[Scullery]

We really need to build an emergency fund.

Gross income - approx $2400 a month

Monthly expenses
*Rent (includes heat and water) - 879
Electricity - 100
Cable TV, internet, phone -150
Food - 600
Household -100
Laundry - 100 to 150
*Tuition - 110
Gas - 80
*Medications - 100
*Medical co-pays - 60 to 100

Which leaves around $30 a month. We squeak by, before DH was working extra shifts but there is no more OT available now. I sat down DH today and told him we need to buckle down and save serious money for the next 6 months because we have no savings, and if something happens it will be catastrophic.

The * are fixed expenses that I can't/won't change. We live in a small apartment in a great complex. I am slowly taking classes to go to nursing school and I am paying it in monthly installments. We have health and SN issues, we order meds when we can to save money, but I can't budget less than that. We don't have any debt beyond student loans in deferrment (which is why I am paying tuition now instead of taking more out.

Our cars are hand-me-down beaters from family so no car payments, and my mother pays our car insurance to help us out, this will end next year.

I am open to any and all suggestions. I do need to keep internet for taking classes online, but other then that I'll try anything. Our goal is to have at least $500 in an emergency fund in 6 month. If we can't do it, then I am going to look for a part-time job and put my kids in school (we homeschool.) This isn't a threat BTW, "Help me or the kids go to school!"

We just need more money and if saving can't do it, then we need to make more money, right?

 

[Dar]

That seems like a lot for laundry... even if you're going to a laundromat, that would be 50+ loads a month. Why is it so high?

I would think you could cut some with food, too... I feed two adults well for about $200 a month, so $400 a month seems doable for you.

Do you need cable tv? That one seems like a lot, too...

Dar

 

[Scullery]

I agree on the laundry. The higher number is for months I do bedding. I think a massive clothes purge is in order, and some encouragement to re-wear clothes. Laundry costs are why I don't cloth diaper, BTW. A pack of generic diapers work out to be slightly cheaper.

I am calling tomorrow to find out prices on cable, its all bundled tohether right now.

 

[marimara]

I agree with PP.

If you cut out cable tv and went with DSL and landline it might be cheaper, you'd have to call around. That's what we did and we saved about 50/month.

600/month for food sounds high. Perhaps you could cut some here. No convenience foods, no sodas, no junk. Buy bulk and freeze/dehydrate/can some for later.

Laundry: I would make family members wear clothes longer before laundering if you don't already do that. Jeans can be worn 4 times or so unless obviously dirty. Towels can be reused until they stink as long as they are hung up promptly. I see you have a baby, I know burp cloths and what not take up a lot of laundry, so maybe you could use those flimsy flat cloth diapers as burp cloths and wash by hand and dry in the house?

I don't see many other places to pare down but anything that you can see that we don't know about might help. Like cutting gas somehow? carpooling? walking?

Also, in addition to needing an emergency fund do you also have some food stores for a month or two on hand? If you keep staples on hand it will stretch your budget because you won't be constantly running out for things (using more gas) and possibly buying things you didn't need to begin with. My dh does this all the time, he will run out for milk and come back with 2 bags of stuff (coke, chips, bananas) when we would have done without if we didn't need milk. Milk can be frozen, just in case you didn't know.

That's all I have. HTH!

 

[Defenestrator]

Are the loans in deferment or default? I would suggest taking at least 6 credit hours of school per semester so that you can get a pell grant. I know that won't solve the short-term problems, but it might be good for the more long-term shortages.

I think you could get by with $500 in food. I would suggest pulling out $100 for savings when your husband gets paid and trying to live on the $500. If you make it to the end of the month and really need it, you can always pull it back out again.

 

[Denvergirlie]

Same ideas, here is were you should be able to cut back:

Electricity - 100
Unplug more stuff, turn off lights, even $5 drop would add up
--- Save $5+ a month

Cable TV, internet, phone -150
This seems really high, seems like I see ads on TV all the time for these things to be bundled at $100 a month. Call the company and see what your options are. Worse case, cut cable and phone and keep internet (assumuing internet is cable?) and use Vonage or Magic Jack for phone service. However, I have cable internet at the cost of $54 a month, no cable TV, we can watch online and rent from library.
--- Save $50+ a month

Food - 600
Beans and Rice mindset, food need not be that exciting everyday, this could most likely be cut $200 a month once you get in a groove, menu planning can help a lot. Our budget is $350, but includes everything, all household needs as well as cat food and kitty litter.
--- Save $100+ a month

Household -100
What is this? Personally all our household needs are served by the grocery allotment, diapers, cleaning stuiff, etc? Can you save $20 a month from this?
--- Save $20+ a month

Laundry - 100 to 150
Wear clothing more often unless it's truely dirty. Perhaps spend $8 per family member and buy a package of undershirts, so outer clothing can be worn more often and then can just change undershirts/ underwear daily.
--- Save $50+ a month

Gas - 80
Carpool, walk more? Coast more while driving, let up on that gas pedle.
--- Save $5+ a month

So adding up those savings goals on those line items leaves a grand total of: $230 add back in the $30 you now have as left over and that's $260 a month.
Take $30 for you and $30 for DH as "blow"/ allowance money, you can spend however you like without any guilt. You have to budget mad money or one or both of you will become "deprived" and go slpurge.

You now have at least $200 a month going into savings. However, the grocery, household, cable/phone, and laundry items can most likely be trimed even further, I gave very low estimates for those lines.

You can do it, good luck

 

[HeatherAtHome]

Quote:

Monthly expenses *Rent (includes heat and water) - 879 Electricity - 100 Cable TV, internet, phone -150 Food - 600 Household -100 Laundry - 100 to 150 *Tuition - 110 Gas - 80 *Medications - 100 *Medical co-pays - 60 to 100

That's a tight squeeze!

Electricity-turn everything off when not in use. Have you seen the threads on here about saving on electricity? Unplug all small appliances etc that you don't use often because of the "phantom" use. (They suck power even when they're not on) With the same idea, in tv/computer areas, it's good to have a power bar that you can turn off instead of unplugging things all the time.

Food-There are some great threads in this forum about meals on the cheap. You should be able to find some ways to cut back. As a PP mentioned, it is cheaper to go to the store less, because each time you come back with extra items. Maybe try shopping twice a month? Stock up on items that are on sale. Cut back on meat, eat more beans and rice, try frozen over fresh veggies. Make sure you buy only what you can eat before it goes bad. DH and I used to be terrible with fresh fruit/veggies and I would feel so bad throwing out that money!

Laundry-Do you have room/hook ups in your home for a washer and dryer? If you do, you can find a good second hand washer/dryer for as low as $50 each. In other words, one months laundry expense would last you years!
I second the idea of having family members wear clothes more than once before washing. We use over the closet door hooks to hang our clothes on (more likely to be worn then). Have a system for knowing what is still clean enough to wear and depending on children's age, get them involved too.

Gas-Don't run to the store for little things. (This will help cut your food budget too) Group errands together to do all at once. Carpool if possible. If possible, walk more instead of driving. Stay home more instead of going 'out'

Find frugal activities to do. Play at parks, go to the library, invite family and friends over etc.

I think you have a very worthwhile dream you're working towards and soon you'll have the ability to make even more money which will help ease the budget strain.

:

 

[p1gg1e]

Laundry would be an easy fix IMO.

Id wash by hand for a while ( have the kids do this also ( in the bath tub)) use that months wash money or even wait another month and buy a compact washer. Mine is a Kenmore. I fill it with plastic tubing I cut at the hardware store and the drain tube can drain into the tub OR a sink.

We did this for 3 months till I could buy the compact washer. I bought it used.

Cut the Cable.

 

[chaos_pie]

I know you can get your food bill down. I would guess you could probably get it below $400 with some effort. Start looking through this forum for tips such as low cost meals, shopping store sales, etc....

I also know that you could cut down on the cable, internet, phone bill. When dh was unemployed we switched to internet phone (we pay $25/ mo flat, all calls...but I think I have since read on this forum that there is some way to have internet phone for free, I think???) Drop cable or drop to the low, low basic package. My guess is you could get this below $100.

So those changes alone would save you $250/ mo.

Good luck! I bet you can do this and still homeschool!

ETA-Can you save on dryer cost by air drying? drape clothes on racks, or hang up a line?

 

[AngelBee]

:

 

[Scullery]

There are some good ideas on this thread! I am also looking at other threads in this forum to for inspiration.

I wanted to clarify, DH was making almost a 1000 dollars more a month because of OT and a second part-time job. The second job got to be too much for him and they've since cut OT. We had some savings but it got eaten up by various things, and now we need to re-build them with less money, KWIM? Yay, the economy!

Defenestrator, the loans are in deferment. We don't qualify for Pell grants, we made more money the last 2 years, and on paper we look better off than we really are, LOL.

 

[mtm]

Scullery, depending how quick you want that emergency fund I'd cut laundry way down. I'd pick up a cheap washer on Craigslist and use a drying line/rack. 600 is high for groceries. I bet if you challenge yourself you could easily get that to 500. Do you meal plan, shop flyers, coupon? Ditto the household expenses. What is that covering? Stay out of stores like Target and Home Depot unless you really need something. Can you cut down on the gas use?

I'd also see about picking up a small part time job if you can, just so you can have the money for insurance etc. If you work a Sat day shift or two evenings a week it would help your budget and let you homeschool still.

 

[Scullery]

Mtm, we don't have washer and dryer hook-ups so we have to use the laundry center or laundromat. But I can start air drying clothes, I have a small private balcony I can put a drying rack on.

: