts a year instead of 4 that's $5 saved. I also need to do an Ikea stock up trip, but have been putting that off -- I still have one more package of salmon in the freezer, so I can wait a few more days. We go through Ikea food pretty quickly once it is in the house, so keeping it out for a few days means fewer trips per year, hence less spent. And I am also able to resist the temptation to buy new bedside lamps for a few more days, maybe longer.

lhamo

[HomemadeChange]

We also do a monthly budget that we review weekly in case any unexpected expenses have come up or things have changed otherwise. DH and I have found throughout the 8-9 months we have been aware of where "every dollar goes" that we have been able to rid ourselves of debt completely and increase our savings. With our eye on the ball, we have subconciously reduced unnecessary spending--freeing up money for savings or paying more on our mortgage. I also have gotten creative-- selling items we don't need through various sources. So yes, I think frugal practices in one area or all helps to decrease spending overall and increase savings.