Hellobee Boards

We buy and do nothing fun.
But seriously, no cable, no dinners out, no shopping trips except for essentials. Aldi for produce and other staples. Keep the house chilly and bundle up.

We BARELY eat out. Maybe once every month on average, if even that. We don't buy a lot of things for ourselves.

We are sort of a high-low family. There things we spend money on but things we are super cheap about. But we basically live debt-free aside from school loans, a modest mortgage, and a small car payment we will pay off soon.

We removed cable but got NHL.TV ($20 a month or $180 a season I think) so DH can watch his hockey games via web or Apple TV. He's not super hardcore about it (like if there is a blacked out game he won't flip out) but if he was or if he was into several sports I think it would be cheaper to go to do a combination of watching at a friend's house and go to a sports bar if he just drank pop or one beer and got a cheap appetizer. We do pay $5 a month for an IP rerouter service so that we can get around the blacked out games and watch on our laptop (Unblockus).

We meal plan, have a deep freezer that's full of frozen groceries, got a Culligan water system (no more bottled water and the water tastes great so we all drink a ton), and eat leftovers or simple sandwiches for lunch. We enjoy gourmet coffee at home at a fraction of the cost of Starbucks. DH and I go on lunch dates once a week so we don't feel deprived and it's cheaper (we like to get pho or Indian buffet for example, and it's $20 including tip!). We stock up on things on sale we reliably use (reliable being the key term) - like Costco usually puts things on sale twice a year so we buy six months worth of generic Allegra and vitamins and contact solution at a time. We try not to buy beverages when we eat out and stick to water. Sometimes I will bring a packet of Crystal Light or something.

We eat a good amount of ethnic food - they are usually very tasty entrees with little or no meat and are eaten with breads or rice. I'm Korean so we eat a lot of rice in general and I buy large sacks of it.

We eat simple veggies. Baby carrots, big bags of frozen mixed veggies, zucchini in season, big bags of romaine lettuce for salads, etc. We can't eat dark greens because of DH's medical condition but I keep some frozen chopped greens around and throw them into smoothies for the boys.

We use inexpensive toiletries for the most part and buy lotion in gallon size pump bottles that everyone in the family can use.

We dress our boys in simple comfy cotton clothing for the most part. I usually grab the next size up whenever there is a sale (I'm a Kohl's card member and there is usually a 30% off code plus free shipping code plus $10 off a $25 or $30 clothing or baby gear code 2-3 times a year that I can also stack a $10 reward on and then scoop up stuff in the next few sizes for the next season off the clearance section for $2-3 a piece. I also grab basics from Target kids section when there is a 20-30% off Cartwheel code and I can get tshirts and shorts for the boys for $3 each or less.). We get Stride Rites on sale and with the rewards we can usually grab sneakers for $20 or less.

DH and I dress in mid-range, classic "uniforms" mostly. I wear black 90% of the time and DH wears a mix and match of the same pants, shorts, and shirts depending on season. We ask for replacements of those things or makeup for me for birthdays and Christmas and buy 2-3 good quality shoes a year. Same with purses - I mostly buy pricier purses but use them for a long time. I bought my first nice purse this year and my last purchase was...5 years ago? Those Cole Haan purses last!

Kids gear we tend to buy good quality things (on sale when we can) that have a good resale value or will be used a long time. Things like strollers and real Magnatiles.

We budget monthly but keep an eye on large expenses 90 days out and cash flow almost everything. We pay most insurance premiums once a year because we get a discount usually.

Using the same Kohl's strategy above and scanning Slickdeals now and then I can snag gifts super cheaply year round (and keep a list of what I got for everyone). Usually I am done Christmas shopping by October and have something to always give for any other holiday or birthday during the year.

I don't buy gifts anymore...we've cut out all gift giving with the exception of children as adult gift exchanges became passing around gift cards. I do let my son do some holiday shopping, but I take him to a discount department store and he'll find socks or something for his grandparents.

I really think about what I am buying, I don't go to stores just to look around and browse. I also had my husband change all the passwords to Amazon, so I can put things in the cart, but he has to actually order them...it helps to cut down on my impulse buys.

I have found that for some food, I am better off buying the convenience version, especially if it comes in serving sizes. I can make what we need and am not trying to fit in leftovers and throwing out old food that's in the back of the fridge.

Meal planning and actually sticking to it with very little eating out makes an enormous difference in our budget. I really sucked at it during the last couple months of my pregnancy and now that I'm back to it I can really tell how much we are saving. I try to spend around $200 biweekly for 2 adults that eat a lot (DH works a high impact job and I am breastfeeding) and a 3 year old, plus we have company for dinner a few times a month.

We have one super old truck and one nice new car. DH only uses his truck to get to and from work and all family trips/ outings are made in the more gas efficient car.

We do not have cable. We have bunny ears and DH has just learned to only watch the sports games that come on those channels. We share Amazon with my parents and we subscribe to Netflix DVD.

I try to buy toiletries and baby stuff at Target when I can stack coupons, Cartwheel app savings, and gift card offers. I just got 3 giant cases of diapers for $40 after sales and coupons plus I got a $20 gift card!

All of our clothes are pretty inexpensive... I get nice clothes for the girls at high end consignment shops and fill in with super on sale clothes from Carters, Old Navy, or Target. Since I'm a SAHM most of my clothes are pretty inexpensive and DH manages a pizza restaurant so he doesn't get dressed up. I actually also like some stuff from CostCo (athletic shorts, underwear, socks, pajamas).

We cut cable a few years ago and save money that way. I know there are online sports options you could look into for DH.

We save a good amount of money by making most of our food by scratch and freezing extra portions to eat later, especially in the middle of a busy week. We also meal plan so we have everything purchased ahead of time and aren't tempted to eat out, and then we have leftovers for lunch the next day. We don't eat out very often as a result.

I also save a fair amount of money by buying most our our DD's clothes on clearance a year ahead of time (her size has been reliable so far which makes it easy). Shoes are harder to predict so I only buy those ahead of time if they're something that would be appropriate for multiple seasons.

@bubblegum: hehe it's my goal this maternity leave to sit down and figure out all the numbers and make sure there is a way for DH to watch live sports!

We spend too much on grocery items in general--eating out, convenience foods, too many random coffee runs from work when we have coffee at home.

We'd never done one before but two weeks ago, we did a spending freeze and it made me more aware of all the random money I spend on silly stuff. I have the worst habit of buying water bottles at convenience stores, for example. Like I do it 3-4 times a week. And it's way more expensive to buy 1 at a time rather than a pack from the supermarket or better yet, refilling a water bottle at home.

Today was the first day I went our for lunch in two weeks. That's an improvement for me, since I had gotten into a bad habit of eating lunch out or grabbing coffee out in the morning 3-4 times a week. And my husband eats out for lunch at least 4 days a week too--so the spending freeze is really good for saving money.

We only have Netflix and have only ever had that. We will occasionally rent a movie on iTunes. My husband recently shopped around for new house and car insurance and were switching to a different company and saving 1k a year now by switching. This is the third time we have switched in two years. I guess he was just proactive and thought to shop around for prices. That's why he handles our budget. :). He has also suggested a number of times that I go through flyers and shop at multiple locations for groceries. I'm very slowly starting to do it; it's just a lifestyle change for me to shop at multiple places as I like to just go to one store and be done so it adds a lot more time to a grocery excursion.

@bubblegum: we cut cable, but we have sling instead
Sling is good but you dont get basic cable like local channels. with sling you can spend as low as $19 i believe for a packaged with a mix of sports, movies, cooking, home improvement and news channels
we also take lunch to work most days

@bubblegum: yeah its nice but we do also have an antenna to get the local news and traffic in the mornings

It's a real bummer, but we literally buy nothing apart from absolute essentials. We try to be happy with what we have. Haha! (Contradictory sentences.). But seriously, we go to parks, on hikes, on walks, have campfires, play games, use the library, old flip pay as you go phones, no need for spending freeze because we never spend.

I'm thinking of joining a family friendly gym, however, because the winter here is super cold and gray. We are hardcore outdoor but it always ends up bummin me out.

@bubblegum: This lists the different packages. All you do is buy a roku streaming stick.
https://www.sling.com

I used to coupon a lot when we were first married and then sorta didn't have time anymore. But before each of my babies were born I also deep stocked up on things we would need those first few months. I made a lot of freezer meals and stocked up on diapers, shampoo, wipes, soap, detergent, all paper products, etc. I deep couponed and looked for deals (basically just Amazon or Target) and we didn't need to buy household stuff for like 4-6 months after each kid was born. I also had a ton of baby food and pouches and puffs stocked up too - I think both boys had 2 months of food each.

We also do slingtv. I got an amazon TV, so that's how we access slingtv. I like it, beats my 150 cable bill.

Buy things end of season sales. Use apps like cartwheel at target.

@Ms. RV: ditto on cutting my own hair. I haven't had a haircut at a salon ever in my adult life. The last time was when I was 12 I think and only because my mum had a coupon otherwise she just cut our hair because I only ever wanted/needed a trim!

We also do our own car repair and maintenenance unless it's something too big. My husbands dad is a mechanic so hubby is pretty into cars and has worked on them since he was a teen. My dad taught me how to change the tires when I was a teenager, but now you guys are making me want to learn other stuff and relearn tire changing!