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I think all the advice is great. I also bring lunch everyday and luckily, DH gets lunch provided to him at work. We don't have cable. We don't have a landline at home just our cell phones which we have the cheapest plan (I make all my calls either at work or during "night mins"). We also buy everything we can from either craigslist or eBay, and if we can't find it on either of these two sites, we always buy on sale or using coupons. I can't remember the last time I've bought anything (except groceries) full price.
Oh, and we use the CC for everything (including monthly bills) and pay the balance off every month. That way we get points that we use for vacations.
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We use Mint.com, and aside from the recurrent monthly expenses, 95% of our other expenses are on FOOD!!! I have a category that I call "Fast Food" which is separate from the groceries, and it's mostly from DH and his eating out during lunch at work, which is fine once a week for social purposes. What he needs to work on is the impulse buys - ice cream, cakes, cookies, etc.!
We buy high quality meats and organic produce, but I'm hoping that will pay off in the long run with better health.
I thrift all my clothing as well as LO's clothes. We cloth diaper. I avoid turning on the heat in the house even though it's cold as heck, I cook all of our meals, and.......we never really go out and spend money too often. We're homebodies! I also don't really buy much anymore, though I will admit, I used to be a hoarder! Since we are living in a small place, I've had to get rid of a lot of stuff and from doing that, I feel more at ease. It's stressful finding storage for all that stuff!
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For a while DH was unemployed, and we lived in a very expensive part of the country, so we were frugal b/c we had to be. I took a vanpool to work, which was cheaper than driving. We rarely went out to eat. We did one big grocery shopping each week where we bought all of our food for the week. We planned our meals carefully. The place where we did splurge was on certain higher-quality foods and alcohols. We figured we weren't eating out really at all, so making nice cocktails for ourselves and cooking some good food made us still feel like our life was fun... and eating in is almost always more cost effective than eating out. We would do fancy martinis and have date nights in watching Mad Men. It was a somewhat different lifestyle, but it wasn't half bad!
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We are extremely frugal because we have to be. Some things we do:
--meal plan carefully before grocery shopping
--buy the generic/cheapest brand of everything
--only go out to eat once a week or less, and don't buy cocktails/beer while we're out
--don't buy absolutely anything unless we actually need it (no clothes, Starbucks, fun makeup, etc.)
--no TV (we have Netflix instant which is only $8/month)
--don't run the heat (we bundle up instead)That's all I can think of for now. Once you get into the habit of being more frugal, I'm sure it will become second nature!
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@DigAPony: Yes, cutting out cable is a good one! Luckily we live on the 3rd floor in an apartment so we rarely need to turn the heat on, that saves a lot.
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@jedeve: Wow! I really like your conceptual advice
We also don't have cable and are ditching Netflix because we don't use it that much anyway!
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I agree with lots of the advice already posted, especially about going out and limiting tv/phone expenses. Another thing that helps me a lot is keeping a running list of things we need, then every few months (with budget in mind) going on a shopping binge for a few days to get everything (best when timed with sales). That way I get all shopped out, and lose the desire for a while and I don't feel like I'm depriving myself because I just got all these things. Another good one for online purchases is just putting things in your cart and never checking out.
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@jedeve: your reply would be great as a guest post! interested in expanding it a little bit for the blog?
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@Mrs. Bee: That would be fun!
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@Mrs. Bee: ok I know this isn't exactly what you asked but this is what we do to make our money go further (after already doing things like cutting back):
We responsibly use a points earning credit card (we don't carry a balance month to month)
1. helps us track ALL expenses -- we tend to lose track of cash.
2. It gets us free stuffWe are currently visiting my parents across the country for the holidays. The cheapest plane tickets were $700+ for each of us. Using my Chase Sapphire card, I transferred over points to my United mileage account and got 2 tickets for ~$120 (taxes which were not covered). We even got to sit in business class for one way, which was fantastic with an infant because we skipped every line (checkin, security, boarding).
Since I know your parents live in LA, this could help you save in airfare which would be a big win.
For me, saving $1400 on the plane tickets beats couponing. I am a total failure with the coupons and it would probably take me years to save $1400. I also have other cards which earn me 1.5%-5% cash back on things I buy anyway.
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The biggest change I've personally made since my younger years is having a needs vs wants conversation with myself whenever I shop.
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