Frugality

I have always loved to save money.  I am a sucker for a good deal, and have always tried to be a good steward of the money I have.

Being young and semi-newly married (December makes 3 years!), saving money has gone from a hobby to a necessity.  Recently, since my husband has gone back to school full-time and we are down to one income, our money has gotten tighter; and now, due to some unforeseen circumstances, it is even more so.

So now I am faced with the challenge of paying all our bills and finding some way to afford gas and groceries as well.  I will admit that I had a breakdown at first- a moment of "how in the world are we going to manage this and still eat?!?!" But then I settled into my attitude of "there's always a way."  We won't let this defeat us, and we will find a way to break even.

First, let me acknowledge that we have some amazing family, and neither side would let us starve to death.  For that, we are so very, very thankful.  But now that we are married and living on our own, it is our responsibility to manage our own finances and not rely on someone to bail us out.

The first thing we did was find ways to bring in more income.  I read on The Humbled Homemaker that you might not have a spending problem, you might have an income problem.  Both my husband and I are going to work part time helping my parents to do some work on a house they are trying to sell, and another property they are fixing up to rent.  We can make more money that way, and it is also more flexible with our schedule than both of us getting separate part-time jobs.  Not to mention, we can do this together, and not be spending weekends apart at other jobs.

I am coming up with a few strategies to save extra money as well.  First, I am cancelling our non-necessary bills.  There aren't many of them, but every little bit helps.  We subscribed to Netflix for $9 a month, so that has been cancelled.  We are also debating whether or not to cancel our internet service.  It isn't on contract, so we could cancel now, and get it back when things improve.  Also, we have unlimited data on our phones, so using that instead will work for homework and browsing the web.

Our cell phone and satellite are both on contract, and each one would cost $300 to cancel.  Yikes. So we will continue with those for now.

Our gas and grocery budget is another thing to tackle.  We are being very mindful of unnecessary trips.  I don't leave work for lunch (bonus: I get to leave an hour early!) and Jason doesn't leave campus until he is done with school for the day.  His class schedule makes it difficult for us to commute together.

As far as groceries go, My family has a full beef in the freezer, and we all are able to use that as we need.  Not having to buy meat will save us a lot. We are cutting back on extras like frozen, pre-cooked items, convenience breakfasts, eating out, and sodas and drinks.  I am trying to look at the things I already have in my pantry, and finding meals that I only need one or two ingredients to complete, instead of planning meals where I need to purchase several ingredients.  I am looking at making some soups and stews too, as those are very cost effective. Red beans and rice is a very inexpensive meal that is tasty too.  You can leave out the sausage to make it only pennies for a serving!

As I come up with other strategies to save/make money, I will be posting them here.

What are your favorite ways to earn or save money?