Is it possible to be low income and save money?

[Blooming]

Really the title says it all. I'm so sick of feeling like we're one step from doom and gloom, we live pay cheek to pay cheek but I really want to start saving for well, anything that may come up. Anyone else found a way to save and have a low income?

[AngelBee]

Possible but extremely difficult

I will be here taking notes with you. :

[SleeplessMommy]

My Mom did it, and still does it, but she started after us kids were grown. (Much easier this way!)

A few details:
* no cable TV
* many "extras" are gotten from friends - for example use of swimming pool for exercise in exchange for Mom servicing the filter.
* absolutely zero "status" items like trendy clothing of any kind.
* food cooked from scratch, no eating out
* holiday shopping for grandkids less than $50 total
* entertainment comes from library or borrowing movies from a friend

My Mom probably visits "the Mall" less than once a year - and that just for the Sears tool department.

This would be very hard with kids. Imagine going to a yard sale or thrift shop and your kids sees a $3 toy (s)he has been wanting for weeks - and you don't buy it because it would upset the budget. "Fashion" can also be very important to teenagers.

It would also be very hard while working - there is a certain amount of dining out, nice clothing, nicer car, etc to maintain status at work.

This is a very low environmental impact lifestyle. As a bonus, her house is clutter free!

[happyhats]

I think it can happen but I'm not there yet. Reading the Tightwad Gazette helps put things into perspective. Saving from "windfall" money helps as well...things such as an income tax refund, etc.

Always try to lower your income, and become increasingly strigent about saving your change. Try even small ways to increase your income, such as taking recyclables to the center for a little cash instead of just the curb.

I'm working more and more towards this, as I am pregnant and want to a have a little cushion for the new bambina.

[Blooming]

I'm going to have to see if my local library has that book.

I think your right about the kids, that is where all of our money falls. I want then to have safe lunchboxes, solid shoes, and quality carseats. To me these are safety issues. Unfortunately they come with a price tag.

Another place the money falls is to doctor bills as I have so many of them.

The only things that are really extra in our budget is cable($10 a month) and caller id (don't ask we just have to have it). Other then that it's food, heat mortage, etc...

I do save all our change.

The reality is we probably need more income. Because of our situation, I'm not sure that's going to happen.

[Azuralea]

Yes, but it's very, very hard.

[Dar]

I think it is... and I think one of the really key ways to do it is to be proactive rather than reactive. For example, I just found a nice coffee bean grinder at a thrift store and bought it, even though I have a perfectly good grinder... because I know from experience about how long they last, and so I figure that mine will be dying within a year or two, and there's no way the thrift store will have them then. I also buy sweaters in the summer, and shoes whenever I find them on sale.

Buying in bulk helps too. For me, Costco is well worth it, because I save money overall (even though I also walk out of there feeling faint because of what I spent). I am careful to use what I buy, too.

Finally, I think it's important to know what's a good price and what isn't, and what's worth spending a few more cents on and what isn't. I shop at Trader Joe's, Costco, Aldi, the farmer's market, and occasionally the supermarket, in a pinch. There are things at each that are worth buying - cheaper or better and worth paying a little more for, and things that aren't. I don't go to the all every week - Costco is maybe once or twice a month; Aldi's is usually combined with my daughter's church on Sunday, since it's close, etc - and I try to make sure I don't run out of a Costco item before we're due for a Costco trip.

Dar

[savithny]

Yes, but it takes rethinking priorities...

After a year living in an expensive college town and working for just above minimum, back after I graduated, I'd saved over $3K (more than 25% of my income at the time).

When DH was in grad school and I was working a low-wage job, we managed to save a downpayment for a house, and later, to save a significant amount of money. No kids though.

But we did it by arranging our lives in a way conducive to savings. As a single person living in a college town, I had no car. I lived close enough to walk to work. I had to plan a bus ride to shop at the mall. I did NOT live on beans and rice, but neither did I eat lots of prepared foods.

In grad school, we had one car between the two of us. We carpooled to work, negotiated who got the car when, rode our bikes a lot. Bought a house within a pleasant bike ride of work and shops. We chose to forgo a larger home in favor of one located close to work. We meal-planned, shopped with a list, ate out rarely (and considered it carefully). This was before cell phones, so we didn't have those. We kept the heat low, we line-dried stuff. And none of it felt like huge sacrifices. We didn't feel particularly deprived.

I have to say that I really have never understood this:

It would also be very hard while working - there is a certain amount of dining out, nice clothing, nicer car, etc to maintain status at work.

If you have the kind of job where you really have to eat out, wear nice clothing or drive a nicer car to "maintain status," then you're probably not low-wage. Never met a low-wage employer who cared what I drove to work as long as I got there on time, and while I have worked jobs with dress codes, none of them have ever required expensive brand name stuff. And if you're that concerned about driving a nice car to maintain some kind of status with your peers - then you're probably not as concerned with savings, anyway.

I'd add about the kid thing - yes, kids *are* expensive. No denying it. But there's a lot of stuff we've been told is "better" simply because its more expensive. Britax seats aren't actually safer than many other seats out there - the price difference is in the details - the fabrics, etc. Solid shoes are important - but you can get them on sale, or barely used, or on Ebay, and they really don't need multiple pairs. Reusable cloth lunchsacks are lead-free and cheaper than pricey lunchboxes. And yes, I regularly tell my kids they can't have even that $3 toy unless they buy it themselves -- and by the time they're teens they can buy their own expensive clothing if the inexpensive stuff I provide does not suit their tastes.

[SuzyLee]

I think it depends on your COL (in HCOL probably nearly impossible) and whther you planned ahead for your low income. By plannign ahead I mean, did you buy/rent the smallest house you could? Did you never rack up CC debt in the first place? Etc. Because once you are in a place when you have CC debt or a mortgage you can barely afford, it is extremely difficult to get out of it.

I would think the children thing matter mostly on 2 fronts. 1. Eventually food costs will be high when they are teenagers. 2. If you have a bunch of kids (or even 1 or 2) you may be too dang exhausted to drag them all around to different groceries or thirft stores or get them all on and off a bus, or cook everythig from scratch, and the time you spend doing laundry may eat into your recycling time, etc.

[Blooming]

What's COL?

We actually did buy our home in the cheapest way possible. I was almost done working on my degree and wanted to have room to finish. We do have cc debt, that we have been chipping away at for years. We own both our cars, DH works from home so we hardly ever drive, unless to the doctor or right in town, (we live out in the country).

We never go out to eat.

[Turquesa]

Yes. Two words: Tightwad Gazette. Go find the book at your library! (The Complete Tightwad Gazette is all three volumes in one book). Some of the information is outdated (it was written in the early 90s), but most of it is priceless. If my memory serves me, there is even an essay addressing your thread question.

[amis2girls]

Watch every penny of what you spend.
Take out of your income the amount you'll save or you'll send to pay off bills/debt for that pay period, and then everything else. Take advantage of any tax refund and divide it up wisely.

[MorganRiley]

I think its possible too

but it does take extreme consistency, dedication and teamwork

(your spouse/kids have to go along with it)

[Sharlla]

So, we aren't exactly low income( we make 30k a year) but to many that is. Are monthly bills are $400 (we have a lot of extras), we own our house, car and motorcycle outright, so we are doing really well.

[amis2girls]

Originally Posted by amis2girls

Watch every penny of what you spend.

I remembered this monthly thread that helps with accountability: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=940050

[Alare]

What's COL?

COL=Cost of Living

[cappuccinosmom]

Yes it's possible. But you need a plan. You need to know exactly what's coming in, and exactly where every penny is going.

I understand shoes and carseats and lunchboxes, but you aren't buying those every month, I hope. What you should probably be doing is saving up money for those types of expenses, so that when they come around they don't take up a big chunk of the paycheck, or put you into debt on a cc.

Do you know exactly where your money is going now? If not, get a sheet of paper and write *everything* down that you spend for one month. And I do mean everything. That will help you figure out what you're spending on and how to better plan your outgo.

[KariM]

Yes!

When my ex and I were married we earned a whopping combined income of $13K (now this *was* back in the '80s so take that into account).

We used direct deposit and had $50 taken from each monthly paycheck and put into savings. We never saw it and never spent it.

We lived a very frugal lifestyle in a rented house, didn't eat out, didn't have cable tv, our dates were free events, we cooked VERY simple meals. I remember being very creative back then and fed us both for around $100/month.

For us it took a commitment to save to do it. Not every family will have $50 they can shave out, but take whatever you can and eventually it will grow.

[amyamanda]

Originally Posted by SleeplessMommy

This would be very hard with kids. Imagine going to a yard sale or thrift shop and your kids sees a $3 toy (s)he has been wanting for weeks - and you don't buy it because it would upset the budget. "Fashion" can also be very important to teenagers.

This is why I never take my kids to yardsales or thrift shops. I try not to go to them either, because I will spend money if I do, and I'm better off networking for what I need (freecycle, word of mouth, etc). If I do make a rare trip to one or the other, the kids stay home or with another adult in the car. Otherwise the begging/whining gets to me, or the guilt over not getting them something (I freely admit this is my way of managing MY issue, not theirs, LOL).

I also avoid Target and stores like that, but it's easier for me to say "no" to fullprice stuff than cheap stuff. But saying no to the cheap stuff means less money spent.

I don't have teenagers yet, but we've avoided the "fashion" thing by homeschooling - we've been lucky to find like-minded families to associate with.

[ChetMC]

Yes...

It's possible. It just takes a lot of motivation, creativity, planning and time. I lived on about $14,000 a year when I was in grad school. Out of that money I had to pay tuition, buy books, and cover all monthly expenses. I was careful though, and always saved enough to buy 4 to 6 round trip plane tickets a year (usually $600 to $800 each)

Now I find it really frustrating when people I know complain about money when from a mile away I can see how to trim their budget. However, I remind myself that it took a fair amount of effort, creatively, time and restraint to live the way I did then. You have to really want to do it.

So many people just don't have the time to put into saving money. Meal planning, comparison shopping, researching free activities, tracking what you spend, digging through discount bins, planning next year's clothing around this year's sales... it all takes time. However, as a SAHM I have the time to put into it.