Womb to Bloom - Maternity & Beyond

Before the birth of my first son, my husband and I made the choice to live on one income so I could stay home. It hasn’t been easy considering we started out with an average salary while completing graduate school at the same time. We have also been blessed during this time with the birth of our three wonderful children.

For these reasons, we have had ample incentives to get really creative cutting our monthly expenses while still having a healthy and fun lifestyle that values our friends and family. Here are a few tips we have used for reducing our monthly expenses.

First, review all household loan obligations. My husband and I both have spent considerable amount of time analyzing our household loan documents, home equity line of credit statement, home owners insurance, and private mortgage insurance. We have made sure to lock into a safe home mortgage that works for our household budget, gotten a break on our home and auto insurance by bundling them together with the same company, and removing the expensive monthly private mortgage insurance. By doing the following, we have saved about $200.00 a month in unnecessary expenses.

Secondly, review all household insurance needs, contracts, and credit card obligations. We shopped around and found a term life policy for both my husband and me. This is a small monthly investment that protects our family finances from the unforeseen. My husband has also taken a job with great medical benefits. We are very grateful for this benefit, since we have three small children. It gives our family great peace of mind knowing we never have to worry when one of them gets sick.

We have also taken advantage of a credit card that give us college dollars, charges a small interest rate, and no annual fees. We don’t advocate having a credit card balance; however, it has helped us out when there has been more expenses than we were expecting. Since my husband travels and uses this card and is reimbursed quickly, we have earned $ 1000.00 towards our 529 college fund. We also review annually our wireless, internet, and home telephone contracts. Many of our friends have actually dropped their home telephones and elected to carry only a mobile phone contract at a savings of $ 25 to $ 35 a month.

Thirdly, know all the employer benefits available to you. We have saved a considerable amount of money using pretax dollars for our healthcare needs such as doctor’s office copays. Many companies now offer Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts and Daycare Spending Accounts. It is a great way to save $ 50 to $ 100 monthly, depending on your annual healthcare and daycare needs. We also contribute to a 401K and receive a match from his employer. We can’t afford not to contribute since this is free money.

For a fourth money saver, be sure to check if your area has an organized bartering group or co-op offering specific services. I have friends that are in an organized farm co-op and receive monthly supplies of farm fresh produce for a small monthly fee delivered to a parking lot near their home. I also have been involved in a babysitting co-op. Members provide babysitting for one point per hour. They are able to receive babysitting serves by using their points earned. It is also a great way to meet other families in the local community and save money at the same time.

Make your trips to the grocery store count by preparing a list and a menu plan as a fifth way to save money. My entire family likes the predictability of a familiar menu, which has the added benefit of allowing our family to buy items we regularly use in bulk. I also like to hit our local discount grocer on the way to my usual grocery store. I can often find great snacks, cereal, and household goods at a fraction of the cost of my local supermarket. We also plan our dining out nights so we can go to our favorite restaurants with a discount card, gift certificate, or coupon.

Review your recreation budget as a sixth way to cut costs. We have chosen to give up our expensive gym membership we enjoyed before having children. We have since gotten great deals on baby gear that has enabled us to get out and walk more as a family. We really have benefited from getting out and exercising in our community rather than going to an expensive gym and paying the daycare cost to fit a workout into our day. We also have been able to build an inexpensive home gym by picking up some equipment that had been marked down at our local sporting good store.

And finally, look over your monthly entertainment expenses. While we have never had a spent a large sum of money in this area, we chose to cut our cable down to basic, which now runs us only $ 13.00 a month.  We still get the basics plus community access channels and surprisingly rarely miss having the premium channels. If we really want to see a favorite news anchor or sitcom, we can usually go online and catch the podcast. This basic option should be available from all cable providers even though they choose not to advertise it and may even tell you it doesn’t exist.

Just be persistent. We have also given up going to the video store and utilized our local library instead. They have a great collection of movies, books, magazines, and books on tapes our entire family enjoys. Going to the library has actually become one of our favorite things to do.

These are just a few ideas on how to cutting monthly expenses in a time of economic transition and change. It is never easy, but with a little creativity, it can be done!