Help give me money saving ideas!

[dotgirl]

DH and I have decided that we'd like to buy a house sometime in mid-2007. To this end, we are saving money for the down payment. We've been doing pretty well at saving anyway, but it should be noted that we live in Seattle - so we're not going to be able to find anything within 30 minutes of the city for under $400k. Which means we need a $80k downpayment to make 20%. Which is scary!

Anyway! I just wanted to ask everyone to share their "money-saving" ideas. We've already gotten rid of my parking spot at work and both started bringing our lunches 3 days a week. What are some other ideas?

Thanks in advance!

[JElaineB]

DH and I cut our income in half when I quit my job after DS was born. I am working FT again but we still use some of the savings ideas I found then.

I would highly recommend reading _The Complete Tightwad Gazette_

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/037...books&v=glance

It has lots of good ideas in it. Some are definitely quite radical but others are very doable.

Other ideas:

Cell phones - switch to prepaid cell phone plans (Both DH and I have tracfone)

Long distance - use a prepaid plan. We use Onesuite for 2.9 cents per minute

Cable/satellite TV - cut down to the most basic service or get rid of it altogther.

Eating out - do only very rarely

Groceries - Buy generic or store brands as much as possible. I never had luck buying store brand toiletries though.

Insurance - take a look at your car insurance (I assume your don't own a house yet?). See if you can raise the deductible on your coverage. A small increase in deductible can save quite a bit sometimes. Don't be afraid to shop around for better deals on insurance as well

Those are some of the big ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[dotgirl]

The cellphone idea is great! DH uses his constantly for work, so they pay for it (no savings there, but no money being spent). But I only use mine a few times a week, yet I pay about $60 per month! I just checked and it looks like if I go to a pre-paid plan, I'll save $45 per month. Thank you!

We also don't have cable/satellite, any of that. We did just readjust our insurance with higher deductible, so that will also help.

I'm definitely going to check out the book you recommended.

[VClute]

If you don't already, participate in a flexible spending account at work for medical expenses and daycare. Don't forget that even OTC meds and milage driven counts towards eligible expenses.

If you're already good at saving, make sure that all your banking is FREE. We have our liquid savings in an interest-earning money market account. Since you're saving for something to be used within 2 years, this might be a good option.

Pretend that one of you has been laid off and live only off the other one's salary. What little luxuries would you live without if that were the case? (Besides parking space and lunch - those don't count since you've already said that! :) ) Pick three and get rid of them.

I'm a big-time coupon clipper and thrift store shopper. DS's clothes are almost ALL second-hand. Many of mine are, too! I also consign or Ebay a lot of clothes (etc) we don't need anymore.

Best of luck on getting a house - how exciting for you!

Amy in NC
mom to Dixon, born 2/14/05

[bostonsmama]

If you do a search of the archives, there have been some amazing threads on how to save money! *I* have even learned some great tips from them.

We've done lots of penny-pinching over the years (to likewise fund pricey renovations for our home). In addition to what everyone else said, you could:
-get an energy-saving thermostat and turn down the heat or up the a/c
-do free/cheap activities through your local parks/rec center or library or church to get baby out
-cut your food bill (shop the sales, coupon clip, share a wholesale membership, find a Trader Joes- :) )
-cloth diaper?...I dunno what your situation is with that...
-cut alcohol, cigarrette, and expensive (Starbucks) splurge/habit purchases
-get flourescent light bulbs


Oh, and my mom (a realtor) said if you go with an FHA loan and have at least a 600 credit score that you can do 3% down, but there are limits on the price of the home, credit history and area. Check with your loan officer. Also, there's a new loan called an 80/10/10, where you take out 2 loans, put 10% down on the first loan, owe 80% to cut private mortgage insurance, and take out a second loan where you'll be mortaging/making payments on the remaining 10% of the purchase price. If you qualify, there are also 100% financing loans, although the payments would be really easy to fall behind on, esp w/ $400K+. Anyways...I know you didn't ask, but I know how exciting it is to dream of that first home in a nice area.

Good luck...and check out a search of the lounge!

Larissa
***Cheers! Here's to better luck in 2006!***

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
-James Baldwin

[janettadine]

We did the 80/10/10 when we first bought the house. DH crunched the numbers of doing a 90/10 with PMI and the 80/10/10 without PMI, but with a slightly higher interest rate on the 10 loan, and we actually came out ahead. When we first heard about this, we couldn't believe it was legal, but our lender helped us set it up. It helped us get into our house sooner without having to pay PMI (we also don't have to escrow, which we prefer).

Good luck!

Janet

[deenass]

We also did an 80/10/10. We were very lucky, as interest rates started falling and we were able to refinance within a year. OUr property value had gone up, so we were able to get only one loan at 80% of our property value, eliminating the secone higher interest 10% loan.

[searchdog]

We also have an 80/15/5 loan and don't pay PMI. The 80% is a 30yr mortgage and the 15% is a 15 yr loan. We make a whole extra payment to both of these mortgages a year toward principle in hopes of cutting down the length of the loans. I think they told us it would take 8 yrs off of the 30 yr mortgage by doing this. I don't remember specifics.

[CiderLogan]

We did an 80/15/5 on our first condo a few years back, and we were happy with how it worked out. You pay more in interest (but that's tax deductible) and it worked out better than paying PMI for us too. Now we're in a new house with a conventional mortgage, but it really helped with our first place. And it's pretty common these days, as far as I can tell.

I'll add my own little suggestion: go vegetarian! We are veg's anyway, but I'm constantly amazed at how much people spend on meat. Canned/dried beans, for instance, are super cheap, delicious, and healthy.

Jenny
Mom to Julia, 8/03
...and another GIRL due 5/29/06!

[brittone2]

We have had to cut back quite a bit. We moved in June so DH could pursue his PhD, and that dropped income sharply. Fortunately the cost of living where we are now is much less than where we were living before, and the profit on our house will pay our mortgage for the next few years.

Anyway, you got some great ideas from everyone already. Some other ideas:

Consider a programmable thermostat (we bought ours but haven't installed it yet) so you can turn down the heat or AC quite a bit at night but have it turn on in time in the morning to make things warm enough when you get up. The savings on this adds up quite a bit. They aren't cheap but I think they pay for themselves pretty quickly. This may or may not be a good investment depending on how much time you have. You would have to read about it and calculate some things for yourself. If you don't go that route, remember that turning down your thermostat even 2 degrees is a savings.

Consolidate trips/travel whenever possible for errands to save on gas. Plan your route.

Stay out of stores as much as possible. If you aren't there, it makes it tougher to spend money.

Meal plan. Reduce consumption of your more expensive products...meat, gourmet cheeses, etc. Try to cook a few vegetarian or lower cost meals several nights a week.

Cut back on going out to dinner. If you *have* to go out, try lunch on a weekend or going out to breakfast or for coffee rather than dinner. Cut back on the fancy gourmet coffee habit (as the PPs said). Make it a date night one time a week instead, which is waaaay cheaper than dinner :)

Try a version of once a month cooking (there are old threads on this or you can google it) or some version of this. Having backup meals in the fridge makes it less likely you'll call to order a pizza or go out for dinner because you didn't defrost or you don't have the time/energy to cook.

Don't waste food. Simple concept, but I know in our less than frugal lifestyle before, we tossed a LOT of food. Keep an inventory on your fridge of leftovers (we don't do this but I'd like to!) and try to use them up. If you have a doubt about whether you'll get to it in time (half used blocks of cheese for example) toss it in the freezer :) By being organized about it and planning ahead, you can really really reduce the waste you have food-wise. This kind of goes with meal planning...make planned leftovers part of your schedule so you use them up if you can stand the idea ;)

Make your own pizza as a family activity/cheap meal on a Friday night :)

Get something good to carry water in (we have Klean Kanteens) rather than buying bottled water when you are on the go.

If you are heading out on a family outing (beach, museum, zoo, etc.) pack a lunch. It takes 15 mins, and although it can be an inconvenience, it saves a lot of $$ and is healthier.

We don't have cable and we use Vonage. We do consider high speed internet a necessity with DH's need for it with school.

We buy a few good things for DS each season (2-3 more "special" outfits) and lots of the rest of his clothing is a mix of thrift store things and gifts from family members.

Cloth dipes and cloth wipes

Reduce paper towel buying by using cheap-o dishtowels or rags to clean up spills, etc.

Split a membership to a warehouse club (if you consider this a necessity) with another family member and take them as your guests regularly.

Natural cleaning products like baking soda and vinegar work really really well on almost anything and save a LOT of money over conventional cleaning products.

Look for free entertainment in your community. We are near several major universities so there are a lot of cultural events and free music going on all of the time. We do things like that rather than spending money for a very expensive night out at the movies and we don't feel like we are missing anything :)


I wish you much luck...the motivation of a new home and knowing this is all for a short period of time in your lives will hopefully make it all worthwhile :)