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.

[Mrs-M]

A constant, overall spending savings, is always present in our home, thanks to being frugal/thrifty, but I don't track the savings too closely. At least not as closely as I used to when DH and I, were first starting out, and when the babies started coming.

[try2bfrugal]

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.

When we had two incomes we were pretty good about saving a certain percent of our income and thought that was great. In hindsight, if we had kept a closer eye on our spending back then, we could have saved even more.

Overall we have doing okay savings-wise, but if we had been aware of where "every dollar goes" in the first half of our lives we would have done much better. For example, our electric bill is half of what it used to be just from doing minor things like switching to LED light bulbs, using drying racks, shutting off lights, ditching the big freezer, etc. Our restaurant bill is also way down. We used to go out every Friday night and spend $30 - $40 dollars. Now with birthday coupons, mailing list special offers, and Entertainment book coupons we can still go out and only spend about $12, including tip. If I could go back in time I would have been a lot more frugal over the years, and lived more like we live now where we track spending down to minute details. I also would have tried to buy less stuff! Now it is taking forever to get rid of it all. Trying to sell used consumer and sports items gives you a pretty good idea that stuff is really only worth about ten cents on the dollar once you bring it home and it goes from new to used status. I also would have had a house half the size of what we have now.

[awakenedsoul]

I've done a lot of what other posters have mentioned. My basic strategy now is to buy in bulk, keep my expenses low by conserving, and only use the car once a week. I have been spending money on yarn and knitting lessons, but I am thoroughly enjoying it. I'm also thrilled with the high quality clothes I'm making. I've budgeted $1,000. for the year for that. (lessons and materials.) Other than that, I try not to spend money, except on essentials. I withdraw a certain amount each month. My goal is to live on $15,000. this year and to save $10,000.

[SteveinMN]

If I could go back in time I would have been a lot more frugal over the years, and lived more like we live now where we track spending down to minute details.
I try not to kick myself too hard for all the money we 1) literally wasted (food we bought but did not cook before it went bad, etc.); 2) misspent (how hard was it, really, to do some of the things we hired out?); and 3) didn't spend wisely (bought it and used it once or never, etc.). Past is past and kicking myself will not bring that money back. I also am aware that those years past came with different values and drivers. But, yes, if we were as conscientous then as we are now, we'd be sitting on a bigger pile of money and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm still working on the "minute details" in our budgeting -- it's useful to know we spent $87 at Target last month, but what did we spend it on? That will come, though, as more of the rest of the budgeting process gets into its groove.

[try2bfrugal]

I try not to kick myself too hard for all the money we 1) literally wasted (food we bought but did not cook before it went bad, etc.); 2) misspent (how hard was it, really, to do some of the things we hired out?); and 3) didn't spend wisely (bought it and used it once or never, etc.). Past is past and kicking myself will not bring that money back. I also am aware that those years past came with different values and drivers. But, yes, if we were as conscientous then as we are now, we'd be sitting on a bigger pile of money and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm still working on the "minute details" in our budgeting -- it's useful to know we spent $87 at Target last month, but what did we spend it on? That will come, though, as more of the rest of the budgeting process gets into its groove.

I think the Internet is really helpful in spreading the word on simple living. We just weren't exposed to these kinds of ideas years ago. I really enjoy the posts here and watching the Faircompanies videos. Instead of TV I watch Clean House on Netflix. The show is a bit corny but very inspiring for getting rid of junk and not spending money on more stuff. So many of the families are just drowning in consumer junk and the same houses look great once they are decluttered and fixed up. I know a lot of the reality shows are staged but from house hunting we have seen a lot of houses that looked like the "before" versions of the homes on Clean House and even worse.

When we first started simple living we thought cutting back on entertainment meant getting discount tickets to plays and events. Now we mostly just do free or really cheap stuff like Netflix videos, cooking out, hiking, museum and zoo visits with free library passes and are happy to not to be need to spend all the money in our entertainment budget each month.

[Blackdog Lin]

It's an interesting question. For us, I've never "budgeted", we just slowly evolved toward "trying not to spend money", along with our trying to live more simply. So there have never been any categories of spending that I could look at and see a concrete correlation between before and after. Or with and without. Or whatever.

[fidgiegirl]

This thread is reminding me to catch up on our tracking. I don't intuitively "feel" the impact of our frugality. It seems like for every small amount we manage to save in daily spending we end up spending in one large lump - something or other comes up every month. This month DH wants a new mattress. Sigh. However, our bank account is growing so we must be doing something right.

[Selah]

Like Blackdog Lin, the lines between the two approaches are blurred. Ever since I started on the SL path, my number one motto was "stop buying crap!" That gradually led into looking for cheaper or free alternatives to buy the things that were actually necessary...anything from researching meatless suppers to save on the grocery bill, to switching to free calendars that our bank gave out every year instead of buying a $25 one annually, or delaying time between haircuts and learning to do home trims myself.

Now it's really more of a mindset than anything else, and since we've trimmed our consumption habits down to a comfortable and easy-to-maintain level of frugality, we're concentrating on increasing our income--being ever vigilant about the sneaky "lifestyle creep" temptations that will come along. Example: DH just got a new and well-paying job, and I find myself quizzing other people on what type of smartphones they have, do they like them, how much did they cost, etc!

[Zoebird]

We do a weekly budget and then a "longer term" one for expenses that will come up more hap-hazardly such as getting our teeth cleaned. We knew that one was coming, so we could budget for it effectively.

We also tend to take on projects to see if we can decrease spending in a given area. These are our fun "efficiency" projects. We find them enjoyable. Unless they make life harder, in which case we scrap them.

[lhamo]

Interesting experience last night. DH wanted to talk about the budget and how we will manage paying more for the kids schooling. So I pulled out the spreadsheet, and he decided he wanted to see it BIG. So we got out the projector and put it all on the dining room wall. Kids were there, too. Went through last year's spending categories one by one and tried to find places to cut. Agreed that we will target all types of food (but especially eating out and school lunches), entertainment, clothing, household, furniture, and utilities.

Both DH and DS were surprised at the total spending figure (which is just under 80k for everything, including taxes). DS said "We made more than that, right?" I said yes, we still save quite a bit on top of that, and asked him what it would mean if we made less than we spent. He said really dramatically "We'd be in DEBT!" like it was a curse word. It's funny, because we've never actually BEEN in debt (except for the mortgage), but he has a very strong understanding of what it is and that it is BAD. Watching Suze Orman and Gail V-O has paid off, I guess.

DS also revealed that he had a very strange understanding of what a mortgage is/means. He was asking how long we have to pay off our mortgage. I told him. then he asked " so we have to stay in this house that many years?" We explained that no, we could sell the apartment and pay off the mortgage with the proceeds. He didn't understand that part before. Next step I guess is to explain what being "underwater" is.

Adventures in budgeting...

lhamo