Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

1 Simple Trick to Find More Money in Your Budget

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Do you have a budget that already feels tight?  Have you cut and cut but still have more month than money? Are you struggling to find more money in your budget?

I know how that goes.  Over the last few months, my husband and I have been working hard to cut our budget as much as possible.  We thought we’d cut all that we could, but I discovered one more secret, which, depending on your budget could help you “find” another $20 to over $100 a month.

So what’s the magic secret?

Make your payments on a semi-annual or annual basis rather than on a monthly basis.

Paying Annual Can Provide Big Discounts

1 Simple Trick to Find More Money in Your Budget
Find more money in your budget.

We have Ooma for our home phone line.  I pay $17.99 a month.  Recently I had to call Ooma because I was having an issue with the service.  After the customer service rep had finished helping me, she asked if I wanted to pay annually instead of monthly.  An annual payment would be $105, the equivalent of $8.75 a month.  In other words, I was paying an additional $110.88 a year for the convenience of monthly payments.

Our life insurance is the same.  When I checked into it, I realized that we would save $22 a month if we paid annually instead of monthly.

We already pay our car insurance semi-annually, but if we opted to pay monthly, we’d be charged a $2 per month fee.  Other car insurance companies charge as much as 5 to 10% more for a monthly payment.

Convenience is expensive.

Take a look through your monthly bills.  Are there any that you can choose to pay annually or semi-annually?  If so, how much will you save per month if you pay annually instead of monthly?  In our case, we “found” an extra $32 a month.  Sure, that doesn’t sound like a lot, but over a year, it adds up to an additional $384 we now have that we didn’t have before.

Two Caveats

Before you change your payment method, it’s important to consider two factors.  First, if your budget is already tight, you may need to wait to switch to an annual payment until you have a windfall like a bonus at work or an income tax return.  If you’re used to paying $80 a month for car insurance, even with a discount for paying annually, you may still be looking at paying $800 or $900 in one swoop, which can be difficult on a tight budget.

Second, only use this method if you know you’ll be disciplined enough to set aside money every month for the annual payment.  If your annual car insurance is $800, then set aside approximately $65 a month so you’ll have enough to pay the annual payment when it comes due.

Making payments annually or semi-annually can be a great way to find extra money in your budget, but before you change to this method, make sure that you have the discipline to set aside (and not spend) the money each month for the annual payment.

Do you pay bills like your insurance monthly or semi-annually or annually?  Which do you prefer?  Why?

Even More Ways to Save on Groceries

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Besides your mortgage, your grocery bill may be your next largest expense.  Of course, you usually can’t alter your mortgage payment, but with some planning and strategizing, you can alter the amount you spend at the grocery store and save on groceries.

A few months ago, I wrote about the techniques we’re using to keep our grocery bill low for our family of 5 (spending approximately $500 to $600 per month even with food intolerances to gluten, dairy, and corn).  We’ve learned a few more strategies to lower our grocery bill that I thought I’d share with you, especially since it seems like the price of grocery is on the rise again.

save more on groceries


Stop by the grocery store whenever you’re driving by.  I know the “experts” say to go in the grocery store as little as possible.  Many of them recommend shopping just every two weeks or once a month.  However, if you’re a disciplined shopper, I recommend stopping by the store every time you drive by.  Why?  I only buy eggs on clearance for .99 a dozen.  I also buy organic chicken when it is close to its sell by date and marked down by 50% or more.  If I stop by the store whenever I drive by (every couple of days, usually), I have a better chance of finding these deals.  If nothing is on clearance, I simply leave empty-handed.  I don’t buy eggs or meat if they’re not on sale, or ideally, on clearance.

Don’t just take sandwiches for lunch.  My husband packs his lunch every day.  However, he never packs a sandwich.  Instead, whenever I see clearance chicken fajita meat, sausage, or other meats, I buy those.  He cooks something up on Sunday, like three sausages I found on clearance, and then he brings some every day along with a grain, veggies, and a fruit or two.  His flexibility and willingness to move beyond sandwiches and my bargain shopping skills mean he saves a lot when packing his lunch.

Consider having a separate meat budget.  I just learned about this technique, and I plan to start utilizing it.  Say you have $500 a month for groceries.  The idea is that you set aside a certain amount, maybe $50 or $100 a month, solely for meat.  The rest you spend on your other groceries.  If you’re able to save up $500 or $600 in the meat fund, you might buy a ¼ side of beef, which you’ll likely get at a much cheaper price than at the grocery store.  Then, you eat that meat and start saving again for your next bulk purchase of meat.  Eventually, you’ll have a deep freezer full of healthy, lower cost meat direct from the farmer.

Slowly buy in bulk.  I have consciously started buying in bulk to lower our grocery costs.  I’ve had to do this slowly because we don’t have a lot of wiggle room in the budget.  Gluten free oats cost $2 a pound, and that’s when they’re on sale!  Instead, I bought a 50 pound bag of gluten free oats for $61.  That is $1.22 a pound, which is cheaper than I could ever buy them at the store.  Then, I bought a 25 pound bag of pinto beans for $12.50, or .50 a pound, which is again cheaper than the rock bottom price I can get at the store.  Just remember when buying in bulk not to buy items you really don’t want to use or won’t be able to finish before they get stale.

What are your favorite techniques to lower your grocery bill?

 

Some Years, No New Debt Is Reason To Celebrate

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When you’re in debt, it’s easy to be hard on yourself.

You shouldn’t have let yourself go into so much debt. 

You weren’t smart with your money. 

You’re not paying off the debt fast enough. 

On and on we berate ourselves.

It’s even easier to do this at the end of the year when you feel financial pressure to buy gifts for not only family members, but associates, hired help, etc.

In addition, if you’re anything like me, you may have set some lofty goals last January that you could not achieve.

Our Lofty Goals

Last January, I could see nothing but clear horizons.  I set some ambitious financial goals (for our financial situation).

  • I wanted to put at least $3,000 in our emergency fund.
  • I wanted to save $1,000 for a family vacation.
  • I wanted to save $3,000 for a new-to-us car.

Guess how many of those financial goals I accomplished?  None!

Guess how many I partially accomplished?  None!

No new debt celebrate

Sometimes Finances Are Just about Survival

What I could not see that fine January morning when I set my goals was that we were on the precipice of a financial cliff.

Within just a few weeks of setting the goals, we experienced a number of financial difficulties.

  • My husband had to get a root canal and a crown at the cost of almost $600.
  • I had to see a periodontist and several dentists for a cyst on my gum that finally resulted in a root canal in April and a corrected filling. The cost of all the treatment was approximately $700.
  • Our daughter had to have several fillings filled and then later had to have a tooth pulled. $300.  (This was a special year for dentistry; I promise, our teeth aren’t as bad as this year makes it sound!)
  • Our car needed a $1,500 repair.
  • Our car needed new tires. $700.
  • My son needed braces. We saved and paid the first $900 out of pocket.  In a few months, we’ll need to come up with another $900, and then we’ll be on a payment plan with zero interest for the rest.
  • Our 18 year old A/C unit was leaking Freon, causing one electric bill to be $150 more than normal, and we also paid $200 to have it serviced for a grand total of $350.

In short, this year was a financial disaster as far as paying off debt went.  This year was all about financial survival mode.

And that’s okay.  Some years you can’t be gazelle intense or even pay any extra on your debt because you’re too busy just surviving.

Even though the year didn’t go the way we had planned, at all, it wasn’t a complete wash financially.

The good news is that we learned more creative ways to stretch our money even further.  We’ll continue to implement those strategies this upcoming year.

The even better news is that we didn’t acquire any new debt.

Sometimes, treading water is the best you can do.  Overall, for this year, I’m happy with that.

If you’re paying off debt, did you make the progress you wanted to this year, or did you have a year like ours?