Comments on: decrease your expenses: how we saved $17,000

By: Debt Relief: Reminders of What You Are Doing Right by StimulusResource.org

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:20:26 +0000

[...] have a plan. A timeline. We’re constantly working on creative ways to shave some money off our monthly expenses, to earn more by selling stuff we don’t need, or by taking on side [...]

By: * How To Save Money Without Thinking

* How To Save Money Without Thinking — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:01:21 +0000

[...] A good rule of thumb is to save at least 10% of your gross income. If 10% is too much, try 5%. You can increase it when you get a raise or when you find ways to decrease your expenses. [...]

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:22:18 +0000

Liz, those are great examples of ways to save! I wonder how much it would add up to if you calculated all the savings you have found?

I love that you saved so much by registering early for summer camp, that’s a great tip!

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:53:52 +0000

We did cut expenses this year. I just renegotiated our insurance rates without switching companies. That saved $500 on our home insurance over what I was billed for our renewal, and about $400 on our auto rates annually. Great savings!

I also started keeping a monthly budget, and it has absolutely helped with making us more concious about what we are spending for things that we don’t NEED right now.

I paid early for summer camp, getting a $10 discount per week (so that’s $120 over the camp duration) and paid a $60 camp membership fee that will save me another $30 per week over the non-member rates ($10 on the weekly rate and $20 for after-care). Of course, I had to put down a hefty deposit of over $550, but that’s where that savings account comes in handy.

Eating healthy has a side benefit – savings from packing lunches! By not spending $3-$6 per day on lunch here at work 3-4 times per week, I’m saving about $800 per year. And I’m just eating more of the groceries I already buy (so less goes to waste). In fact, I spend LESS on groceries now that I did last year, thanks to cutting out so much expensive processed/prepackaged foods.