I read a lot of debt and personal finance blogs, and I love when they have great lists about how to improve finances or get debt under control. So I decided to let you know what Denis and I have done in recent weeks to reduce our expenses in 2009:
- Cancelled trash pickup service – our section of town does not include trash pickup, and so we had to pay a service to collect our trash and recycling. It was $22/month for once a week pickup. We cancelled the service, spent a few bucks buying a shiny new garbage can at Lowe’s and are now saving $264 this year by taking the trash to the dump ourselves.
- Signed up for MagicJack – No doubt you’ve seen the commercial for MagicJack, the USB phone jack that you plug into your computer to make free local and long-distance calls. It’s a new VOIP service and is even cheaper than Vonage. For one year of service MagicJack is $39, and the INCLUDES the one-time cost for the adapter. After the first year, each year of service is $19.95. For a YEAR of service. We are currently paying $25/month for a local-only landline (we use our cellphones for long-distance calls) and I think even Vonage is about $15-20/month. We are keeping the home phone for another month or two in the hopes that MagicJack will begin to let people port their current home numbers to the MagicJack (this is a feature promised for 2009). By March, if they haven’t introduced the feature, we’ll be cancelling our home phone and will just stick with the number that MagicJack assigned to us. So, $25/month for regular landline is $300/year. MagicJack is $39. That’s a savings of $211 (taking out the payments we’ll make in January and February to keep the home phone a bit longer).
- Reduced our DirecTV – this was a tough one, because you all know how much I love my tv. However, we bit the bullet and reduced our package. We got rid of two rooms of service (we had four) and reduced the monthly package from 150+ channels to 45. Original monthly bill: $90. New monthly bill: $50. Savings in 2009: $480
- Reduced our cell phone perks – this was another tough one, considering the fact we both have smartphones. However, paying $162/mo for two cellphones is just out of control when you are trying to reduce expenses! As such, I removed all extras from my Blackberry except for the ability to send 200 text messages a month. I did the same on Denis’ PDA. Our monthly bill went from $162/mo to $70/mo, representing $1104 in savings in 2009. WOW!!!
- Cancelled the gym membership – I cancelled my membership a few months ago, but Denis has been very faithful about going 3x a week. However, we recently inherited an old exercise bike from our friends Roger and Amy, and so the goal is to use that instead. Denis’ membership was $30/month. We paid up for January before we cancelled, so our net savings for 2009 will be: $330.
- Paying off the van – we have less than $1500 left on the loan for our van. In February we plan on making a payment in full rather than continuing to pay through April or May. This is not really an active reduction in finances, since the van would get paid off this year regardless of any active planning. However, I’ll count it as a reduced expense since we won’t be making the payment anymore after February. Savings in 2009: $3750.
- Paying off my car – we owe a bit more on this car, but we have the funds to pay it off, resulting in a savings of $180/mo in expenses. That’s $1800 in 2009 alone if we pay off the car in February.
- Cancelled our pest treatment service – This expense ran over $350 a year, and will be a temporary removal for 2009. We will spot treat all doorways and windows throughout the year and if we get really bad infestations we’ll go ahead and sign up with another service which has cheaper rates. I hate bugs, so it’s almost worth it to me to keep it. However, I’m hoping that the addition of storm doors to our front and back doors will alleviate some of the creepy crawlies that make it into our house. I can also buy some diatomaceous earth and douse the exterior base of the house. Bags of that run about $15. Savings after we buy sprays and such ourselves: About $300.
Just those expenses alone equal over $8200/year in expenses that we don’t have to pay out. On a month to month basis that’s an average of over $650 (give or take based on when expenses stop being paid) each month that we’ll be saving. Yes, it sucks having only about 30 channels to choose from (I’m sad I can’t watch the new season of Solitary 3.0 that just started on Fox Reality Channel – I love that show). Yes it sucks no longer having GPS and email on my Blackberry. But. And it’s a big but. I’m willing to do without those things for 2009 if it’ll help reduce our expenses by $650 a month. We’re doing other things besides that that I’m not going to mention, but suffice to say – this tightening of the belt, while painful right now, will hurt less as we shift our focus from the frills to the needs.
What about you? Given the current economic climate, what steps are you taking to become a bit more financially stable in 2009?
We were able to refinance, combinging a home equity loan into the new mortgage and saving several hundred dollars a month. But it was a squeaker; our home has lost value, of course, like everyone else’s, and we barely qualified for the lower interest rate. But at the end of the day we did, and are saving some substantial bucks.
Also, our local supermarket does $6.00 take home pizzas every Friday; that’s become our new date night. I doctor up the pizza with a little pizzazz (Heh. I made a punny!), like extra cheese, garlic, olive oil; we pop in a DVD, and have a nice evening.
Melanie – we debated getting rid of Netflix, which is $15/month, but figured that since we were reducing our DirecTV choices we’d probably end up watching MORE movies than we do already. Add in the ability to watch Netflix on our computer whenever we want, and it seemed a good decision to keep the membership. Besides, one great advantage to Netflix is that it will allow you to put your account on HOLD (and thus remove the monthly expense) – we did this last year, keeping it on hold for about 9 months until we decided we were ready to begin watching movies again. So if we find we aren’t renting as much, we’ll just put it on hold, saving the $15/month until we decide to reactivate the account.
My tips:
Never (hardly ever) eat out. Rarely buy prepared foods at the supermarket. I make my own soups, pasta sauces, flavored yogurt, breads, pizza dough, etc. It is more fun for me to look up a new recipe and cook it than ordering it at a restaurant, as most often I can do a better job. Cook a lot of things at once (like a Sunday afternoon) and then freeze and package for later use. Also, shop at the liquidation stores that often have some very cheap exotic ingredients and/or slightly expired food – just be smart about it. Pack lunches for school.
Think VERY HARD before throwing out edible food. If the kids have too much on their plates, wrap up their plates and they can have leftovers another time. If they eat half a banana, put the other half to good use somewhere.
I love the adventure of thrift stores and garage sales, and buy a LOT of stuff used. Garage sales are best for board games, kids clothes, exercise/camping equipment, sports equipment, books, kitchen gadgets, holiday decorations, greeting cards, wrapping paper, etc. I bought a $20 used screen house last year and $2 cots and we slept outside a bunch of times, bug-free!
Priceline for hotel getaways, or buy a used tent (so easy to find) and go camping instead – in your case, bring a can of Raid!
Prepaid cell phone = ~$6/month.
Use the library for books and movie rentals. Use friends for books and movie loans. No going to the movies. Watch only free on-demand movies. Use hulu.com, etc. In your case, also borrow/loan Wii games.
Combine errands when driving. Public transportation to work (also you get in more walking that way). Walking for exercise around the neighborhood, or bike riding.
We have a similar trash pickup arrangement, and are now on “on demand” pickup only, for $9 a pickup. We get service about every 5-6 weeks, versus $16/month otherwise.
Can you change your own oil? It’s not hard to do.
Dry Cleaners Secret, etc. for dry cleanables at home.
Doors closed and heat off in rooms that aren’t being used. TV room closed off when most of our time is spent there. Programmable bedroom thermostats that come on at 8PM weeknights and 10PM weekends. Lights off unless we are in the room.
Sell what you aren’t using. Either sell things piecemeal in CraigsList, or sell them all at a garage sale. Organize a neighborhood garage sale and share the cost of advertising. Or, organize a children’s clothing swap as your kids grow into larger sizes.
If Front Porch Forum is in your neighborhood, join up and see what kinds of things you can loan and borrow from neighbors, rather than buy for yourselves.
If ends get even harder to meet going forward, think about going down to one car. Drive Denis to work (or he can take a bus) or go without a car yourself. Or buy a rustbucket. Do not forget to adjust your car insurance status to reflect that you are not driving to work. Also raise your deductables on car insurance if you haven’t already.
I do think you have a passion for saving money and home economics stuff. Blog posts where you are most fired up are usually about wise money managing. Just my observation.
Beth – those are all great recommendations! Denis and I save a lot by buying meats at Costco, where they are cheaper. We also buy our TP and papertowels there since the prices are cheaper than regular grocery stores.
I doubt we’ll ever go down to two cars, but having them both paid off in the next couple of months is going to be a huge saver for us!
And it’s funny you mention the library – I printed out an application just today to apply for a library card! I have a long list of books in my house that I still need to read, but at some point I’ll run out and will need to satisfy my need for more books – the library is just the ticket!
I was going to recommend the library. I haven’t bought a book to read in eons.
These are great suggestions – I did want to caution you about your bug service in SC though — it’s still worth the money to do you annual termite treatment. We learned that the hard way when we were in SC and the amount we would have spent each year was nothing to having to pay to get damage removed/fixed/etc. Not sure if those were part of the service you mentioned, but if they are, consider finding the price on just an annual termite check/spray.
Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth is the one you want to be using. Here is a cheaper source for even more savings, http://www.gardenharvestsupply.com/product/diatomaceous-earth-de-food-grade
Beth – no, our bug service did not include termite treatment. When we bought the house in 2006 we had a termite check done and were clear. So for 2009 I’m not too worried about it. And as I said – it’s possible that we’ll bring back the bug treatment if I just can’t take it anymore.
Joe – thanks for the link! Fortunately, I have a local garden center that sells diatomaceous earth which saves on having to pay shipping!
Install google maps on your blackberry. It’s not precise, but it does enough good for us, at least.
Regular, yearly termite inspection is a must! This house and the last one both had termite infestations. As soon as we noticed the swarms the termite company came to take care of them post haste. Worth every penny of insurance, believe me.
Lori – I’ll look into that. Unfortunately, a good portion of my memory is already used by other applications. Of course, I can delete a couple of them (such as the Facebook Mobile application) which may free up some space.
One way that I saved big was to call 1-800-FREE411 for all of my directory assistance needs. I saved $20 last month just by making this change!!! It is sooo easy!
By the way, when one has a termite infestation, it is not just a simple fix as in spraying. To begin with they actually have to drill holes around the perimeter of your house in order to get the chemical where it needs go ~ thus the cost.