? about saving

I've been feeling inspired to ramp up our savings lately and wonder if anyone has any good info or experience to share about Dave Ramsey and his programs.

I'm not sure exactly what I am looking for. I think we are in pretty good financial shape. We both have decent jobs and make an ok living. We have an emergency fund savings account, but I just wish it were growing faster (or at all!). We deposit into it what we can every month, but it feels like it never goes anywhere!! Granted, after our mortgage and taxes (even though we bought a house in the 300s in Nassau county, our taxes are still crazy) it doesn't seem like enough or that we are ever going to get ahead! Any advice out there? I'm happy to answer any questions if that helps.

We are pretty happy living a simple life. I don't feel the need to try and "keep up" with anyone. We both work for non-profits, so we'll never be rich, we get that. I just want to be comfortable and maybe financially FREE! We have two old cars (totally paid off) and had just one car for a while, which I thought was great, but it got difficult and to be a lot of wear and tear on one car. I try to cook most nights, we eat breakfast at home and take leftovers for lunch. We rarely get coffee out. We will eat out a few nights a month.

Just last night I called our cable company and got them to reduce our bill $10/month! That was exciting. And then I called our cell company and changed to a plan with less data because we were hardly using it! That saves us another $50/month. We do our own house cleaning and yard work.

Any other ideas where we might be able to cut corners or free up some cash? Student loans kill us but DH's are in deferment because he is back in school for an extra certification and mine aren't much, but together it's about $450/mo. Can't wait until that is done - one day!

Anyway, just looking for something I haven't thought of yet, or haven't uncovered on this board or pinterest. Thanks!

Re: ? about saving

It would seem that you are pretty financially responsible. Do you have any CC debt? I'm not sure what field you are in specifically but maybe you can look into the loan forgiveness programs?


Once you are settled in a job and home I know for us our budget is pretty standard each month. My husband gets paid every 2 weeks so for us the 2 months of the year that have extra checks is considered "extra" and we put that in savings. We also put any unexpected money directly to savings, bonuses, tax return etc.

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AH, Thanks for reminding me! No, no credit card debt, BUT, I do find that we rely heavily on our credit cards throughout the month (and then pay them off on their due dates, never carry a balance) but I'd like to get away from using our credit cards so heavily.

When I talked to DH about this, his response was "Why?". We pay them off every month, what's the big deal. He also likes that we earn cash back / rewards / points that we can use later. I HATE having bills every month though.

Thanks for your reply. I think we are pretty responsible. I recently enrolled my student loan into an auto-debit situation and, for that, they lowered the interest rate .25%. DH is making his payments even though it is deferred presently and he is seeing some movement on them from that.

Before we bought our house we had a lot of cash in the bank, and since then it's been a struggle to get our savings back into good shape. A house really changes everything!

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It sounds like you are doing everything right and what you are supposed to. Saving by not eating out so much, paying down debts and driving cars with no lease/finance payments (all great things!).

My only suggestion would be to tackle the student loans first because that kind of debt is dangerous (not dischargeable in bankruptcy). I paid down $50K of student loan debt I had w/ Sallie Mae in about 2.5 years by aggressively paying double or triple the minimum payment. If you can afford to do that, I would try to chip away as much as possible on that debt. That means extra savings on future interest payments and more room in your budget.

When I was doing that, I also budgeted weekly for food (including groceries). I also looked for ways to save by going to BJ's/Costco for big ticket items and lower priced supermarkets for things that are cheaper there than at Stop n Shop (ie Associated has great deals on chicken sometimes). I also avoided Target/Walmart outings because impulse purchases always killed my budget. DH and I throw spare change into a giant mug and at the end of a month or 2, we take it to the bank to deposit into our account - thats usually as much as $100 or 200 extra than goes toward a vacation or nice restaurant.

Other ideas that I have heard could work (although I haven't tried them) is to go through any old clothing or books you have stashed away in storage and either sell them on eBay or Amazon - thats a couple of dollars you can make for just getting rid of stuff that collects dust in your attic or basement. Craigslist also has a lot of things you can do for petty cash, internet market research surveys for $25 or 50 a pop, etc if you have time for part time income, etc.

The little things all add up.

Message edited 7/30/2014 1:14:40 PM.

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I agree with others - it sounds like you guys are doing what you can now in terms of saving. A few things that helps us, which you might already be doing:

- Tax returns, work bonus' - we never account for that money in our regular, it goes directly into savings that we'll then keep for a rainy day, or doing any house projects we might have in the future, vacations, etc.

- We both agreed to a certain amount of $ that we'd put aside every single month into our join savings account. We have separate checking account, so each of us is responsible for managing our money to make sure we add to this fund. This is same fund as where the extra tax returns, bonus' etc go into.

- We limit eating out as much as possible and try to cook dinner whenever possible. Doesn't always work out, but it sounds like you guys are already doing this.

- I'll keep a look out for essential items that go on sale - i.e. toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc. and stock up on them when that happens.

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I will look into putting a little bit more toward my student loans, but I think DH is at the max he can afford per month without taking away from the prescribed amount we put into savings each month.

I appreciate all the feedback.

I love when people mention bonuses. HA! If only we got bonuses!! This is our first year getting a tax return and it went right into our savings account. We did then decide to do a patio in our yard and used it to pay for that.

These are all great ideas though, keep them coming if there is anything else!

ETA, some other things I've gleaned in my research to save more!

-Don't buy plastic water bottles (it's no good for you anyway) and if you do buy them, return them for the deposit.

-In line with cooking your meals, take and keep an inventory of your fridge, freezer, and pantry so that you don't over-shop at the market. Only buy what you need. **This would help me a lot, I always forget if I already have ingredients I need. Usually I check before I hit the store, but having a running list would help.

-Cut down on dry cleaning. Easy for us, we don't dry clean that often.

Message edited 7/30/2014 2:25:34 PM.

Re: ? about saving

Check your homeowners/car insurance rates see if you can save anything there

We don't have a big cable package and I'm always checking with them to get better rates. We don't have dvr or anything extra. I borrow DVDs from our library or watch free on demand stuff

Also if you have satellite radio in your vehicles, they are really negotiable with their pricing now. I threatened to cancel a few months ago and they slashed my rates.

We buy oil COD but have a company service our system once a year. It's much less expensive.

Grieve your property taxes, I do it every two years and usually win

We eat all natural or organic but I still find sales and stock up on certain things when I can.

We got all of the supplies for our backyard pond, tons of perennial plants and landscaping rocks free on craigslist.

We eat at home a lot, both bring breakfast and lunch, beverages everyday from home.

We are very conservative energy wise, we bought energy star appliances, upgraded our windows and doors and have all energy saver light bulbs, some lights on timers and sensors.

Once you start seeing some of the savings you've got to get that money right into your savings account.

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Are you investing in the market? Next year I think there will be a correction. I like index funds and some target date funds. Are you funding a Roth IRA and funding a 401k if you are eligible?

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I didn't read through all the posts yet so maybe someone suggested this already..
If you don't have immediate intentions of using the money in your savings, then make a plan.
In other words, if you have 6 mo-1 yr worth of expenses in a savings account, put the rest in a longer term investment. A bank account will not get you any decent amount of return no matter where you go... So best to invest elsewhere.

I always recommend meeting with an advisor to discuss your long and short term goals because a traditional bank account will NOT get you there. It is good for your operating expenses and short term savings (rainy day fund, unexpected expenses, etc)

Are you maxing out your 401k? Given that pensions and SS are diminishing, it's important to ramp up your retirement planning while you are earning a good income.

Did you mention if you had children? Are you planning to assist with college through 529 plans?

Do you have insurance policies in place?

My last question would be.. you said you want to ramp up your savings.. what is the reason for that? Do you have an end goal in mind or are you just trying to be cautious? I say, you have the right mentality but make sure your money is working for you. There are many ways to do that!

Also, I tend to agree with your DH. I HATE carrying a balance and always pay off my CC but I pay for EVERYTHING with it because of the cash back that I get.. it adds up!
HTH!

? about saving

Have you ever spent a month writing down every single penny you've spent? It's very eye opening.
I thought I was budgeted to the max...I did this exercise and I was shocked how much I spent here and there on nonsense without thinking.

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If you're under the income limits (sounds like you would be), you should try putting extra savings in a Roth IRA. You can withdraw what you put in (not the earnings) but it makes earnings like a 401K would.

http://www.rothira.com/

Re: ? about saving