Post by junebugjam on Jul 24, 2015 12:50:56 GMT -5
Ok, at the suggestion of a couple ladies I am putting this in its own thread.
Who is good at budgeting? Teach us your ways! My LO starts daycare next month, which is an $800/month bill that I'm not used to or, quite frankly, prepared for. I wrote out a budget last night just to see where we stand and it's going to be tighter than I thought.
So, how do you save money? Budgeting tips?
I know the basics like not ordering food constantly and shopping sales/coupons, etc. But are there any other big things that really helped you cut back?
When we were saving for the down payment for our house, I put myself on a strict cash allowance. I'm going to start it up again. I'd take $100 cash out for the week to use for groceries and whatever else I wanted. So I'd budget groceries, always planned meals and cut down on buying lunch and coffee in the mornings. I got really good at doing my own nails, planning outfits instead of buying new clothes, etc. I'd sometimes hoard the leftover $5 or whatever from the week and then save up for splurges.
I know our biggest expenses are eating out and good beer and wine. I'm not willing to cut out the good beer, haha, but we can definitely eat out less.
I'm doing something like this too. H is in charge of finances so he's going to budget to allow me to spend X amount of money in a month which is supposed to cover groceries and any other random expenses I have (diapers, gas, misc.) so I'm interested to see how hard it's going to be considering I've never put myself on a strict budget before.
The hardest thing for me, as a PP mentioned, is being ok with what I have. I love buying new clothes. What stops me is remembering summer is half way over, so I'd rather splurge on some new fall/winter clothes than get something I can't wear for much longer. It makes it easier to pass on a pretty dress.
I need to work on this too. Our mortgage is going to be double on the new house. Plus adding in FT daycare for DD (as badw0lf mentioned, it is around 1,200 in this area for FT daycare for a baby). I need to be able to show to DH that we can do it comfortably AND add another kiddo to the mix.
It makes me sad how much daycare is around here. I know there are cheaper options but she seems to really like where she is and we like it too. You really get what you pay for around here!
It makes me sad how much daycare is around here. I know there are cheaper options but she seems to really like where she is and we like it too. You really get what you pay for around here!
Agreed. Our daycare is $1300something/month (starts Aug 31 when school starts back up for me), which is ridiculous to me. Then again, I'm from a smaller rural town and cost of living is much higher here. And you're right- you really do get what you pay for- at least I feel that a good daycare that I LOVE is worth it.
Post by allonsy221b on Jul 24, 2015 16:19:03 GMT -5
I need to follow this, I keep trying to make my budget and failing. Something that I am trying for August is to make a sheet with all the bills due from the 1st to the 14th, and how much income we have in that period, then another for the 15th to the end of the month. If that makes sense.
Ugh I don't want to do a daycare pain Olympics... but DS will be part time and it is $1000/month. That's why once we have a second kid it won't even be worth it for me to work. Yeahhhhh, I should start my weekly allowance next week, ha.
We're in the same boat. $800 for 3 days a week, and that included a 10% teacher discount. I don't even want to think about what it would cost to send him 5 days.
I'm pretty sure we can't have a second kid until my mom retires and then we can just shuffle them between grandparents.
Budget BluesJul 24, 2015 19:24:07 GMT -5via mobile
Post by emilyz320 on Jul 24, 2015 19:24:07 GMT -5
Our budget has been super tight since we are recovering from my unpaid month on maternity leave. Something we have been working on is not buying coffee or eating out this summer. We haven't been doing great at it, but better than we were before.
Ugh I don't want to do a daycare pain Olympics... but DS will be part time and it is $1000/month. That's why once we have a second kid it won't even be worth it for me to work. Yeahhhhh, I should start my weekly allowance next week, ha.
But if we are playing then I'm going for the win...
$600 a week once I go back to work in January (thats for 2 kids)
Ugh I don't want to do a daycare pain Olympics... but DS will be part time and it is $1000/month. That's why once we have a second kid it won't even be worth it for me to work. Yeahhhhh, I should start my weekly allowance next week, ha.
But if we are playing then I'm going for the win...
$600 a week once I go back to work in January (thats for 2 kids)
I swear I'm not following you around the threads but this made my heart stop.
I think PPs had some great tips. For me I've always been a saver and cheap. It's a great combo for budgeting lol.
I avoid buying unnecessary things like new clothes, etc. there are a lot of times I think "i would like THIS...but I don't need it" so I just don't get it.
Booze - it's a big expense that can easily be cut out!
Post by junebugjam on Jul 24, 2015 21:49:11 GMT -5
I'm going to try out You Need a Budget. It is an app but you have to set it up on the computer first and then link your account. That will be tomorrow's goal.
Post by toadandbuggie on Jul 25, 2015 6:04:07 GMT -5
Daycare was almost 900$ a month for me for 3 days so that factored into the whole SAHM thing. It's crazy! mishka29 that is SO much but it would be basically the same for me with two kids full time. At first I thought you said per month and I was like "wow that's so cheap!" Heh.
That's crazy how much daycare costs in your areas! Are you all doing centers or home daycare?
Centers are between 1400-1800 month for infants full time. The centers in my area don't offer part time rates. So I basically have to do at home care. I'm paying a SAHM $250/week to watch DS 4 hrs/day.
You mean part time hours or week? That's great you could work something out. I don't know why any daycares by me don't do hourly rates, because it makes much more sense. You *have* to pay for the whole day.
Centers are between 1400-1800 month for infants full time. The centers in my area don't offer part time rates. So I basically have to do at home care. I'm paying a SAHM $250/week to watch DS 4 hrs/day.
You mean part time hours or week? That's great you could work something out. I don't know why any daycares by me don't do hourly rates, because it makes much more sense. You *have* to pay for the whole day.
All the daycare around here you have to pay for the whole day too. I assume it's because it's easier to say you must pay for the whole day than hope to find two half day kids with opposite schedules to fill that one slot. After all, it's daycare that holds the power. Working parents need childcare, period.
I feel so lucky for our sitter right now. She's an older lady and had her doing it forever. She only keeps them until they turn 2 ( or the school year starts for them). She's $105 a week.
Now the only downside is if she takes days off we need to cover them and we write the check to cash so we can't claim a daycare expense. But it's so worth it. She loves on them like her grandkids and right now it's only dd and 1 other little guy so it's perfect.
I told dh when he complained about days off. I said keep in mind the little things. When dd has s blow out and comes home in a different outfit I know the next day the outfit she was wearing is coming home washed. That wouldn't happen anywhere else.
Ugh, daycare is $2450 per month here... Center daycare close to home. Looks like I have the worst deal. DS is going in Oct. I don't think I'll ever have a 2nd, if I happen to forget this whole experience and get a 2nd kiddo, I'd quit my job to stay home.
I'm going to try out You Need a Budget. It is an app but you have to set it up on the computer first and then link your account. That will be tomorrow's goal.
So H and I have tried Quicken (paid program) , YNAB (free program) and Mint (Quicken's free online based budgeting app) and we prefer mint or Quicken. YNAB was OK, but mint will automatically set up to sync your accounts so we didn't miss transactions as much which is huge imo.
I think we are going to go back to paying Quicken but that is purely for a few specific reasons H likes, but I don't think are necessary for starting to really track money and budgeting.
I'm also a fan of mint.com. I've set up our budgets on there and it helps keep our spending in line, especially with working on the house and going out to eat.
Daycare around here is a killer...$1260 for full time, so that has been a shock to the budget. Plus we bought a car (used) so we have a $200 car payment a month.
Really hoping I get a promotion soon. If/when we have another kid we are going to have to cut way way down on how much we are putting into retirement for a few years. We've been good about it so far, it just comes out of paychecks so we don't even see it.
A little warning about budget apps that connect to your account - I've heard account info has been leaked from some of them. I'm sure most bugs and holes have been patched, but just wanted to let you know to take that into consideration when you decide to sign up.
It angers me how much daycare costs in the US. We pay 3% of our income, with a maximum amount of about $150/month. But to be fair, we also pay about 25-30% of our salaries in taxes
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