where can I cut back to save money?

Question

I am trying to figure out a way that I can cut some cost to be able to stay home with my baby. Have any of you tried working from home. If so what are you doing and does it really work? I really want to stay home with my baby but I don't want to feel broke all the time.

Answer 1

Going to add to an awesome list :)

1. Cancel cable television
2. Cancel the cell phone (or get pay as you go)
3. Cook all your meals, and pack lunches for children and husband.
4. Get rid of clothes that require dry cleaning - do your own laundry - UNLESS you have to pay washing machines, then go to a friend or relative's to do laundry weekly
5. Don't eat out except for special occasions...note: Friday does NOT qualify as a special occasion.
6. Don't throw out leftovers...plan ways to use them in meals the same week.
7. When running errands, plan them so you aren't making multiple trips and wasting gas and time.
8. Take the bus. In fact if you live in the city SELL your personal vehicle. You'd be surprised how much you spend on it in the run of a month/year.
9. Look at maps when calling a cab. Knowledge of the area helps for example if you can skip a busy street with lots of stop lights, do it, you'll save a bundle.
****When I go get groceries, if my mother in law is not available I take the bus there and a cab back. I don't pay any more than 10$ for transportation in total.
10. Breastfeed (if applicable)
11. If you own a washer and dryer use cloth diapers. If not use store brand dring the day and name brand ones you bought at a place like Costco or with coupons for at night.
12. Don't waste your money on pull ups. They're a new invention and not nessisary. Once they know when they need to go don't put diapers on them during the day. (Night takes longer though.)
13. Store brands, store brands, STORE BRANDS! (but becareful sometimes they're not much of a deal.)
14. Buy things on sale. Like Heinz Ketchup... There's no ketchup like it.
15. Buy your clothes for fall around now. Winter clothes like Jackets buy them at the end of last season. Winter clothes on the boxing day blow out.
16. Buy CHRISTMAS presents for the following year during the boxing day event or mid summer. Also its a good time to pick up most the birthday presents for the year.
17. SECOND HAND STORES. They're GREAT for kids clothes (as in under 12). I buy all my baby's clothes at our local Frenchie's. You might find some nice stuff for yourself and your husband too. (But I don't suggest buying all your clothes there or people can tell.)
18. Leather shoes last forever. As long as you take care of them.
19. Join your local Freecycle www.freecycle.org you can get some really great stuff there sometimes. Plus people will come pick up your junk. Very handy if your blender breaks down or your child loses thier bike/coat ect..
20. Buy snack foods in bulk. It's the pakaging that costs the money, but keep an eye on the prices.

Luck. Feel free to add to this list if you want.

Answer 2

Well, i too stay at home with my baby. There is no doubt that it is a struggle. We are actually moving in with my husbands parents who have a big house, so that we don't have to pay rent or bills anymore! We are saving to buy a house, once we have paid off all the debts we owe. I guess this sounds rather drastic, but it will be good for us. We also use Costco alot for ther own brand diapers and formula. They are both really great products, also we use their wipes as well. We go and spend around around $80 and get 4 tins of formula, the huge packet of diapers and the wipes. this will last at least one month, especially the wipes, they will last you around 4months. I make all my own baby food and freeze it. Yes we do go without the luxuries, but spending these important years with your child is more important than getting your nails done. You can go back to work when your child starts school. Hope this was a little helpful. I looked into those work from home things and you generally have to have a small amount of capital to invest. The minimum is generally around $250 from what i can remember. Then you also have to sign up to get the book on how to do it in the first place which is another $25 plus S&H. I think these things are ok if you have that spare bit of cash, but then it also depends on how much time you can devote to the business and whether you are willing to turn your home into a warehouse! Those survey things are a con too. Stear clear!

Answer 3

We also had to do some cutbacks when I decided to stay home with my son. What we did was:
Stopped eating out (except on special occasions)
Bought generic brands (you actually save ALOT by buying the store brand of toilet paper, paper towels, foods, etc)
Stopped buying extra stuff that we just "wanted" & didn't need (new clothes & other misc stuff)

We ended up saving around $200 a month! Just by doing those things, you can lower the outgoing money. If you don't want to feel broke all the time, I wouldn't suggest staying home LOL Everybody I know that is a SAHM (who had to cut back in the first place in order to stay home) ALWAYS feel broke, it's the way it goes. I haven't tried working from home, but I might in the future, maybe EBAY or something. I hope I helped a little!

Answer 4

http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ is a great website. It is a little complicated to explain, but the lady who runs the site has a method of tracking a 12 week cycle of major grocery chains and tells you which coupons to use and when. The first time I used the site, I heard the checker choke a bit when she told me I had saved $68!

As a bonus, for me, it made meal planning easier because I always had something in the freezer, and knew it was bought at the lowest price.

There is a certain satisfaction in knowing "the secret" about what to buy when other people are scratching their heads about which cut of chicken to buy!

I can see that there were lots of other budgeting suggestions made, they're all good! It's about discipline, and remembering that you are wanting to make a sacrifice now, and you'll be back in the work force one day, and can buy the nicer shoes then!

Good luck!

Answer 5

For cutting back on expenses, my husband and I cancelled our land line phone and we use cell phones now. We also cut back the channels on our tv to basic networking and settled for a lower speed cable internet connection. WIC helps as well. Also just buy the essentials for the most part, splurge very little. These are some of the ways we cut back on expenses and it has worked very well. Neither of us watch a lot of tv and the lower speed works fine. It's just not lightning fast, but it works. We do great and we aren't broke all the time. Working from home is also a good option. I babysat for a long time and I do scrapbooking for other people. It's not rolling in money, but it brings in a little extra for when I do want to go on a date with my hubby or buy myself something every now and then.

Answer 6

i work from home and have 3 kids the youngest is 2 . i do customer service for a couple of hours a day while he is asleep . look into this it really is great you work your own hrs just as long as u put in 15 hrs a week - you can do it in the afternoon while the baby sleeps or in the evening when u put the baby down for the night it usually pays u by the calls u answer i answer about 5 to 7 calls an hr ,

Answer 7

For me to stay at home, we cut out the following things:

eating out
cable
our second car (even though one car really bites! It's worth it!)
new clothes for dh and I and only buying our daughter what she needed
cloth diapers
breastfeeding

I have a friend who works from home and it's really hard. She works 2 hours in the morning while her husband is home (meaning she gets up at 5am because he has to be at work by 8:30) and two hours in the evening. Then she just has to squeeze in 2 hours during the day, which is where the trouble starts becuase her son is a cat napper.

Answer 8

Clip coupons, buy store brand, shop consignment and garage sales for baby clothes, only buy what you need and not what's cute, breastfeed if you can, buy diapers in bulk, don't eat out very often, if it's nice out walk instead of drive to get what you need and take the stroller or take the city bus to save on the price of gas, only turn on the A/C in your home when needed, turn the heat on to a minimum, turn off lights if they don't need to be on to save on your energy bill, cancel cable and read books or magazines for entertainment instead or just get local channels or rent free DVD's from your local library, stock up when there's sales on items if you can afford to.

As for working from home...you could try selling AVON, Mary Kay, Premier Designs jewelry, Home Interiors, Pampered Chef, Partylite, etc. That does mean some travel though and probably and evening or two, possibly Saturday's, for shows and or parties. Good Luck!

Answer 9

i'm a scrapbooking addict, so the 1st ingredient that went substitute into the money spent on that pastime. My husband used to golf each and every sunday, now he merely is going as quickly as a month. i've got substitute into captivated with coupons and grocery shop like an anal-retentive weirdo. We merely had our 2nd new child. With our 1st new child, each and everything had to be new, no hand me downs. With our 2nd, we welcome something every person has to bypass alongside and gladly positioned it to sturdy use! and that i won't have the ability to tell you the final time i offered new clothing for myself. yet you be attentive to what? i myself don't sense like i'm lacking out on something, universal we are doing nice with the cutbacks. are not getting me incorrect, a sprint xtra money would be nice and functional, yet i think of i've got made saving money and being frugal sort of a interest! Lol. desire issues turn around for each individual quickly, too. :-)

Answer 10

1. Cancel cable television
2. Cancel the cell phone
3. Cook all your meals, and pack lunches for children and husband.
4. Get rid of clothes that require dry cleaning - do your own laundry
5. Don't eat out except for special occasions...note: Friday does NOT qualify as a special occasion.
6. Don't throw out leftovers...plan ways to use them in meals the same week.
7. When running errands, plan them so you aren't making multiple trips and wasting gas and time.