Where to spend now to save later?

[Junegoddess]

Hi, y'all... I don't generally post here, but I figured this was your kind of question.

For the last two years my family has had "extra" money every month. We didn't realize (luckily) that my husband would qualify for Social Security while recovering from his war injury, and so we rented a cheap house and were all set to live within our usual paychecks. We've had almost an extra paycheck every month. Yes, it has been fun.

Well, that's all set to end fairly soon. We have no idea yet HOW soon, but we're guessing Septemberish. No one can tell us a concrete answer, nor will anyone even hazard a guess. He's going through the medical board process and will likely be medically retired from the Army.

So. It suddenly whapped me upside the head just how fast this is approaching. I need to make plans!! I'm trying very hard to NOT stress about this at all, since I'm pregnant, and since worrying doesn't solve anything anyway. Our income might take a severe hit... might not... all depends on so many things we don't know yet.

SO... I'm trying to think ahead on what we can buy now that will help us later. We can't really stock up on food too much, because we will be moving. (Buying a house if he gets retired and we stay where we are, possibly a military move if he's not retired.) Can't invest in a garden for the same reasons. I'm trying to think of possible future budget busters- and how to prevent them. We have really old cars, but I don't see us doing anything about that. I have thought about replacing our washer and dryer with new, eco-friendly ones. Our dryer has been slowly dying for years now, so it'd be nice to buy one anyway. I have been wanting (needing) a dehydrator for a long time, so I might get one of those. I'm mainly wondering what other tools for making healthy food I might want/need... but other household appliances or tools that can save money long-term would be nice. Just can't think of what those might be. It's not much help if what we buy breaks really soon, so I want quality items.
If there wasn't the specter of another possible military move I'd want to finally get some glass food storage stuff. But, I know how that sort of thing gets broken....

Any ideas? Some of the money needs to go to baby stuff (a doula, some more cloth diapers, maybe some sort of hammock), but I'm still hesitant to start buying anything, because I've lost so many. I'll probably just set money aside for that.

What would you buy if you knew your income was going to drop soon?

[MCsMom]

We are in sort of the same situation right now. We are stockpiling money for the moment. Personally that is what I would suggest for you as well . . .

[Pernillep]

honestly, I would put as much money aside as possible. That is, if you are debt free. What is the hurry to spend the money now?

It would come in handy for moving, building a food supply once you know where you will land and other unexpected expenses etc.

[jessemoon]

I like to have pre-paid credits for online photo developing. (Snapfish etc) Then, I have the ability to develop pictures for presents for relatives etc.
They are usually cheaper when you prepay for a bunch all at once.

I also buy a few books of "forever" stamps right before the price of postage increases. It's not cost-effective to buy a ton...but a few is nice.

Can you buy canning supplies if you find a good deal?

What about replacing any appliances that might be on their last legs?

[mightymoo]

Originally Posted by Pernillep

honestly, I would put as much money aside as possible. That is, if you are debt free. What is the hurry to spend the money now?

:

Save all you can and figure out how to best reduce your expenses, then once you find out what things will shake out, you have that money to set yourself up.

[Junegoddess]

We don't have any debt... that was our number one priority with our extra money. And that's why I don't see us replacing our vehicles, even though they are old. Being debt-free is awesome.

We stink at saving money,though. We managed to put dh's last re-enlistment bonus into a completely separate savings account, so it's hard to touch and easy to forget, to be ready for a down payment on a house.

But our regular savings account... gets raided. Retarded, I know, but we're still learning. We were like kids in a candy store when we first had extra money every month... couldn't say "no" to anything.

I love the idea of stamps and pre-paid stuff. I think one of the chiropractors I went to had a pre-pay option... which would be an awesome idea. If we're still HERE. Hmm... have to think about that one. We just replaced our ancient printer and the new one can do photos... so maybe I'll just buy a stack of photo paper.

Our extras so far have mostly been really good food, books, video games, extra TV channels, getting neighborhood strays "fixed", and we finally had a short family vacation. We don't give a hoot about fancy gadgets, clothes, or furniture. We did finally buy some furniture we needed.

I think I'd like to replace our stand-alone freezer. It's a chest freezer, which is supposed to be the most efficient, but I can't reach the bottom without literally standing on my head. I want an upright one!

[Junegoddess]

Originally Posted by mightymoo

:

Save all you can and figure out how to best reduce your expenses, then once you find out what things will shake out, you have that money to set yourself up.

That's what my dh suggested, too. We might be able to do that, now. We get more mature every year. I think maybe if we save half of each Social Security check from here on... and the rest can go to predicted needs.

[mightymoo]

If you really feel like it needs to be more untouchable, perhaps consider CDs or T-Bills, they have specific maturity dates and are less accessible than other savings, but if you really needed to redeem early, you could at a slight penalty (usually like 3 months interest).

[Delicateflower]

Why do you need to spend it? Why not save it and then spend it if and when you need to?

[yeahwhat]

I'd sock it away in an account I couldn't easily get to. Maybe like an ing account, where it would take a couple of days to get the money so I couldn't squander it on a whim. Then I'd transfer the extra $$ as soon as they hit my account.

[Kyamo]

If you're going to be moving, anything you buy you'll have to move, so save it so you can buy things you need after you move and/or emergencies. Especially don't buy a washer/dryer, lots of houses you buy include major appliances like that. If you can't trust yourself, make it less accessible somehow. ING, or even another local bank different from your regular one, or some other way.

[Om Girl]

I totally agree with saving it and putting it into an account that you don't have easy access to. DH and I are the same way...if we have "extra" money we find "essential" things that we need (that we didn't "need" before). So yeah...sock it away for the unknown!

[mrs joe bubby]

I'm in the same situation, will be losing the equivalent of one full paycheck at the end of the year. Have to be quick since my battery is dying, but I am doing the following: making sure I will be debt free at the end of the year, socking as much money as I can into CDs( I am the SAME as you w/ savings, I just take it out and spend it like it's "free money"! : ) and stockpiling foods/supplies with long shelf lives. Good luck!

[sunanthem]

One thing you could do that would save a bit of money, and alot of stress is to pay your car insurance off for 6 months instead of monthly. That's one less bill you will have for awhile.

[MCsMom]

If you are afraid that you are going to spend it could you go and get pre-paid Visa Gift cards with it and then freeze them or something? Like if you had 5 cards or 200 dollars each frozen seperately you couldn't spend the 1000 'that' easily so would you be more able to just save it?

[mightymoo]

Originally Posted by MCsMom

If you are afraid that you are going to spend it could you go and get pre-paid Visa Gift cards with it and then freeze them or something? Like if you had 5 cards or 200 dollars each frozen seperately you couldn't spend the 1000 'that' easily so would you be more able to just save it?

I wouldn't do this personally. First, many of those gift cards have fees if they are not used within a certain amount of time, which can basically whittle away your balance to nothing. Plus if the card became damaged, you could just be completely out the money. VISA could also choose not to honor the cards, like circuit city and other retailers did, in these unstable times, I'm not concerned about a gift card here or there, but I don't think its a good idea to bet my savings on that.

Also, honestly, I think a gift card in ice in the freezer is much more accessible than a separate savings account at a bank. Just go to a bank you don't have an account at, say you want to open a standalone savings account. They will give you an ATM card to access your savings from the ATM, cut this card up. Now, the only way you have access to this account is if you physically go into the bank during banking hours and fill out a withdrawal slip. Much harder than thawing a card out of the freezer under hot water IMHO.

[Junegoddess]

Thank you for all the good advice and suggestions!

I will wait on replacing our washer and dryer... unless one of them dies. We're likely over our weight limit for a military move as it is. Being able to leave those behind and buy at our new destination makes a lot of sense. Unless the move is delayed for a year (which it might be and we don't know yet)... I do not want to attempt washing and drying diapers in our current set-up. Egads!

I'm going to see if we can get an auto-deposit set up for our ING account.

[Lisa85]

Unless you have anything major that has less than a year before it dies (car, appliances, etc) I'd save it. Oh, and new socks, shoes, and underwear for the entire family unless what they have now is already in good condition. Maybe it's me, but I don't realize until it's almost too late how sad of a condition mine get in and I hate spending money on those things.