How do you cut costs?

[Amy]

With cable, internet, cell phone, etc? Hell, food even.

When we PCS, we'll be taking a huge pay cut. Huge. I'm trying to be proactive now and come up with a budget and figure out ways to decrease the amount we pay in monthly bills. We're used to getting about $700 in COLA (which was basically money in our pocket because we shopped on base, so the cost of living wasn't really that much higher) and $350 in sea pay, both of which we will no longer be receiving after we move.

I'll be looking for work, but have no idea how long it will take me to find a job or how much I will be making (or even if my income will cover the cost of Autumn's preschool! ), so I'm not even going to factor that into the equation, obviously. To be safe, I will be budgeting for paying for preschool on just the one income- Autumn may have to start school before I find work.

Any ideas on cutting costs? Pre-paid cell phones instead of contract plans? Netflix instead of cable? Steal the neighbor's wireless internet? (Kidding.) Anything? I have some ideas, but would like to hear from experience.

[J.Ski]

Grocery game.

[Wicked]

We just did the whole bundle thing with our local cable company for phone, internet, and cable and saved a ton. We also just really try to shop sales, and shop at places that price match closer by so that we can save on gas.

My cousin does this coupon clipping thing and saves TONS of money that way. I will have to ask her what it is.

[HollyJay]

Unless you only use your cell phones for about 15 minutes a month, pre-paid is NEVER cheaper than a contract plan. There are ways to cut your cell bill down by a TON though. I've worked for almost all of the major providers, so if you have questions about how to reduce your cell phone bill I can probably help you. Let me know!

As far as cable goes... we have the most basic plan possible and I still think it's too much. We also simplified our menus and cut down a LOT because there are way less ingredients and we can buy almost all of them in bulk because we go through them fast enough for them not to spoil.

[mdrew4]

I would NOT suggest the prepaid phones, unless you never use your cell.

Other than that, shop the sales and find coupons Moving from Hawaii to Chicago (that's where you're going right?) You're going to have to buy some new things for the wardrobe. For Autumn you should probably ask friends and family for any kinds of winter hand me downs they can spare, because by next winter she'll have already grown out of any winter stuff you buy her for this winter.

edit: Also I personally love Netflix, and it's way cheaper than cable Just don't lose the darn dvd, or else you can't get a new one.

[Amy]

Thanks ladies! Yeah, we're paying about $150/month for our cell phones. We weren't informed that we had to upgrade our plan until after our new cell phones had arrived, neither of which were working. I called Sprint on my old phone and found out we had just increased our bill by 50% per month- we had to have unlimited data in order to have the particular phones we had received. I was thinking of getting a prepaid plan but also getting one of those packages with internet, cell phone, and home phone- and to just dial on the home phone whenever we wanted to talk to someone, and use the cell phone for calls that need to be made when we're out of the house. (Right now we have no home phone and use our cell phones for every call we make.)

I looked at the Grocery Game website- something I need to check out once we move.

[Amy]

Originally Posted by mdrew4 I would NOT suggest the prepaid phones, unless you never use your cell. Other than that, shop the sales and find coupons Moving from Hawaii to Chicago (that's where you're going right?) You're going to have to buy some new things for the wardrobe. For Autumn you should probably ask friends and family for any kinds of winter hand me downs they can spare, because by next winter she'll have already grown out of any winter stuff you buy her for this winter. edit: Also I personally love Netflix, and it's way cheaper than cable Just don't lose the darn dvd, or else you can't get a new one.

I know- new wardrobe (and he needs a whole new wardrobe of uniforms- he didn't need half of the uniforms in Hawaii that he'll need in Great Lakes), have to pay to ship one of our vehicles...

Luckily we did buy SOME winter clothes when we thought we were going to Alaska. I would have been devastated had those gone to waste.

[BKat]

I'd try skimping more and more on your cell phone bill per month. Cut some minutes here and there until you get to a plan you guys can use. You don't want to cut too much and then get overage charges! Also see if you could get any kind of deals. Some companies if you just ask, will find something for you to keep your business. Coupons and buy in bulk when you can. Keep a notebook of everything you buy for a couple weeks and see what things you're getting that are unnecessary. I'm sure you'll find a lot more than you think.

[Charity]

I actually cancelled my cable all together. I got into a year long discount with Charter (you may have them in Chicago ) for 34/month for high speed internet. All the major television channel webpages post most of their shows online - so for 34/month, I get television AND internet.

I also shopped around and changed my car insurance (saved 40/month), bundled my cell phone add-ons (internet, texting, minutes --- saved 100/mo). I also starting selling things on EBay and CraigsList.

Good luck!

[Tamzyn]

We recently cancelled our cable! It was sooooo expensive and we didn't watch TV that much. We have a playstation 3 and wireless internet so we steam movies from Netflix and shows through a program called Hulu through to the TV. It's free (minus an initial payment of $30) and we dont have a huge bill each month.