Money Talk (Randoms & advice)

[travelbug]

So we haven't talked about money recently, but I need a little help/advice! 

How do you guys save for multiple things that are coinciding??? My husband and I make decent money, not a whole lot, but he's still not in his career and I feel we are still starting out. I'm pretty good at budgeting and we don't live an exstravagnt life style, we share a car, have no debt, we don't have cable, rarely eat out.

But I feel it's so tough saving for another car, beefing up our e-fund, saving for our vacation (which is important to us), a down payment (someday) I don't know how else to cut what we have even more! I am most likely going to get a secondary job in January for 5/6 months to put more money aside for vacation just to beef up that fund. 

I need ideas!!! A few facts first:
Our cell phones (2 smart phones) are cheap $30.00 (combined) max a month! Usually, $24/$27.
We have Hulu and Netflix, but don't have cable. 
Electric bill is going down in January, since they finally are using our usage and not the previous tenants. 
We pay every 6 months for our car insurance which is the cheapest I've found for full coverage ($250) Renters insurance is paid yearly so we don't pay monthly on that either. 
Share a car, no payment! 
We don't eat meat every meal, I substitute ground turkey whenever I can. I shop Aldi for almost everything. 

I'm just looking for tips and tricks you guys have to save money. Not necessarily how to budget. I know we are young and have time to do things like buy a house I just love getting fresh new ideas  

Add your own vents/happy moments/questions!  

And, thanks in advance! 

[katespade]

H and I have a lot of debt, and I'm feeling overwhelmed about how to pay it off.

With my raise I'm netting an extra $400 per month and I want to use that money to start paying off bills, but I don't know where to start. Do we start with the account that has the lowest balance, or the account that has the highest interest rate?

I think I'm just overwhelmed because of the number of accounts we have between the car, the truck, the mortgage, and my student loans (which we'll have to start making payments on in six months).

[krystee]

Dec 3, 2016 15:20:45 GMT -5 katespade said:

H and I have a lot of debt, and I'm feeling overwhelmed about how to pay it off.

With my raise I'm netting an extra $400 per month and I want to use that money to start paying off bills, but I don't know where to start. Do we start with the account that has the lowest balance, or the account that has the highest interest rate?

I think I'm just overwhelmed because of the number of accounts we have between the car, the truck, the mortgage, and my student loans (which we'll have to start making payments on in six months).

From a math perspective, it makes sense to pay off the highest interest first. But there are some schools of thought (Dave Ramsey in particular) that lowest balance to highest balance is most successful because it gives you quick wins and motivation to keep going. If you have any obscene interest rates, I'd pay off those first. If they are all sort of similar, I'd go smallest balance to largest.

[katespade]

krystee - Not including the mortgage, the balance amounts and interest rates are both: lowest - truck, middle - student loans, highest - car.

The truck is in H's name, and he has awesome credit. The car is in my name, and I have terrible credit (thanks, medical bills!). They were both originally in his name, but we had to refinance the car when we bought our house (which is also only in H's name). We owe about $8k less on the truck than we do on the car.

I don't know if this would work but my thought was to pay off the truck first, since it has the lowest balance, and then refinance the car back into H's name to lower the interest rate once the truck is paid off.

Does that work? Are you allowed to do that?

[luv2rn4fun]

travelbug- I would shop elsewhere for things like chicken. Aldi was always more expensive there. We also don't have cable and only use an antenna for over the air channels. We rarely go on vacations...maybe one every two years and keep it at around $1000 max. Even our honeymoon for a week in Kauai was $1500 (airfare was free and the hotel was gifted from my parents). We get away other times cheaply by either visiting ILs or friends or go camping. Other ways we save are by very limited eating out. I would say we average under $50/month. I also walk where I can and we do cheap/free activities like hiked, going to the park, etc.

That being said...we went from no mortgage to a high mortgage and now two kids. Between the move (and immediate house upgrade costs), L's birth and extra costs, C's bday, and Christmas We are definitely living month to month right now (while maxing out 401k and Roth accounts) and it is stressing DH out (and frustrating for me because we don't do much as is). I hope we can find more balance soon but not likely since we want to save for a vacation in the next 6 months or so and I want to do more activities with the boys.

[amaranth]

katespade I'm not super debt savvy but I think the term may be snowballing, where you roll debt together into bigger merged accounts so it's less complicated. Hopefully someone else here can speak to that. But it sounds useful from a mental organization standpoint. I like your plan though.

travelbug you do so awesome. You're a money role model to me no further ideas but seriously I think you're doing so well so try not to be discouraged. As far as multiple savings, in YnAB it tracks each goal individually which I love!

[travelbug]

katespade I would personally do the snowball way since you have minimal accounts for the debt, even if it's a large sum. I would probably try and pay off the truck or car before you have to start paying on your student loans in 6 months! Debt payoff is so rewarding!

amaranth Thank you!! It seriously means so much to hear that! <3

luv2rn4fun Interesting that Aldi in your area for chicken is more expensive, in my town it's the cheapest by a landslide. We don't travel very often either, haven't had a real vacation since our honeymoon, almost 4 years ago now. Our grocery budget is always under 125 each month and our out to eat is maybe 30-40. I wish it was 0 lol! I'm trying to do better about making dinner more often!

[krystee]

travelbug we like to pick one goal at a time to save like crazy for, or we get discouraged that we're not moving the needle. So maybe the next three months would be EVERY LAST PENNY toward an emergency fund. Then the next six months for a vacation. Then three more months to get a stronger e-fund. And then all out for one year (or two, depending on the downpayment you want) on a house downpayment.

[travelbug]

krystee That's a great idea! It's overwhelming to do them all at once, we have a decent e-fund now, it just needs some TLC to be beefed up! Thank you so much

[wanderingenough]

First things first, travelbug. Go easy on yourself! You guys seem to be doing so well, especially for just starting out. You are putting in the work, avoiding debt, and making plans. Take a moment to give yourself the credit you deserve!

Do you know what you'd like to do for a vacation? I'm a fan of Travel.zoo. The Top 20 they send out has some good deals and sometimes you can back into your vacation budget that way. I also always double check multiple sites when I book hotels, because you can end up with pretty nice discounts that way. For example, I'll find a hotel deal for a Marr.iott on a hotel search engine. Even if it's just a couple dollars cheaper than the rate on the hotel site, you can get the hotel company to match and beat the rate by like 20%. I'll screenshot the rate on the hotel search page before I even call the hotel for the match because they fluctuate so much. Then you've got the good rate and the bonus of being booked directly through the hotel (gets you points, generally easier to ask for upgrades, etc).

[travelbug]

Thank you so much wanderingenough I appreciate your kind encouraging words!

I had no idea that I could call the hotel after I found a better deal, such a great idea! Thanks!!!

[HoneySpider]

Dec 3, 2016 16:57:53 GMT -5 krystee said:

travelbug we like to pick one goal at a time to save like crazy for, or we get discouraged that we're not moving the needle. So maybe the next three months would be EVERY LAST PENNY toward an emergency fund. Then the next six months for a vacation. Then three more months to get a stronger e-fund. And then all out for one year (or two, depending on the downpayment you want) on a house downpayment.

We typically do this too, it's easier to have that focus before moving on to the next thing. I also try to overestimate what I might need so that if there is excess, I can roll it over into whatever I'm focusing on next.

travelbug You're already doing so well! Sometimes I like to sell things on ebay/Amazon for a few extra bucks and use sites like MyPoints to earn gift cards and ebates for cash back. I used to do more sites (Swagbucks comes to mind) but I don't have the time to keep up with them all anymore. It's not much but it does add up.