Tips on Going from 2 Incomes to 1

[MrsPinecone]

The idea for this thread was blatantly 'pinched' from another forum, but I loved the idea so much that I thought it deserved a place here, too!

Post away!

[JANE4girls]

I have been the only bread winner for the past almost 4 years with 3 DD's. Some things I do to save money are:

Buy meat in bulk and have the butcher put into smaller packs (you get a better price on the meat in bulk and save on freezer bags if the butcher will do it for you)

Cook once for two or more meals: I got a brisket for the 4th of July and smoked it on the 3rd, had leftovers on the 4th and baked potato toppings later in the week.

Keep all the napkins, salt, pepper, ketchup...anything from fast food places and use!

I make my own break crumbs from left over butts of bread.

We make home made icecream - no where as good as Blue Bell, but it is fun and the kids enjoy it!

Stock up while things are on sale! Get multiple coupons by trading and get those things while they are CHEAP or free!

[queenofthehivemomof5]

my best advice is to know where your money is going. Budget budget budget. I am by no means a budget stickler. But its good to really know where your money is going.

Next..make sure you are paying the lowest prices you can for your monthly expenses. With many of the ultilites/phone/cable/satelite companies out there it shouldn't be too hard to find the best rates for the services you want or need. I check in with my phone and cable providers about every 3 months and call around to see if I am getting the best deal out there. Usually if you go back to company A and say company B will give me XYZ for $$$ can you match this offer? They will match it. That way I am not switching companies left and right.

Things like your phone bill..do you use voice mail, caller ID, 3 way calling, and all those extras? If you do great! If not make sure your not paying for services you don't need.

Same with cable, find the lowest priced plan that will meet your needs or go without if you can (I can't no TV reception here!)

Bundle...see if you cable company provides cable, internet, and phone services. Go with one company can save you some money. I am saving $20 a month by going with one provider for all 3. unlimited long distance too.

dont eat out. eating out is IMO the biggest waste of money there is. You can pay $40 for a family of 4 to eat out at a restraunt for what you could feed a family of 4 for a whole week (using coupons of course). If you do eat out make it an occasion. Once a month makes your kids appriciate eating out I think.

[reminbi2000]

Totally agree. Resist everytime you have urge to eat out. One trip of eat-out probably will equal to grocery budget for one week or more for lots of folks here.

When friends want us to eat out with them for special occassion, we just invite them to eat in our house. The cost of cooking is nearly nothing considering the stuff we have in our freezers with WTs, along with our soft drink, coffee stockpile. I never like the noise in restaurant anyway and no way I enjoy conversation there.

[berlinsmommy]

One of the things I have really noticed people in my age group doing is overinsuring themselves. For example, DH's work sells 2 kinds of disability insurance, the long term, which kicks in at 6 months, and the short term, which kicks in immediately. The long-term is fairly cheap and the short-term is ridiculously expensive, yet most of his co-workers carry it. When weighing the odds of what could happen and what is likely to happen, we are much better off to forgo the short-term disability and stash money in savings. If you factor in the likelihood (DH is in his 30s and healthy) that you would need it, we'd even be better off if we had no savings and something happened to use credit cards or a line of credit on the house to hold us over until long-term disability kicked in and we could start paying back what we borrowed the first six months.

Life insurance is the same way, if your partner dies, you don't need to be set up to hit the jackpot, but rather to be able to meet your family's needs. It always kills me when you see families making $30-40k and carrying $750,000 or $1 million life insurance policies, and spending as much as $100/month to get it. If you read your Social Security statements that come yearly before your birthday, you will see that in the event of your death, your spouse draws $X in SSI, and an anyone (usually a current or ex-spouse) who raises your kid(s) draws $X more until the kids turn 18. After that, you need life insurance to make up the difference, plus $10k or so for funeral expenses. I know that long term we cannot count on SSI, but for now if your partner is alive, count on it to figure how much life insurance you need, then if SSI ever changes, then change your life insurance.

Other types of supplemental insurance are usually a rip off, like cancer insurance, hospital insurance (the one that pays you $100/day if you are in the hospital for any reason), etc. Generally a normal, healthy person would be better to forgo that kind of stuff and any money they would spend on those premiums should be tucked into savings that could be used if an emergency happened.

On the flip side with life insurance, a non-working spouse should definitely carry some life insurance because if they die, the working spouse takes on additional expenses such as daycare, and will most likely not have the time to coupon and feed/clothe everyone for pennies. Again, be careful not to overinsure.

[Jusk]

Well it was 16 years ago when I went from 2 incomes to 1.....but I remember...that was before I had internet and knew how to coupon....but I still stockpiled HBA and non perishables while I was still working in anticipation.
I do remember some things that went out the window once I stopped working:

Car payments.....( we sold newer sports car and bought old clunker)
Premium cable
Health Club membership
Dry Cleaning
New clothes (stopped shopping...had family give GC for gifts)
Salon haircuts and manicures
vacations
eating out

of course some of those eventually got worked back in but one at a time as we could afford them....and after 1st baby was a year old....I have always done something to earn some extra money while still being a SAHM (never used day care so didnt have that cost to offset)

Things I refused to do without or give up:

the daily newspaper
basic cable
2x year dental visits
pap and mammo visits

[cutenirish]

We just went to one income as of July 1st. We're going cash only and using the envelop system for gas, food, gifts, trips, spending $ for DH and myself, entertainment and clothes for DH and Myself.

I've been hang drying clothes (i've got the time now)
making sure lights are off when we leave a room
turn off the fans in the house before we go to bed
cook enough for afew meals (always done this)
starting to turn off the water when i brush my teeth
READING the tightwad gazette (so far i love it)
cutting back the phone package next month

[hotcouponmama]

Being a temporary 1 income family (since I decided to quit my job last month is search of a better boss) I would say to be sure to build a good reserve up that you can pull from if needed. I cashed out some savings which will let me be job free for several months at the same take home cash I was making so I can really be free to pick a better job.

Also, get as much debt paid down as possible. After tomorrow, our cars will all be owned free and clear, which reduces our outgo by $800 a month. The more debt you can have paid down, the better off and less stressed you'll be.

Also, consider work you can do from home - if you have a marketable talent (think seamstress or something else that can be done on your own time with no real overhead) you might consider that too.

And since I don't know how to merge this with the thread stickied by Mrs. P - I'll just answer my thoughts for you here.

[cutenirish]

any more suggestions???

[hotcouponmama]

Yes, I have more suggestions. I have decided to earn my keep playing bingo! Yesterday, I won $200!!! And I can start taking the kids when they are 12, so I am going to home school them at bingo - it will keep the costs of school supplies down plus they learn math and numbers while we play, and we can increase our odds of winning, and they get free sodas on their birthdays, so that will keep food cost for the house down too!!!













Actually, DH said he won't consider bingo winnings real income and I would still have to clean the house, so I guess I am going to have to go back to work so I can keep a housekeeper!!!:Motor: