Med School is Expensive- $ Saving Ideas?

[bokelley]

Yep everything is budgeted on a spreadsheet for us! Makes things so much easier. Something else we do is use our Discover Card for monthly purchase (food, gas) we get cash back. We use it as a debit card and even carry a check book balance book and then each month pay it off (no interest). The really great thing about this, is at the end of the year we have about 400 bucks cash back. Makes buying Xmas gifts a little easier. Oh and if you have a Discover Card they have a program that you can use: Buy $30 GiftCards for $20 sometime. They have all different stores and different amounts of money.

Oh and I am coupon lover!

http://www.afullcup.com/ <--- This is a great one for grocery's and household items!
http://slickdeals.net/ <--- list any great deals store or websites are having!!

*Some gas stations have a deal, if you buy gas you get a paper free. We always do this on Sunday and clip coupons!!

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

We do our local coop for any dry goods (oatmeal, lentils, rice, flour, etc.) and it's much cheaper. We also selectively use Costco and Walmart for their cheap bulk meats. Walmart occasionally has chicken on sale for $1.00/lb so I buy about 15 lbs and freeze it in ziplocs wrapped in freezer paper. We did a cow share last year which was an investment at the time (about $300 for 65 or 70 lbs) but we've had beef whenever we've wanted it since Xmas. We sometimes buy the whole roasted chicken at Costco also and then make chicken stock from that. Using homemade chicken stock for rice or lentils make them taste much richer.

We do a lot of thrift store shopping, put limits on gifts, and ask for Costco or Target gift certificates from family for Christmas.

All this goes into our spreadsheet (tracked on gmail) which I'm a completely nazi about.

[Bittersweet]

I’m with Kelly, I avoid retail stores like the plague. Out of sight, out of mind is my saving motto.

We have a strict budget. Really, it is less of an itemized budget and more of a weekly spending limit (calculated after monthly expenses). If we end up under budget for the week, the left over money is moved into savings.

We drive used, non gas guzzling cars (having no monthly car payments has been huge).

We buy our groceries from Walmart (which I don’t love) and stick to generic brands for nearly everything.

(This is horrible) We buy and eat less fresh produce than we’d both like.

In the summer, we have as large a garden as space will allow.

We don’t have a landline.

We cancelled my neglected gym membership and purchased a used treadmill. More money up front, but a long term savings.

If at all possible, DH rides his bike instead of driving.

I know this isn’t helpful to those already in the game, but just in case there are any pre-meds out there: by far the best monetary decision DH made was to attend our state’s medical school. Even though he had sexier options and the location sucked, that in-state tuition saved us many, many thousands of dollars.

Ditto on slickdeals.net, I check it daily to see whether there are new coupons, sales, for things I'd be buying anyway (you gotta be careful you don't get sucked into buying something you don't need "just because it's on sale" though!)

Another great blogs I read that has savings advice:
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/
Also, http://www.mytwodollars.com/

[rainbabies]

I thought of a few things. And I'm not even going to be sarcastic

Consignment shops for kids clothes. Or clothing swaps if you're involved in a play group thing.

My kids hardly ever wear new clothes. I go to goodwill sometimes too. I find nice girls dresses there. I picked up two with tags on them, from llbean for $1.50 each. I have found brand new levis before for my son. A belt loop was ripped on one end. It took me 5 minutes to tack it back down. I buy shoes new and obviously underpants and socks. Winter coats and ski bibs are also a good thing to buy used. There's one place that is kid specific to consigning. I find gymboree/childrens place/hannah anderson and gap stuff all the time. My kids even get compliments on how they're dressed. I fully intend to look at consignment shops even after training. I figure, why pay retail for something they're going to outgrow in 3-6 months, aren't old enough to know/care...and if buying used cuts down on child sweatshop labor...count me in!


I shop at kroger grocery store. They have a rewards program for gas. It's $.10 off per gallon at their gas station. I don't always use it, but if I'm on that side of town I do.

I feel better now that I've contributed something useful. e

Staying out of the stores is by far the best way for me to save money! Love Netflix, too. Movie tickets have gotten expensive these days. I spend a lot my free time at the gym to be honest which means I am A. Not spending money somewhere else B. Maximizing my gym membership C. In the best shape of my life (bonus- they even have a pool!)

[scrub-jay]

Saving money:

(1) Get rid of the daily latte, bought an espresso maker instead ($250 for machine vs. $3 x 20 days = $60/month) It has paid for itself.

(2) Stop eating out!! We all get lazy/tired/overworked/find an excuse to celebrate, but this was a big money drain for us.

(3) Mint.com (or other software, that one is just free and pretty) - great financial/budget tracking device.

(4) Careful planning. Coupons, meals, shopping trips, celebrations, etc. Plan everything, even the "spontaneous moments."

(5) Be creative. Oh and share ideas with people in the same boat *wink*

Of course, we've tried to start implementing this into our lives, but some things are really really hard (#1 was my hardest).

-C