Q: You really should consider posting about how you two budget and save for your purchases and DIY. I’m constantly amazed at how you seem to never charge anything and how you consistently mention saving up for things. Now just tell us how you do it!! What about making the decision to replace something that still works? Is that a hard call for you guys? I never know when to live with something, replace it with something semi-cheap for the interim or save up for the big thing I actually want and go right to buying that instead of putting money towards a placeholder while I save. I’d love to know more about how you know when to save and when to splurge and how you live such a debt free life full of projects and home makeovers! -Barbara
A: First and foremost, John and I are super lucky to each come from families with famously frugal dads. So we both learned all about saving up for things, paying off our entire credit card balance, and never buying anything that we can’t afford on the day that we buy it. Of course it takes a decent amount of discipline (and it means that we’re constantly walking away from great deals & lovely things), but if we can’t afford them they’re not such good deals after all. So to honor our dads, we thought we’d post embarrassing old photos of them. Notice John’s dad’s tie- it was a Father’s Day gift John made using puffy paint… proof that paint doesn’t always make something better.
It’s funny because a lot of our stuff falls into the “simple and affordable” category (our dining table was around $150 from Target and we have a $25 thrift store chair in our den and a $30 consignment shop coffee table in the living room). So that really helps us keep money in the bank. We don’t believe in buying chintzy low-quality stuff to save a quick buck, but if there’s a chunky wood dining table at target.com with good reviews for a third as much as the one on potterybarn.com, we’re likely to go for the thrifty Tar-jay version (we’ve had our current dining table over three years and haven’t had one complaint yet).
But although we usually shop around for the best deal (and read reviews to be sure we’re not seduced by a lemon), every once in a while we do fall in love with the notion of something pricey and save for it like crazy (like our plush organic mattress or the new 2009 Altima that we saved for over the course of the past few years and then paid for in full on the day we drove it off the lot). But more on that a bit later. Basically, the key to our financial approach really is just to hold out for sales, use coupons, shop around, and aim for affordable items to mostly fill our home- and then devote a sliver of our savings to spendy stuff here or there (so we don’t feel totally deprived but also don’t drain all that money that we saved up overnight either).
Oh and living in Richmond helps! The cost of living is waaaay lower than it was in Manhattan, so years of dealing with those insanely inflated expenses makes it seem a lot easier to cut costs and save money here (since our mortgage is half of what we used to pay to rent two tiny NYC apartments). Our house was also completely affordable since it was a total fixer-upper (as in: less than 200K, you guys have seen the befores!). So we knew we could afford to put money towards fixing it up since we didn’t spend it all up front by purchasing a newly renovated casa to come home to (and since our monthly mortgage payment is a lot lower than it would have been for an already gorgeous new home in the area).
We also try to be frugal in other ways like by sharing a car, getting books from the library, making our own bagged lunches, and DIYing whatever we can (from tiling to haircuts) instead of paying an expert (you’ll see some links to other how-we-save-money posts at the bottom of this one). It’s not always glamorous, but the old a-penny-saved-is-a-penny-earned adage really rings true to us. So instead of making lots of money and spending it just as quickly, we choose to do what we love- aka: blogging- but live comfortably on less with a few simple switcheroos like haircuts at home and one dollar spaghetti dinners.
As for what we do when it comes to replacing something that works but still bothers us (like a functional old fridge that’s big and yellowed and probably not terribly energy efficient) we just save our pennies up if it truly makes us cringe. Once we have enough to actually afford a new one without putting it on a credit card that we won’t be able to pay off right away (which makes us feel so guilty that we wouldn’t enjoy the spurge) we go for it. Oh and we always sell the working thing that we’ll be replacing on Craigslist so we don’t send it off to a landfill. Plus then we get a bit of money for it (which we can mentally put towards our upgraded version, so it feels even more affordable in the long run).
We’ve learned that in our case it’s never smart to buy something cheap for the interim just to tide us over because we end up hating the fact that we spent money on something that’s just a placeholder for the real thing that we want (and we would rather have waited and put our money towards the forever-item instead of some temporary solution). This is a personal thing though, so if replacing your cringeworthy chandelier with a $50 version from Home Depot will help tide you over while you save for the $250 beauty that you’ll love forever, then it might be the best approach for you. Just think about what makes you happy and what you can honestly afford and try to weigh the pros and cons to come up with a plan that feels right for your situation.
We also always talk a lot before taking on a major room makeover to be sure that we’re both on the same page about how much we’ll spend. For example, after a lot of chatting and number crunching we guessed that we’d spend 3-5K on the bathroom remodel- and were totally surprised when we got it done for $1800 by doing all the labor ourselves and hunting down some amazing deals. So in the case of the big bathroom reno, we saved our pennies until we had 5K sitting there in our high yield savings account and ended up super happy to just spend the 1800- which meant we could move on to our nursery makeover with extra funds already on hand… which is always a bonus!
We actually find that we overestimate things a lot more often than we go over our budget- which we’re very thankful for- but we still like to save up all the money and make sure it’s in the bank just in case we don’t come in under budget (it would be super stressful if we only saved two thirds of what we needed for a project just because we assumed we were overestimating again). Oh and there’s a bonus to having our renovation dollars in the bank before we start. We’ve found that it takes a lot of stress and anxiety out of the equation, so the project is a lot more fun.
Take the nursery makeover for example, we went into it thinking that we’d spend around $1500 since we needed totally new furniture and accessories (like a crib, mattress, dresser, chair, ottoman, rug, curtains, chandelier, lamp, art, etc). But thanks to some deal hunting we’ve actually done everything from scoring a $20 thrift store chair and a $20 Craigslist dresser to hunting down a clearance rug and chandelier- which makes us confident that we’ll get ‘er done without reaching or exceeding our budget. Who knows, we might just come in substantially under if we’re lucky. It really does pay to spend the time pounding the pavement for the best deals and trolling places like Craigslist for solid well made furniture that you can refinish (a lot of which is much better quality than the cheap stuff that companies churn out today). See how the Craigslist dresser below turned out after we made it over with some stain, some paint, and some elbow grease.
All told, we probably spend between five and ten percent of our total income on home improvements (not bad considering that we’re pretty much constantly painting something or pulling up at Home Depot). But that’s just a rough approximation and it’s a really personal thing so each family should look at their bank account and their house to figure out what budget and home improvement priorities are the most important to them. Plus it’s kind of our job now (since I’m a full time home blogger we need to constantly take on projects to sustain our site). So because it’s such a high priority in our life, we go out of our way to save a lot of money in other areas, like by having just one car that’s fully paid off.
We drove a ten year old Maxima for four years with over 170,000 miles on it until we could save enough cash to fully pay for a safer-for-the-baby 2009 Altima, which we did a few months ago (yeah, that was a fun day). So making sacrifices and cutting costs in other areas has allowed us to save money which we use to pay things off completely (instead of continually laying out cash each month for a car payment or a credit card bill that we just can’t squash). And of course we do save a bundle on the transportation front by making the decision to be a one car household, so we can save all the money that might otherwise go towards purchasing, insuring and gassing up a second car.
We know the way that we save and pay things off is rare. And we know that there are probably people reading this post who have no idea how on earth two people like us could save up for renos before we do them or pay off a new car the day they drive it off the lot (hint: it’s not because we make a lot of money- in fact by national averages we fall way below the average income level, even in our area). So we’ll share this factoid about our spending habits. We’re insanely frugal in many areas where other “normal” people are not. A nice meal out for us is a once monthly trip to Chipotle. We probably spend about $10 a month on clothing (combined, and some months it’s zero). In fact I’ve spent less than $20 on my entire maternity wardrobe (thanks to generous friends and family members who have passed their leftovers my way). We’ve even begun to make our own cleaning products to save more money in that area and we already mentioned that we give each other haircuts instead of paying a professional.
So before you think it’s totally impossible to save a few hundred dollars a month towards some big reno goal or some dream furnishings that you’ve had your eye on, consider whether you can cut anything out at all (from that Starbucks coffee to that monthly haircut). And if you want to save even more, try going a whole month without buying clothing or going out to eat. All of a sudden you’ll see that it’s not that hard to save money once you really decide to make a major change. Heck, you can even downgrade from two cars to one (and start carpooling or riding your bike). Or you can even sell your expensive vehicle for something a bit older with more miles on it (trading car glamour for house glamour isn’t a foreign concept to us since we drove our last car into the ground and sold it to Carmax with nearly 200,000 miles on it when we finally had enough saved up to replace it).
In general our advice is just never to spend beyond your means and to take the time to save for items and projects that are truly important to you… instead of frittering away funds by grabbing a bunch of cheap accessories (but they’re on sale!) that you don’t need every time you walk into a store. Resist the urge! Really, if we don’t have the money in savings that we’re talking about spending then we just don’t spend it. Instead we use paint and other items that we already have around the house for some free mini makeovers to tide us over. And we’re always sure to take our time hunting down the best deals while our savings account grows (even doing things like hosting a garage sale or selling unnecessary items on Craigslist to make money to put towards our latest goal). And it seems to work for us- so we certainly hope that it does for you guys as well. Happy saving (and smart spending) to you and yours!
Oh and we’d love to hear how you save your pennies (any envelope system peeps out there?) or how you live well on less income. Share and share alike!
Pssst- To learn more about how we pinch pennies here at Casa Petersik check out our Save It series (read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here) and find even more money saving ideas right here. Oh and this post about living with less (along with this one and this one) might help too.
Angie says
How refreshing! Glad to hear you guys save, then buy what you can afford. More young people and Americans in general need to do this!
Sarah says
I love it! I actually have commented on this before on a previous post. My parents lived well below their means as well and even though I am only 19 I have learned so much from them already. It is so refreshing to hear this again from you guys and it actually makes reading about your projects more enjoyable. Keep it up!!
Cari says
Excellent, excellent post! I’ve wondered how you do it as well and this is very helpful to my husband and I to read this. We’ve got projects we want to do and maybe even a big project as in another human (fingers crossed) so we need all of the tips that we can get!
We are also a one car family now and it works quite well for us, we save on gas, insurance and I am able to work the 1/8 of a mile to work!
Jennifer says
Love this post, thanks so much for sharing. You guys have completely changed the way I approach a home improvement project. I used to run out and grab whatever we needed w/out hesitation, now I figure out how I can repurpose what we already have which not only saves money but is much more “green”. You guys are a great example of living a balanced life, being financially responsible but still having fun and not feeling deprived. I’m looking forward to seeing how you add the baby costs into this mix! :) Keep up the great work!
Ashley@ Mutschler Family, Dallas Edition says
Wow! That is amazing that you guys were able to save and fully buy your car! That is really the right way to do it, (not spending tons of money on interest!). Thanks for this post, I had a similar question for you all myself!
Katie B says
Great post! I can’t say that I’d ever trust my husband to cut my hair (though he does offer to buzz mine the way he buzzes his — haha, not a chance), but I am definitely on board with eating in versus eating out. I never cooked before my husband (then boyfriend) and I moved in together, but after much trial and error, I find that what I make often tastes significantly better than what we would order in any of our local restaurants (and we live just outside of DC, so there are plenty of options). Additionally, though I have to buy pretty nice clothes for my job in the District, I make sure that I buy quality pieces that will last a long time (instead of expensive, trendy ensembles that will look dated come next year). Trendy accent pieces are bought at Target (Tar-jay, as you like to say). :)
Kate says
LOVE IT! You have hit the nail on the head. My hubs and I are 100% on the same page with you…although it has taken some wrong turns along the way to get to this mindset. When it feels that our generation or more, more, more…buy now, pay later, it is more than refreshing to hear this kind of financial mentality from fellow young-people. Do you two follow Dave Ramsey? Your ideals are right on the same page, so if you haven’t, I would recommend. With our first baby due this September, I couldn’t be more thrilled with this post and blog in general, it is one of my first clicks of my morning! Kudos!
P.S. I am a graphic designer at Meredith in the same department that publishes DIY, so I adore following you along. Even though I’ve never met you two, I feel this creative bond :) Best of luck with your babe!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Kate! We actually have some pics to send Beth Eslinger this morning. It’s such a small world! And as for Dave Ramsey we have heard others recommended him so we’ll have to learn more.
xo,
s
Katie B says
Oh, and I meant to mention that I own a red, 2007 Nissan Altima (looks just like yours — it was the first of that specific model, I believe). It’s a great car — zippy, reliable, and really comfortable. Enjoy!
Jessica @ How Sweet says
I have wondered this same thing, and how you guys did it! Thanks for the info. We have been trying to cut certain things out, too!
Sarah says
I just have to say that this post was insanely inspiring and helpful. You really hit the nail on the head about cutting trivial costs out and saving only for things that are truly important. My parents were really frugal too, and I think that made for some really valuable life lessons. Thank you so much for this post, and I can’t wait to share it with my boyfriend – we are closing on our house tomorrow (final walk-through today) and will take all of this advice to heart. Thank you! Sarah
Mandi says
I’ve been married for 21 years, and we practice a lot of the same frugality that you guys do. I think the reason it succeeds for some people and not for others is a simple willingness to learn new skills, and a belief that one is bright enough and capable enough to figure out how to do just about anything. I see a lot of Learned Helplessness among people who “could never do” the things my guy and I have tackled for free/cheap all by ourselves.
You also have to be someone who gets a sense of ownership/satisfaction out of having some hands on involvement. You will love your bathroom a million times more, than if you’d managed to pay someone else the same price for the same bathroom. I know a lot of people who have been raised to believe it is undignified to labor on your own behalf, and these people cannot live comfortably on five times the income I have.
I actually think for those who do not have these mindsets to begin with – that they are both capable of doing things themselves, and not “above” it – acquiring said attitude is actually MUCH harder than the actual practices surrounding frugal living. It’s a big hurdle for a lot of people! Kudos to those who manage it, though. I was raised by people who were neither frugal, nor particularly resourceful and low income to boot – not a good combination. My husband’s family did much better, and I’ve learned a lot from him over the years, particularly in the area of believing I am capable of just about any DIY I put my mind too. I build our computers now, have done all the landscaping myself, homeschooled our kids from about grade 6 forward, and lots more! I am much prouder of all those things, I find, than accomplishments society more typically finds “impressive” – college, awards, etc.
Lauren P. says
Impressive! We also save before we buy. We’re saving for a new mattress at the moment and should be able to get it in about a month or so, can’t wait! I wish we could be a one car household also, but our jobs are in opposite directions and we work different hours. Thanks for this post, Sherry!
JenWoodhouse.com says
Kudos to you for living well within your means. It’s astonishing how many people don’t.
We don’t own credit cards (except for an Amex, which you have to pay off every month anyway) and don’t buy what we can’t afford. It’s as simple as that. We have zero debt and we like it that way!
Why fall into debt just to to keep up with the Jones? No, thanks!
Emily @ Our Waldo Bungie says
Love love love this post! My husband and I made it a goal to pay off all our debt and so between the two of us we work 5 jobs and have paid off over $10k in a year not making very much money at all! We do the “envelope system” and have found lots of cheap and easy DIY projects to spruce up our house. I love your site because everything you do is so affordable, it gives me lots of ideas for projects that don’t break the bank! Keep it up guys! Your site gives me hope that I can pay off debt AND continue to fix up the house at the same time! :)
Catherine Alford says
Hi Sherry!
What a great post! I’m a graduate student (and a Richmonder!) and I love reading your blog. You guys are so inspiring and give me a lot to look up to! My big problem is the hefty amount of student loans that I’ve racked up over the years. Here’s hoping that the “investment in myself” is worth it!
Kristen Miller says
Love your method — that’s close to what my husband and I do. We love Dave Ramsey and try to follow some of his methods.
Since you don’t eat out often — I’m kinda curious…what does your grocery bill look like?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Kristen,
We actually don’t eat much meat so we save a lot of money there (dinners can be anything from organic Amy’s Pizza to cheap-o spaghetti or even veggie dumplings or pancakes if we’re feeling festive). If we’re trying to be fancy we’ll toss some garlic and shrimp in our pasta (which still isn’t too expensive when you have a 50 count bag of frozen shrimp on hand) or we’ll make homemade pear and provolone pizza (so simple, just top with those ingredients and bake the dough). Meal planning has really helped to keep us focused at the store so we don’t buy a bunch of processed crap we don’t need, and we also like to try to use up nearly everything in the house before going food shopping again (so we don’t have cans of beans or frozen pork chops that just sit around for months since we’d rather eat something else). You really can stretch shopping trips out if you eat what you have until it’s gone!
xo,
s
CraftyRachel says
Right on! We also:
– pay only an internet bill and watch “TV” online (hulu.com, etc.) Some friends spend over $100/month on cable. Crazy!
– drive one car, a 10-year-old, low-mileage used Volvo we paid for in full
– rescue any solid-wood furniture we see in trash piles (we scored our china cabinet, buffet, kid’s table, and a secretary desk this way)
– buy some grocery items in bulk on amazon.com
– when we lived in the city, used a grocery delivery service, which forced us to plan meals out and kept us from buying anything not on our list
– use a credit card that gives us 1% cash back, then put the extra cash in savings
TG says
Wonderful post. You two are such an inspiration to keep moving forward. I save by taking the bus to work and bringing my own breakfast, lunch and snacks. It really cuts down on expenses and I eat better. I have several home improvement things to save for. Thanks for the re-inspiration.
PS. As a couple of the others were saying, Dave Ramsey is really worth checking out.
Alexis K says
Hi YHL,
Just started reading your blog and love it. So refreshing to read your post. My husband and I are attempting to follow the same path. We’ve learned most of the principles you spoke of via Dave Ramsey. We took his class at our local church, and then started teaching it ourself. And it really works… you’ve got to live like noone else, so that you can really LIVE like no one else.
Great job!
-Alexis
Jean says
Thank you so much for this thoughtful and inspiring post. I recently started a blog about creating a budget and living within it. I find that just having the blog keeps me honest about how I’m spending money — I don’t want to disappoint my (very few) readers, including my mom, with any failures to save money. And though my husband and I are not doing great about staying within our budget, I’m happy to report that we haven’t charged anything to our credit cards since we created the budget in early January. For us, that’s a huge beginning success.
Ophélie says
Oh, this post makes me so happy! My SO and I are just getting started in the “real” world and are having such a hard time putting money aside, but it’s important to us to buy everything cash. I’m glad to see that you make it work (while having such a gorgeous house, and a baby on the way!). Thank you for the inspiration.
Jen says
My boyfriend has been such a positive money-saving influence on me and pays cash for everything. He’s never had a credit card or taken out a loan in his life. I do love to splurge on clothes and good food occasionally, so sometimes his frugality makes me feel guilty or frustrates me, but I know it’s SO much better than the alternative of credit card debt. We are saving up for a fixer-upper house right now – he wants to pay cash for that too!
Katie says
I’m really inspired and motivated by this post. It was totally what I needed today. Right now I’m the “breadwinner” as my fiance looks for his first out of college job. I managed to pay off all my debts, but sometimes, with saving for a wedding, wanting to save for a home, and then trying to live how society tells you you’re supposed to.
We only have one car now too…Not by my own choice, but because I was in an accident where my old truck was totaled. It sucked, and has been depressing to me since we haven’t saved that much money because it seems like we always find something else to spend it on.
After reading this, I definitely feel more motivated, I know we’re heading in the right direction, but it’s great to know it can be done.
Chris says
You are guys simply awesome. I know I’ve said it a thousand times on various posts – but you are! It’s so refreshing to know of a couple in my age range that has similar beliefs about how to spend and save. While I don’t think I’m as good at it as you guys are… my hubby and I are right along side of you. We’ve followed a system to pay off all our credit cards and only pay for stuff with our debit card/cash once those were all paid off. We paid off our car (we’re a one car couple for as long as possible!. The money then, that we used to put towards paying off cards and the car – goes to savings. My husband recently got a promotion at work. Instead of then upgrading stuff or to a new place, we live off the same amount we have been – and put the rest into savings. We use auto-savings deposits straight from our paychecks to our accounts. We don’t even miss the money then or spend it before we put it into savings accidentally or without thinking. It works great! Then we check our savings and watch it increase with time. We are patiently saving for various things and when we see a good deal, but we aren’t ready for it yet, we pass on it. Sometimes it’s hard, but waiting for what we REALLY want and only getting it when we’re ready for it is so much better. I’d rather wait longer for what I really want, than spend money on something that is only so-so to me. If it means continuing to have hand me down furniture that’s really worn for a few more years… then so be it. Eventually we’ll reach our goal and get our house and furniture etc. Something that we are dealing with are student loans. Unforntuately for us, that’s just the only way we could get the education we needed/wanted. Keep up the great work guys! And thanks for sharing. :)
maura says
We save for things ahead of time also but we do use our amex for purchases over 200$ and pay it off that month ( we only do this if we have the money in the bank to pay it off) so that we can get hilton points and stay over night for free a few times a year. We are in desperate need of a new mattress and now that we have a tax refund to cover it we are going out friday night to start looking for a good deal, we won’t buy until our refund is desposited though. I also started couponing big time last month and I am stockpiling only items I use so I don’t have to pay full price when I am in a pinch. I now pay 1.25 for brand name cereal instead of the 3-4$ a box I used to pay. I have cut my grocery bills down considerably. I went from 140$ a week to 105 a week by using coupons on the things I normally buy. I am hoping to get it down even more when I get better at it.
Jess says
I LOVE it! Thanks for sharing! This is very inspirational!
b says
I couldn’t agree more with the saving/recouping costs by hitting craigslist hard. Its a great resource. and I’ve been shaving my head for 15 years now. i always joke with friends about how much money o save by not paying for hair cuts and not drinking alcohol.
One tip I will add is to get a credit card that rewards you. My credit card gives me 5% cash back on gas and groceries and 1.5% on everything else. It may not sound like much but I try to put everything on my credit card even though I pay off the entire balance every month. I routinely get between $300-700 back every year. I also make good use of a high yield online savings account where you’ll pick up some more savings over the course of a year. In my case, it ends up being about a grand a year total.
Just my 2 cents. Great posts and congrats on the bun!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey b,
Yup, we love using our credit card to gain points (and paying it off each month of course). We also find that it’s a great way to track our spending. In fact that’s one of the tips we share in our Save It series of posts (which we linked to on the bottom of this post). Good reminder!
xo,
s
Amy says
Love this post…and I have to second the Dave Ramsey notion! We took his class right after we got married and immediately got rid of all our debt and started doing our finances the right way. It really is so much cheaper if you just save up to buy what you want, rather than having loans and credit cards, etc. We also spend about 5-10% of our income on house projects and it’s amazing how much you really can get done on that amount! It’s nice to not have to worry about whether or not you can afford the project, because if you have a budgeted amount and track your purchases, you always know. It’s great to see other young couples paying attention to their finances as well. We are ridiculed most of the time for being frugal and refusing to go into debt, but it’s totally worth it in the end :)
Joanne says
The way you live is how I’ve done it all my life – also thanks to learning from my parents. I can’t imagine the stress of constant debt. BTW, that doesn’t necessarily mean sacrifice, just choices. I’ve traveled the world, owned my own home and driven new cars. Of course I didn’t stay in 4 star hotels, own a McMansion, or drive BMW’s and Mercedes!
Living below your means when you are working makes a) building that retirement nest egg easier and b) it easier to live an economical life style in retirement!
Lacey says
So glad you wrote about this! I think you hit on some key points about what makes it possible and totally achievable to live within your means. Certainly people can see by your example that it is completely obtainable to be rich in non-material things AND be surrounded by material things you love without breaking the bank or charging it all. My husband and I are also debt free except the house and the flexibility and peace of mind that it provides is priceless (and worth every second of driving a 1998 Taurus!) We are planning to pay cash for our next vehicle and we budget and save for our 1960’s ranch renos.The envelope system and paying with cash seem to be the best methods for us and although we don’t have to fore go quite as much as we did when we were paying things off, we certainly make more educated decisions when spending our cash money. Thanks for the post and for being such great examples!
Sophie says
I love your penny pinching tips! We always pay off our credit card off every month, and we auto-deposit a portion of our paychecks into our savings accounts… for somebody who doesn’t have the strongest will, this is what helps the most.
Just out of curiosity (please forgive my nosiness), once Baby Petersik comes who gets to keep the car during the day?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sophie,
Good question! John will be taking a nice long paternity leave so we’ll both be home with the car and the bean for a while. And once he goes back to work we’ll probably just play it by ear (since some days a friend or family member will visit so he can take the car, while other days he can carpool with his sister who drives right by our house and also works downtown). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Rachel says
As my husband and I are planning to purchase our first condo just across the Hudson from NYC (it’s so expensive in this area! but we both work here, love the city and our families are here), these are great tips to keep us on track to saving up for things to come! Thanks for sharing…inspiring as always!
Nicole RJ says
Thanks for such an inspiring post!
With only one full-time income in our household {I work from home} we find all sorts of ways to cut costs and save pennies… it’s surprising how easy it is to move from ‘want it, so buy it’ to waiting & saving up!
My big money saving goal for this year is that we’re planning on buying a small chest freezer to take advantage of fabulously low prices on in-season local produce. I plan on freezing large batches to have on hand throughout the winter and next spring. We’re big on eating healthy so this will make a major difference in the grocery budget!
Dena says
Aside from our mortgage, my family is also debt-free. I switched (3 years ago) to a weekly cash budget for groceries & household items and it has really helped me. Another key for me is that for everything that goes on my grocery list I ask myself if I can wait one more week before purchasing it. It may sound silly, but it really helps!
I would say the keys to saving wisely and spending wisely is in knowing your spending habits–be brutally honest, often it’s those little things (like coffee) that pack a punch! And creating a budget. The other key that many don’t think about is thinking about what you truly NEED and what you simply WANT. More falls into the want category than you realize. It doesn’t have to be that new cd you’ve been eyeing. It can be the 3 different types of potato chips or 5 different types of snacks for school…when 1 bag of chips and one type of snack can get your family through this week.
It isn’t always easy, but it is so freeing and greatly helps the stress quotient to be debt free. I wish more people would try it!
Jennifer says
What a great post, you guys!
My husband and I just participated an Engaged Enrichment day in which we gave a talk, twice, called “Finances & Freedom.” Our basic principles are by no means new, but by every means good for the marriage and good for the bank. If I were to summarize, I would say these include:
1. Cash envelope system (we saved $500 this month alone by not spending it all) on all our flexible spending such as groceries, entertainment, gasoline, home improvement, dining out… while everything else is automatically withdrawn from our checking, like netflix, car insurance, mortgage, etc.
2. One shared car (I walk the mile+ to work)
3. No TV (good for SO many reasons, wink wink)
4. Never spend what you don’t have
5. Never carry a balance over on a credit card
6. Everything is a joint account–no money is owned, cared for, or spent by one spouse without the other having the same access and responsibility for it.
7. Savings off the top of our net income at 10%, plus an additional $150 toward our mortgage.
8. Tithe off the top of our net income at 10%.
So we really only use 75-80% of our income each month. And even that goes into short savings projects like a new chandelier, a new couch, carpet under the table, etc.
I wish more youngsters thought as you do. There is something so FREEING in not being a slave to constant spending.
Hear hear to you!
~j
Amy E. says
we’re along the same lines as you guys, although our “house rules” aren’t so strict as yours (we definitely go out to eat more than just once a month). we find that there are a few things that help us save instead of splurge:
asking eachother “do you REALLY need that” or “where would you use it/what would you do with it”. unless the other person can come up with a good enough response to convince the asker, the item goes back on the shelf.
having a larger goal in mind. it’s really easy to put back the $40 blouse and not go out to eat every other night when you’re saving up for something big! “do you really want that [item], or would you rather be $[50] closer to owning your own [big ticket item]?”
we LOVE our local ALDI! they’ve saved us a BUNDLE. even though they don’t have everything, it’s still a time and money saver. we go in, get whatever we need that they carry, and then what’s left on the list we pick up at the Publix that’s a block further down the road.
one final thing we do is to periodically track our expenses/income. it really helps if you have a handle on exactly how much you spend on gas or eating out. every couple of months we tally up the expenses from the previous month and then separate them into groups like gas, food from grocery stores, food from restaurants, home improvement expenses, utilities, etc. we’ve managed to save $100/month after tracking gas expenses showed us that we could save by deciding to drive around town together in my 27 mpg, regular unleaded fuel sipping small sedan instead of my husband’s 19 mpg, premium fuel guzzling giant sedan.
IT CAN BE DONE!
Cindy @ The Flipping Couple says
Thanks for being honest and sharing about your finances. We’re the same way – absolutely no credit card debt and lots of saving up for projects. We were absolutely thrilled to build our garage for 10k and pay for every last nail in cash. Of course, we also saved ourselves 25k (plus!) by doing it all ourselves, but I think that’s just another money-saving strategy.
Congrats on the new car! I love seeing other people who are committed to staying away from car loans. It’s hard to save for that long but so worth it in the end!
I’m inspired to go squeeze some more pennies out of our budget! Thanks so much for such an inspiring post.
Tammy says
I’m another Dave Ramsey fan – debt free and living in financial peace, so it’s so nice to see others extolling the virtures of living within one’s means. You guys really are inspiring!
Jennifer says
Great post! We live way below our means and have no debt, which feels great! We’re currently saving up to buy a home, whenever that may be. We have almost 20% of the listing price for the low end of our price range, so we’re really making progress!
I use coupons and match with sales to keep our grocery budget incredibly low. We do in-house haircuts, homemade cleaning products, no cable/satellite, no texting, rare entertainment spending, and no home improvement projects since we’re in this home temporarily anyway. I’d like to fix up a place someday and love your site!
Katy says
I have to ask. How did you learn to cut John’s hair? I won’t let my husband anywhere near mine, but I have cut his a couple of times, and we always end up getting really frustrated and buzzing it off with a larger guard. I don’t really know how to “cut” it, just clip it with the clippers. Tips?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Katy,
I actually use real hair cutting scissors and my fingers (no clipper) to cut John’s hair just about once a month. I don’t really know how I learned but I used to cut my brothers’ and cousins’ hair growing up… and by the time I was in college I was cutting a ton of people’s hair in dorms (girls too, but guys are cheaper so they loved free haircuts- making them my best “customers”). By the time I met John I was somewhat of a pro and I actually first cut John’s roomate’s hair (back when we were just friends) which made John think I liked him (ew!). So I guess that gave John the courage to offer up his hair to me and I’ve been cutting it ever since. To roughly describe my method, I just use the middle and pointer finger on my left hand to pinch his hair vertically all around his head and snip off the extra that sticks out beyond my fingers (so it’s all the same shorter length when I’m done- about the length of my finger pincher thing). Then I leave it a little longer around the top (two fingers-ish) and give him a good trim around the ears and shave his neck. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Lisa @ lists in my pocket says
Great post! Your money management tips are inspiring and make total sense. We do a lot of this already but you’ve motivated me to work harder to save for some of our bigger goals!
Elisa says
I read your blog everyday. My husband used to think I was nuts, but then last night I caught HIM looking at your House Tour page! Anyways his question is: Where do you guys work? I know the blog is a good part of your income but I think I remember reading that John has another job as well.
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, the blog is my full time gig and John works downtown at an advertising agency as an account manager. Of course he puts in well over 20 hours a week on the blog beyond his 40 hour work week in the corporate world, so he kind of has two jobs going on these days! My hero.
xo,
s
Melinda says
I’ve always been impressed by your patience and ability to save for those large projects also! Great post! I’d love to read more about how you guys saved for the baby also. What type of supplies you’ve bought before hand, etc. We ourselves are currently thinking about kids and we are also frugal. Someone once told us that having a kid sets you back financially about three years and it would be great to see how you guys planned it!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Melinda,
We’ll have to answer that question after having the beanette here for a bit. We have definitely only registered for things we need (nothing frou-frou or extra since our small house makes storing all that extra stuff a pain anyway) and our friends and family have been incredibly generous to donate their extremely gently used hand me downs along with purchasing a lot of new items for us from our registry. In fact, so far we really haven’t spent that much at all (under $100) on baby stuff. And I plan to breastfeed and we’re using cloth diapers so those two choices should help us save some money as well. Stay tuned for more details while we learn as we go…
xo,
s
Jennifer M says
Love this post! Thanks for answering the hard questions.
Susan says
I really enjoy your blog and always feel that I learn something. Today is no different. You are so wise to be so young. Your parents taught you well. In this day and time, I think we all realize that we have to change how we live if we want to continue to be able to survive.
Chantalle says
What a great post!
We do the use-your-credit-card-like-a-debit-card philosophy, which has been great! We budget every month and make sure nothing goes over. Sometimes we steal from other categories in order to fill the ‘home stuff’ one :)
Last year we moved in with my in laws so my husband could take the bar…and the house hunt ended up going on longer than we thought! We sold our last place with 90% of the furniture in it for an extra $1500 (bummer for them, I got everything free or craig’s list and there is no way I spent a fraction of that even!) So we waited for a short sale house and I had $1500 to do all the furniture except our mattress and dining table/chairs. Luckily I had a few months (while pregnant with #2) to gather furniture, and luckily my in-laws let us pile it up in their backyard. And paint it for me! We found lots of free stuff and painted most of it black, and made a few ‘splurges’ (aka, one piece of furniture from IKEA.) But we did it! And even came under. It was fun to search for stuff and to make it great. Someone gave us a desk and we painted it and added new hardware and she wanted to pay to get it back!
One of my favorite things I did was this:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=39431196&l=42219e00ca&id=17830133
For toy storage. I LOVE that we can put away toys, DVDs, Wii stuff, diapers, etc. but have everything on hand!
Thanks for the post, we totally love the high of planning and making it work, especially when it comes in under budget! We wanted a fixer-upper, but with this California market we were ready to take whatever was available, so our house mostly just needed paint. We have plans for some renos later (like, the bathrooms have all carpet, no tile…?)
Something else random, just to make this longer, something I love to do is keep the tough-plastic bags that lots of stuff comes in. The ones with bedding, storage baskets or whatever. We have a little stash of them and whenever we are able to group stuff (like the baby’s socks or the toddler’s cars) we put them in these plastic bags and zip them up. They are perfect! You can see inside them and you don’t have to throw them away!
Julie Aponte says
It’s already been said, but thank you so much for this post. My friends make comments about how I never buy things when I go shopping or how I wait so long to make home decor purchases. To me it makes more sense to take the time to find something you absolutely love, do a little research to make sure you can’t find a better price or comparable product elsewhere, and to make sure you have all the money upfront. The only thing I’d add to this is that we don’t just spend money as soon as we save it. We have a set number that our savings account has to stay at in case of emergency, and then any money above that amount can be spent on fun purchases.
Cheryl - PinecornsAndRainpuddles says
Kudos to you!! It is so refreshing to see a young couple achieve so much on their own and do it all without getting into debt! You are proof that you can live in high style without breaking the bank. I believe too that when you can do things yourself you have such a higher level of gratification. Even the personal birthday surprises. I’ll take that over a store-bought, over-expensive predictable gift any day! My husband and I do the same and it has more meaning and keeps us set on our goals as a family.
For our 10 year anniversary, we used his hotel points that he earns from work to stay at a beautiful resort, saved money on dinner out by going to happy hour, and brought our own wine for after dinner. We had a wonderful time just enjoying our time alone in a beautiful setting without breaking the bank!
It’s great to see that so many others share your view. If only we could start a nation-wide movement!! :)
You guys are great. Keep up the good work!
Jill says
Great post! As others have commented, it is nice to hear that there are other young people out there who live within their means…a house you can afford, paying off credit cards (monthly), haircuts at home, etc. We have done/are doing the same things and it has been frustrating at times to hear news/NPR reports blaming lenders for “this mess”…but I digress. Nice choice on the Altima, by the way. I have a 2002 that I bought new (my first new car…big moment!) the year after I got my first “real” job. I still love it!
Sara says
Great post! One thing I was wondering though is how are you going to do the one car thing once the baby comes? Babies have lots of well checks and they get sick. You are making lots of trips to the pediatrician. I would think it would be a safety issue to be at home with the baby and no transportation. What if something happens?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sara,
Of course I’d never be home with the bean without a mode of transportation! John will be taking a nice long paternity leave so we’ll both be home with the car and the bean for a while. And once he goes back to work we’ll probably just play it by ear (since some days a friend or family member will visit so he can take the car, while other days he can carpool with his sister who drives right by our house and also works downtown). Hope it helps!
xo,
s