Next month will be rough

[ScrawnyTauni]

Originally Posted by SezzySue I think December will be our hardestmonth financially (not including Christmas) as of yet. This is the last check with his deployment pay and I do not have a pay check anymore. I am trying to plan groceries but we never get coupons. We are doign better with no eating out or renting movies. This is what I have PAY $1978.50 Base Pay $1081 BAH $3059 TOTAL before takes About $500 goes to taxes and SGLI Take home pay is about $2560 BILLS: Rent $1050 Phones $100 Cable/ Internet/ Home phone $104 Electricity (winter) $74 Water $27 Gas $70 Truck $438 Insurance $350 Culligan $15 TOTAL: $2228 Pay - Bills = $332 for savings, gas, and groceries. I need to be able to save better. Now the cell is usually less then $90 and insurance flucuates, but this is at the high end of our bills. Other then coupons and using the commissary in combination with making a meal list, where else do you think I can offset some costs and save more? I do babysit and my photography as well, I just can't rely on those incomes for the time being. Thanks for any help you may have.

If you have a land line, cancel it. They can be expensive. Just keep your cell phone.

Get a hold of a humidifier. Humid air feels warmer than dry air, so you don't have to use the heater as much.

Use energy saving bulbs, put long, thin sandbags at the bottom of doors to seal air in, and also, make sure the seals on your windows are good.

Letting sunlight in during the day, and closing curtains after the sun is no longer peering in will help heat the house a bit.

[SezzySue]

We just got the house phone because it is only $10 a month and it was less then getting more minutes on our house phone.

In the winter we leave heat off and use a space heater.

In the summer I have the air at 90 when its 120 outside. Leaving windows is not an option when its that hot and I jsut have a fan on me.

I will look into unpluggng things and I wanted to get the energy saving bulbs.

We both watch tv all the time and I have looked for a cheaper service but I just can't find it. if the cable is cheaper then internet is more expensive. So we have internet for $30, house for $10, and cable for $55 but its all one company. We just have the basics no Caller ID, no long distance, slowest speed internet, and the low number of channels.

Oh and the reason I use the piggy bank is because I never carry cash. Its too easy to transfer money from savings so I just put it there so I don't take it out. It stays there for about 8 months before we decide to use it for us. We took $200 out last time to buy a gift for his sister and a freezer for the house.

I love the idea of the dollar stores, next time I need those things I will go there.

Thank you all so much for the great tips, I will bookmark this page to keep looking back at.