where do you save (and where do you splurge)?

[diggitydot]

I forgot about school. There aren't any private schools here and the public schools are AWSOME. Best we've ever encountered. Yes, it's technically "free", as in we don't pay tuition, but we donate and support various activities as much as possible. It's a ring district (barely single "A") and their funding is pretty limited b

[BonBon]

I forgot about school. There aren't any private schools here and the public schools are AWSOME. Best we've ever encountered. Yes, it's technically "free", as in we don't pay tuition, but we donate and support various activities as much as possible. It's a ring district (barely single "A") and their funding is pretty limited b

I forgot about school, too. We built in the school district that we wanted. I miss their Montessori school, but we wanted to save for college instead.

[ladymoreta]

Ooh, I just remembered some major kid-related saves, that are just so everyday for me since it's what I've always done.
- Cloth diapers (prefolds)
- Homemade baby food
- The kids almost never get new toys outside of birthdays and Christmas.

As far as major saving, we're renting right now until we can get about half of our debt paid off and a good down payment saved up. So it's kind of a splurge in that renting doesn't have the tax or equity advantages of buying, but our last house was a lemon, and we ended up with too much credit card debt from residency. It's such a relief to not have surprise expenses from house maintenance and repairs for a little while. When we buy, we're wanting to spend less than $400,000, preferably closer to $300,000.

We don't do we'll with a strict budget, so we take the approach of deciding how much we need to save, then living on the rest. It's worked really well for us in the past, aside from the house crap that blew through the savings we had planned to have when I quit working to SAH with DS.

We've always had an emergency fund, and it helps a lot. Even back in college, when we were living on scholarships, pell grants, and minimum wage summer jobs, we kept about $200-500 in cash and $500 or more in a savings account.

And I guess I should give my reusable k-cup another try. I did it for about a week, then got tired of drinking coffee grounds and went back to the disposable cups. I think I just never got the amount of coffee right.

[poky]

And I guess I should give my reusable k-cup another try. I did it for about a week, then got tired of drinking coffee grounds and went back to the disposable cups. I think I just never got the amount of coffee right.

DH likes this one best (he has like 3 or 4 different ones): http://www.amazon.com/Ekobrew-Refill.../dp/B0051SU0OW

If that's the one you have, I can ask him if he has any tips on using it and not getting grounds in the finished product.

[ladymoreta]

Thanks, Sandy! That is the one I have, so I'd love some tips!

[poky]

OK, I've sent him an email (yeah, we won't actually see each other awake till Sunday; trauma surgery blows). Will let you know what he says.

[ides]

We currently rent but plan to buy in about a year. We (especially Dh) want to keep it low cost so we are thinking no more than 150k. We are lucky the col is so low here.

[Amiens]

Save:
- Winter thermostat is kept at 67 during the day, and 65 at night
- Summer thermostat is 78 during the day, and 80 at night.
- We are on well water and septic, so no cost there, unless something drastically goes wrong like needing to pump or get a new well pump (We've done the latter of the two so far).
- All lights are turned off during the day.
- Both cars are paid off: I drive an '06 Honda, during the winter dh drives his 2000 Alero with a cracked windshield, and windows he can't roll down because the automatic mechanism can break easily. During the rest of the year dh rides his bike 30 miles round trip to the hospital.
- We rarely eat out. A couple of times a year we will go to a really nice place.
- Rent movies and go on waiting lists for new books from the library; loving it now that we have an e-reader service.
- swap babysitting with friends
- We do not have smart phones, and have the same cheap-o phones from 5 years ago. We have looked at getting a new plan, but our ridiculously cheap plan is no longer offered, and our cost would triple if we change or upgrade.
- staple clothes (t-shirts, some sweaters, everyday pieces) are from the sale rack at Old Navy, J.Crew Factory and Target, and only when the previous wardrobe is getting pretty sad and threadbare. I save clothing that is still in good condition when my older children have out grown them. The younger kids get hand me downs from their siblings.
- no lawn maintenance, we are it! The same goes with the housekeeping. I've got to teach my 4 kids how to work somehow.
- I used to get a haircut every 6 weeks, but since growing my hair out, it hasn't happened in 1 1/2 years.
- Any left over money at the end of the month goes to the principle of our mortgage; Dh wants to pay the least amount of interest overtime.
- Our mortgage lender started a program where 3% of groceries, gas, and drugstore purchase and 1% of other purchase can be applied to the principle of our home mortgage. We signed up for this.

Splurge:

-I guess our house of two years was a splurge, as in it is bigger than we need, but it is in our dream location on 5 acres.
- My youngest is attending a private kindergarten so if she attends the same elementary school as her older siblings, she won't have any catching up to do with the accelerated curriculum.
- I hired a painter to paint the outside of house and inside, due to the size.
- I am insistant on owning good bras. Recently bought new bras, and it looks like I lost 5-10 lbs and I love my shirts again. The girls are back in place
- I buy good shoes due in large part to needing bunion surgery at 27.
- I do invest in some good clothing pieces, and take care of them. I have a sweater wrap dress bought from Banana Republic 12 years ago for $30 (clearance rack in the springtime), that still looks brand new and I wear it several times during the fall and winter.

[spotty_dog]

Spotty. Some of your ideas are most impressive! However, I fully expect to work in some capacity or another until I'm at least 70.

Oh, I didn't mean anything to be a recommendation or an example! I chafe under some of the voluntary restrictions we're under. But I tell myself, we are sure to loosen the belt as we go, so it's best to start strict so we have somewhere to move toward. More importantly, as you point out, our early retirement plans are HUGE in our need to save.

[peggyfromwastate]

I recently did my budget.

Splurge: kid stuff. The kid stuff (preschool and sports) is double our food budget. Two car payments. Almost a mortgage.

Gag.

Kids are EXPENSIVE.

[niener]

Save
- Utility costs: Thermostat is set to 78 in the summer, 68 in the winter, I never turn the lights on during the day (lots of windows in this house so there's really no need), and I air dry about half the laundry. We use CFL lightbulbs, run only full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine, take quick showers (I only wash my hair every 3 days or so), unplug as many things as possible when not in use, etc.
- Very little outsourcing: I do all the housework and yardwork (incl. cutting the grass with a push mower) and most small home repairs; I would have even changed the oil in my car myself this last time but they had screwed the cap on so tight that I couldn't get it off and ended up taking it in
- Personal care: DH and I both cut our own hair, no professional waxing, and no mani/pedis. I buy whatever shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, deodorant, etc is on sale.
- Entertainment: We're homebodies generally speaking so that helps, but most months our entertainment budget is $7.99 for Netflix. If we go out, it's normally to the dollar theatre or the matinee, or a free event at the park, or a reduced-fee event at the museum, that sort of thing. I'm also an excessive library user.
- Rewards programs: All of our purchases are made on one of two rewards credit cards (both of which are paid off every month), and I use ebates and swagbucks.
- Clothing: DH wears scrubs or workout/disc golf clothes 98% of the time so he needs like two outfits apart from that. Most of my wardrobe is consignment or Target.
- No gym fees: We have an exercise room at home with a treadmill and a weight bench, both of which were given to us by family members.

Splurge
- Electronics: we have a large plasma TV, an XBOX 360 w/ Kinect, a laptop and a Mac, my camera gear and photo editing software, 2 android phones with unlimited data plans, two kindles (one w/ internet access, one w/o), and probably some other stuff I can't think of right now
- Food: I'm fairly picky about my meat and will spend more for local, organic, and/or humanely raised. Also we end up eating out much more than I'd like, usually because I don't plan well enough in advance to have food readily available that can go from kitchen to table in less than 10 minutes (neither of us are patient when we're hungry). We go over our food budget every freaking month; this is something I really need to work on.
- Soft drinks: I think this is where most people would write coffee, but our caffeine addiction comes from coke.
- Travel: this is the splurge I'd probably sacrifice the most to keep. We normally go on one big trip per year and a couple little ones over the occasional long weekend.

[diggitydot]

Ooh, I just through if another one! Our new LG washer and dryer were definitely splurges, but they save us a shit ton of money in electricity and water. Compared to the 12 y/o set that we replaced, the energy and water savings is HUGE. The savings alone will pay for the w & d in a year.

[poky]

OK, I've sent him an email (yeah, we won't actually see each other awake till Sunday; trauma surgery blows). Will let you know what he says.

Heard back overnight. He says he does also get "some very fine grounds" in the cup when he uses the filter, but that they settle to the bottom. I would guess that maybe if you ground your coffee a little coarser, it might reduce how much gets through?

[SuzySunshine]

I get very fine grounds of coffee all of the time whether I use the reusable cup or a k-cup. I agree with a course grind but I'm also guilty of having the reusable and never using it

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

And I guess I should give my reusable k-cup another try. I did it for about a week, then got tired of drinking coffee grounds and went back to the disposable cups. I think I just never got the amount of coffee right.

You need to only grind it "coarsely" not "finely". So, less than you would for a regular coffee pot. You need to buy strong coffee so it's still strong enough when ground coarsely but you can get huge bags at Costco or on sale of relatively good coffee and you don't really get the grounds except maybe very finely at the bottom of the cup.

ETA: Cross posted with several other folks. Frankly, I just don't keep K cups in the house. I'm lazy and would use them otherwise...

We also save a TON by buying Christmas/birthday presents through the year. Most of DH's siblings are setting up houses, etc. so Marshalls and Home Goods are awesome places to pick up nice things throughout the year that make great gifts. It helps because you have more time to find things and also spread the purchases out.