Ask the Readers: What will you give up this month to save $250?
Published on - February 1st, 2013 (by Ellen Cannon) Welcome to February! In early January, we asked people what are their savings goals this year. But reading El Nerdo’s post on Tuesday made me think about how focusing on a short-term goal could help us achieve a long-term goal. So we’ve come up a series of challenges to help us achieve some goals this year.
Here’s the February challenge for our GRS community: What will you give up for just one month to save $250?
We’re talking about GRS Tenet No. 3: To build wealth, you must spend less than you earn. So let’s get some practice. Psychologically, it’s probably easier to cut back for a month than for a year (or forever), so don’t shoot for the moon here. As J.D. mentioned in that post, “Thrift has limits.” Use this month to see where you are on your saving spectrum. Have you already “trimmed all the fat”? Or can you identify some lifestyle creep?
We’re not talking about committing to an extreme ramen diet or adopting the ultimate cheapskate lifestyle. But there are plenty of places to start. In the past, J.D. and other contributors have discussed canceling cable TV service as a way to save money. Could you do that for a month? Or maybe you could scale back on the cable services you currently buy.
How about carpooling? Calculate how much you could save on gas each day if you shared a ride with a colleague who drives by your house on the way to work. Yes, you should chip in for the gas your colleague spends, but it would still be less than you’d pay if you drove alone. (I won’t suggest riding a bike to work in February…)
And of course there are dozens of ways to save on food: Make a pact not to eat out all month. Bring your lunch to work every day. Make a hearty soup or stew and freeze it in portions so you’ve got something in the freezer when you don’t have the time (or motivation) to cook some nights.
Tell us what you will do to save $250 this month. At the end of the month, send us a reader story about your attempt. Who knows – a temporary change could become a habit that will save you money so you can achieve your long-term goal faster.
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Hmm. Well, we already don’t have cable, or netflix, or data plans, or smart phones. We don’t go to the salon / barber (I am the barber), we rarely eat out- maybe once every other month at the local Chinese restaurant, we buy secondhand most of the time when we need something, we don’t have any memberships other than DD age 6 is a Daisy Scout and DH pays $30 a month to use the fitness center at his work, which is in place of a gym membership because he can swim, use the climbing wall and any other equipment you could imagine. I clip coupons and shop sales, and our grocery budget is $100 per week for our family of 5 people (2 adults, a newborn who is partly breastfed, partly formula fed due to a medical issue I have, a 2.5yo and a 6yo) and 2 cats… I am a WAHM freelance writer so I have no commute and no childcare costs…
cutting $250 would mean… turning off our furnace (not in OH and not with a baby!), or not buying any food for 3 weeks (not going to work!) or not putting gas in my DH’s car so he can get to work (not an option, plus we don’t spend that much a month on gas), … or not setting aside a month’s contributions to the kids’ college accounts or our retirement accounts or our property tax savings account… so not really anything to cut to save $250. We only spend on the essentials.
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I’m right there with you…for some reason when I read this post I thought, ‘really??’ You can’t get blood from a stone, and stone soup is on my menu plan. Consider, just one year with $10,000 in unexpected medical costs, and I have insurance and spent hours on the phone with my insurance company, and savings can be wiped out…anyway, that’s 40 months cutting $250, not including interest. Thank goodness for the emergency fund, but really…let’s dig deeper for story ideas or challenges.
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I think it all depends on your situation. I haven’t cut back anywhere near that much, though $250 would still be a big chunk for me as a single mom and schoolteacher.
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Maybe then you could try and make $250 more this month? I just sold some baby stuff for $50.
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I sold my professional writing keyboard for $100
I miss it already but it was one of those things I never should have charged to that credit card.
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I believe that in this past year many people have cut back very far and can’t do much more cutting. Five to ten years ago, this story would be more relevant; however, now, with so many people stretched thin by wages being cut, expenses going up and already cutting everywhere possible, the angle just doesn’t work very well. Maybe focusing on how to do more with what you have, creative ways to increase income, or how to resist the temptation to spend (it still comes over most people) would apply better here.
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Before even seeing this post I was doing my own $250 a month…
Switching from 1 or 2 seven dollar meals a day at school to packing a tupperware of oatmeal, and a tupperware of frozen burritos – a habit that has saved me $75 overall in the last week… here’s to keeping it up!
(yeah, I know, frozen burritos are not super healthy or cheap… but ARE a habit that I can keep up (and are better than the food at College))
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Please tell me your secret for feeding a family of 5 on $100 a week! With a baby now I feel like I spend more money of food than ever, expecially as I try to improve the way I eat (healthier) and being very pickey about what she eats(organic).
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I only recently raised it to $100 for the week, too. Here’s how I do it:
Meal plan
Stockpile at rock bottom prices- last fall, for example, Kroger ran a promotion where if you bought 5 items at $1 each, you got a $5 off your next shopping order (of any amount). The coupon “rolled”, so on your next order, you could get 5 more items and get another $5 off coupon and pay $0 out of pocket. So I was able to get rice, pasta and packaged potatoes that way. We kept some and donated some. We still have some left!
We eat simple meals. Tacos, grilled cheese, homemade spaghetti sauce for spaghetti, cream of potato / broccoli soup, pancakes & sausage. Snacks are popcorn, fruit, veggies, yogurt. I pack lunches for my kindergartener and DH.
My kids are young, 6, 2.5 and a newborn. I’m not making enough milk this time around due to a thyroid flare-up so she is supplemented with store brand formula.
I match coupons with sales. I don’t subscribe to the paper for coupons, but rather I use printables and visit the exchange box at the library. I manage to get plenty that I don’t need, and exchange them for ones that I do. I probably use 10-20 coupons per week. I save around 75% on each trip.
The greatest portion of my grocery bill is dairy. My DH and kids eat a ton of yogurt, cheese and milk. I do a lot of baking so I use about 1/2 pound of butter each week.
Next would be produce. Apples aren’t cheap anymore! My 2.5 yo loves berries and cantaloupe.
And formula, too. My baby gets about 1/2 to 2/3 breast milk and the rest is formula.
Once each year we buy a 1/4 beef from my uncle, who raises grassfed, organic beef. Once each year my dad gives us meat from a deer (about 70 pounds of venison). I mix the venison with beef for cooking. I use it in chili, stew, fried rice and tacos.
I share a warehouse club membership with my dad. At the warehouse club I buy cheese, butter, flour, sugar, applesauce, lunch meat, spices.
We do watch our portions too. I’m trying to lose the baby weight after all!
We also don’t buy alcohol or pop. I will get candy, if it is free. Which is rare, but I have gotten Dove dark chocolate bars free, for example.
I use coupons and the drugstore game and haven’t had to pay for toothpaste, floss, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, feminine care in years. Also rarely have to pay for ibuprofen or acetaminophen or lotion.
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I think SAHMama’s reply right here IS the answer to saving $250 a month
Great going!
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SAHMama: Please write a guest post about your food spending? I love your lovely and detailed response here, and would also love it if you provided an actual break-down of what you bought, what you spent, and what you made.
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There are around here some “markdown market” food stores where you can get groceries for way less. You have to be a bit careful that the foods aren’t outdated, but you can get really good deals there. And if you are really struggling, there are food pantries.
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Rather than choosing a set amount of $250, each reader should choose their own amount. For some who are extremely frugal or low income, saving an additional $25 would be extremely hard. For others, $250 would be low-hanging fruit that would require little effort. We’re somewhere in between–good income, but already quite frugal so we can pay college expenses out of pocket rather than dip into savings.
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I really like the idea of having a focus one month at a time. We’ve done well over time to limit unecessary expenses in order to fully fund Roth’s, save for college and cash-flow life now that we’re out of debt.
This is perfect timing though. We close on the sale of our home and the purchase of our new home 3 weeks today. We need to trim down some of those budgeted areas (groceries, family/date night fun money, etc.) to ramp up our emergency savings to meet our new home needs.
I “hope” that $250 should not be difficult…
1. not eating out for lunch (I only do this once a week and maybe once on the weekend)
2. no dinners out unless we’re using up gift cards
3. stretching the grocery budget by using up cupboard staples and freezer meals (less to move anyway!!)
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I agree with Marsha. $250 is over 10% of what I bring home each month. No way I can save that in addition to what I’m already saving. There’s no where I can cut back to come up with that amount.
But now that I’m employed again, I have resumed contributions to my Roth IRA, about $200/month. I’m not cutting back in order to contribute, just redirecting some of the money that would have gone to build my emergency fund back up. I just started in January and I’m not sure if it’s the right decision, but if I don’t do it now I probably won’t ever do it.
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$250 is more than 10% of my net income too. Because my fixed expenses are pretty low, I probably could cut spending by $250–but that would mean no cable, never buying lunch, and probably no going out with friends. Boring!
I have decided to stop buying so much coffee out. I realized if I switch from buying coffee seven days a week to just twice, I can save about $45 a month. Also, my costs for health insurance have gone down this year, saving another $30 or so a month. Right now I am happy with that.
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Agree with the commenters above. $250 is a ton to try to cut out of any single budget category for an optimized, mostly-needs budget.
Our only budget categories that are over $250 are: tithe (non-negotiable), Roth IRA (not in the spirit), rent (impractical), and groceries. And as we’ve been struggling to even keep groceries within our $400 budget (with our nutritional goals), even with eating down our pantry, doing it on $150 doesn’t seem likely.
We could also stop saving for future travel and car repairs, but that will just screw us down the line, not make for a no-consequences fast.
Now, if you challenged me to save $50 across several categories we might be able to talk!
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We’re making a goal to eat in 5 days a week. This might not seem like much to most, but we have an eating out problem. We made the goal this week and I posted about it on my blog today (http://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2013/02/6523-in-january-extra-income-and-goals.html).
Wish us luck! One step closer to getting a new house.
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Ha. To save THAT much, I’d have to give up food, water and possibly a kidney.
I live in Bulgaria
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You should get more than $250 for a kidney.
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I had to give up a kidney for a similar saving challenge last year and got much more than $250. Shop your kidney around to make sure you’re getting the best deal
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Isn’t it illegal to be paid for an organ? At least in the US?
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Oh, I don’t know, to be honest. I was making the (somewhat whiny) point that I’d almost have to resort to selling an organ to accomplish $250 in new savings… $100 maybe, and with some creativity, but I’ve streamlined pretty well.
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LOL you guys!!
))
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I was going to agree with the commenters above, but then I realized that my husband and I each get $100 per month for fun money. We could probably cut that, but honestly, we don’t want to. It has worked really well for us, and has actually decreased the amount we spend on luxury items since there is a finite cap ($1200 per person per year).
While we don’t feel the need to cut this out now, a few years ago, when we were $65K in debt, we could have really benefitted from this exercise. We had to learn how to identify and cut out luxuries and now that we have a networth of $310K we can add back $200 for fun money.
Good luck to everyone!
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We were actually set to trim our budget back even further in February in groceries, pocket cash, and our unexpected items/gifts categories but then January happened. A 5-week month where everything seemed to fly at us at mock speed (increase in daycare costs, 2% hike in taxes, life insurance due, state taxes due, annual car maintenance, professional memberships fees due, car registration due, extra medical expenses, and some modest residual from Christmas in the form of dog-boarding expenses). We could weather it all and were prepared for many of the expenses but it made me feel like we needed to keep our written budget as-is right now, in-part because it’s been working for us financially and quality of life-wise.
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January is always a tough month for our family also. Lots of things come due and no overtime. Try as I might to plan ahead, it always sneaks up on me. I can relate.
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$250 is a pretty high number for one month!
That said, I could easily cut cable/internet and save $130. I could run outdoors and cut my gym membership, that’s another $45. And then, for this month, we could easily cook our Valentine’s Day dinner at home with a bottle of wine, instead of going out to eat, and that would save the additional $75.
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Those are possible cuts, but they’re not really things you can cut for just one month. You can’t decide you don’t want cable for just one month; you have to cancel it for good or pay the money to have it turned back on after a month.
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Yeah, I cut cable years ago, but internet is non negotiable.
One thing I did do is call to get a cheaper internet bill. I am trying uverse and for the year it is (supposed to be) 20 a month, as compared to the 70ish it had crept to before. Part of this is because I was able to cancel the phone line. So this should save signficant amounts over the year, but not in a month.
Cutting things like cable for a month is not practical. You would probably get unhooking/rehooking fees, etc..
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I currently save $250 from each check I get (which is twice a month). I’ve been doing this for the past year. At first it was hard but now it’s just a way of life.
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I think probably cheaper or cook-at-home dates (leave the kids with a babysitter and rush back home!), and convincing my parents to come visit us rather than us going to visit them (they’re motivated to come visit for the grandkids) — we don’t own a car, so the car rental, gas, pit stops, etc. for one trip out to them could easily hit close to the target.
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I think this is a great idea – and while I sympathize with those saying that they have nothing left to cut, I think that means that this challenge is just not for you. Not every post on GRS is going to apply to every reader.
I’m already cutting back on drinking, but I think I will try to reduce that even more in February. That should save $50 or so – last month I went to a bar a few times and that adds up quickly.
I also spent $235 on eating out last month, so that’s the obvious place to cut. I’ll be going out for a Valentine’s Day brunch, but my goal will be for that to be my only eating out. Those two things should get me pretty close to $250 in savings.
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You know, at first I completely agreed with the people who said there’s no way I could cut $250 out of my budget, because with my existing budget I can’t. But then it occured to me that if I were willing to put the effort into it, really there are two ways I could accomplish this goal. The first would be to change my existing budget; currently I babysit about once a month to earn some fun money. If I bumped this up to five nights a month, assuming an average of 5hrs/night and $10/hr, and put this towards saving rather than fun money, Bingo-goal achieved. Alternatively, time is money, right? I figure that I won’t babysit for less than $10/hr, so that’s a reasonable estimate of what my time is worth to me. Right now, my habit is to put aside cleaning during the week and have one big cleaning day on the weekend (the logic being when I get home from work I’m tired and I deserve to just chill or do something enjoyable). The downside of this logic is that if I would take 15-20 minutes a night to put my laundry in the wash or do the day’s dishes, it wouldn’t accumulate into a monster job that takes most of a day. Going with the time-is-money theme, my laziness in the evenings is costing me about 5 hours, or $50, on the weekends. Yes, I’m still doing the work throughout the week, but really I have nothing better to do with a smattering of minutes each night, whereas I have much better things to do with a whole weekend day. If I did these “mini-cleans” nightly for a whole month, I would save myself $200 in time that could be used for better things. That counts, right?
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I love your approach because it focuses on earning more money and valuing your time.
I do see the value in this GRS challenge for many people, even if it doesn’t work for me. I’d like to see a future challenge that focusses on earning more money (besides blogging, please!)
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@ Elizabeth–
Let’s do it now! Why wait? How are you going to make an extra $250 this month? It’s Feb 1st!
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I’m in! I could use some motivation to pad my emergency fund. I have a feeling part of my strategy will be selling some unused stuff — something I seldom do — but we’ll see how the rest plays out
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Hurray! I’m gonna be selling things I make.
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Yo, I cleared $185 today after 3 hours at the merch table. HUZZAH!
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I was planning on a no-shopping Lent (starts 2/13, not so great for Valentine’s Day) and seeing how far that took us.
Then my eldest decided to get married, so we are deep in wedding planning/spending, although this will not be an extravagant wedding by any means. And the car broke. And the basement developed a need for serious and immediate repair. And the youngest is finding that working her own way through college without help is not working.
So it looks like we will actually be spending considerably more, both in Lent and beyond. I think that this is a good idea, but the wrong year.
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We’re going to Disneyland and Legoland this month, so…
I did save a lot on travel arrangements by searching out the best deals and everything is paid for in advance, which also saved some money.
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Regardless of whether or not $250 is a good number. The thing is that most people start their New Year’s Resolutions Jan 1, when it is MUCH MUCH easier to start something ‘for a month’ in February – it’s shorter.
Last year I decided to not buy breakfast, lunch or coffee’s during the work week (we have a full service cafe – so it was pretty tempting) for the month of February – 4 weeks, once you’re two weeks in you’re halfway done
And my restaurant bill was $200 less than usual. $200! $200 for bringing in homemade burritos (that if I were honest were tastier and better for me than the ones from the grill), coffee and leftovers.
To say it was an eye opening experience was the understatement of the year. If you feel like you’ve got you’re stuff dialed in and working like clockwork, and you just want to whine about how bad you’re life is – challenges for change aren’t for you. If you have a sneaky suspicion that you could be doing ‘alot’ better in some area – pick February to try to change it.
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I don’t think you have to save EXACTLY $250/month. This is an exercise to see if you can review your budget for any leaks. February is a good month to attempt change since it is a short month.
My goal is to bring lunch to work every day in February. This will save me less than $250 but at least it is something.
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Previously, I’ve done a kind of shopping fast for February. This year, I’m trying to go to a cash diet for all food/groceries/misc each week.
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Wow, there are a lot of complainypants on here! I went from saving 30% of my take-home pay previous to last June to now over 50%. 50% seems like a lot, right? It does involve some sacrifices, yeah. Cutting cable, making coffee at work instead of going out, buying everything at the grocery store and not going to the convenience store *ever*, buying food that’s on sale as much as possible, quitting the lottery pool at work, using the library for DVDs, telling friends you’re not going out for drinks, walking instead of driving (even if it’s an hour each way)….
I’ve been living like a student pauper for the last 6 months and I have to say I enjoy it!! Life seems so much simpler. And watching that moola grow has been amazing.
Knee-jerk reaction always says, “No way!” but I’m up for the challenge! C’mon we’re all tough cats–we can do this!
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If the things Edward lists were 20% of his take-home pay, he must be getting paid pretty well– or living at home. Kudos to him for saving so much.
If eating out is your besetting sin, certainly a family of 5 can save $250 by never eating out for a month. Or giving up fun money/allowances for everyone for a month. But you need to remember that giving up flexibility in your spending to save will pinch you and your family. Be sure you don’t then turn around and blow it when the month is over.
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1. We’ll only flush each toilet once a week.
2. 1 minute showers each.
3. Reuse TP and Tissues.
4. Coffee grinds reused for a week.
5. So on and so forth.
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one hopes you meant to add a /snark tag.
except this is what my parents do…hardly ever flush the toilet, use no more than 3 squares of paper per toilet use…
if I ever go to visit again, I’ll be staying in a hotel.
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They hardly ever flush the toilet? I’m presuming you mean the “let it mellow” approach? If not, I think the health department should be involved. Otherwise, I’ve never understood the big deal or freak out over trying to save a little water. It doesn’t gross me out, but I would certainly not do that if people were staying with me.
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yes, it’s the “let it mellow” train of thought. although if they could figure out how to let it go longer they would.
they have always been frugal/cheap. packets of ketchup from fast food places so they don’t have to buy any (they buy the cheap hamburgers–when they’re 10 cents a piece) they once stretched a can of Dinty Moore stew by adding stale bread. to this day I am wary of kool-aid type drinks, they always watered them down–both flavor and sugar. I could continue on…
this is not the right post, but that level of frugal does have long-lasting negative effects on offspring.
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Ha – irrespective of the “let it mellow” approach (which my parents didn’t do but I do for environmental reasons) it sounds like you and I grew up in similar households, only maybe not, since I don’t feel like it scarred me. We could probably play the “my mom or dad is so cheap they _____” game for a long time.
My mom is so cheap she orders the $1 burger at a fast food restaurant and takes half home for later. No, really. Sounds a lot like the Dinty Moore example you gave.
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Karla,
Not to be rude, but I’m always stunned by people who will do things like not flush a toilet/scrimp on toilet paper, but then they purchase fast food.
One saves you fractions of a cent, while the second costs you dollars.
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Anne – Those are very different things, and I don’t think it’s fair to equate them and create some sort of inherent contradiction in the way another person lives his or her life. I’m sure we could all find such “ridiculous” things in our budgets if we tried.
I don’t do it to save money but rather to save water, which is a precious resource. And even if someone else is doing it to save money, it takes little to no effort to do so. Getting that $1 hamburger out (which is STILL frugal) saves you the time of shopping for the food, preparing it, and cleaning it up. So, yes, while it is not technically the cheapest option, people do it for a variety of reasons. Finance is not just all about math.
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This challenge is about reviewing where you’re at and seeing if you can make cuts. If you can’t, then fine. If you find that you can save $50 – that’s success!
The point is to do what you can. And if it was easy, it wouldn’t be called a challenge!
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I think if you’re just beginning your journey to save money, it might be easier to find $250 to save. Once you’re already living a fairly frugal lifestyle, that gets to be a pretty big challenge.
Can we live on less? Probably. In a real crunch, we’d have to, but there comes a point where extreme saving becomes stingy instead of thrifty and wise.
I’ll go for the ideas suggested of choosing my own level to squeeze a couple of more dollars out of the outbound cash flow and call it good.
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Well my first thought was there was no way I could save $250 in a month. We don’t have cable, don’t buy much more than essentials and I am a sahm. But I do take my 3-year old to Chick-Fil-A once a week for lunch and that is $9.33 x4 which would be $37.32 if we skipped that for a month. That’s our only eating out. I also have a babysitter come once a week for 3 hours and that’s $25 a week x4 which would be $100 if I skipped that for a month. And I spend $10-15 a week in fun money x4 would be $40-60 in a month. That’s about it for non-essentials and it’s almost $200 in a month. It could be done. But I won’t. I have lots of excuses. The CFA is my only eating out. My husband travels during the week for his job so the 3 hours of babysitting is my only break from 2 small kids. The $10-15 of weekly fun money usually gets spent on something for my daughter or seasonal supplies or project supplies, etc. It’s a choice.
However…………………just this morning, I was looking into how to reduce our health insurance premium which is higher than our mortgage. Seems way out of wack. And it appears that with some effort on my part, I can reduce that by at least $250 a month, maybe $500 a month. Now that would be incredibly awesome and it would a permanent reduction. So we’ll see what I can do. I hope it works.
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Funny, I just wrote an article that I am publishing next week about this subject. I find there are not that many things I am willing to give up for anything. This is something to consider to succeed in a budget or diet.
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Even before this post, I was planning on a reduced or no-spend February. Reading the comments reminds me how lucky I am and how “loose” I get with spending now that I am out of the serious debt reduction phase. (I only have mortgage debt, and am playing it down at a highly accelerated rate).
If you can’t find a place to cut, perhaps February becomes about *making* $250 via selling or consigning things you don’t need. I have some gently-worn clothing that I’m planning to consign this month. I’m also in repair mode; dropped off a sweater and dress for repair last weekend that will potentially bring another year+ of use.
It could bring huge benefits to spend February sewing on buttons, making repairs, cleaning and polishing shoes and purses, organizing your pantry, linen closet, storage unit, bookshelves. You’ll streamline your life and probably find a few things you forgot about. Don’t be so fixated on the $250 number; figure out how you can improve your own situation this month.
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This is GREAT advice. If you can’t cut $250, can you bring in $250? Or find a mix that works for you? You’re right that it’s all about improving one’s situation and getting creative, not on a particular number.
Congratulations on being out of the serious debt reduction phase and paying down your mortgage aggressively! You are where I aspire to be. Now just figuring out how to turn a hope into a plan…
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Since I don’t have cable, I’ve never heard of that Cheapskates show. Eww…those extremes are too extreme.
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well……I guess I could stop the ice-cream and chocolate to save a few dollars.mmmmmm but do I want to?
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Funny – as a chocoholic, I felt the same way for years. Giving up candy, brownies, cookies, ice cream, etc. felt like a punishment, despite seeing my blood sugar slowly rising out of normal ranges into pre-diabetic ranges. Then on 12/31, when I wrote down my 2013 goals (not resolutions), I found myself writing, “I need to give up desserts and sweets.” So I have. Today marks one month of no desserts or sweets – the only exceptions are raw fruit as a dessert, and hot chocolate or chocolate milk as drinks. I still eat carbs and add maple syrup to my morning oatmeal; I just don’t eat desserts. I’ve lost 5 or 6 pounds so far and my blood sugar readings are normal.
At the same time, I’m probably going to pass on the GRS $250 challenge because I’m still focused on this one. A lifelong habit since I was old enough to be sent to the corner store for candy for my mom (with enough change for me to get a bar for myself) doesn’t get eraducated in just one month.
OTOH, I’ve saved a lot from not buying desserts or sweets; the candy machine at work doesn’t get my spare change anymore!
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I have already planned to eat a lot of food from my freezer and pantry stockpile. Just running out of space to store food. This should reduce my grocery bill for this month. I try to bring my lunch everyday, but have been slipping. So I am going to have to plan better to eliminate all lunch buying.
I had to stop drinking wine while I was taking some medication. Now I am going to see if I can cut out my weekend wine drinking for a month.
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I’ve been focusing on making a little more money while i’m waiting for the bus or just watching tv with some iphone apps.
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The comments here are great. It seems as though many of us had the same reaction: “$250 is absurd!” But, the examples given in the comments are inspiring and, more importantly, realistic. I think I’ll shoot for $200 instead, because I’m already pretty stretched. But now I have some great ideas thanks to you all!
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$250 it’s maybe too much for me as I am already doing a lot to cut off expenses, but I think I could save about $100 on food expenses and electricity.
This month I will eat all that I’ve got in my freezer and as the weather is a little bit more warmer, that will cut down on electricity bill.
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I have no place to cut $250 from my budget, but I am going to sell some things on ebay to make more money to save!
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Hi – I agree that $250 may not be a doable number for some (perhaps most) folks who take the time to read blogs like GRS. It’s already a self-selected group interested in saving, frugality, and other associated topics. However, the piece is valuable in that it may get readers thinking about what amounts could be saved, regardless of the specific amount.
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Why not ride a bike to work in February? In much of the country, there’s no excuse. And if they can do it in Iceland, all Americans could do it at least some days!
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Creating a plan to reduce my expenses for the entire year is more manageable than reducing a large amount for one month. Having incurred more than $10K in expenses in 2 months required drastic measures.
I recently went from a monthly cell phone plan to a prepaid trac phone. $200+ savings a year. Cut my cable for a savings of $400 a year. I am practicing mindful spending. For the first time in many years, I’m actually on budget for January. February will be VERY lean. I will rely on gift cards and credit card cash back/credits to get me through the month. If you have determination and drive there is nothing you can’t do once when you put your mind to it.
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I love it! I’m not super frugal. I try, but I’m definitely going out more than I should. For instance, I got take away tonight and though the food will last a while, it was $31! I don’t have a kitchen until my house is finished and am in a long term hotel deal with no stove. I can’t make my own Indian food or many other protein filled healthy options. I can still probably save $250 this month with better food planning alone! Perhaps April will be my no spend month.
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There’s a big difference between $31 dinner and eating in. Without a stove, you can make Ceviche, or guacamole…
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I will not drive this month and will give up dairy.
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Also, no coffee at all. That adds up
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I dunno. Coffee made at home or brought from home in a thermos for office working, is pretty cheap. OTOH, coffee purchased, even at McDonalds and especially at Starbucks, is expensive.
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I will actually just drink water using a collapsible water bottle that I refill at different sinks. I don’t have a coffee machine.
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Dairy alternatives can be brutal on the budget, just to warn you! It can be tricky to get enough calcium otherwise. Even margarine is off limits for me — unless it’s vegan — because it contains milk protein.
Mind you, doing all of my own cooking and baking helps off-set the cost — and eating out is so difficult I rarely do it. Hooray for food blogs!
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That makes a lot of sense. Milk is easy enough to get out of the way; it’s the cheese that shows up in all sorts of foods, but I can prevent this just by cooking my own food. As for calcium, thankfully both broccoli and spinach have plenty of it, and both are very cheap.
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Wow. I am all about saving. I max out my and my wife’s IRAs. She maxes out her 401K at work. We max out our daugther’s college fund. We shop smart, look for bargains etc etc etc, but we live life too. What’s the use of saving if you don’t enjoy yourself?
I save money in some areas so I can spend money selectively. We live in a modest home. We could afford far more but choose not to. How much house do you need? That’s a big savings. I do most home repairs myself. Again big savings. I only buy used cars and drive them until they can’t function. Things like that. This allows me to take very nice vacations, eat at restaurants a couple times a month, buy the things I like. I do look to the future but I am not going to sacrifice the now completely.
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I don’t know if I can save any additional money in February. In order to save 50% of my income, my budgeted spending is pretty tight to begin with.
Since February is a winter month I usually just stay home. I hate cold. If I was going to save money in summer months I would have to cancel my weekend day trips around the area. Which I don’t think would be very good for my mental health.
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Thank God February is a short month.
I already gave up beef last year, I bring my lunch to work everyday, I got a parttime job on weekends. I have to get my cholesterol down under 200, so I’ve already given up certain foods. Let’s see, what else can I punish myself with.
I will use up all the petfood I have stocked up and not go down the pet food aisle.
I will ignore the magazine renewal letters, even if they are offering me a year for $5.
I will not read any of the Sunday flyers.
I’ll think twice about the great stuff at the Tuesday thrift shop before I buy any of it.
I don’t know if I’ll save $250, but we’ll see!
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I just thought up a way to get a good chunk of the way toward it — I offered to host a Super Bowl party rather than going to one this year and everyone is bringing the snacks and drinks they want. Of course, hosting and cleaning have a “cost,” but this is money I would have spent in previous years.
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This is the perfect time for this challenge! 2013 is the year I am paying off all of my credit cards and all of the money I save will go towards this goal. In order to save/earn $250.00 (or more) in the month of February I am going to:
1. Reduce my food budget by using the envelope method. I will set aside $75.00 per week for groceries and eating out. If there is any money left at the end of the week I will use it to make an impulse payment to 1 of 3 remaining credit cards that I am paying off using the debt snowball method. Since I spent over $600 on dining out and groceries last month this should save at $300.00 or more. I plan on bringing my lunch to work at least 3 days each week and I am about to reduce my grocery bill by reactivating my coupon cutting shears. I used them frequently and to good effect when my now adult children were young. Though I buy mostly produce I should be able to reduce my other grocery expenses somewhat.
2. I earned $55.00 for doing a focus group on February 1st and I will apply that towards my savings/debt reduction. I hope to qualify for 1 or more focus groups each month but I will count those chicken when they hatch.
3. I called my cable company this month and was able to shave $24.00 per month off of my bill for the next 12 months.
As I implement this strategy I should be able to save at least $400 in February and because it is not too restrictive I plan to keep this up in one form or another throughout 2013 or at least until my credit cards are all paid off!! What a happy day that will be!
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Depending on your cable/internet company you can put your cable or internet subscription on hold for a couple months. Optimum(Bresnan) will let you do it for 3 months I think. This is mostly used by our snowbirds(people who move to Arizona or Florida for the winter). I did it when I got a teaching job for the summer in China. I didn’t have to pay for hooking it up again, just had to give them the specific dates I was gone.I don’t know what they would have charged me if I hadn’t turned it back on. It was definitely worth the call to ask for me.
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I batch cook and buy vegetables for pasta sauce and chili (2 staples around here) when they are on sale and chop and freeze them so that I am ready to do make some huge batches when I have the time and all the ingredients.
I have 5 pounds of sale onions roasting in the oven now and they will go in the freezer when they are cool.
I agree with the posters that say some of us need to up our income. That is my goal because my expenses have been slashed.
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I try to incorporate a lot of tofu into my diet to cut costs, not just because it’s much cheaper than meat, but because it keeps longer and is sold in packs that contain just two servings or so. If sealed and refrigerated, tofu is good for nearly a year, so I wait for it to go on sale and buy it by the dozens.
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I’m so grateful that I got a slight promotion at work and I am able to save a bit more because of it. I’ve decided that I’m just going to pretend as if I didn’t get a raise and tuck away the extra earnings as savings. As soon as I am eligible, I will also set up a 401k and try to contribute as much as I am able. For the new year I’ve decided to actively take control of my finances and I’m really appreciative of all the things I’ve learned so far from this website. Thanks!
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I’m not sure these efforts will result in $250 of savings but:
1. Becoming one with my crockpot. I made a darn fine roast this week.
2. Fixing things. Stuff that doesn’t work drives me nuts. I am getting out my glue gun to put rubber backing on some rugs, weatherstripping some gaps, shoes are at the cobblers.
3. I ordered 2 new kitchen appliances to be delivered sometime later in the month. They’re replacing barely functioning, loud, unattractive, inefficient appliances. I’m taking advantage of a period of no interest to purchase them, and I am super excited to have them.
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Well, I gave myself a $1300/mo paycut last month, so (a) I know it’s doable but (b) there isn’t any room now. My salary is half grant, half paid by my employer, and I’ve decided to stretch out my activity to a second year…thus the pay cut. What went:
a) after school childcare for my elementary aged kids. They were only going 3 days/week to make it easier on my WAH husband and to help them make friends in a new school. We’ve figured out a playdate exchange that helps, and the kids just have to be quiet when he’s on conference calls.
b) reduced eating out, reduced the kids’ college savings, stopped adding to our car saving acct (we’ve got enough to buy one new car or two used ones), started grocery shopping at Aldi’s (and discovered some swaps that are ok and some we can’t tolerate), etc.
So the fat is gone, but it’s worth the lifestyle change!
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Also, how about checking your insurance rates? We did that a couple of years ago, and saved $800/yr by switching. That’s $75/mo and no change in quality of life. How about checking your credit card statements carefully to see if there are any subscriptions that you don’t use anymore? I found a newspaper subscription ($9/mo) and a kids site we don’t use anymore ($15/mo). There is $100/mo without sacrificing anything.
I’m also trying to plan meals around what we have and intentionally using leftovers instead of going to the store.
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Jane: Actually, finance is all about math. Economics gets into value… Maybe you can say that finance isn’t all about short-term math? Wasting water definitely could have a long-term cost.
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