Saving money during this time

What are some ways you are saving money during this time?

It just dawned on me today that we no longer need unlimited cell phone plans since we don’t commute and are always on WiFi. Feeling kind of dumb it took me this long.

While we aren’t commuting or paying daycare, we are going to bring on private help that will actually cost more. I’ve been paying a lot more for groceries and did several big “stock up”shops so I don’t feel like We’ve saved that much.

Any other creative ideas I might have missed (like the cell phone plan)?

Saving money during this time

We cut back a streaming services, used to do hulu with live streaming for the sports, but went back to the basic plan. Although I’m saving some money On what we would pay for daycare, my electric bill has gone up and we spend a lot more on food. Previously my kids got breakfast and lunch at school so all I would have to do is pack a snack, drink, and we would make dinner. Since everyone is home we are doing multiple loads of dishes daily also lol. We alsteady had basic cell phone plans through boost mobile at $40/month so not much more We can do to cut costs

Re: Saving money during this time

Other than less gas usage I feel like we are spending more. We get a shit ton of takeout because I really hate home cooked meals and DH tips heavily when picking it up because he feels horrible for the restaurant workers.

I have a wicked online shopping habit so Amazon and Target deliveries are happening daily.

His gym membership is on hold so there's that but that isn't much.

Not much else has changed

Saving money during this time

I feel like March/ April I spent a ton more plus my kids school was still requiring that we pay tuition I really had to look at our budget and and see where we were saving and spending and reallocate things. I have always automated my savings, I increased my automated savings a bit to force myself to live on less. My biggest savings areas were both got coffee 2-3x daily at work (I still get on my shift 1 cup but Starbucks has mostly been paid for by donations during this time) and now for May we didn’t have to pay tuition and June was paid for back in September. We have also spent extra money on home projects redoing some stuff around our house. I also spent a good amount stocking up on cleaning stuff for when I come home from work so I guess it was a wash at some point. As for groceries probably spend more just because I feel like sales are fairly limited and the week before this started my husband was diagnosed with celiacs disease so we had to revamp our food completely
I think ways to cut:
Cut unneeded subscriptions
Cut cable. We haven’t had cable in like 3 years and I don’t miss it. We do have Disney, Netflix, Hulu but those 3 are cheaper then our monthly cable bill used to be
Cut any take out if you have been getting take out
Call your car insurance see if you can get a better rate or shop around
If you have a credit card see about lowering interest
If you have student loans I think there is 0% interest right now so maybe look to pay some down if you can
Only do wash in evenings and hang dry your clothes to not use the dryer
Switch to cloth cleaning rags that you can rewash to save on paper towel usage
Don’t use the AC when it gets warmer just use your fan
Keep all the lights off during the day to reduce electric usage
I know it’s hard to shop sales but still look at sales and maybe the type of product you buy- so switch to generic if you can
Use what you have in your pantry
Use cash back apps such as Fetch reward or Rakuten
Sell stuff on FB market place and save the money
Sell clothes on Poshmark

I’m sure there are a ton of other things, when we first got married we didn’t make much and we cut down to the bare minimum to save back then and I feel like I was super frugal. Now our incomes have changed substantially in the last 7 years so I feel like the areas we spend/ save have changed over time but I think the best thing is to really focus on a budget and don’t go over it

Message edited 5/24/2020 8:21:51 AM.

Saving money during this time

Electric and natural gas went up, but we are no longer driving anywhere or paying for daycare so it’s probably a wash.

We got a credit for our auto insurance, but it was a whopping $26.

My food spending was high Initially, but has gone somewhat closer to normal.

Saving money during this time

I’ve saved on food (I used to go out to eat a lot more), going out (tickets to events and hanging out with friends), and shopping (I’ve limited my shopping to essentials and not just bc I’m bored. My job also stop charging us for parking and the gym (which we’re both pre-tax costs).

But on the flip side, my job told us they won’t be contributing to our retirement for the next 12 months so I started putting more in.

Re: Saving money during this time

We got back what we spent for not taken vacations. I am trying to get back money for the suits for my son’s bar mitzvah that will not happen until next year. We are spending less on gas, my car insurance told me that we would be eligible for a credit soon. My kids camps were refunded. My daughter was supposed to attend a program that was cancelled and refunded. Over all, I think we are spending less, but our food budget was insane in March and April.

Saving money during this time

DH is working from home, so not having to pay for his $400+ monthly LIRR ticket has been nice. Food is way more expensive, but I get PeaPod every two weeks instead of food shopping every week so it hasn’t been too bad. We put our entire stimulus check into savings also.

Message edited 5/24/2020 9:10:05 AM.

Re: Saving money during this time

We are getting less in salary and spending more during this time. It is crazy.

Saving money during this time

My company did pay cuts in mid-April so I have been keeping an extra eye on our spending. We have been saving on gas because FH use to drive a lot for work. I normally take the LIRR & participate in TransitChek pre-tax withholding through work- I have actually continued my withholding so I will have a surplus in my transit account & won’t need to worry about adding out-of-pocket funds yet.
We also received a small discount on car insurance for April & May. We just finished our first year contract for home heating oil & will be getting a refund for over payment there. We were also able to get a great deal per gallon for our new contract.
I was very surprised that our electric usage remained the same with both of us working from home the last 2 months. We are spending about the same on groceries (I have major digestive issues so always cook 3 meals a day).
We are also planning a wedding for September which I don’t think will happen the way we initially thought so we will be able to save money there as well. Luckily we did not book a traditional wedding venue or any vendors so we won’t be losing deposits.

Saving money during this time

I feel like we are spending more. We’ve tackled many household projects recently because we have been home to do it.

Re: Saving money during this time

We have been saving a lot of money. We travel a lot for work and personal so that’s down to zero. I prob had about 10 flights the month of March and April, hotels, Uber, restaurants, conferences.
We have been ordering Instacart for groceries. And hello fresh. I cook most meals or we cook at our friends house.
Have only gotten takeout 3 times.
Not shopping at all, because no where to go.

Restaurants are fully open in south Florida now. My friend went out in boca last night. Not one staff was wearing mask or gloves. Tables far apart. In Miami where I am the waiters wear masks. But I am in no rush to go out to eat anytime soon.

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I feel like I have been spending about the same/more. I am bored to tears, so I will sign up for basically any virtual event I see, and I have been buying a lot of stuff for the house/yard.

Re: Saving money during this time

the first few weeks, i spent money like it was going out of style. i was buying EVERYTHING online and just waiting for whenever they showed up. one week, i got paid on friday, and was dead broke by sunday. i stopped that QUICKLY.

i'm driving more because i'm working six days a week. i'm exhausted when i get home, so we're ordering out a lot more.

with the added income, but the added expenses... i think i'm breaking even. i am throwing a bit more money at the current cc i want to pay off. other than that, nothing much has changed.

Saving money during this time

Def saving on gas and miles! Also got reimbursed for the outside activities and programs for my little ones that got cancelled because of the virus.

Message edited 5/24/2020 2:14:34 PM.

Re: Saving money during this time

We are def saving money. We used to get take out every Friday night, go out to dinner every Saturday with friends and Sundays were either at my inlaws or we’d take in (once ina while I’d make a Sunday sauce if I felt like it) Saturday night dinners can get $$$$ sometimes. So yea, even though my grocery bill is way higher, we’re still ahead without going out every weekend

Re: Saving money during this time

Re: Saving money during this time

DS's activities are cancelled so we're saving a lot on that. No gas or metrocard costs are also savings. We are spending more on food at once, but since DH and DS are not stopping by 7-11 daily on their walks we end up saving. we also got money back for auto insurance. we're doing less laundry so saving there too.

i haven't used my debit card in such a long time, when i finally went to home depot yesterday i forgot my pin and had to call DH.

we already take lunch from home and cook most of our dinners. we started getting take out once a week to keep our favorite restaurants going.
overall, i've been able to save around $400 a month.

Message edited 5/24/2020 2:41:39 PM.

Re: Saving money during this time

Re: Saving money during this time

Re: Saving money during this time

Re: Saving money during this time

Our biggest savings is the $600/ month we spend commuting--at least for April & May. We had already paid for March. We didn't fill the car up often unless w ehad to go to LI, but I think we are still on the same tank of gas form 6 weeks ago.

Our last CC bill was down pretty much only by the train ticket amount. We are also eating out less--i used to eat breakfast & lunch out 3-4 days in addition to going out for dinner twice a week, now we have been getting take out only once most weeks, sometimes twice and eating lucnch at home. I still tip for takeout because i feel bad, but I don't buy alcohol out, so I expected more of a difference, but I am also not taking cash out, which I did every two weeks or so when I was working.

I did shop more--partially b/c it was my birthday & partially b/c I am using more stuff at home ( finished some bottles of liquor I'd had for years, realized my tea kettle was rusty. etc)

We kept our phone as is--Verizon gave us unlimited data, so we haven't gone over, but we rarely do.

We did sign up for Disney plus b/c there were some things DH wanted to watch but we will cancel that soon.

Re: Saving money during this time

Some good ideas. I feel like we should be saving so much but I guess it’s timing. We paid for April train pass as it was too late to cancel so we have a credit. We also have a huge jet blue credit since our trip canceled.

Good to hear others are similar I felt like I was doing something wrong that we weren’t saving a lot but I think kids are expensive. Lol.

Re: Saving money during this time

Re: Saving money during this time