Where can a family look to save money?

Question

My family of 3 is planning a Florida vacation for 2009. Our goal is to pay cash and not put everything on credit at the last minute. To do this we're looking at areas of our life where we can cut back and put money aside.

For example each time we decide to eat at home instead of eating out we'll stuff $10 bucks into an envelope. When we make coffee at home and take it to work instead of getting coffee out we'll stuff away $2 to $5.

What I'm needing is some fresh insight into areas where a family with a 10 yr. old boy can cut back. (Sorry. Losing the cable is not an option though I wish it were.) And anything that helps a young boy learn some money sense in the process would be great too.

I've never been good at making a 'true' budget and sticking to it. What I'd like is for this vacation fund to be the jump start for the family to simply think about each and every purchase as a daily habit. In essence I'd like for this to be a good place to ween ourselves off of the nonthinking consumer habit.

Thanks for everyone's input. Again, I'm looking for spending categories where it's possible to shave off some savings. For example, every time we want to go to the movie but instead rent a DVD or stay home to play a board game; then the savings can be visibly stuffed into an envelope or at least ticked off to be thrown into savings with the next paycheck. This and coffee are easy ones. Any other categories where it's not hard to save money?

Momo, you gave an incredibly detailed answer. Thanks. Many of the things you suggest we already do.

What I guess I'm truly after are areas of spending where we can make a conscious decision on a daily basis to reduce what we spend, substitute something else for it, or do without it. Like watching a DVD we already own instead of going out to the movies and showing our son that we take that money and put it directly into savings for our vacation.

It's important for me that my son gets a feeling as to what's going on with the family finances. I want him to own this vacation. He should understand that saving or spending money is about choice, and that having money for the nice things in life doesn't come without some sacrafice somewhere.

Answer 1

Try recycling... glass, aluminum, plastic. That's like free money. Also, does your son get an allowance? If so, ask him if he's willing to put 1/2 of it in the vacation fund?

What we also do is put in $5 in "the pot" every week. You can make this $10 or whatever amount on top of the money that you are already stashing away for eating at home and drinking home made coffee. Also, with daily lunches... do you buy out, or can you make them at home? Maybe take left-overs? You can also stash another $5 for taking a home made lunch.

With our $5 and recycle money, we've done some pretty cool things and have paid all cash. It's nice!!

Also, instead of going out to the movies, you can save by renting a movie and all watching it at home for under $10 instead of spending $30 + snacks.

Answer 2

Well its good that you are planning to save in advance and your on the right track. One way you can do this is find out how much it will cost for the hotel stay, estimate how much your willing to spend on each meal everyday, gas, gifts, emergencies. When you get that number, then you'll be able to know around how much you need. Have you considered getting a part time job for a couple of months to help you get the money for the trip?
I wish you the best.

Answer 3

It is great you have a financial short-term goal! To fund this particular goal, you might want to consider the following ideas, I’ve used all of them with great success.

1- Automate your savings plans from all income sources for yourself and your wife. Most employers allow you to link savings accounts to your paycheck. Set this up ASAP if you have not done so already and have it linked to an online bank paying higher rates. If you need details email me.
2- Make sure to create/automatically fund multiple savings accounts for the following: emergency fund, monthly expenses, children’s education, your retirement. Do not neglect or delay saving/planning for your retirement in lieu of saving for your children’s education b/c they can always obtain financial aid or loans, you and your wife cannot do the same for your retirement!
3- Prepare, eat meals and create a tradition for spending quality time at home. Eating more at home will save the family monies AND it will help you build healthier diets IF you make wholesome meals and snacks.
4- For entertainment depending on your family’s lifestyle I’d strongly recommend cutting out cable, tivo and other unnecessary subscriptions. Reduce tv consumption as much as possible so you can devote time to yourself, exercising and even educating. As much as possible depending on the children’s ages I’d recommend educating them about how finance, money and credit works. Start them young and get them involved through recycling and obtaining the redemption value for the items (if offered in your state). Other helpful and fun activities include the Game of Life boardgame and Monopoly. Also, make the public library a weekly visit since most libraries house a decent audio/visual collection. You can borrow VHS and DVDs that you can monitor the children’s content consumption and all of this is free. You can even reserve items online.
5- Back to how to build up more monies, you can start with the resources surrounding you at home. Seriously look around and inventory items in storage with your wife and later the children. Decide what you can reasonable try to sell online via ebay and use those funds for your trip. In my opinion if something has not been used let alone touched in one year, odds are you do not need it and should strongly consider selling it. This particular step IMO is where you can make the most of your situation and offers the most flexibility for selling, listing and making extra savings for your goal.
6- Reduce first the vices and then eliminate them! Do you go to eat out every lunch, visit Starbucks, smoke, drink, gamble, go to sporting events, obtain massages, or obtain/engage in other unnecessary services/activities? If so, it helps to work on reducing these costly activities to the bare absolutely necessary minimum. Do so and you will find yourself with extra funds available sooner.
7- Are either of you eligible for your employer stock purchase plan? If you have one typically you are offered the stock at a discount 10-15% off. Consider investing a small percentage of your paycheck if you can afford to into this since you will be making some extra monies when you sell the stock. Just remember you will be taxed differently depending on how long you’ve held the stock and b/c you’ve made a profit.

Good luck, let us know how things go with this and feel free to email. Cheers!

Answer 4

It sounds like you're off to a good start. To find other places where money is slipping away from you, try writing down every single purchase you make for at least a week (or, even better, a month). Then you and your wife can sit down and go through all of your expenses and see which are necessary and which aren't.

Answer 5

when downloading music, dont buy it
(few hundred)

create a bank account
(interest & keeps money safe)

think about stocks
(1-2 years is good time to make money)

use coupons and look for deals automatically

take as much tax deduction as you can

when shopping dont max out your budget, for example if you have $100 dont use all of it. Try to think about how much you can save buy reducing expense

Answer 6

Save change. Every night my dad would come home and empty his change from his pockets. He did this for a year and a half and nearly paid for most of our vacation through Wyoming and Montana with this. It is crazy how much that adds up! Have fun on your vacation!!

Answer 7

right when you get a pay check put the whole amount you wish to save into savings. Act as if you dont have that money. It works trust me