Since I’m the OP and the OG of this thread, I have a couple of requests. Ok, only one…
Be nice! No judging please and please be nice!
This year is staring out pretty well for me. It’s only a week in, but it’s a start, right?
I paid cash for Christmas and anything that was put on a credit card, I tried to pay off right away. On line bill pay really helps. I’m saving for a new roof, which is coming along. The new roof was a surprise from a late summer storm but I can wait until spring to replace it, which helped.
I merged my phone plan with my sisters family, so that will be a savings and we now have unlimited data. I need to try and get this cable bill down, my H is a bit hesitant as he wants to make sure we have sports available. We had to buy a new car late last year as the old one had an unfortunate encounter with a deer. It’s H’s car which he drives a lot for work so he gets mileage but still, it’s a new expense.
And I’m saving bits and pieces for a long weekend vacation. We have a tendency to be happy where we are so I’m trying to plan and book something for the future so we don’t let time pass us by without making any plans.
Last years storm and damage was an unexpected expense that I feel we are just coming out the other side with. Insurance didn’t come close to our expenses and it was a lot of work on our part to get things back to (kinda) normal.
I have plans this year and not for mindless spending
I think you should start a new spending freeze 2019!! Or just continue with this one . Edited to add - never mind, just read @BunsenBurner post
I’m trying to get serious about budgeting and spending less in 2019. Told my husband I want $xxx going to savings each month and that we need to budget for the remainder and stay within it. However the $xxx to savings won’t start till March probably as we have an expensive month in January (driving 1200 miles there and back for Son’s wedding and have a rehearsal dinner to pay for plus extending the trip to vacation with family coming from England).
We have cut out phone bill from $285 a month to $100 (switched from family plan phone to 55+ TMobile plan for $70 a month and switched landline to Vonage). Trying to see what else to cut back on. Internet and cable seemed an easy place to start but I’m not having much success finding something that meets our needs at any substantial saving
My other problem is my daughter just introduced me to a brand of shoes that are flats that come in my size (big and bigger) and in lovely colors. I do need new shoes because after my accident and surgery a lot of my old shoes do not fit on the foot with the plate and screws and probably never will. Not sure I can justify buying too many of them while I am trying to save money, but one needs shoes, right (H owns 2 pairs so is hard to convince :D)
My hairdresser is looking at sling TV. I told her to let me know. Trouble with TV stuff is you think you found a good plan but there are so many add ons. I was looking at our provider’s plans and though I’d found one to change to that was $80 cheaper. Then realized it’s actually the plan we are already on :(. But the Cost if the DVR rentals, something extra for HD, and a butt load of taxes and fees add the $80.
I’d have felt very silly if I’d called to change to it…
Oh lordy, internet/cable packages. Every year I have to talk to about five different departments over a month to get a rate that is only a little bit higher than before. Cox is much higher than Comcast used to be in Chicagoland. I can’t let DH do it because he’d get mad and cancel with no clear idea of what to do instead. He and I watch such disparate programming that we really do need cable to satisfy both of us (he’s nonfiction - sports and news- I’m fiction and an occasional reality series. And one nightly news.) I realize we could patch together a less expensive setup with subscriptions but only one of our tv’s is smart. And WiFi into the master bedroom can be problematic even with an extender so don’t want to rely on that there.
A $40 Roku turned our not so smart TV into a decently smart one. We use Sling. $30 a month and no extra charges or fees. Our package allows watching different programs on different TVs at the same time. While Cramer’s ugly mug is yakking up some stocks in the bathroom, some other ugly mug is yakking about some political issue off the kitchen TV. Mr. is in seventh heaven. I need good earplugs. We supplement Sling with occasional RedBox and Amazon Prime movie watching.
Cable is gone here. Totally gone. We have an antenna and a Roku stick. It’s great.
Paid off Kid #1 college loans 1 1/2 years early! Woohoo. It was our graduation gift to him.
We have some travel arrangements to make…and those will cost money. I forget…did we allow these last year?
The big discretionary things this year will be new carpet upstairs in our house (the 25 year old,carpet has held up well…but it’s time). And I want to get our kitchen cabinets refaced.
My husband is praying our fridge dies because…he hates it. Stay tuned!
I’d really like to go on a family vacation this year, so am going to really watch what I spend. We enjoy going out to restaurants and bars now that we don’t have kids home, but we sort have gone crazy the last two years. We’ve decided to go out, but have a budget.
Funny, I was totally on board for this last year - and still support it! Last year I was at this point in the year and REALLY wanted to NOT spend after Christmas.
This year my thought process is a little different. I really want to do some “refresh” home improvements. And between now and spring is when I want to tackle them! So I am in…but to save $$$ in some areas - especially mindless spending - so that I CAN spend $$$ on some home decorating/improvements!
We have Sling and it’s wonky at times (easy to resolve) but saved a bundle. I added a few cable stations, Showtime, totals about 45/month.
Here’s my problem and I’ll take any advice. I have a group of friends who meet monthly for dinner. And I’m particularly close to one who goes out to dinner up to 4x/week. Other friends who need the outlet of dinner out. Everyone wants to center our interactions around eating and I just can’t restrain myself when out to dinner.
Easy: just don’t go. Plus, I’d love to freeze “dinner out” spending through winter. But these are the primary times I meet with these people. And it’s what they want. Is it really ok to decline? Right now, with work going on, it’s not an option to invite them to my house, where I could control some of this.
Can you suggest a get together just for a drink, coffee or dessert? Are you saying you don’t want to do a couple times a week or do you not want to do the once a month. Can you suggest getting together for things NOT food related? Like a nice healthy walk to burn off all that eating out?!!
It’s once a month? Or more? I’m a big proponent is getting out so if you can swing it, I’d keep going out to dinner. If it’s a stretch money wise, don’t order wine. Eat before and order soup or an appetizer and call it a day.
We don’t eat out that much but getting out with friends is important. Definitely something I would keep in my budget.
I end up with about 6-7 dinners out/month. I’ve tried suggesting coffee or wine meets and it’s a no-go. I suggested lunches instead, no-go. (With a few of the friends, a concert or art event is great.) I guess that’s the heart of the matter. These particular friends want the excuse to eat out. The $ is part of it (we dine well.) The eating is the other.
I am close enough to all these folks to skip some and not harm any relationships. Not at all. But I;ve got one coming up on Monday and deciding.
I man trying to track expenses this year, but it’s going to be an expensive year. We are getting around to some house projects that may cost a fair amount - alreay got a door and are trying to improve our grass/yard situation. We are doing a partial bath redo, having master br re-carpeted, and painting the entire house (not basement) in the next several months.
Oh yeah - plus we are going on vacation in February (much paid last year), September (2 national parks) and in October we are doing a bike ride that’s on my bucket list. It won’t be a cheap year, but while we are still working we can afford it, and I want to do some of these more strenuous trips before we get too old.
^^This comment is not for/against you @lookingforward but I think some people don’t realize how much $$ they spend eating out! I mean, like seriously keep track of it for 3 months or so - you could probably take a nice long AirBNB weekend or more!!
@lookingforward, yea that’s a lot of dinners out. Both $$ wise and calories. I guess you have to pick and choose. I don’t know your particular situation but wondering if you are single? I find that my single friends do go out to eat much more than my married friends as far as it being a social event to get out of the house. My neighbors like to go out to dinner every Friday night. I never go in the summer as I’d rather be out doing things instead of being at dinner. And we will go very occasionally in the winter.
The unfortunate part is that I’m not as close with these friends because of choices I’ve made. I just can’t sit around and drink and eat so much! I do feel bad, I like these people and I’m fine being with them as part of an activity. But I will admit I’m not being invited to other activities because of it. That’s just the truth.
Some years are just expensive @1214mom. I really need to start on the we need to do stuff before we can’t with my H. He gets really wrapped up with his job and it requires him to be on the road (only day trips but it’s not unusual for him to be driving 4-5 hours/day) so that when he’s home, he wants to be home with his stuff. I see other couples I know that travel almost every weekend. My H would hate that so much. And summer he wants to golf and that’s takes up a lot of time. I golf too and we really enjoy it. I keep thinking that it will be better when he retires in 4.5 years but also wrestle with doing things now, when we can.
One of the nice things about being retired is that I can dine out for breakfast (my favorite) or lunch. Both are usually less costly than dinner. Even with that, I don’t think I eat out more than a few times a month.
of this thread, I have a couple of requests. Ok, only one…
. Edited to add - never mind, just read