View Full Version : Pick one thing to save money on in 2013
Life_is_Simple
12-19-12, 12:19am
This thread might be better in the Frugal sub-forum, but I'm putting it here because we are listing our goals and successes here.
The one place I could save is groceries. I am going to try to track items, instead of groceries as a whole. I spend a lot ... on what? I'm really not sure.
SteveinMN
12-19-12, 12:37am
Mobile-phone bill. Up until a few months ago, we were doing okay with it. But we really need to figure out how to turn DD loose from the family plan. She makes enough money to be on her own contract (or join up with STBF) and then we don't have to care what kinds of phones she buys or how often she has to buy them or how long she ties herself into a contract with the carrier. It's a $200 monthly charge, and I know DW and I can get by for less than half of that.
Housing expenses. I'm going to list my house for sale next year. It's a large, horse property that takes a lot of time and money to own. I'm planning to move into a modest condo, cutting my housing expenses by two-thirds.
Tuition! Just send our last contribution to our last child to finish their last semester! Woo hoo!
try2bfrugal
12-19-12, 2:01am
We will will try to save money on many things in 2013. I already have a prioritized list but try to focus on just one project at a time, otherwise it gets a bit overwhelming. Currently we are working on reducing our electricity usage. We have our bill down by more than 50% over past years, and we still have a lot of sub-tasks to complete to bring it even lower. This has been a way cool project for us. We never thought it was possible to get it this low with just doing little stuff like turning off lights, unplugging the spare fridge and switching over to LEDs.
I am really surprised LEDs are not more popular. The energy savings over time are pretty high ROI.
1tolivesimply
12-19-12, 2:05am
Mobile phone bill, household expenses & gifts... I gave away way too much money on cash and other gifts to family this year, not even counting Christmas, that's changing next year!
Travel Expenses! Too many overseas trips this year really cut into our savings plan :(
awakenedsoul
12-20-12, 1:57pm
I feel like I've cut back about as far as I can go, but I could go back to the minimal phone plan with Jitterbug. It's only $20.00 a month. Last month my bill was $47.00 and that will add up if I use that plan every month. I don't think people realize what they spend on their phones!
I decided to put some more money into my stockpile, since I like having plenty of food for the winter. It gives me a sense of security, and I don't have to shop as often.
catherine
12-20-12, 2:03pm
Well, I am in the process of doing a refi on my house. Current interest rate is 6.125/30 yr fixed: I'm going for a 3.25/15 year fixed. Hoping to pay it down within 7-10. I'm folding in my HEL and coming out with $360 a month greater cash flow
Refinancing the house here too so that will save a bit. Would also like to eat out half as much as we do now - twice a week. Oh and a little less red wine. With DH in the business though, that's a hard one.
Cutting back on my internet bill by using the Playbook in public settings more. I pay for every MB that I receive or send and Windows and Norton updates are MB hogs. I finally got it down by 1/3 on this month's bill.
I will not buy any more fabric or yarn but use what I have stashed over the years no matter how good a deal may be offered.
HumboldtGurl
12-21-12, 1:51pm
Booze! I know we could cut at least a quarter from our monthly wine, beer & booze allowance and still not feel deprived.
jennipurrr
12-21-12, 2:02pm
Cable - planning to pull the plug in April/May 2013 when our contract with DirectTV is over! We've never gone all the way before. At one point we had very very basic cable, now we're at the regular basic package. I think it will be easy until Fall when football season comes around for DH.
Starbucks, sigh. It is an addiction for me. More of the way it is super hot when i get it and sometimes the basic social contact when you are a single mom without a date.
The other part that I hve been doing a good job on since last summer is food waste and leftovers. I just cleaned out the fridge and there was a lot of waste. One of the effect of turning over the household to the kids to manage. It saves me so much time and energy that I have to appreciate it, however I need to be a bit better about taking leftovers every day. I did invest in a good small water bottle, lunchbox and better tupperware containers at the beginning of the year.
ApatheticNoMore
12-21-12, 4:16pm
I am really surprised LEDs are not more popular. The energy savings over time are pretty high ROI.
Well can you use them for regular lighting in your house, like an ordinary light bulb, do they have that much lighting power yet, are they that bright yet? Or are they mostly just outdoor lighting because they only produce minimal light? I've mostly only seen the latter, though I've looked for the former.
What I think I can save some money on, and it may be about the only thing is still food, even though it's already down. I don't plan to stop buying organics, or pastured meat and chicken, fish that's sustainable etc.. That seems beyond false economy to me. I don't even plan to give up raspberries in the summer etc.. So what's even left to cut? Still a small amount of waste to reduce, and things like making more use of cheaper veggies, stuff like that.
I don't even have most of the expenses listed in this thread (though there was a time I was really into Starbucks, so I'm not knocking that one ;)), and the expenses I do have are by and large aligned with my values already.
ToomuchStuff
12-23-12, 3:51am
Getting rid of one vehicle. Getting the "toy" vehicle (old bug), up and going (doesn't need much, just don't want to drive it during winter, so spring project), for a better gas mileage, day off driver. Figure out if the Roku/Netflix combo, will do what I want (or give it to mom if not) and then adjust my internet if not (could cut the cost to half and order Linux disc's instead of downloading).
rosarugosa
12-23-12, 2:58pm
Food for sure. We have spent an average of $530. per month on groceries, although I do include paper goods, pet food and other non-food items in the grocery bucket. I think that's still pretty high for 2 adults and 2 cats.
We also have spent more than $1900. on dining out this year (23 times where we paid or split the bill). A lot of this was "special occasion" dining out such as birthdays, etc. A few of these were when we were away on vacation, and we take Mom out for her birthday, but don't buy her a physical gift, so some of this spending straddles categories. However, at least eight times was DH & I eating out for no special reason, so we should be able to reduce our food expenditures in 2013 without any real sense of deprivation.
ETA: Without this forum, I don't think it ever would have occurred to me to track these expenditures. It really is great to have the actual facts at hand. I would have guessed our spending and eating out to be much less than the reality.
To pick ONE thing, I'd have to pick food. I know I could do better with the food bill, and that is an area I'd love to improve in the new year. I also think if I improved that one area, then I could move on and select another area to improve.
frugal-one
12-23-12, 6:23pm
This may be morbid but..... I have been researching funeral costs. Had to bring MIL to our area and am getting her funeral arranged. It is quite shocking on how funeral homes charge. I checked the fees that the funeral home said things would cost (they make you pay for it ahead of time) and have found they are quoting more than the actual cost. I brought it to their attention and now they put a range. Makes me wonder if they will charge more even if it is not so. You can be sure I will be asking for an itemized charge list after this! Also, checked to see if a vault or liner was needed at the cemetary. The funeral home said yes, but the cemetary said not required. That is substantial! I was told no one has ever asked that question????? Also, am noticing how when the funeral home does the obituary, they take 4 or more lines for their advertising. One newspaper here said they charge $28 per line. The funeral home, is, in effect, charging you over $100 to advertise for them! After the holidays, I will contact the papers direct and see how much the obituary we have written will cost. So far, just by checking how things work ... we will save over $5,000 on her funeral. I am doing this now because when the time comes I don't want to have to make decisions. Next is to see how much cremation costs for us.
SteveinMN
12-23-12, 7:37pm
This may be morbid but..... I have been researching funeral costs.
frugal-one, good for you for putting a close eye to this. I suspect a lot of funeral buying is driven by grief and guilt and people either don't think about how much it costs or feel they should just accept what's suggested because, well, what do they know? DW and I have discussed final arrangements, but haven't gotten it down onto paper. That might be a very good 2013 project for us. Thanks for your post!
pony mom
12-23-12, 10:02pm
The only thing I can cut back on is my cell phone. It's a Virgin Paylo $20/mo. plan; I get 400 minutes but I've only come close to that once in two years. A Tracfone seems cheaper.
My horse costs me a lot and now that he's older, he needs medication, which can't be stopped. Just when I think he doesn't need anything, something comes up.
If I should finally get a normal job, I'm heading straight to the thrift store for some clothes. It would also be nice if gas prices dropped a lot and my car never needed anything but routine maintenance.
I suppose if I picked one thing, it would be getting back on the bandwagon for tracking, which I've let slip. It shows, too, because our cushion has not exactly been expanding (nor receding rapidly but would be nice to be growing!). One area I really should concern myself with more is transportation since I have a long commute. By changing my habits a day or two a week I would probably improve my lifestyle by having some time to read on the bus while decreasing costs and environmental impact. I have been pretty lazy about making the bus thing work though I do sometimes carpool.
Eating out. For me that's McDonald's, Subway, or a local Greek eat-in/carry-out place that has fab gyros.
fidgiegirl
12-24-12, 4:11pm
We will will try to save money on many things in 2013. I already have a prioritized list but try to focus on just one project at a time, otherwise it gets a bit overwhelming. Currently we are working on reducing our electricity usage. We have our bill down by more than 50% over past years, and we still have a lot of sub-tasks to complete to bring it even lower. This has been a way cool project for us. We never thought it was possible to get it this low with just doing little stuff like turning off lights, unplugging the spare fridge and switching over to LEDs.
I am really surprised LEDs are not more popular. The energy savings over time are pretty high ROI.
I would LOVE to hear about this whole experience start to end. You have kindly shared many tips and tricks on the daily frugals thread over the last months but without having them all in one place I forget what they all have been. Gentle nudge! :D
fidgiegirl
12-24-12, 4:13pm
To pick ONE thing, I'd have to pick food. I know I could do better with the food bill, and that is an area I'd love to improve in the new year. I also think if I improved that one area, then I could move on and select another area to improve.
Bootsie - restaurants, groceries, both?
rodeosweetheart
12-26-12, 2:09am
Food, both groceries and eat out. Although reading these, there are about 5 others that come to mind, but I think if we could get a handle on food, we'd get the most bang for our buck.
We need to become more aware. We have gotten away from tracking, but maybe that is the only way to start. Maybe start with tracking food? Since food price seem to have gone up by half to two thirds in the last two years, this is a minefield. And might go back to doing the Amy D thing and keep a price book on food and staples.
Or maybe track everything, gulp. I know, I know, time to get head out of sand. Awareness would be a good goal in all things--we filled up car on MOnday and gas was 20 cents cheaper at a second gas station, so we waited and there was a 2 dollar savings right there.
Food! Food prices in Israel are comparable, or even a little more expensive, than what we were paying for similar foods in America. However, if we switch to even two or three meatless dinners during the week, which I want to do for health reasons, our food bill would drop considerably, as produce is a LOT cheaper here than in America. We eat out so very rarely that there's virtually no cutting back in that category, unless we were to eliminate it entirely, which just isn't practical or even desirable.
Electric bill. Even though we have solar panels, in the winter our heat bill shoots up--we have only space heaters, electric at that, because when we movedin, I was allergic to gas. This winter we've closed off doors to use only half the house (kitchen and bedroom) and our bill so far is 2 1/2 times less than last year's same mnths and we are warmer.
Re: funerals. I don't know if this is true but i recall reading somewhere that one of their tricks is to have 2 really cheap caskets and the 3rd cheapest is eay more expensive. People don't want to appear cheap so they buy the third one. Personally if i have to buy a casket i'll go to costco. Sunce we're executive members due to SO's work i'll get 2% cash back!
Tussiemussies
12-28-12, 8:38pm
I feel like I've cut back about as far as I can go, but I could go back to the minimal phone plan with Jitterbug. It's only $20.00 a month. Last month my bill was $47.00 and that will add up if I use that plan every month. I don't think people realize what they spend on their phones!
I decided to put some more money into my stockpile, since I like having plenty of food for the winter. It gives me a sense of security, and I don't have to shop as often.
Hi awakened, you can use google phone for free phone service if you have an iPad. My husband also just set up another free service to replace our landline phone, it is free and we were able to keep our landline phone number...I will find out from him exactly what it is etc....
Tussiemussies
12-28-12, 8:43pm
The only thing I can cut back on is my cell phone. It's a Virgin Paylo $20/mo. plan; I get 400 minutes but I've only come close to that once in two years. A Tracfone seems cheaper.
My horse costs me a lot and now that he's older, he needs medication, which can't be stopped. Just when I think he doesn't need anything, something comes up.
If I should finally get a normal job, I'm heading straight to the thrift store for some clothes. It would also be nice if gas prices dropped a lot and my car never needed anything but routine maintenance.
Hi pony mom, just to let you know if you have an iPad there is an app called GasBuddy where you type in your zip code and it shows you gas prices in your area. We set it up to see cheapest to most expensive and also looked at the town my husband works in finding out that gas prices are much cheaper where he is... :)
Transportation -- this is pretty much a "gimmee" as we have a new subway line opening up that will stop just outside my office. I will still need to take a bus to get to/from that subway line, but it will greatly simplify/reduce the cost of my commute -- i will go from paying $6-7/trip every afternoon(I take a taxi now because public transit options take me close to 2 hours in the afternoon) to paying about $.38. I estimate our monthly transportation costs will go down from around $150-160 a month to around $50 (we will still need to take the occasional taxi to get around town/run errands on the weekend). We've also started renting out our two parking spaces, to the tune of around $115/month. So nice little savings overall on the transportation front (though I must admit we put our transpacific flights into the "vacation" column, and that cost far outweighs any modest savings in this category...)
The other big controllable we have is the food category. I'm going to keep the budget similar to what we spent this year, but actually hope to beat it substantially. Will be cutting out a lot of snack food, and trying to cook more at home. And hopefully also eating out less. We'll see how it goes.
lhamo
Transportation is a good one. I hope to find more opportunities to ride my bike to work as as I notice a savings in gas. I'm just not very committed to riding in wet or snowy weather which is pretty much everyday for the next few months.
flowerseverywhere
12-29-12, 7:48am
losing weight. I live near cheap vegetables and fruits, so I can keep the food bill under control. I have lots of clothes I have grown out of and I refuse to buy anything new. This last year we moved 1500 miles and although we did track every cent, our calorie intake was out of control.
After reading this thread I think we have to look at our funeral expenses, I am committed to using up my fabric stash, and I also want to figure out creative ways to fund my grandchildrens 529's.
Float On
12-29-12, 11:29am
I'll have to go with cutting the food budget too.
We need to be more organized in shopping and make sure everything in the pantry is used.
I'd like to try something new every other week as well, not to mention that I'd like to budget one nice dinner date out a month with the husband.
I second, grocery savings, too, even though I'm a stickler when it comes to savings.
Not buying packs of cigarettes. I have cut down to one per day in the past week, and have bummed each one from someone at work (I do throw them a buck to make up for it, and others I have bummed in the past). I think I am actually turning the corner on the addiction; the attraction/obsession is waning and I hate standing out in the cold to smoke one on my break!
Food...eating in....eating out....all of it is out of control.
We are on a crash food money spending diet for two months to eat down our freezers and than we make a food budget.
Hopefully it means we will eat healthier as well, we do pretty good at home, basic organic type meals, but eating out is so bad for us with all the salt and fat.
My Paylo phone card was on sale for $1 less in Target this week!! Never thought I would actually save money on my cell phone. I'm going back to buy 2 or 3 more to stock up. Every penny counts.
Although I have been working steadly at this since last year(took lectures/classes and read on it even). My goal is to continue and become successful at NOT saying "here let me send $/pay/take care of that" to my sons. It has been my greatest $$ downfall and they are grown adults. Money is not love, I must remember that.
Mobile-phone bill. Up until a few months ago, we were doing okay with it. But we really need to figure out how to turn DD loose from the family plan. She makes enough money to be on her own contract (or join up with STBF) and then we don't have to care what kinds of phones she buys or how often she has to buy them or how long she ties herself into a contract with the carrier. It's a $200 monthly charge, and I know DW and I can get by for less than half of that.
(quoting myself as a followup for those who are following this thread and maybe not others)
I went to the T-Mobile store Monday for an account review. We're going to save $35-40 a month on our bill now by:
- dropping handset insurance on my phone. If I have to, I'll replace it from craigslist or ebay. That's cheaper than $100 a year of insurance for a phone that, technically speaking, cannot be replaced. We still have insurance on DSD's phone, but she -- umm, gets her money's worth on insurance, IYKWIM. :|(
- switching to family-unlimited text messaging. DSD had unlimited texting on her phone; DW and I did not because we didn't text that much. Well, apparently we're texting more, and with every text send/reply costing 40 cents, we were spending more on out-of-plan texts than the $5 it costs to move to family-unlimited texting.
- ending "premium services". DW apparently and inadvertantly ended up subscribing to a couple of those scam horoscope/ringtone deliverers. T-Mobile blocked those services, so we can no longer be charged monthly for them, and we put a block on Web access on DW's phone -- she doesn't actively use the Internet on her phone, so no loss there. That's $300 a year saved -- possibly more assuming that sometime in the next year another spam text message would have incurred another "premium" service.
We are under contract until early 2014, so the word is going out to not renew phones and extend the contract. It would cost us around $175 to terminate the contract early, so we'd have to save at least that much moving elsewhere (assuming that we would not have to buy different phones, initialization fees, etc.). DSD will be paying us $60 a month for her portion of the plan. So while the bill is not organically half of what we were paying, with DSD's contribution we're down to about $100 a month anyway, so I'm happy.
This was unintentional, but we just donated our POS car that was falling apart and wouldn't have been worth anything as a trade-in. We live in a large city with cabs and buses, and we're both close to our jobs. Inconvenient at times to be waiting for a cab in the freezing cold and rain, but it'll get better as the weather gets warmer.
We had been overdrawn each pay cycle for quite a while, and it was getting us down. Suddenly we've been able to make it from one pay period to the next with a little surplus. Brand new for us, and we're not paying $34 an item for NSF transactions. I don't know what happened - we had no car payment, but the insurance was costing us. Hubby used to pay it and I can't recall the amount, but it was something like $134 a month. Doesn't seem like much, and if anyone had suggested to us that that was the discrepancy that was causing us problems, I would have said, "Sweet, no problem, easily fixed." But we weren't fixing it.
Now it's fixed! Plus, we've consciously cut down on eating out. Suddenly it's like we're rolling in money! Crazy! So I'm going to cull the surplus amounts from our last few pay periods and open an account at a different bank for an emergency fund - something we can't easily access. We're still in debt, but it's given us a huge psychological boost to be in the black each month and actually skimming some off for savings.
Groceries. I have so much trouble keeping track of my spending and I suspect that part of the trouble is that I don't really want to know how much we spend. DH says things like, what's the point, we have to spend it anyway, it is food, but that is a cop-out (I can recognize his but maybe not my own).
So I have posted a slip of paper on the refrigerator and will TRACK what I spend. I can manage the grocery store expenses because they are on debit or credit and I keep track of those. The problem is that now I shop much more at our local markets for cash. And it is far too easy to see that just slip away....
So I am going to spend less on food even though I don't know how much I was spending. In my experience, just tracking generally makes me spend less (or eat less, or exercise more) so I am depending on that phenomenon to work.
decemberlov
1-4-13, 3:28pm
Ours is definitely food as well. I struggle with meal planning and find myself spending more than I would like because of last minute shopping. I found emeals through Dave Ramsey's sight and decided to try it. I googled and found a 50% off groupon offer also. For $29.00 it puts together a meal plan and shopping list for you to follow for 12 months. Hopefully this will help me out! Here is the site if anyone is interested: http://emeals.com/
Tussiemussies
1-4-13, 3:37pm
Honestly there isn't anything else we can save money on until we purchase a wood burning stove to lower our heating/oil bill. We would be going over the line of normal living into deprivation if we tried to cut out more....:)
jennipurrr
1-19-13, 9:08pm
I posted about getting rid of cable/satellite but couldn't do it until our contract was up in April/May. DH called and lowered us down to the cheapest level...saves us about $15. Its a start!
Simplicity
1-23-13, 4:08pm
Definitely groceries and eating out. I tracked every penny spent on groceries from Sept. 1 to Dec 31 last year and we are averaging $303.58 per month. That includes dog and cat food. I garden and freeze/preserve some veggies, we have laying hens and we raise meat chickens, so the grocery costs really should be lower. The biggies seem to be milk - $24/month, cheese - $11/month, meat - $40/month, coffee - $11/month and dog food - $38/month.
My restaurant costs are shameful!!! $97 per month! EEEK! :0! That absolutely has to come way down!
Other than that - smoking - working on it! This will be the year that I quit, dammit! We gave up the horses (long story) so that saves about $100 a month, but I want to get horses again as soon as we finish the barn and fencing. Made some changes to the cell plan that should save us a few dollars a month.
We don't have cable, so no cost there. We heat with wood and it was all free-ish this year (just cost gas to go get it and gas in the chainsaw to cut it) The power bill is pretty good at around $80 a month. Looking through the budget I don't really see any other areas that can be cut much more.
rosarugosa
1-23-13, 9:09pm
Simplicity: Good luck with the smoking. I quit last year after 38 years as a veritable chimney. It wasn't easy, but it's one of the best things I've ever done for myself - I feel ten years younger! And not spending $400 per month on smokes for DH & me really helps the bottom line :)
Simplicity
1-23-13, 9:56pm
Thanks Rosarugosa! $400! Wow! :cool: I figure I spend $140 a month, so that is still a great savings. It's a 25 year old habit, so yeah, it is hard to break, but I'm gonna give it my best shot!
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