Thursday, November 13, 2008

Cutting Expenses

During an economic downturn it is important to go through the family budget line-by-line to determine if there are ways to cut back on spending.  Here are some of the ways our family cut expenses and saved hundreds of dollars each month:

  1. Cut the Cable -- Mark installed an antennae and now we get our T.V. for free.  For movies, we borrow DVDs from the library.  If there is a show we do not get over the air, we watch it on hulu.com. Savings: $40/month or $480/year
  2. Adjust the Cell Phone Plan --  My cell phone contract had expired, so instead of renewing it, I switched to a TracFone for a pay-as-you-go plan.  I get the convenience of a cell phone when I am away from home, or for an emergency, but without the high bills.  Savings: $60/month or $720/year
  3. Drive Less --  Now we group errands together to improve our gas mileage, and have less frequent trips to the store.  Savings: $100/month or $1200/year
  4. Slash the Grocery Bill --  I started clipping coupons, and matching coupons to sale ads to maximize our savings.  Savings: $300/month or $3600/year
  5. Adjust Insurance Deductible --  Keep in mind car and home insurance is to cover financial disaster only.  It is not to cover "inconvenience" bills or small repairs.  We increased the deductible on our home and car insurance.  Savings: $50/year
  6. Save Electricity --  We adjust a programmable thermostat to 65 degrees in the winter to reduce our electric heating bill.  Also, we replaced all light bulbs with CFLs and line-dry clothes instead of running the clothes dryer.  Savings: $50/month or $600/year
  7. No More Paper Towels or Paper Napkins --  We replaced these with reusable cloth kitchen towels and cloth napkins instead.  Savings: $10/month or $120/year
Total Savings = $564/month or $6,670/year!!

4 comments:

sistersledgekws said...

How do you find that trac phone? I can't get my hubby to switch from verizon.

I did put you as a link a few weeks ago on my blog: chattykathyw-s.blogspot.com Maybe could I be entered more because I did that???

Love your tips.

Monica said...

Great job! We do most of these too. It's so nice when it just becomes habit and doesn't take a lot of effort or thought.

Frugal Sara said...

Great job. We do most of these as well. It is amazing how much you can save!

Tiffany said...

This was a very helpful post! Thanks for sharing!

Check your credit

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