As we talked about in Part 1 of this series, not all of these different ideas of ways to save $100 per year will work for everyone in every situation. I just share these as things which have worked for our family and allowed us to live through some very lean years without going into debt.
My hope in sharing these is not to make you feel you must also follow in our footsteps or adopt all of these practices, but I hope to inspire you to consider ways you might also cut expenses in order to stretch your hard-earned dollars further so you can pay off debt, live within your means, save money, and most importantly, give to others.
For us, that is our ultimate reason for saving money–so we can have more to share with others. We see money as something God has entrusted to us and we want to be wise stewards of what He has given us so we can not only take care of the needs of our own family, but so we can also effectively help and reach out to those in need.
And it's been so exciting for us to see our hard work and frugality pay off in the last few years as we've not only been able to have more wiggle room in our budget and the ability to save more for our future, but we're also able to share much more with others. Truly, "it is more blessed to give than to receive."
If you've been feeling like there's no way you are able to give and bless others in need in your current financial situation, perhaps some of these 100 Different Ways to Save $100 This Year will inspire you to creatively cut your living expenses so you can share with others as well!
With that said, here are some more things we did during our law school years which saved us at least $100 or more per year:
11) Cut out cell phones or ditch your land lines. For many people, a cell phone is considered a "necessity". I was there, too. I'd had a cell phone ever since I was 15 and had become accustomed to the convenience and sort of security it was. But when my husband and I sat down and mapped out our budget before we got married, I realized that cutting out my cell phone plan would save us a nice chunk of change each month.
And so we dropped it and I survived just fine. In fact, even in an unfamiliar town with unreliable vehicles for those first few years of our marriage, I never found myself stranded on the side of the road. Believe it or not, I only remember one time I ended up having to use a pay phone!
Now, for your situation, having a cell phone might truly be a necessity due to your job or other circumstances, however, I'd encourage you to consider how much of a necessity it is and whether you might be able to live without it or at least go with a pay-per-use plan instead of a monthly contract.
If you can't ditch the cell phone, consider ditching the land line, if you haven't already. Either way, it's almost assuredly gong to save you at least $100 per year.
12) Only have one vehicle. Once again, like cell phones, two (or more) vehicles is very much considered a "necessity" these days. However, I think it's all about perspective: if down-sizing to one vehicle meant you were able to save more money, stay out of debt, live on one income, etc. would you be willing to do it?
Early on in our marriage, our second vehicle died permanently and we couldn't afford to replace it, so we just made do with one vehicle for the next three years.
Honestly, we didn't really miss having two vehicles. I learned to love staying home and making my home a haven for my family. I learned to be creative and make the most of what we did have. Since we didn't have transportation during the day while Jesse was at work, I often hosted play dates or get-togethers at our house or we'd take long walks around our neighborhood, to the park, or to the library.
By only having one vehicle, we saved quite a bit of money–not only on gas, upkeep of a vehicle, and insurance costs, but we also saved money because we did a lot less running around. And, let me tell you, staying home most of the time is one very easy way to spend less money!
Have you ditched your cell phone(s) or landlines or cut back to only having one vehicle? If so, I'd love to hear about your experiences in this regard and how it has worked for your family.
photo by Refracted Moments
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We are a one car family as of a few weeks ago… my parents feel uncomfortable with that, though, and have insisted that we keep one of their “extra” vehicles in our driveway just in case we need it =) I feel pretty blessed to have such a great family, and live so close.
Also, we have both a landline and a cell, but we need the landline for my hubbie’s home office fax line. Our cell is very inexpensive; I called and was considering cancelling the service (switch to TracFone?) and ended up negotiating my rate way down. It’s amazing what you can get when you just ask!
We currently have cell phones, but my in-laws pay for them (otherwise we wouldn’t have them at all), but when the contract is up in May, we are going to get rid of them as we rarely use them except for convenience calls (i.e. I don’t want to look up the number and it’s stored on my cell). As far as our landline, it’s through our cable company and since my husband works for them, we pay less than $20 a month for all the whistles. I think having an emergency cell phone for long distance trips is a good idea, but I’m definitely not married to mine!
As far as car thing goes, we have three vehicles for two drivers. My husband’s company provides him with a vehicle that he is able to drive home each night (and pays for all the gas and upkeep). He has a truck that we pay state minimum insurance on for his personal use – although we could sell it, he likes to have it available. (We bought it prior to him having a company vehicle – when we were both working different hours.) I have a van that we finished paying on last year (paid a five year loan in two & a half) and I use it to run errands and take the kids places. We don’t live in town, so a vehicle to do anything is necessary. I try to limit the number of trips I take into town (usually 2 a week – church on Sundays and errands/library/bank on Tuesdays) so as to save on gas. All-in-all, we could scale back down to just the company car and the van, but the truck is nice when we need to be able to haul a load, tow a trailer, etc and pretty much is only used for those purposes.
I do have to say, however, that until a year ago, we were a one car family with both parents working fulltime outside the home and we made it work. We had to borrow a vehicle from my parents for a couple weeks when my husband had to do some travel out of town for his job, but otherwise, we were able to maintain a one car lifestyle.
Good Luck!
We ditched the landline. But, there is no way we could get by without two vehicles. Hubby’s work is 45 miles away and I have to trundle the boys around. Certainly, if the boys were younger, we would be able to go back to being a 1 vehicle family. We didn’t get two vehicles until hubby started having to travel for work, in his car. I wish we still had that ability. I miss being able to walk to the library, grocery store, park, and pool. But, I love being out in the country.
I haven’t had the time to read all the comments so I am sorry if this has already been posted. Our family uses a pre-paid Virgin Mobile. We have it on automatic top-up of $15 every 90 days. The balance carries over so we don’t lose anything and our annual cellphone bill is only $60! We do use our phone very little though so this might not work for everyone.
We are a family of 7 and about 4 years ago, we decided to sell our 2nd vehicle. At first, I was apprehensive, but we quickly realized becoming a one-car family was one of the best decisions we have made. We don’t miss that 2nd vehicle at all, and the savings are remarkable! I write a frugal parenting column at Better Budgeting. You can read about “How Our Family Saves Thousands Every Year on Gas and Vehicle Expenses” at http://www.betterbudgeting.com/articles/cars/saveongasvehicles.htm
Someone just recommended your website to me. It’s great! My husband and I recently cut back to one car. We don’t have any kids, so it’s a little easier for us, but I hope to continue with one car even after we have kids. He rides the bus to work, and I take the car. Usually I pick him up in the evenings. One benefit, besides saving money, is that we have so much extra time together. Also, you can use the one-car excuse to get out of social obligations gracefully. “Oh, well, I’d love to, but my husband needs the car that night.”
We recently canceled our cell phones. For all of last year we had only one vehicle, and we were fine. Our family felt bad for us or something though, and we were given a little truck. It has been a blessing to us though
I was a little hesitant about posting my thoughts on
“Staying Ahead of the Disappointment” at http://www.FrugalFairhope.com/?p=848.
I thought people are going to think I have lost my mind or at the very least went deeply into depression. Well, I posted it and after reading your series I was right on the money.
I love your site, it is very inspiring. My husband and I have practiced these “sacrifices” for a long time, before the economy issues. It comes so natural to us we don’t even think about it.
It is so good to know that there are others out there like us.
Thanks for all that you do for us, the readers.
Frances
http://www.FrugalFairhope.com
We’ve only had a landline when we lived in student housing because it was included in rent and now we just have cell phones. I HAVE been stranded several times so the cell phone is handy (if I remember to charge it and bring it
We put our cell phones on my parent’s plan decreasing our monthly payments from $60 to $20.
We only have 2 cars because they were both given to us as gifts (Thank the Lord!) and therefore it wouldn’t be a good choice to just get rid of one as it doesn’t take much maintenence.
Another way to cut back significantly is to stop buying bottled water. Just get a filter of some kind and refill a washable bottle. Why by water when you can get it for free!
I have a cell phone which I put on my daughters family plan. We only pay about $10/month. For our land phone, we have Vonage. They advertise a line for $25/month. We don’t even pay that. We pay a little over $17/month on the under 500 minutes per month. I have only exceeded the 500 minutes one time and that was when my mother passed away. The bill was still only $21.00. There are NO long distance charges with Vonage. You can call anywhere at no additional charge. It goes through your computer. You do need internet access, but we would have that regardless. I recommend Vonage. Also, if your computer is down, your phone will be forwarded to your cell, so you don’t miss any calls.
I haven’t read all the comments yet but wanted to think out loud. We’re expecting #2 and are considering buying a second car. So far, we’ve been OK with one most times, although packing the 2 year old into the car when she’s nearly ready for bed and cranky to go get Dad can be a pain.
My question, though, involves all the back-and-forth we do to make do with one car. If DD and I drive Dad to work (3 days a week) in order to have the car for errands, trips to the library, etc. then we have to go back to get him, too. That’s about 40 minutes driving total, each way. I wonder if we had 2 cars (used and inexpensive, of course) if we would actually drive LESS, and therefore pay less for gas, upkeep, etc.
Maybe I’m just looking to justify not being “stuck” home with 2 kids during bad weather. Being able to get out is a lifesaver!
We had one car through the first 5 years of marriage, but after my husband started medical residency, we got our second. With him often gone for more than 80 hours a week (36 hours at a stretch) and with such hours that public transportation is not a possibility, I’m glad to have a car so I can do what I need to do when I can fit it in my schedule (and not wait for his crazy schedule). But we have gotten along completely fine without cell phones. And sometimes, it’s absolutely lovely to have no one be able to reach you.
We haven’t had a landline since we were married (and my husband didn’t have one before that). We don’t miss it a bit! The only thing I’m worried about in the future is needing a landline so our kids can use it if there’s an emergency situation. But for right now, it works out great!
We did both of these back in graduate school – and lived just fine. While a second used car and pre-paid cell phones as well as a land line are part of our life today, we KNOW we could do it again if needed – and that’s worth something in itself.
Jennifer
We have cut off our cell phone. My husband bought a prepaid tracfone to use for emergencies. Saves $41 a month. We also downsized our cable. We only get the first 13 channels for $30 less. Love your site!
We’ve had one vehicle at various times in our marriage due to various circumstances- I moved from Atlanta to Anchorage when we got married, so my car was sold. I wrecked our truck (I like to say I sold it to the insurance company) but we were trying to sell it anyway because we moved overseas and used public transit for those years. We are down to one vehicle again because my husband can bike to work. On the days he needs to use it, we stay at home. We’re a military family, and I stay home with our 3 children- it’s nice to save that extra cash each month!
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