Well now that we’re into October, we’re starting to think about preparing for the holiday budget, and thinking about the increase of our heat bill, since we live in the lovely north. Now we don’t spend a lot on each other or the kids, but it’s nice to have a plan of action so we know how much we have to spend.
We don’t really know what to expect for our heat bill, since it’s our first winter here, and for two winters we were in a free utilities rental (which was nice). Some things we have saved on, some things we haven’t, and some things we’re looking into:
1. Our mortgage payment is pretty low for our neighborhood (rumor has it that the neighbors were trying to organize themselves to put an offer on it for rental use since it was such a steal). We tried to put as much of a downpayment as our budget would allow, since we paid $10000 a few months earlier for another car, and to fix our current one.
2. We shopped around for cheap(er) car, life, and home insurance. Wow. We should have done this much much sooner.
3. We tried to save by going to cell phones, since I “need” one for my job (and so our daycare worker can contact me at all times). Unfortunately, our service is less than stellar (actually it’s terrible), so we ended up getting a landline anyway.
4. We’re hoping to have an energy audit done.
5. Continuing to get our food bill in order. I feel like we have the most control over this area, but also the area we struggle with too.
6. We’re taking advantage of craigslist as much as we can for appliances and furniture. I’m not sure we’ve ever bought a new appliance in our lives.
7. Staying away from debt. No money = no spending. Thankfully when one of us is ready to give in, the other is encouraging us to stay the course.
8. We do pay PMI, so after we do a bit more work to the house, we’d like to have another appraisal to get rid of it. I look forward to that day a lot.
9. Cutting down on our eating out. Seriously, why do we stink at this?!
10. One that I’m aiming for, but don’t like: turning the thermostat down. Being cold is yucky.
What are some ways you guys have saved? Or need to work on saving?
