Beating Broke

How We Saved Money on Our First Camping Trip

August 7, 2023 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

The last time my husband and I last went camping was 22 years ago. We weren’t fans of the experience, so we never made camping a priority. However, several of our friends decided to go camping with their families this summer, and we somewhat hesitantly agreed to join. Even though we had no camping supplies, we saved money on our first camping trip using several different techniques. By the way, we didn’t mind camping this time, especially since our kids enjoyed it so much. We have another trip planned in October.

How We Saved Money on Our First Camping Trip

We didn’t want to buy a lot of items in case we decided (again) that camping wasn’t for us. We only purchased the following:

A Tent

We bought a 9-person tent from Amazon that was $149.99. However, we bought it on sale for $99.99. In hindsight, I should have bought it in person. I didn’t realize that the tent had large mesh openings that didn’t have flaps inside to close them. Instead, there’s a rain flap that goes over the whole tent. While the design is acceptable for summer camping, I think we’ll get cold when we go in October because we can’t close off the mesh openings.

Sleeping Bags

We had one sleeping bag at home, so we bought three more. I also purchased these on Amazon during a sale. Each sleeping bag was $22.99. After our first camping trip, our daughter’s sleeping bag already had a hole. We weren’t happy with that.

Camping Cooking Utensil Set

We bought a camping cooking utensil set for $24.99, which included a sharp knife and roasting sticks. Because we didn’t want to spend any more money on cooking gear, we cooked all our food on a stick over the fire—hot dogs, s’mores, breakfast sausage. We called it stick cooking. Anything that we couldn’t cook on a stick we ate cold.

Wood

On the day of the camping trip, we bought wood for $7.99. We went through that wood in one day, so we’ll need to buy a larger quantity when we go in October.

We spent $202 on the abovementioned necessities for our first camping trip.

What I’d Like to Buy in the Future

If we continue to camp, there are a few other items we’d like to make the experience more enjoyable:

Inflatable Mattresses

My husband and I aren’t young anymore, so we’d prefer sleeping on an air mattress rather than on the ground.

A Grill Grate

While cooking with a stick was fine for the first trip, it might get old on the second trip. If we camp more often, we’d like to buy a grill grate to put over the fire and hold a pan to cook eggs and other foods.

A Better Tent

Our tent is fine for warm weather, but if we continue to camp in the fall and spring, we’d like one that does a better job keeping us warm.

Final Thoughts

We spent $202 on our original outlay of camping supplies. We’ll likely wait until we’ve had another camping trip or two to see if we need to buy more. Meanwhile, each camping trip we take helps reduce the price of our initial outlay of supplies.

Do you camp regularly? If so, which supplies do you find essential?

Read More

Do Fitness and Frugality Go Together?

3 Benefits of Budgeting One Month Ahead

How Getting Ahead Saves Me Time, Money, and Mental Energy

Raising a Child Does Not Cost as Much as the USDA Estimates

July 30, 2023 By MelissaB 12 Comments

According to the USDA’s 2010 report, raising a child costs at least $220,000. This cost is the average cost a middle-class family pays for shelter, food, health care, clothing, transportation, child care, education and other expenses. They further break down the average cost per child per year as $11,800 to $13,880. Yikes! If you are on the fence about having kids, this report will certainly sway you in the direction of remaining childless.

However, as a mom to three kids, I can attest (as many other parents including Beating Broke can), that it doesn’t have to be this way. My husband and I have three kids, which, according to the report, should run us a minimum of $35,400 a year, not including our other expenses. My husband is just completing his Ph.D. and starting his career. While we count on him being able to make a large salary in the future, right now between his job and my part-time work from home, we are making a little less than $40,000. We are most definitely not spending $35,400 a year on our kids. Here is how we cut corners:

–Shop for clothes at garage sales. Babies and little kids don’t really care about their clothes; you can find fashionable, barely worn clothing at garage sales for less than $1 per piece or outfit. Save money this way. I know it is tempting to buy those adorable, brand new baby clothes, but babies outgrow outfits in weeks. Let someone else spend their money buying those clothes so you can snatch them up for pennies at a garage sale. If you don’t go to garage sales, check out Craigslist or eBay.

–Breastfeed if possible. Not every woman is able or willing to breastfeed, but if you are, breastfeeding can save nearly $1,000 that would have to be spent on formula for the first year of the child’s life.

–Use cloth diapers. Cloth diapers do require a large financial investment upfront, but they will last for the two to three years your child is in diapers, and they may even last for use by your next child. If cloth diapers make you squeamish, make sure to never pay retail for disposable diapers. By finding deals and using coupons, you should be able to reduce your diaper cost significantly.

–Accept all hand-me-downs. If you are the lucky recipient of hand-me-downs, please take them. Honestly, for a newborn, the only thing you need to buy brand new is a crib mattress and a car seat, for safety reasons. Everything else such as strollers, toys, cribs, clothes, etc. can be given as a hand-me-down or bought second hand.

There are some costs that you can’t save money on such as day care and health care. In all the other areas, there are ways to cut corners. Get in the practice of cutting corners when children are small and save the difference. Forgo the brand new outfits and large ticket items like a crib and instead go secondhand and save the difference. Bigger expenses loom ahead such as college. As Beating Broke stated in an earlier post, Stop Adding Up the Cost of Raising Children. It is possible to raise them for significantly less than the government suggests.

What are your suggestions for saving money when raising children?

photo credit: Sukanto Debnath

3 Benefits of Budgeting One Month Ahead

July 10, 2023 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

For years, I’ve tried to get one month ahead of my budget. This is based on the You Need a Budget rule number four: age your money. The idea is that you spend the money you earned last month this month. Finally, this past January, my husband and I were able to do this, and in the last few months, we’ve realized several benefits of budgeting one month ahead.

However, I want to recognize that putting together enough money to budget one month ahead is tough! We needed years to do this because our money was always so tight. However, we feel relieved now that we’ve finally reached this step.

3 Benefits of Budgeting One Month Ahead

Here are three times budgeting one month ahead protects your finances:

When Pay Day Falls Later in the Month

My husband is the primary breadwinner; his check comes every other week. That means that some months, his check will come at the end of the month, which makes paying bills at the beginning of the following month easy. However, sometimes, his check won’t come until the 8^th or 9^th of the month. If we’re not ahead in our budget, we’re short money to pay bills at the beginning of the month.

However, budgeting one month in advance took care of this problem. Now, I can pay our bills on time, in full, because when we start the month of July, for instance, all the money I need is in the budget. After all, I used June’s paychecks to fund July. This is freeing!

When Paychecks Are Delayed

I work as a freelancer and make about 20 percent of our household income. However, my money is allocated to pay for groceries and a few other budget categories. Recently, not one but two of my employers were delayed in paying me. Had we not been one month ahead in the budget, we would have had to shuffle some money around to have money for groceries.

However, I didn’t have to worry because I had budgeted ahead. I got both paychecks about two weeks late, but it wasn’t a big deal. I simply took the money when I received it and budgeted it for the upcoming month.

Defacto Emergency Fund

When you budget one month ahead, that money counts as part of your emergency fund. If anything happens, such as job loss, a reduction in hours, or, as in my case, delayed payments, you have next month covered so you have a financial cushion.

In addition, if you’re tempted by money sitting in an emergency fund, budgeting it one month ahead tends to reduce the temptation because you’ve already allocated how the money can be used next month.

Final Thoughts

We’ve realized several benefits of budgeting one month ahead in the few months since we’ve been able to do it. Who knows? Now we may try to work our way up to budgeting two months ahead. Then, we’ll be one step closer to a six-month emergency fund.

Why You Need a Budget If You’re Broke

Yes, Incremental Budgeting Is A Thing