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Wow! You go girl! We started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University in July and have since made some MAJOR lifestyle changes. We've paid of 6,000 in debt and are now debt free with money in savings!
We set up a cash-based budget. Basically, every dime that comes in, we have a place for it to go whether it's savings, giving or spending. I HIGHLY recommend either FPU or Dave's Total Money Makeover. It will change your life!
We have a savings account where my paycheck goes. His paycheck goes to bills, food etc and mine is purely savings. We live like we're poor but we've got our whole budget in an account with change to spare. Hopefully the change will equal a house one day 
FI and I are very visual people and it helps us to SEE our savings. So we turned a cheeseball container bought at Costco into a money jar! We don't just throw change and dollar bills into it, we throw twenties in every time we have a bit more cash! It has added up to over $800 in the past few months, and now that it's getting fuller, I can finally stop feeling guilty about eating the cheeseballs that were once in there 
Other than that, I pack my lunch every day, we don't eat out as often, and I try to dig to the back of the food cabinet before we go grocery shopping again.
As the major breadwinner (and the one that wants something a little more than a JoP wedding) I am the one that is paying 100% for the wedding. As is, I set my budget at $10,000 and have been socking away $800 a month.
Mrs. Dee to Bee - we watch Dave a lot and are both Deeeebbbbbttttt Freeeeeee too! It was awesome to pay Sallie Mae off this summer only 11 years early!
We already own a house together so it's just mortgage, living expenses, retirement, some fun money and then my wedding money, in that order. If I have extra at the end of the month from being really frugal, I put more of that into the wedding fund.
We already had more than enough saved up, so our goal was to try and pay as we went without dipping into savings. We are pretty frugal and we actually managed to only use about $2500 from our savings! We were pretty psyched about that.
Dancy: since you live in a major city, have you thought about switching to antenna for your TV? My sister and her husband use antenna in DC and get like 30-40 channels!
Good job on all the savings!
@ Mrs. Dee to Bee - My FI LOVES Ramsey. Loves it. He lives by it all. He used to listen to the radio show when he was getting his degree and delivering pizza for beer money.
My FI has helped me keep the spending under control and instead of saving money for the wedding, we're putting most of it towards debt and finding other creative ways to save money. Mostly I try to use as many coupons as possible when buying wedding related items (like our bridesmaids dresses) and then bargain everything else. This way we don't change our lifestyle (we already did thanks to Ramsey) but we're spending less than we thought we would.
I think the two biggest areas that we are going to cut back are discretionary spending (I have budgeted "play" money) and entertainment money. We don't spend a LOT already, but we go out to dinner maybe 5 times/month and see a movie maybe 2 or 3. We will probably cut back to 1 or 2 dinners out and 1 movie/month.
Otherwise I really don't know. Honestly we live pretty frugally already. Most of our bills are "necessary" so there isn't too much wiggle room!
We basically live like paupers at the moment lol. We are saving $1,000 a month to buy a new house and we are getting food from Costco (great if you can eat things before they spoil because it is much cheaper than buying meat at the grocery store), eating at home most nights and my husband takes lunch with him to work. Don't have any amazing saving money tips, but trying to cut back on the fun things (I only have about 1 coffee every month now though I want it every day!)
I've never heard of Dave Ramsey *she says while googling his name in another window*. I'll def check it out though, esp since you guys started another thread dedicated to it. Thankfully we have no debt but it's the savings we're concerned with. I don't doubt that we'll be able to do it, I just don't want to end up in debt, or worse - depleting everything and having to start all over. Thanks for the info.
@ mskalinin - I think that's a great idea but I might have to pass on that. I don't think analog (antennae) exists anymore - there were all those commercials back in June about switching over to digital. Plus with staying in, no movies, no vacations, etc. getting rid of cable might be a bad idea for my sanity. LOL
I can't believe I forgot to include THE biggest sacrifice I made: my hair. I've been blonde since I was a kid. I tried dying my own hair dark when I was about 14 and my mom freaked & brought me to get highlights to fix it. I've been getting highlights ever since & now I've stopped. I'm really not feeling my mousey-blonde-brown hair & I don't feel like myself yet (it's only been about a week). But I'm loving the fact that I don't have to pay $200 every 6 weeks all winter. Will it be back to blonde for the wedding? You betcha!!
My mom asked me if I thought about what I want for Christmas the other day. My answer? GIFT CERTIFICATES!! hahaha
We put about $1000 into savings a month as well. We cut back eating out significantly and grocery shop carefully. FI also maxes out his 410K contributions to make max impact on the long term side of things.
Right now, FI is the one with the salary and I am in college and living off money from my parents and tips from my waitressing job. FI is a teacher so he doesn't make much, but he has been setting aside $200 every month in a "no touchy!" high yield savings account with Ally. Eventually when I get a job too, I will start contributing to it, and hopefully when we are more financial stable, we can save a lot more and eventually put it in a CD. I would like to get a nice big emergency fund of $20,000-$30,000 saved up within a few years, but we'll see.
We are definitely not good about living cheap - we both like to eat out and things of that nature. I think we will definitely have to implement some of these frugal tips after the wedding!
Oh yeah, I stopped going to the stylist and getting my hair dyed like Dancy. Last weekend I dyed my hair from a box (well 2 because my hair is long for only about $20!)
It's always a good idea to call your cable or internet provider to see if they have any specials going. Or try switching to a competing one for a better rate.
You could also give up your internet connection and try to get your internet fix at local cafes/libraries/universities, though this definitely wouldn't work for everyone.
Make your coffee at home in the morning instead of buying it every day--this can save SO MUCH $$.
I've been selling leftover stuff from the wedding.
We're living frugally by necessaity. DH's loans are deferred while he's in grad school (and thankfully they're federal subsidized!)
We spend all of my paycheck on the necessities, so now much savings going on, although that would nice. The goal is to get used to living on what I make now so when I get raises/promotions and DH gets employed, we can pay off loans and put away savings with the rest of the money.
Some money saving tips:
It's not always easy, but we know we're setting ourselves up for a better life!
Great ideas ladies.
My biggest thing is trying to get my CC debt paid off, while I'm in grad school. FI is doing alot more since I'm a full time PhD student, and of my money goes towards my living expenses.
Good tips!!
If you have an HDTV, you can still use an antenna. HD over the air reception is really great, but this only works if you get reception and if you have a newer HD tv.
I also love retailmenot and just started Googling for coupon codes. Of course, this only works for things you're already going to buy. We all know that getting a deal for something you don't need isn't saving. I'm sure this will really come in handy for holiday gift shopping.
I still get Netflix. I'm on the plan for about $8/month that gives me 1 DVD at a time plus unlimited streaming. I watch all I want, even though not everything is available on streaming.
One thing I do is to give myself little splurges so I'm not tempted to make a big splurge I can't handle. Like, a dinner out with a coupon (try looking for gift certificates on resturants.com) or getting a coffee out ($4 instead of $40).
I also like saving FOR something rather than just saving. It also makes it harder to raid that savings stash when you already have plans for it (wedding, vacation, house, car, etc.).
There have been some great ideas already!
Here are some of mine:
1. Both bf and myself have cellphone plans with unlimited evenings/weekends...so we decided to cancel our home phone. And we bought a long distance phone card which we use periodically with our cellphones. This has saved us $55 a month.
2. I can't live without internet so instead we down graded to lite speed. It just takes a little getting used to.
3. We also downgraded our cable to their basic digital cable.
4. Instead of going out for dinner we eat in most of the time. Every other friday we'll get a bottle of wine, light some candles and then watch whatever movie that is on local tv.
5. Bf had some student loan debt so to save on the interest we found a 0% interest balance transfer credit card for 15 months. We transferred his debt and are trying to have it paid before the time runs out.
6. Once or twice a month instead of a movie night we'll go for a drive and then go to starbucks for a coffee.
7. We try to put all our monthly expenses (i.e. groceries, utilities, cable, internet) thru our credit card which in turn gives us a 1% cash back. Of course we pay our credit card in full every month. The cash back is a nice perk.
8. I make many slow cooker meals which lasts us almost the whole week!
9. I've signed up with many retailers that send out e-mail notices for coupons.
10. Before I go grocery shopping I check all the grocery store flyers to choose which is best to shop at. I always buy groceries with a list and try to stick to only the items on the list!
Its all I think of for now. I'm sure there's more but it just becomes the norm that I don't really think about it being cost saving..I guess thats a good thing.
Hope its helpful.
@Mandy- you should put that money in a savings account to start earning some interest! Instead of keeping the money in the jar for a visual, you can make one of those thermometer posters to track your savings.
I cut and dye my own hair, pluck my own eyebrows, do my own nails, etc. Luckily I don't have easy access to a gourmet coffee shop on my way to work anymore, so that definitely saves me.
The biggest place I've noticed we've been saving money is on food. I used to find new recipes and then purchase everything for that specific recipe (easily $40). Between the 2 of us, we'd go to the grocery store a couple times a week. Now we plan out our weekly meals and write a shopping list and our grocery bills are sooo much lower. Also, we don't drink as much, so that really saves us money (and calories!). And I also love my crock pot :)
You can get a digital converter box to receive over-the-air signals still in your analog TV. They were free for a while but I think at this point you would need to pay for it. Plus, if you have a newer TV and have internet through a cable provider, you can usually get the HD channels even without subscribing to a cable package. Its what we do right now and we get 18 channels (including ESPN).
Other ways we save money:
- We usually eat at home, but when we do go out we only order water for drinks. Ordering coke or something else can add $6-$10 to your bill.
- We don't have a cell phone, only vonage.
- Always tunr all lights off and unplug power cords at the wall, this saves on electricity. Our bills range from $25-$31 per month (we don't pay for heating).
- CouponMom.com is very helpful!
- We also don't keep snacks in the house, this helps save money and keep us healthier, too!
@Daniellemybelle- I had to save up for my kit fee for school (it was $1500), so what I used to do when waitressing was round down, like if I made $78 that night, I'd put the $8 away and I wouldn't ever cash in my change at the end of the night. Its money you don't ever notice and it adds up CRAZY fast.
Its hard for us to live frugal. Don't get me wrong, I always use coupons and we rarely buy things that aren't on sale when we go grocery shopping, but when it comes to going out to eat and doing things (we woke up the morning Cedar Point closed and decided to go) we are bad at that.
I haven't really started saving much because I just graduated from cosmetology school, so I'm in the process of getting my license but somethings we do are-
Everytime I pay for something with cash, I always pay with the next dollar up and put the change in a jar, and when thats full (which is about $175 give or take) I cash it in.
FI was working as a mechanic until he got his new job, so we scrap aluminum. It takes a while to get $50, but its not hard to do, it just takes up space in the garage.
I'm going to go work at a chain salon (great clips, fantastic sams etc) 2 nights a week ontop of working in a regular salon and put everything I make from that paycheck into a seperate savings account. Plus everyone who I cut/color/wax at home, goes into that seperate account.
Great ideas ladies! Keep em coming!
For groceries - we do the majority of ours at Stop & Shop, Costco & Stew Leonards (which I think is only in NY & CT but the dairy and fresh fruits & veggies are cheaper). We've given up Whole Foods. I love it there but it's just too $$$ and we only buy a few things from Trader Joe's cuz some of their products are cheaper than most chain grocery stores. I signed up for the Stop&Shop circular to be emailed to me too.
A co-worker of mine just told me about www.thegrocerygame.com. Anyone ever hear of it or use it? it's a website that does the research for you. It has a list of the best deals so you don't even have to look at the circular. You cut coupons from the paper or internet every week and it tells you what coupons to use and when.
It does have a cost ($10 p/month for 1 store & $5 for each store after that) but, they have a free trial, which is what I'm going to sign up for. My coworker said she was hooked after the free trial & the site's already paid for itself in savings.
We started bringing lunch to work which saves us each $50/week (conservative estimate factoring in what we pay for ingredients to make our own), a total of $400/month.
We also strongarmed our cable/internet/phone provider and successfully got them to reduce our bill by $40/month. There is finally competition in Manhattan!
We both recently got new jobs that pay more, and that 'extra' income goes directly into our savings accounts instead of us 'living larger' and buying more expensive clothes, going out more often, etc.
Logistically we are saving money on our wedding by having the ceremony and reception right next to each other - we don't need to provide any transportation.
We almost never order takeout and always use leftovers for dinner the next night or lunch the next day. This saves a ton of money!
Since FH's family is in Michigan and we live in NYC, I insist on buying plane tickets way in advance before the prices get crazy.
And the biggest way we save money is by staying in my ground-floor brownstone apartment paying rent well below our means (which I negotiated a discount on for a two year lease) when we should be living in a newly constructed highrise doorman building like everyone else our age!
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I'm just wondering how everyone is saving money?
By that, I mean cutting back - I'm talking about more of the saving or not spending tips. Not necessarily as in DIY, cost-cutting tricks or other wedding details. .
- So far my FI and I have set up a special savings account which we both contribute to twice a month.
- I also set up a CD with my own money that will expire a little before our wedding, so it's just a little egg that's sitting there collecting interest.
- We cancelled our storage unit. Trashed a lot, sold some & moved the rest into Mom & Dad's basement.
- He cancelled Netflix (I didn't know it was $20 p/month!!)
- I can't tell you the last time I bought lunch @ work.
- We've also been making food that can last. We'll make pot-roast or stew on Sunday that'll stretch as lunch and/or dinner for the rest of the week.
- I stopped buying a monthly subway card & I walk or bike everywhere.
- dry-cleaning bill = Zero (although I'll admit this has a lot to do with FI being unemployed)
- I haven't bought anything new in months - and I need new jeans desperately!
I plan on calling our cable company & getting the triple-play offer (phone, tv & online in 1) since it's a cheaper plan.
I just thought maybe we'd get some good tips on here. I didn't see a thread for it. What are you guys doing?