HOW TO SAVE MONEY and get out of debt- "save money" or frugal living website?

Question

Recent pay cuts at work have left hubby and I (and kids) really financially tight.

We owe:

Car- $14000- $490/month

Student debt- $24000- $700/month

Mortgage- $125000- $880/month

Monthy bills (heat hydro insurance phone cable internet etc) $900mo

then all our variable expenses.

We make about $3000 a month. We're finding it really tight lately, our pay cuts amounted to about $600 a month.

How can we cut down some debt, monthly expenses, what can we save money on? We have really been cutting down on eating out, shopping, buying the kids toys all the time, that sort of thing. We buy store brand groceries, cloth diaper the baby, use CFL lightbulbs (which DOES help our hydro bill), bought a programable thermostat which helps our heating costs....

I am not quite sure what else to do! OUR debt is being paid off regularly, though we do occasionally do make late payments.

How do we cut down our expenses? And save money and pay off debt?

Answer 1

You're doing a lot of the right things. The one thing that sticks out however is that $14,000 car debt with a $490 payment. Selling that car and getting a nice $4,000-$6,000 used car could knock off a good deal of your monthly payment. Think about that. You could also stop cable and give up the high speed internet. And a second part time job would obviously help.  

Answer 2

1 - one of you explore part time work on weekends. Maybe early saturday or sunday morning or even over night friday at a hospital, or cleaning crew at Kmart or Target.

I know most people hate this idea. But, I got a part-time job 5 years ago and still stick with it. It pays me 12.48 an hour now. and, I get to make my own hours.  Basically, if I want to work 5 hours a week or 20.   I always said I would quit. But, today I just got paid and it reminds that it is pretty easy money and goes a long way. My paycheck was 447 for my part-time job. So that is basically spending money.

In Sept 2005 I had 12,000 in credit card debt and 13,000 car loan and of course, child support in the area of 550 a month.  Using part-time job money I have paid off all credit card debt, have 1 more payment next Friday on the car, and have built a comfortable savings and built up retirement accounts.

2 - Do you get big tax returns each year.  Basically you are loaning uncle sam your money.  Think if yall got a 2,600 dollar tax return, you loaned uncle sam 100 dollars every paycheck from Jan 1 to Dec 31st. Then, they didnt pay you back probably until mid feb at the earliest.

No bank or credit card will loan you that much money for 15 months without penalties and fees. So don't do it to uncle sam.

Now, I maybe wrong. You may have came out even or owed taxes.  But, if you get refunds, stop and change your withholdings. Payroll should be able to show you how much your check will change if you make a few changes on your w-4.

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Sell a television or get rid of it. Believe or not, televisions make people blow tons of money. Being constantly bombarded with ads make parents and kids spend huge amounts of money on c**p. Most people think tv is not that powerful. But, big business would not SPEND BILLIONS on advertising if it didn't work.  No matter how strong willed you are, it works.

I noticed I was much more able to pay down debt and save money when I stopped watching television.  Outside of news and occasional baseball game or major sporting event - I watch less than 1hr of televsion a week at home.

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Possibly sell the car.

Good luck

Answer 3

check out this site http://tinyurl.com/personal-loans  they helped me get out of debt pretty fast