Tuesday Tips

On Tuesdays, I am going to try and post tips on how to save money, cut expenses or successful job hunting.

Saving Money month-to-month
When you lose a job, the first thing you do is tighten the old belt! I am sure there are many different things you can do. Here are just a few that we are doing right now. If you have others, please post them! I am always looking for a great way to save money!

1) Talk to those to whom you owe money! Tell them about the situation and find out what they can do to help. Many utility companies, banks, etc. have plans in place to help in times such as these. In our situation we:

***Lowered our cable/Internet bill by $75 a month by cancelling our deluxe cable package.(Our cable company is giving us free basic -20 channels- when bundled with our Internet bill).

***We enrolled with Netflix. We pay $14 a month. We get 2 unlimited movies for the month and we can also stream 100s of movies and TV shows through our Wii system. It is a great program.

***We got rid of our land line a while back and only have cell phones which is a big savings in and of itself. We just dropped our data plan with our smart phones by taking the upgrades that were allowed on our smart phones and got free basic phones. Not paying for the data plan and just a regular talk/text plan we are saving $100 a month.

***Many banks will defer two months of mortgage payments (they add the payments back on the back end).


2)Clipping Coupons - Visit sites such as SouthernSavers or CouponMom and follow the directions for couponing. I am just getting started with this but am already saving on the average over 40-50% off of our grocery bill. And we are still eating good!

3)Plan for splurges - everyone needs a chance now and then to get out and do stuff. But plan wisely. Spur of the moment splurges often lead to higher amounts than we want.For example: we love going out for Mexican food but it can be costly. We found that our favorite local restaurant had a great special on Monday nights. Our entire family can eat WELL for $15. So now when we want to eat out we can, we just have to plan ahead.(We also only drink water out. The markup on drinks is ridiculous!) This website shows you all the places where kids can eat free.

Check back next Tuesday for a post on job hunting.