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My credit card does have rewards and I try to use it for everything I can and pay it all off each month (I think of it as a light discount on everything I buy).
I am spending $570 a month (on average) on groceries. This is for two people: me and my teenage daughter. That's for food as well as household cleaners, toiletries, and that sort of thing. I think I can shave some off of that. I ran a report and in 2019 and 2020 used to spend $250 a month. And even though my daughter is a teen, she's not really eating a lot more. So that's been a significant increase. The only real "added" cost is because of the pandemic, my daughter has been eating lunch at home, not school. I categorized school lunch differently in Quicken/it wasn't part of my grocery budget.
I am going to try the I buy ingredients on sale tactic. Thank you.
Funny thing, I literally just did this last month. That's because my daughter got her driver's license and I had to add her. When I did, I asked the agent for all kinds of advice to lower my insurance. He didn't mention a driver safety course, but he did tell me I could add a box to my car that monitor's my driving. He said I get 5% off just for having it and could get more depending on how I drive. My total auto insurance for the year is $900 (with a teenager on the policy). So 5% is just $45. Every little bit counts but I have to be honest, I don't like the idea of Big Brother watching me drive. But I should think about it.
But your suggestion is a great idea. I completely forgot about insurance since I pay it yearly, not monthly. I will double check to see if my state has anything like that. And it your suggestion reminded me I could shop around for new insurance. I currently have State Farm for home and auto. I've shopped around before and always ended up staying with State Farm but things change and it doesn't hurt to look!
Amex gives 6% on groceries and has a $300 sign up bonus.
Can you get a PT weekend job if you're trying to make up that money? Your budget seems pretty barebones already. Food and other goods are getting more expensive so hard to cut that from the budget.
Oops sorry that $300 offer is over but playing the points is an easy $100/month. Using just three credit cards instead of one getting more cash back in certain categories adds up to a lot, and isn't hard to keep track of.
You'd get $36 of the $100 from groceries alone with the 6%.
I get 6% on groceries, 4% at gas stations, 5% on my internet and electricity bills, at amazon and walmart.com.
USBank altitude connect has a $500 bonus right now. That is the one giving me 4% at gas stations and 2% on dining.
I am spending $570 a month (on average) on groceries. This is for two people: me and my teenage daughter. That's for food as well as household cleaners, toiletries, and that sort of thing. I think I can shave some off of that. I ran a report and in 2019 and 2020 used to spend $250 a month. And even though my daughter is a teen, she's not really eating a lot more. So that's been a significant increase. The only real "added" cost is because of the pandemic, my daughter has been eating lunch at home, not school. I categorized school lunch differently in Quicken/it wasn't part of my grocery budget.
$570 is a lot, especially since you aren't buying meat! Do you have a grocery receipt you can post?
$570 is a lot, especially since you aren't buying meat! Do you have a grocery receipt you can post?
I didn’t save past receipts. I have no reason to. The only receipt I have is from this weekend but that’s when I tried the “buy what’s on sale and and plan around that” vs. “plan meals and make a list.” That was $100 but I also only bought food (no cleaners, toiletries, detergents, etc).
Vegetarian dishes tend to have exotic ingredients. I skipped a recipe that callled for avocado oil and sesame oil because I know both are really pricey. But sometimes, for the sake of variety I give in. Feta and goat cheese are examples of something I find pricy that is in a lot of veg dishes. I try to buy it on sale though.
I know that, where I live, prices are higher than where I am moving next year. My mom and I both mainly shop at Giant and Aldi and we compare prices. Of course, she also has a Walmart too. She tells me thinks like milk and a dollar cheaper at Walmart. I don’t have that option.
It was poorly invested and the distributions were poorly planned. My mom has a financial advisor that I don't like who she blindly trusts with everything. I can not convince her he's not acting in her best interest all the time. He's always trying to sell things with high fees and he doesn't seem to plan well. He's not even a CFP.
I've tried to find out from her in the past how the trust is invested and her answer is "it's invested in Schwab." She has no idea if it's equities, bonds, etc. She gets statements but she can't read them to tell me over the phone what's on them.
As best I can figure, it was all or mostly in a Schwab money market account instead of being better invested. And more money was coming out of it in payments to me and my brother than it was earning... so it's been slowly draining down the past 20 years. I mostly saved the money I got from it putting into my IRA and savings some of it in taxable accounts. So in essence, I still have the trust. Just invested elsewhere. And as someone else said, this was all a gift anyway. My parents didn't need to set this up. I am glad they did. It's been very helpful and, even though it's going to now just be $500 a month, that's still nice too.
At this point you’ve got nothing to suggest the advisor has done anything wrong and not being a CFP is the irrelevant. Your mother as trustee is a fiduciary to you the beneficiary and should be able to provide you with the details of your investments at a min. “Invested at Schwab” is just a lazy response and you should be more proactive in this as it’s just as important if not more so than just squeezing expenses
At this point you’ve got nothing to suggest the advisor has done anything wrong and not being a CFP is the irrelevant. Your mother as trustee is a fiduciary to you the beneficiary and should be able to provide you with the details of your investments at a min. “Invested at Schwab” is just a lazy response and you should be more proactive in this as it’s just as important if not more so than just squeezing expenses
My mom is the beneficiary of the trust. When dad died, it all went to her. She chooses to distribute to my brother and I but she's under no obligation to do so. It's essentially a gift she gives us each month that she and dad verbally agreed would be a good idea. They didn't want it in writing just in case she needed the money for some reason. Basically, what has happened is she was distributing more money each month that the trust was earning. So over 20 years, it's dwindled down. Now, to preserve it, she's reducing what she gifts us. I wish I knew this sooner, it would have been better to adjust things years ago and I really think her advisor should have told her that.
I only brought up the trust briefly to explain where the reduction in monthly income was coming from because I knew, if I didn't specify, people would ask questions. I glossed over the details of how it works because I didn't think they were important. But now I see I just caused more confusion. Sorry about that.
Last edited by WalkingLiberty1919D; 06-08-2021 at 05:42 PM..
Can you get a PT weekend job if you're trying to make up that money? Your budget seems pretty barebones already. Food and other goods are getting more expensive so hard to cut that from the budget.
Thanks for the idea, but I don't have the time. First, I work on some weekends with my current job and when I don't, I am attending high school events my daughter is in. I don't want to miss out on her senior year for a little more money when I have other options. That would be more of an option after she goes off to college though.
So I used some of the grocery ideas this past week and my bill was lower, so that helped. Thank you. I just need to keep doing those things and see, if over time, it shaves money off the grocery bill. Eating out is greatly reduced (all those foo foo coffee drinks and such) so let's see if that saves me $160 a month like I think it will.
Hopefully this year I will get a raise. There were no raises in 2020 due to the industry I worked for suffering (I felt lucky to keep my job). But now business is booming and I just implemented some innovations which mean more money for the bottom line, happy bosses, and happy customers. Usually I put all raises and all bonuses into savings, but this year, I might just add them to the general spending fund.
I am still open to move money saving ideas (and I keep reading though the threads here for more ideas). Thanks!
I didn’t save past receipts. I have no reason to. The only receipt I have is from this weekend but that’s when I tried the “buy what’s on sale and and plan around that” vs. “plan meals and make a list.” That was $100 but I also only bought food (no cleaners, toiletries, detergents, etc).
Vegetarian dishes tend to have exotic ingredients. I skipped a recipe that callled for avocado oil and sesame oil because I know both are really pricey. But sometimes, for the sake of variety I give in. Feta and goat cheese are examples of something I find pricy that is in a lot of veg dishes. I try to buy it on sale though.
I know that, where I live, prices are higher than where I am moving next year. My mom and I both mainly shop at Giant and Aldi and we compare prices. Of course, she also has a Walmart too. She tells me thinks like milk and a dollar cheaper at Walmart. I don’t have that option.
I think that is a horrible way to live unless one has to to survive. I think you are taking this saving thing too far. I have a friend who is OCD about money and when she goes to extremes I say well there is another whole $20 saved for your son to blow when he inherits it!
Live a little, just let the $100 you can't shave go.
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