Where to cut corners?

[SuzySunshine]

Ok gang, spinning off from brandi's thread. Where did you cut corners so that you could stay home?

Right now I have our budget down to me working through 2008 budgeting for childcare during the whole year of 2008 (residency runs through 6/11 and then there will be a 12-18 month fellowship). Our cars are paid off in early '09 which helps a lot. But I would LOVE to be able to stay home (after using my 12 week paid maternity leave of course).

Hints, ideas, secrets?

[pstone]

we drive very old cars, fancy interest only house loan, lots of pb&j, no credit card debt, and watch every dime.

Food is a big one. I get a decent amount of food, that's pretty good, at a store called Aldis - the *poor* people store. They don't carry everything I need so that means shopping at another store as well. But I think the savings makes it well worth it.

We don't do cable, have the cheapest cell plan we can and still not have to do the "buy a card" bit.

You could potentially shop for insurance rates every year to see if you can save money by switching carriers, that takes a lot of leg worth, but if you are counting pennies it can help.

Walk when you can, take long errand days instead of driving to 10 places, 10 differant times, saving on gas. If you want to be really OCD, you could get on those online sights that tell you what the gas prices are at local pumps.

Buy clothes used, I know it's not *cool* to do, but for kids it can really cut costs. Or wait until everything is 75% off the season and buy for the next year. Though depending on your child this could be clothes bought don't fit. This happened to me a couple times, due to the way my son grew when he was a toddler. SELL everything. I mean everything. I ebay anything I think someone might want. For instance your Gap jeans aren't your fav anymore and are in great conditions, ebay them. I probably sell 75% of the things I put up. Didn't you say you were going to go through your clothes anyway? Btw you seem to be my size (if I remember correctly) and like my stores, pm me if you want to sell anything

Those are the biggies IMO. I think alot of this is done by swallowing your personal pride on certain things (for everyone this is differant things), like buying used clothes, hitting up yard sales, and having old cars.

I echo Julie's post about buying clothes at clearance. I am crazy clearance shopper at Target, Kohls, and Old Navy. I just bought our little girl, due in June, about 40 items at Old Navy for $95 ranging in sizes from 3 months to 18 months b/c it was end of season 75% off.

I spend way to much on groceries and somehow need to figure out how to cut those costs.

[DCJenn]

Let's see- We got rid of my car. On the days that I needed a car, either he took public transportation or rode his bike to work.

All extra income went to consumer debt.

I taught an exercise class for moms and babies so I got paid to exercise three days a week.

We cut WAY back on eating out- and I did a lot more meal planning. I also ordered all of my groceries online. I used Safeway's program. they run so many specials and sales that even if I did end up paying the five dollar delivery fee, it more than made up for it because I wasn't buying on the spur of the moment. (or when I was hungry)

We bought wine by the case to get the discounts- 10% is 10% after all.

Jenn

[SuzySunshine]

I wish we could go back and re-do some of the things we did right after medical school. We were so excited to have two incomes and making twice what I made in CA and living more cheaply in MN that we bought two new cars - of course now it wouldn't save us any money to get rid of either of them b/c we could probably trade them in for what we owe (probably more on DH's but talking him into giving up his care would NEVER happen, plus his parents paid for part of it). We spent towards the top of our budget on our house when our friends spent +$30K less.

We just got an Aldi, that is good to know they are cheaper. We do have several second hand kids stores like Once Upon a child. I would be driving less if I wasn't working so that would save on gas. I also wouldn't need work clothes if I wasn't working and I wouldn't be eating lunch out as much.

We like to go out to eat, at least once a month we go out to a nice restaurant. I'm guessing that will decrease once there is a little one??

What else?

ETA: Public transport isn't an option for DH and we're too far from the hospital for him to be safe biking.

Is online shopping really cheaper? I have a friend who swears by it b/c she then doesn't buy anything thats not on her list. But with the delivery fee and it seems like their stuff is more expensive - is it really cheaper?

[DCJenn]

Actually, we still go to nice(er) restuarants, we just go early. There are a few that we get a babysitter for but generally, we've found that if you go before 7pm, the waitstaff is happy to have the business.

Nikolai is a rockstar in restaurants because he's gone since we got back from Russia.

Oh, I also cut way back on haircare- I extended time between cuts and only got the color every six months or so. We bought clippers to do Nikolai's hair- mostly because he turns into purple, sweaty, hysterical boy so we figured we might as well just traumatize him at home rather than traumatize everyone else in the hair salons.

We always try to buy the baby stuff in bulk- diapers and wipes. I bought a ton of fabulous clothes for him from eBay. Gorgeous stuff.

Even now that I'm back at work, all of my income goes to the savings account so that we're still 'living' on one salary. Makes it less scary in case I should need to stop work. (You know, like when he's still not potty trained and gets kicked out of daycare...)

We signed up for a financial planner through our bank and he really helped us prioritize things. He's not on a commission to sell their products so it's low pressure all the way. I check in quarterly or so these days. (spoke with them today re: the deployment income) We pay 30 bucks a month for the service but I think it's well worth it to have someone to call instantly in case of questions.

Jenn

[houseelf]

And now a message from the borderline fiscally irresponsible member:

We plan to do it by using the home equity on this house, an enormous tax refund, and the knowledge that it will just be two more years (Hello VISA).

But we did seven years as a dual income family without accruing more consumer debt. I think that you guys have enough training under your belt where you could probably take a hit for just a couple of years.

Kelly

Think recycling - this mentality makes me feel better about the environment, and waist in our society - and pulls the frutration about not being able to buy whatever I want down. It's not only about saving money today, but only getting what you need.

We plan to do it by using the home equity on this house, an enormous tax refund, and the knowledge that it will just be two more years (Hello VISA).

I think that you guys have enough training under your belt where you could probably take a hit for just a couple of years.

Not to get all "doom and gloom" , but I would be wary of thinking this way. I have to fight this temptation all the time myself- dam* Ann Taylor. The problem with this is that once you adopt a certain lifestyle it is hard to cut back later, if necessary. I am sometimes shocked when I am doing a physician's tax return and personal financial statements, and see how little they have put away. Group insurances, loan repayments, maxed out retirement, taxes, etc. really eat away at the gross salary. I know everyone knows this, but for some reason, year after year, I am continually shocked at how expensive everything is, and how much taxes are. All it takes is one look at those returns, and I usually put my credit card away- its a nice reality check!!

If I am being too much of a naysayer, ignore me- I am working on a mess of a return, now, (due in 4 days) and am maybe just bitter.

[houseelf]

ITA with what you said. I honestly can't believe a few of the resident life styles I see: New sports cars? $280,000 homes? I think to myself, "Are you all in the same program as us because we're driving beater cars and our tv continues to use the high tech option of rabbit ears. I only eat at Olive Garden if someone else is footing the bill and you all eat downtown every weekend." But I digress...

In all fairness, our case is a bit different than the devil-may-care attitude that I lightly espouse above because we have been doing it the responsible (read: hard) way for seven years. We have positioned ourselves to take somewhat of a hit during these two years.

In Cheri's case, she will have a big chunk of training under her belt when she contemplates her decision. IMHO, this is a bit different from a medical student spouse who has a long under-paid road ahead. One or two years of lean time versus a decade makes a big difference.

Kelly

We sort of adopted Kelly's approach of "not too much longer" We had our first daughter with one more year of residency to go so our credit cards saw some serious action during that last year (well, they actually saw a fair amount of action during residency, too!) Luckily, we made $$ on our house there and were able to pay those off when we moved. If your husband is in surgery (I don't know about the other specialties), he might be able to find locums work at some point. My DH has done this several times to pay back some of our debt.

We did to a few things that helped out, though. We lived in a very modest house, cheapo cars (his was paid off and I upgraded from a Toyota Tercel to a Toyota Matrix for my daughter), didn't eat out a LOT, didn't buy too many new clothes, etc.

[SuzySunshine]

Using credit cards makes me a but nauseous. I got into credit card trouble when I was in college and it took me years to get out. I know we would be able to get out of it a lot faster after residency but I'm willing to work before I use credit cards.

The problem is that we've put a pretty big dent in our savings just to get to the child part and there isn't even a child yet. I suspect by the time there actually is a child that part of our savings will be completely gone.

I know if we ever got into a really tight spot we could ask my ILs for help but I REALLY don't want to have to do that.

Thanks for all the tips, keep them coming! :02:

[houseelf]

And now back to the conversation at hand, "serious tips":

In our family, the grandparents are a wee bit indulgent, so I *try* to channel their generosity. For example, my mom bought the kids a museum pass and summer camp fees for Christmas and paid for gymnastics lessons for DS's birthday. This helps enormously. My MIL who is a shop-a-holic asks for what the kids need/want. In addition to a few "just for fun" items, I make sure that I give her ideas for relevant book titles and basic items like socks, shoes, jeans, etc. This helps us out a lot. Of course, you have to be careful with this "directed giving" because if anyone outside of the grandparents are "directed" this can be tacky, tacky. Still, this is a great way for the grandparents to spoil the kids while helping out the parents.

Kelly

[migirl]

I agree with a lot of what's already been posted. I also agree, Cheri, that since you'll be at the tail end of training you'll find a way to make it work. That's about where we are (waited until PGY-4 to have Jack), and things are working out ok.

Both of our cars are paid off, we live in a modest home and have no debt other than our mortgage. We do use credit cards, but pay them off at the end of each month. Because we pay the balance, we use a credit card that has no annual fee and gives cash back - free money!!

We still manage to eat out once a week, we just go to different kinds of restaurants now. More kid-friendly, less-expensive places. I do menu-planning every week, that helps me make the most of the groceries I buy. When you can, buy groceries in bulk when they go on sale - canned stuff, meats (you can freeze), cold cereal, etc.

We don't go to the movies anymore, so we signed up for Netflix and have the $10/month plan. Cheap, but we still get to see movies and have a date night once a week. I don't buy my beauty/skin care products from the department store counters anymore, I buy them at Target. I get my hair cut much less often since I don't have to style it for work anymore, I usually end up throwing it up in a ponytail so who cares?! Neither of us has bought clothes since DS was born; DH wears scrubs all day and I live in sweatpants and T-shirts!

I also agree with Kelly on the idea of making the most of any help you might get from grandparents. Both sets of our parents have been very, very generous with money, gifts, and essentials (stuff like diapers). I hardly buy Jack any toys or books, he gets plenty from family. I buy the majority of his clothes at Once Upon a Child and Target.

I made all of Jack's baby food, it was easier than you might think and you can save a lot of money that way.

That's all I can think of right now, if I come up with anything else I'll post later.