$300 Per Month Richer

So here's the deal.  Well before New Year's . . . right after we nearly drained our savings for all of our summer projects, Jason and I sat down and took a hard look at our finances.

We decided there were some areas we could trim and over the past couple of months,
we've set out to do it.  Here's what we did.

1. Eliminated Netflix -- total savings $18/ month.  Now if we want to rent a movie, we go to the RedBox, which is less than two minutes from our house.

2. Dropped our cell phone insurance converage.  We were paying $20 per month in cell phone insurance for two phones.  This is ridiculous, considering the fact that if something happens to your phone, you have to pay $50 to get a replacement and it's not even guaranteed to be the same one (usually it's a refurbished model).  At the end of one year, we would have paid $240, more than enough for a new phone.  In my opinion, it's a waste. Google it if you don't believe me.

3. Eliminated Jason's Sirius Radio subscription -- total savings $15 per month.  Jason's drive to work is about ten minutes. He never goes ANYWHERE in his vehicle, so we both agreed that this is one area that should go.  I've considered dropping mine too, but Jason insists I keep it.  I drive 2 1/2 hours one way sometimes to get to my first client, so it is a nice luxury to have it.  We'll see . . .

4. Started using coupons at the grocery store.  It's true, it takes a lot of time to find coupons but through websites like Coupon Mom, we've managed to save a lot.  We wrote down brand-name items we love (like Silk Soy Milk) and went directly to the manufacturer's websites to print off coupons.  You'd be surprised at the number of coupons available for items you purchase every week.  We also buy the weekend newspaper and clip coupons from it.  We're amazed that we never did this before.   We've managed to cut our grocery bill by $50 per week $200/month) and we're buying more name brands now at a fraction of the cost of store brands.  I'll keep you updated as we continue this couponing frenzy . . . our latest ADDICTION!

5.  We switched health clubs.  We both love to work out, but our YMCA membership was costing us $60 more than another gym located within 2 minutes from the Y.  As much as we love the family focus of the YMCA, with our resolution firmly in place, we couldn't justify the $60 at this time.

So there you have it . . . $313 in savings every month.  So what's the plan with all that extra moula?

We are adopting Dave Ramsey's "snowball" method of paying off our debt.  We are taking our student loan with the smallest balance and tackling it first.  We will take half of the $313 in savings (the other half -- $156.50 --will go to rebuild our savings) and apply it toward our lowest student loan.  This means, instead of sending in the normal $110 per month that is required for this bill, we'll be sending in $266.50 per month.   Once we pay it off, we will take the $110 that is normally applied toward that loan PLUS the $156.50 and put it toward the next debt with the smallest payoff balance, along with the normal payment.  

In this way, we hope to tackle some of the student loans and pay down our debt.

We know that when daycare kicks in, we might have to change plans a bit, but hopefully we'll be able to stay somewhat on track. 

We've also considered downsizing in the vehicle department.  I'm fortunate to have a job that gives me a car, so no car payment there, but we also have a Ford F150 that we bought a few years ago for home improvement purposes.  It's been convenient having a truck, but the thing is a serious gas guzzler and it has a hefty monthly payment to boot.  We've thought about selling it and getting something more efficient and less costly but we're still debating. 

 I'm so excited for this new endeavor!  

We'd love to hear how you save money each month and/or are working to be debt-free!

I'll be sure to share our coupon addiction soon :-)