stockpiling and paying off debts -can you tell

[nmeadows0101]

I have been a member for awhile on here trying to learn this and that. There is a lot of info.
I am on summer break from classes , just reg. for fall classes this past Monday they start in Aug.
ok, with all that out of the way--I have hit hard on stockpiling the past few mos. even more since I decided that if everyone else could do it , I can too!

I am still working it , yes it is going to take time but I know I am on track now. ( Thanks for everyone's help and tips )

ok, now for the question that I know will vary from person to person for many reasons , but about how long could you tell after starting or having a good bit of stocking done that you could notice that you were able to pay off more debts either by adding $5 extra or $100's more?

I am starting to notice a little change in something. Since I am still trying to hit hard on stockpiling I know I will not notice it as much but I am hoping to by or around Christmas. Our goal is to have at least 4 reg. size bills pd. off and 2 more by Feb. at tax time.

I just got my paper work back from FASA and I got back $200 more this time than this time last year. If I have any money left after books and classes, I try to put it up to use for groceries, etc.
I used spell check for words, I am sorry for bad grammar .

Does it take years or mos. Am I on the norm for a one paycheck family of 4?

[nmeadows0101]

I forgot to add this part.
I know that it is going to help out either now or down the road. We have a small garden. The green-beans are ready to be picked and the rest is coming( now to learn to can items, I can freeze already)
also we have 3 chickens , they can serve 3 factors eggs, dinner, natural fertilizer for the garden next yr.
If I had room for a cow or 2 we would have those too :)

[CouponSAHM]

I am a one income family of four with 2 in diapers/pullups. I have been a member here for little over a year and stockpiling for probably 10 of those months. This month is the first month I have felt the belt loosening alot!! I have been able to pay off a few old Dr bills and started paying an extra $50 on our truck payment. I think it comes about gradually and then you go to do the bills one day and there is just more there than normal. For me it was a super WOW!!!!

[loladooder99]

I guess it depends on how much debt you are and how good you are at not getting any more debt. i've managed to stay out of debt and to pay off whatever small debts i've gotten along the way.When i started to stockpile it didn't take me but less than 6 months to get a huge stockpile going and im still using it. I found other ways to cut down on expenses other than stockpiling that helped alot.Like I never eat out anymore and gave in and bought convience foods for lazy nights. I cloth diaper now and make my own baby food and we switched to netflix so we have lots of movies to watch for only about 10 dollars a month. Getting rid of my cellphone helped alot now i just have a basic phone.

[BringontheWonder]

For the short answer, skip to the bottom of the post. LOL For the long answer, read on. I'll also add this post to my HCW blog where I'm documenting current debt reduction efforts.

I definitely save money each week in grocery shopping by not having to buy HBA, paper products, and those once-in-a-while items that seem to cost a lot. Those were huge budget-busters on our grocery list in the weeks when we ran out. It's just me and my dh, so we don't have a lot of extra expenses like we might if we had children, but things certainly add up. If we decided to spent $50 for groceries and then remembered we needed paper towels and toilet paper, that could add another $10-$15 pre-couponing and stockpiling. We get much more for our money now, and I think I noticed a difference after the first month. So, certainly, I would say $4 that used to go to one bottle of shampoo is now being put to work in a smarter way.

Debt reduction for me hasn't been helped as much by stockpiling as it has by discipline in budgeting. We've had money in our account for a long time that could have been put to debt or used in a smarter way, but we weren't planning ahead. In terms of actually paying off our debt, which we have been doing pretty hardcore for about 6 months, I notice the biggest difference when we plan out our budget 3-4 months ahead and include extra debt payments in the weeks where we can afford it, treating that like a monthly bill. We try to pay something extra every week, even if it's "just" $50. Being able to see how our spending this week will impact how much we can send to student loans or credit cards in October makes us more conscious of our spending. Back in the day, we would look at our bank account and see that we had $500 and think, "Oh, we've got leeway to eat out and have fun and buy things this week!" In reality, spending $100 of that money would mean we'd be in the negative the very next week and have to pay overdraft fees. Silly college kids! We're much more grown up now. I swear.

We've also started using a variation of the envelope method encouraged by Dave Ramsey and others even before him. Dh gets a $25 gift card each week for buying coffee, snacks, and lunch at work. I get about the same in cash for stockpiling (you don't have to guess whose money goes furthest lol). We plan in our budget for $70 on groceries. I shop with a list and keep a running tally as I add items to my cart. We used to shop with no list and our bill was usually about $130 for just the two of us (still college craziness). We then started shopping with a list and decided to budget for $100, but found we could consistently manage with $70, so that's where we are. My goal is to get our grocery budget down to $50 a week. I haven't put as much focus into stocking food as I have other things, but I'm ready to change that.

We're getting closer to using a zero-based/zero-sum budgeting system where every single dollar coming in per paycheck is allocated to something, and I know that will make a difference, too. That method takes even more discipline than what we've shown so far, but we're getting there. I've definitely learned that debt reduction isn't just about how much money you have available to put toward extra payments. It's also about whether or not you actually DO put that money toward an extra payment.

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It took about a month for me to notice a difference.