Hellobee Boards

I like this idea. I just started using the YNAB app and figured out how much I spent in one month. IT'S INSANE! The biggest portion of my spending goes towards groceries. We hunt our meat and grow a garden. We should not be spending much money on groceries!! If anyone has grocery tips, i'd love to hear it

I have started shopping second hand for LOs clothes. My rule for buying new clothes is it has to be significantly on sale.

@HLK208: we eat a ton of frozen chicken breast here!....

We are on somewhat of a spending freeze, too. Or rather, we're trying to not spend impulsively. If we have to spend money, fine, but it has to be a rational decision, not a spur of the moment one.

I'm currently trying to get our grocery budget under control, but it is really hard with LO's sensitives. Natural food is just more expensive, and breastfeeding makes me really hungry.

@HLK208: I hear you on wanting to buy all the things. It's really, really hard not to get caught up in it. Hugs, lady.

I started using YNAB. I have been budgeting since I was 18, but YNAB changed my mindset about what my money needs to do for me, rather than what I need to do to get more money. It seriously has me addicted to saving and re-organizing and planning my spending.

Also, we started meal planning with the Fresh 20. We are 2 weeks in (this is our 3rd) and it has been fantastic so far. I never stress about "what's for dinner" and I spend FAR LESS on my groceries. By the end of the month we were hitting over $800 for mostly 2 people! Insane! Now, since I started meal planning, it's the end of the month and I still have $500 in our groceries budget. Awesome!

Being accountable for your spending is the hardest part. At least for me. Because I'm like you and I love to buy things to "treat" myself. But, as you said, life isn't about material things and reassessing is important.

@HLK208: sounds like you're off to a good start doing lot's of positive things! When you love to shop I think it's easiest to just avoid stores and websites all together! Unsubscribe temporarily to any store emails too!

Money is always tight for us and we follow a strict budget because we have a lot of debt to pay off. I really want October to be a super frugal month because I'm starting to get worried about Christmas. We don't really have any where to cut - we already lowered cable and cell bills, don't go out to eat, don't buy clothes, etc. So I focus on the groceries and meal planning. I feel like it's the only thing I can control. I really really really suck at meal planning and feel like I never have time to cook since I WOH full time, but I'm going to try my best! Keeping DH away from the grocery store is also key, since he spends mindlessly!

I'm also considering not going home on my lunch break in October (I live close to work so I drive home and back every day) to save a little on gas, and stopping drinking coffee altogether.

For us the best way to control our spending is to decide how much we want to spend on each category throughout the month and pull out cash for everything but gas. We save so so much money this way. I have dividers in my wallet, and when the cash is gone we stop spending.

I'm following this thread! I need to work on budgeting as well! I'm newly pregnant, and we just bought a car this weekend. We haven't had a car payment in years, so just adding in an extra payment now is going to be an eye opener!

I think one of the main things that I'm going to focus on is food...Grocery shopping, and going out to eat mostly.

@LovelyPlum: You are too sweet! I don't think it's set in for me yet truthfully!

@LovelyPlum: You don't need exact amounts. That's the best part about it! It's not a "forecasting" program. So you don't need to "guess" how much money your DH will be making from one pay check to the next. You enter the amount once he's paid.

@LovelyPlum: DOOOOO ITTTTTT. If you have any questions head over to the YNAB chat thread! I am a huge enabler so... I'll do my best to help make it work for you.

@Mrs. High Heels: what's ting?

last month, i was a little spend happy need to make up for it this month. fortunately this is a month with an extra payday, woohoo! i need to put aside some money for a new tie rod on my car (it doesn't need to be replaced just yet, but it will before the winter), of course it just got a new brake line, new brakes and calipers, ugh, damn money pit!

i save a lot by buying markdowns for most things. also, no cable, just netflix and an antenna. i save a lot with amazon S&S, not so much to get the same things each month, but to get the discount on items that also have coupons to go with them. pet items are much less through amazon compared to the pet stores, so i save $10-$20/month by ordering online & having cat food and litter delivered. grocery delivery has also saved me some in that i don't buy any extras and i use delivery codes and order for days with discounts, so it ends up being a little less than if i had gone shopping myself. i haven't used any coupons with the grocery delivery yet though, so for those who use a lot of coupons, it might not be worth it. to supplement what i have delivered, i've been going to a cheapo grocer once a month or so.

this month i'm going to try to focus on shopping my kitchen/closet first. i have a lot that i don't even notice and buy new when i could cook from the freezer or wear from the back of the closet. also, i'm bad about returning things, i had ordered boots that didn't fit but instead of returning them first and then buying new ones, i bought another pair already and the ones that don't fit are sitting in the box, i need to make sure i send them back because i'm notorious for waiting too long and then not being able to return things which is a giant waste of money.

@mrs. bird: It is a pay as you go type cellphone service (they reside on the sprint network, but there are other services out there similar to ting that sit on verizon and at&t if you currently use one of those other data providers) - http://www.hellobee.com/2014/01/17/a-ting-review-saving-100-on-our-cellphone-bill/

There are some upfront costs because there is a cancellation fee if you're in contract, and you basically have to pay for your phones at retail price (we bought used iPhones from amazon so it wasn't too bad). but you make up that loss pretty quickly - we made it back within 3 months just because of the monthly savings we got off our cellphone bills. Instead of being charged $140 for the two of us, we are now getting charged $40-50 between the two of us. And that is with us pretty much using unlimited data all the time! We use our phones just as much as we did when we had unlimited data, but at a 3rd of the price.

@IRunForFun: thanks!

@.twist.: OK, I will. Nervous, but excited. We need to get this under control!

@.twist.: I know, I'm such an enabler too! I tell everyone I can about it because I believe in it/love it so much!

@LovelyPlum: Yay, I hope you like it!

@.twist.: I'm hoping Fresh 20 can do the same for us. This is our 2nd week and I am hoping it will cut down our grocery bill.

@HLK208: Same here! I've been holding out because I really don't want to have to pay for it!

@HLK208: @MrsBrewer: I promise you you'll make your money back within a month or two of using it! Maybe wait for the next sale. You can probably get it for $15! If either of you are in school right now, YNAB would be free if you just shoot them an email.

I'm the cheapest person EVER (like I only browse the FREE downloads sections on iTunes) and I paid for YNAB and it's definitely worth it. I'm not even using it to it's full/proper capacity and it's making a difference in our lives!

@Espion: haha kool-aid. I was just saying to @Mrs. High Heels: that I feel a little crazy being so pushy with this. I'm all like: