Got any advice on how to live within your means and still make ends-meat?

Question

With high gas prices and everything is costing more than it did five years ago, how does your family stay out of debt? I wish our salaries would increase as quickly as inflation does but I doubt that will be happening anytime soon.

Answer 1

Oh my! This question comes at a time when I have been learning a hard lesson.....some of the circumstances were not my fault, BUT most of my financial woes happened because I never bothered to learn how to budget my income! I never bothered to think of the future, and I am raising a child alone! How immature was I being?!
To add insult to injury, right in the middle of not making sure I had something put back in the event of an unforseen situation, I was laid off of my job!

My credit was quickly in the toilet, my self esteem was going with it, and my poor daughter was faced with the fact that her mother had no clue about how to be a big girl at the age of 43, and get busy improving our circumstances.....My guilt for not showing her how to be responsible was what caused me to step up to the plate, face my shortcomings and mistakes and to start working on taking charge like an adult.

Finally I found work, but it was a part-time job. I was forced to give up my apartment and move in with my elderly mother, (which made my siblings and other family members happy because she is very ill and needs someone with her these days). Then I sat down with my 13 year old daughter and explained that things have to change ASAP!

I became the coupon queen of Las Vegas, learned which sales were happening at the three grocery stores near home, and never deviated from my list or coupons. I began fueling my car very early in the morning, (I read some where that fueling your vehicle before the tempuratures rise it will give you a little more milage....I don't know if that is true or not, BUT, it makes me feel as if I am being proactive), make sure that the cars tires are properly inflated, stopped using the air-conditioner, (again I read this helps to increase the milage a bit).....my daughter had to do without going to weekly movies with friends and hanging out at the local burger joint with her friends on the weekends came to an end. We came up with some creative ways for her and her friends to be entertained and they enjoy themselves so much that even when there is a little extra for a special treat, they say they would rather save their money and continue with homemade activities and fun.

I switched from brand name soaps, shampoos, deodorants, hair spray, cleaning supplies and the like and only used the generic brainds......I still use Suave shampoo and deodorant since I discovered it is as good if not better than my old favorite, Secret.

If you find yourself with an extra ten dollars, DO NOT SPEND IT! Put it way, every time....three, five, ten dollars, it doesn't matter....just don't spend it!
Keep saving every dollar, or quarter for that matter, that you can. Keep looking for employment with better pay, and do not ignore creditors! That is where I made my biggest mistakes....by the time I was on better footing my credit was trashed, and my credit report was embarassingly overflowing with unpaid accounts turned over to collection agencies!

I cut every corner I could think of, and even earned myself the humiliating nick-name of "Scroogette"....but, finally after three years of feeling like things would never change, I am finally feeling hopeful and confident that it is going to continue to improve! I still have a long way to go in repairing my credit, but I am determined to get it done!

I know this is the longest answer ever, but reading your question touched me and I just wanted to let you know that you can jump in and take charge of your finances no matter what shape they are in.....just do it.

And good luck....I wish you well!

Answer 2

Turn the question around - instead of saying how to live within your means,

Take your means (your salary)

Budget the fixed costs:

mortgage, taxes, base utilities, savings (savings should be fixed).

See what's left, and then change how you live to match it -

If your housing costs are more than 35% of your wages, then you're living too high, and need to move to a smaller, cheaper place - and your utility bills will go down too.

BTW, inflation is at 2%, and average annual raises are at 3%, what's happening is that you're supersizing your wants.

You can still buy a car for $10,000, only it's 2 years old, probabl doesn't have a DVD player in the back seat, and power sliding doors on both sides - and it works just fine. Vehicles is one of the places people go nuts over - they lease every 2 years paying more and more, and have nothing to show for it. If you buy a 2 year old car, you'll pay half of showroom price, and quality is so good it should last you 7 more years without major repair (you still have to do brakes, tires, oil changes, I mean your transmission and powertrain should be good).

Answer 3

There have been a couple of times in our married life that money has been really tight. The way I dealt with it was to have several envelopes, each labeled, food, gas, electricity, etc.. One envelope for each monthly expense, even down to the most minute thing like for example tips. Then I divided all the money allotted to each item and once the money for that item run out, that was it until the following month.

I walked instead of taking the car or using public transportation. I kept a list of different menus appropriate for different times of the year. I Cooked food from scratch. Menu planning was a must before going grocery shopping.

Now, we only implement a fraction of those measures. Sometimes I wish we could go back to our former system. Especially when bills start pouring in. Well, at least we are able to pay off all our credit cards every month.

I hope some suggestions are useful to you. Good luck!

Answer 4

Yeah, but my methods may be dull, dull, dull or not something that's practical for you. Everybody has a different personal style.

Food: I have a garden and we have a warehouse membership. We don't eat any convenience foods. Everything except stuff like bread, peanut butter, and condiments is made from scratch. When we buy meat, for example beef, we get the big family-sized package of roast that's on special for $1.99/pound, and slice it and freeze it into smaller packages.

We keep lists of everything we think we may need, and try to wait to buy until it's seriously on sale, like half off. We don't buy things that aren't on the list, and don't buy things that we merely "want". We clip and file coupons.

I'm a woodworker and I sew, so I make a lot of our kid's toys and clothes and mend whatever's broken around the house.

Oh - and we put money into our retirement funds and an emergency savings account up front, instead of waiting to see how much money is left over at the end of the month. That way, if somebody loses a job or we get socked with a surprise like the furnace breaking, we don't have to run up credit cards or get a loan.

Like I said: dull. And not practical for everyone. My husband has a saying: "it's expensive to be poor". People who are truly living from paycheck to paycheck may not be able to afford $14 for a chunk of beef that will make five or six meals, even though they'd get a better deal per pound if they did.

Best of luck!

Answer 5

Join nearby gleaning groups.
Can your own produce each year.
If you have credit cards freeze them in a block of ice . This will help you get over the urge to use them because it takes forever for them to thaw out and you cant rush the process without destroying the magnetic strip on them.
Church groups and your local Community Action Center can help with resources in your area.
Also, make only enough to feed everyone at dinner/ If you calculate the amount needed when you cook it, there will be no leftovers yo go among the containers and bowls which we all eventually cant remember what the contents are. Alot of waste is avoided this way. Buy in bulk. Thats about the basics. Hope it helps.
Blessed Be~

Answer 6

If you make a monthly budget, you can see where the money goes and save accordingly.

Plan driving trips to save gas. Don't run out for one thing, get a few errands done in one trip.

But don't you know. According to the government "inflation is under control and less than 4%". Of course they don't count energy costs in the calculations, but they don't tell you that!!

Real inflation is around 19% thus far this year.

Answer 7

if you make a monthly budget, you can see where the money goes and save accordingly.

plan driving trips to save gas. don't run out for one thing, get a few errands done in one trip.

Rather than wishing my salary to increase, I wish no one wanted a raise. Then prices, sans commodities, should not rise. it's because everybody wants a raise that prices get higher.

Answer 8

i have to work 2 jobs and get student loans in order to support myself while at school. i became a vegetarian, i ride a bike, and i make sure that my windows are sealed during the winter.

Answer 9

To make ends meat, buy some steak and for every meal place the steaks at either end... now both ends are meat!

Or perhaps you meant "make ends meet"?????

Answer 10

Eat a lot of Ramen noodles