Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.
-B. Franklin
Recently our family has had a few financial set backs--our blue car completely broke down (to quote the mechanic, "The radiator is completely fried; if it was my car I'd donate it and take a tax write off."), an unexpected medical bill arrived, and we found out that the heat pump and air handler need to be replaced. All of these things have served as a reminder that getting out of debt is a difficult, constant, and upward battle, and if we are going to make it happen, we are going to have to make a more concerted effort. So our goal is to pay off all student loans within 5 years, but in order to do this we are going to have to "retrench"(to use the Jane Austen term). So we took another look at our budget and here are some of ideas we came up with for how to save more money. Feel free to comment and share any other ideas or tips that you may have:
1) Live with one car: This will require a lot of sacrifice, working together, and compromise on both our parts, but will be worth it in the long run. Jared is going to ride his trike to work on at least 3 days a week so that I can have the car at home. We figure that we will save over $100 a month in car insurance, maintenance, and gas by doing this (not to mention the amount of money we would have to spend to buy a new car).
2) No Dental Insurance: We pay way too much for dental insurance--more than what it would cost for us to pay for work out of pocket. Accordingly, we are going to cancel our dental insurance after our next trip to the dentist, practice good oral hygiene and set aside money for regular visits and dental work.
3) Health Saving Plan: After the baby comes switch to a health saving plan vs. regular health insurance and then don't go to the doctor unless absolutely necessary (this is where having a husband that is a PA and a dad and brother who are doctors comes in handy). We are also going to work hard to live a more healthy lifestyle (nutrition, getting sleep and exercise, etc.) so that we won't have to go as often.
4) Cut household Expenses:
*Plant a garden and can extra produce
*Plan car trips to save on gas
*Buy as much as possible secondhand (especially kid stuff)
*Have a "is it need or greed?" mentality
*Trade babysit vs. paying for a babysitter
5) Use moderation and a strict budget in fixing up and furnishing the house: This is probably the hardest for me since I'm so excited to have my own house and want to make it really cute. I just have to be careful and do it gradually.
6) Avoid getting into more debt at all costs: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!"
In addition to saving, another part of our getting out of debt plan is to explore alternative sources of income. We have a few ideas of things we are working on, but we would be open to any suggestions you may have.
7 comments:
Actually I would be worried about cutting health insurance I would really pray about that, with three little kids and the two of you I don't know if that would be wise and might ended up costing a lot more and it would be good to keep the regular insurance. I think your great but make sure it is what is best for your family, though it is better to do it now before the kids are into school, piano lessons, drama etc.
Those sound like great ideas. We spend so much for health insurance. Maybe I need to talk to you about a good alternative. I admire you guys for making a plan. For Father's Day, my goal is to give Mike a coupon that says I won't spend anything for the month of July. ;) That means he has to do all the grocery shopping and get a birthday gift for James but hopefully it will help.
Watch out about the health savings plan. It can be a good idea, but . . it can also be bad. I agree with Sarah, pray about it.
Thanks for the good ideas. It is so hard to get ahead when live periodically seems to throw expensive curve balls at you just when it seems you are making progress. Even though times can be tough, we always seem to have what we need when we do are part.
One thing I try to do to cut down on the food bill is to double a recipe and freeze the other half or just have left-overs. There are some wonderful books on freezing meals if you are interested. Good luck saving - we are trying to do the same here.
I just noticed my typo in the first sentence (life, not live). Sorry.
Thanks for all the tips...Perhaps I should have Joseph call you, too! We are making a little more this year but our rent and insurance also went up! With Hyrum's heart surgery impending I don't think we can cut insurance, and Joseph is required to have it. Perhaps the dental thing isn't a bad idea. We scaled down to basic but perhaps I can go another 2 or 3 years without a cleaning and Joseph's never had one since I've known him:). Perhaps Joseph can call on Sunday...Thanks again!
Also, I've realized with the garden, it does cost a lot to buy plants, fertilizer, pesticides, soil and keep it watered, at least here in Nola, with not as much return as expected. I do like feeling a little provident but I'm not sure if ours has saved us a whole lot yet...perhaps after a year or so when we don't need to buy anything else...I do like fresh produce, though!Let us know if you have any good canning tips... we didn't do it this year but it would have been nice to do some tomatoes instead of give them away:). And don't leave for a month during the hottest part of the year:).
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