I recently found out that one of the classes I teach is being discontinued at that institution. Poof! Part of our income gone. We're also not convinced that my husband's job is 100% safe in this shaky economy. This prompted a discussion of what we could cut back on if we absolutely had to. We would miss these things for sure, but if our income was drastically slashed, we would have to critically evaluate.
There are several things that we have that we would be reluctant to cut out, but we *could* if we had to. Here's a sampling of some relatively fixed expenses that we just don't want to cut, but will if we had to:
1. Our YMCA membership. It cost $32 a month for both of us and we usually take advantage of it. It would be a loss to us, but if push came to shove, that's $384 we could put to use elsewhere.
2. Haircuts for me. I cut my husband's hair, but I get mine done. I usually go to the beauty college or one of those walk in places, but if we had to, my husband could cut mine. My haircuts cost about $12 a month, so that would save us $144 a year.
3. Our cell phones. We love our cell phones and the family plan we're one. We do not have a land line. Going to a land line or to a pay as we go cellphone, or just dropping the family plan and sharing a phone could save us $300 a year.
4. We subscribe to a 3 online magazine type things at the rate of $15 dollars a month, which is $180 a year!
I'm sure that there are other expenses, but those are three that come to mind that are relatively fixed expenses. In a desperate situation, that money could be a mortgage payment.
What could you cut if you *had* to? How much would it save you in a desperate situation?
8 comments:
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Sorry that you find them distracting. I'm experimenting with different types of advertising at this time, so I appreciate your input!
This was hard for me to come up with something. We cut out the gym last year. We're not going to get cable TV in our new apartment. We only have one cell phone for the 2 of us and no land line. I suppose we could cut out the internet? It'd be one of the last things to go.
My husband and I are well settled into our hobbies (quilting for me, computer gaming for him) that we don't spend a lot in that area, compare to when we first married.
I think we'd just have to cut down in food most of all. The occasional eating out, the amount of meat in a meal, the higher quality items we enjoy.
We're not going to even be able to save in utilities because they will be all included in our new apartment, except cable.
I have very little left to cut. I am still employed but am considering a career change and may be out of work for a period of time so I have been cutting like crazy for the past year. No more cable, no magazines. I do get the paper on weekends because it is less expensive than buying the Sunday paper alone. Very little left to cut but we're OK with it. My kids are still young enough not to be concerned about these things.
I am growing my second year garden and increasing what we're planting.
Andrea
I just cut out some channels from our digital cable.. we'll save $32/month which is a good start. That being said if we *HAD* to cut back drastically, we could cut way back on cable, slower internet service, and probably a bit on our grocery budget.
We already live without the "extras" in our budget. Here are the things that I could do in order to reduce our monthly bills:
Drop our internet ($25 per month = $300 per year)
Cut back on groceries. Also, we just started utilizing Angel Food Ministries to purchase food at drastically reduced prices and reducing the number of trips we take to the store thus saving by not picking up those extra items that are just calling our names.
Set the thermometer lower/higher to save on electric and gas for heating and cooling. Only use it when absolutely necessary and dress warmer in the winter.
One thing I did to save money was go to a prepaid cell phone. I was paying $50 a month (that included all the taxes and fees) for 400 minutes a month and using maybe 100 of them. T-Mobile has a prepaid plan that allows you to spend $100 and get 1000 minutes. The best part is that they don't expire for 1 year. Now I'm paying $100 for a year's worth of cell service, instead of $600 a year. There are downsides - coverage is nonexistent in rural areas (and Atlanta, Georgia...), but it's fine in the city. I've been happy that I switched.
I actually just went through our finances to look for things.
I realized we had a long distance calling plan for $3 a month but were now able to use our cell phones in the apartment. So we were paying around $5-8 for 11 minutes of calls on our landline! I put a block on the line and saved!
We also took down our Blockbuster Subscription by one level. That saved $3 a month. In a pinch, we could cut it altogether, but it's a good source of entertainment for us.
If absolutely neceessary, we could save up our laundry until we were down visiting Tim's parents. That would save us quite a bit. (We spend nearly $40 a month on laundry.)
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