Budget help?

[Deleted]

I hope I don't regret posting this I'm not sure I can change much of anything but maybe you guys will have a suggestion.

So here's my current budget. My BF gives me $650 a month to cover rent/utilities/groceries. We swap who pays for other stuff, like eating out, entertainment, household stuff, etc. This was decided because he works 10 hours a week (the most he can get) at an assistantship while getting his PhD, and it's what he was spending before he moved in with me. His income didn't increase when he moved in with me, so I didn't ask him to increase his expenses on account of being with me. If he gave me more money, it would be borrowed through student loans and I don't want that either, especially since we both intend to marry someday. Just wanted to clear that up before anyone asks. 

Total monthly take-home pay (me): $2300
Money from BF: $650
Total money available (from above): $2950

Rent: 900
Water: 60
Electric/house gas: 104
Internet: 60
Cell phones (for both of us): 115
Student loan: 347
Car and renter's insurance: 60
Car payment: 264 (about 2 years left on loan)
Pet insurance: 28
Gym: 10
Health insurance (no employer plan available) 229
Dog food: 65
Gas for car: 200 (some months may be slightly less, this was about what I spent in January)

Total left over: 503

The left over has to cover groceries, which I struggle with but probably spend $300-400 a month on depending on the month (this includes things like TP, cleaning supplies, batteries, whatever else I can pick up at the store). It also has to cover any incidentals, fun, etc. I currently have no healthcare expenses other than insurance - my only prescription is birth control and that's covered 100% (thanks Obama!). I rent so I don't have any household expenses beyond personal items.

I don't really think I can rent a cheaper place. The average rent around here is probably in the $700-1000 range and I have 2 large dogs which makes options very limited. I'm also locked into a lease until August. 

I am going to look into getting on IBR for my SLs (which I hate to do, because I'm barely paying them off as it is and I'm only going to be extending my loan repayment). I am also going to look into changing my health insurance, but I'm pretty sure it will not be any less (I've looked in the past, but I think the company I use is going to out of business so I have to change anyway). I am not cancelling my pet insurance, because both my dogs are older and I won't be able to get it back, and they are nearing ages where it might actually come in handy. 

Do you see anything else I can change? I would love to get groceries to around $300 a month but it's HARD. We are both eaters and I'm trying to lose weight so I can't just eat pasta and rice all the time.  

[lime]

I forget if you are working FT or PT, but I think you are temping now? (Sorry if I have you confused with someone else.)

Could you get a 2nd PT job that covered a few evenings or weekends?

[AAM2012]

Not trying to sound snarky but didn't you already post this? Or am I thinking of someone else?

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 15:11:03 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

Not trying to sound snarky but didn't you already post this? Or am I thinking of someone else?

Must have been someone else. I've whined about money lately but haven't actually posted my budget.

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 15:10:19 GMT -5 lime said:

I forget if you are working FT or PT, but I think you are temping now? (Sorry if I have you confused with someone else.)

Could you get a 2nd PT job that covered a few evenings or weekends?

I'm in a full time temp position. I don't think I can work a second job the way things are right now - I don't get home from work until 6pm so any shifts would likely start before then.  

[martini]

I feel like a walking advertisement for them- but I love Virgin Mobile for our cells. Check out their coverage map to see if it would be a good fit for you. We previously had Verizon and were paying about $150 a month for two smart phones and now we pay about $75 through Virgin. We both have unlimited text and data, and I think we each have 300 minutes. (I only use like 7 so if you need more minutes they have other plans) We've never had an issue with service.

As far as groceries, we spend about $200/month but I know that's pretty uncommon. My DH is in the restaurant industry so one meal a day for him is provided, that helps tremendously. I just try to meal plan, use up stuff we have in our kitchen, and use a lot of beans to help fill in. So far instance, if we're having chicken tacos, I'll make half the amount of chicken and add black beans. I do a lot of PB&J on wheat for lunch with fruit and yogurt. (except this month- we are doing the whole 30 so our grocery bill has gone up a bit)

Is your Pet Food available on Chewy.com? I feed Canidae, and it's a slight bit cheaper to do the auto ship through them (which you can adjust shipping dates as needed), and there is usually a coupon I can find for an additional percentage off.

Not sure where else to help, hopefully others have good ideas for you! How long til your BF is done with school? I guess just keep reminding yourself this budget is only temporary

[oswin]

The only thing that stands out to me is your cell phones. Have you looked into alternate providers like Ting or Republic Wireless? You might be able to get significantly better rates through them depending on your usage (and exactly how picky you are about what phone you have).

[atlas]

If you want to get groceries down I would seriously consider meal planning. Soups are a good choice for money stretchers and filling. Just making sure not to buy impulse stuff is kinda number one.

[Deleted]

You're still looking for a different job though right? Do most jobs in your industry provide health ins?
I mean this is only temporary right? You'll find a new job or the car loan will end?

[oswin]

Oh, and actually your gas (car) looks high - do you have a long commute? Is there anything you can do to drive less or drive more efficiently?

[iheartbanjos]

Can you get a retail job or restaurant job working Saturdays and Sundays?

Can you sell your car and get a beater?

Have you shopped health insurance?

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 15:20:15 GMT -5 flygirl said:

You're still looking for a different job though right? Do most jobs in your industry provide health ins?
I mean this is only temporary right? You'll find a new job or the car loan will end?

I work in HR, so ideally yes on the health insurance. I don't know if it's temporary anymore. This job will go away eventually since it's a temp job, but I have no idea if I can find something better. I've been looking for 7 months without an end in sight. It's possible I might end up converted to a regular employee at some point, but who knows.

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 15:20:29 GMT -5 oswin said:

Oh, and actually your gas (car) looks high - do you have a long commute? Is there anything you can do to drive less or drive more efficiently?

Yes, I drive about 60 miles a day for work. 

The last few months have been a little high because I've gone out of town once a month for holidays/my nephew's birthday. It may be $40 or so less next month because I don't have plans to go anywhere. 

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 15:22:43 GMT -5 iheartbanjos said:

Can you get a retail job or restaurant job working Saturdays and Sundays?

Can you sell your car and get a beater?

Have you shopped health insurance?

I don't know. Do jobs actually hire for just weekends? I'm in a college town so I'm not sure there are a lot of options for someone with such limited flexibility. 

I could sell my car. I am driving 1200-1500 miles a month (between work and everything else) and my family lives in the neighboring state, so I do use my car a lot. I'm hesitant to buy a true beater because I need reliable transportation and put a lot of miles on a car. But I'm definitely open to a cheaper car.

How do you shop health insurance? I've browsed the healthcare.gov website and not found anything cheaper. Are there other options that I'm unaware of? Admittedly this is the first time I haven't had employer or parent insurance so I've never had to do this before.

[Deleted]

Does your boyfriend chip in for groceries too?

[frenchies]

I agree about meal planning. Write your grocery list with specific dishes in mind. Shop your cabinets and try to cook with what you already have. Also make sure you are only buying things as you need them. I tend to fall into the habit of, "Oh I used some chicken broth recently, I should buy more" and then I have 12 cans of stock.

My other tip is to shop with calculator in hand. I set a budget of $100/week for groceries and having a calculator to add up as I went along really helped me to stick to my shopping list. I was also less tempted to throw in a bag of chips or whatever since I could see if I was approaching my $100 limit. I still went over sometimes but I was much more conscious of what things cost and deliberate about what went in the cart this week. My pocket calculator broke so I haven't been doing this for a while, but I still come in around $100/week pretty consistently because I got used to what that amount of groceries "looks" like.

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 15:18:05 GMT -5 oswin said:

The only thing that stands out to me is your cell phones. Have you looked into alternate providers like Ting or Republic Wireless? You might be able to get significantly better rates through them depending on your usage (and exactly how picky you are about what phone you have).

I could look into this. To be honest, we're on a family plan with my mom and sister and ending the plan will mean their expenses go up. I have a strong feeling that if I tried to do this, my mom would just offer to pay for the phones herself rather than paying $600 in termination fees between the two phones PLUS increasing their monthly bills. Which, maybe wouldn't be a bad thing But I hate to ask her to do that.

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 15:31:11 GMT -5 @missy1 said:

Does your boyfriend chip in for groceries too?

That's included in the $650. It's supposed to be $500 for rent/utilities and $150 for groceries. If I can keep the grocery bill around $300 that's about half.

[starlily]

Retail and restaurants usually hire for just evenings and weekends.

[Deleted]

It would be really stupid to cancel my health insurance, right? Like REALLY stupid? I have really high deductible that I can't afford to meet, but I worry that if I cancel it I'll fall and break something or need emergency surgery or something else cripplingly expensive. But it just seems like such a money suck/waste since I'm healthy and can't use it unless it's something major anyway.

[gt7301b]

Jan 27, 2015 15:37:30 GMT -5 @buckybells said:

It would be really stupid to cancel my health insurance, right? Like REALLY stupid? I have really high deductible that I can't afford to meet, but I worry that if I cancel it I'll fall and break something or need emergency surgery or something else cripplingly expensive. But it just seems like such a money suck/waste since I'm healthy and can't use it unless it's something major anyway.

Yes!

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 15:37:30 GMT -5 @buckybells said:

It would be really stupid to cancel my health insurance, right? Like REALLY stupid? I have really high deductible that I can't afford to meet, but I worry that if I cancel it I'll fall and break something or need emergency surgery or something else cripplingly expensive. But it just seems like such a money suck/waste since I'm healthy and can't use it unless it's something major anyway.

very!

[cajunmom]

Don't cancel your health insurance.

A college town probably has lots of places that will hire for weekends only. There are also places that will hire for short evening shifts, like 7-10 pm. It would suck, sure, but it wouldn't be long term.

[Ashley&Scott]

Have you tried to lower your internet & cell phone? Both seem high. We pay $36/mo for internet & $65/mo for our non-smart phones.

Have you considered picking up a PT job 1-2 nights a week until you get a better FT job? I would check with Starbucks, don't they offer health insurance to all employees?

[oswin]

Jan 27, 2015 15:32:07 GMT -5 @buckybells said:

Jan 27, 2015 15:18:05 GMT -5 oswin said:

The only thing that stands out to me is your cell phones. Have you looked into alternate providers like Ting or Republic Wireless? You might be able to get significantly better rates through them depending on your usage (and exactly how picky you are about what phone you have).

I could look into this. To be honest, we're on a family plan with my mom and sister and ending the plan will mean their expenses go up. I have a strong feeling that if I tried to do this, my mom would just offer to pay for the phones herself rather than paying $600 in termination fees between the two phones PLUS increasing their monthly bills. Which, maybe wouldn't be a bad thing But I hate to ask her to do that.

It would be good to look into, even if you can't switch now. Try to find out when your contract ends, if you're still on a contract. DH and I are on a family plan with my brother and parents, and we pay $90/month for our share, which is a dumb phone and a smart phone, and that seems like a lot to me. I'm trying to convince DH to switch, but he's particular about his physical phone so Republic Wireless is out.

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 16:01:17 GMT -5 @songforyou said:

Jan 27, 2015 15:30:27 GMT -5 @buckybells said:

I don't know. Do jobs actually hire for just weekends? I'm in a college town so I'm not sure there are a lot of options for someone with such limited flexibility. 

I could sell my car. I am driving 1200-1500 miles a month (between work and everything else) and my family lives in the neighboring state, so I do use my car a lot. I'm hesitant to buy a true beater because I need reliable transportation and put a lot of miles on a car. But I'm definitely open to a cheaper car.

How do you shop health insurance? I've browsed the healthcare.gov website and not found anything cheaper. Are there other options that I'm unaware of? Admittedly this is the first time I haven't had employer or parent insurance so I've never had to do this before.

I just Googled, I'm not sure whether this is the one I used years ago when I was health insurance shopping, but I think so:  ehealthinsurance.com.  It's basically like an Accuquote for health insurance.  I would definitely shop for lower rates.  Do not cancel (you know this already ! 

I think menu planning should help you keep your grocery bill down to $300 a month and I would only allot $50 for household.  You'd be surprised at how it will stretch when you know it has to last.  That still only leaves you about $150/ month if you can't save on the health insurance.  I think you have to decide whether you want to just live a really lean life until you find the right role again or whether it might be worth it to try to pick up a second job where maybe you can work a couple nights a week.  Oh, and I think a college town would make it really easy to find a job where you could work a schedule like that.

Thanks! I will check this out

Honestly, I'm lazy lol. I think it would be really hard for me to work a second job on top of already being out of the house 11 hours a day. I will do it if things get really dire, but I'd rather try to cut everything else first. I'm afraid there might be too much competition for a part time job if I'm really only available such limited hours and there are tons of college kids with a lot more availability, but who knows. 

I also might look into swapping this job for a waitressing job in the summer if I'm still in the same spot. I could probably make similar money without the commute, and that would mean a lot more flexibility.

[Deleted]

Can your BF get food stamp assistance? I know some programs allow students access to them if they have work study. I'm not sure if that's technically what your BF has. Can he get a second job to help supplement things?

[katb]

What dog food do you use? I know you said you have two large dogs. Do you belong to Costco? They have grain free, organic, large breed dog specific foods. We pay $30 a bag - which is maybe 40 pounds? You might be able to cut $5 - $10 a month.

Groceries, as everyone said, is the way to go. You don't have to buy a lot of starches to lower your budget. Meal plan, utilize beans, lentils, etc - they fill you up and low on carbs. Use coupons for all household products - if your BF can't work, does he have free time during the day to make trips to multiple stores? I see on facebook all the time how CVS has toilet paper after stacking coupons for $1 a pack and then Walgreens has shampoo for 30 cents after, etc. It can be a time buster, but if he has the time, shop the circulars and plan accordingly. I plan my menu loosely but then buy what is on sale. The crockpot is also your friend.

I highly suggest reading The Tightwad Gazette. Some kooky ideas thrown in there, but some of them are so obvious and can help. The best suggestion which helps with my kids, is don't waste. If you have a serving of soup left, either eat it for leftovers or freeze. Half of a chicken breast? Freeze it. All these can be used to make soup, pot pie, leftover lunches, etc. You will be amazed how much you can save if you follow through with this.

Could you walk dogs or babysit on the weekends/evenings?

[shopgirl07]

You're not going to find a much cheaper health plan. I just signed up through Obamacare and the cheapest plan was $192. It didn't have many doctors in my area, so I chose the one that was $235.

I hope you can find another job soon!

[Deleted]

Jan 27, 2015 16:17:38 GMT -5 @pdx18 said:

Can your BF get food stamp assistance? I know some programs allow students access to them if they have work study. I'm not sure if that's technically what your BF has. Can he get a second job to help supplement things?

Hmm - possibly? That's worth checking into I guess. It's not work study, but it's an assistantship through the university so I think it's a similar concept, but for PhD students vs undergrads.

He can't get a 2nd job, he's already busy with class, practicum, studying, and research for nearly all of his waking hours. If anyone has time to pick up extra, it should be me since I spend most of my non-working hours doing nothing  of importance