6 Ways I Plan To Save

1. Getting a roommate
Depending on what unit we end up with, this will save me anywhere from approximately $120-$230/mo on rent & utilities

2. Living closer to my job

I was previously driving 30 miles to work, ONE WAY!  While I'll still have a drive to work, I'll essentially be cutting it in half.  This will save me about $35-50/mo

3. Suspend/Cancel Audible

Currently it's just suspended for 3 months but I may end up just canceling it all together.  Between the purchased books & the free books, I have 12 unfinished books in my library.  I know there are ways to listen to books for free through public libraries, & because I have Amazon Prime, there are also some free books on there.  I do have actual hard copy books that I still need to read too.  Not paying for Audible will save me about $15/mo

4. Groceries

In theory I was setting aside $200/mo for groceries (more on this in a minute).  In reality I was spending $35-$50/week on groceries.  When I move back down I'm going to challenge myself to $25/week.  I plan on doing that for at least the first month & then seeing how it goes.  I definitely don't need to be spending $50/week though when it's just me.  This will save me $40-100/mo

5. "Fun" Money

So as I stated above I was setting aside $200/mo for groceries.  Without paying strict attention to what I was actually spending my hypothetical plan for post bills spending was $200 for gas, $200 for groceries, & $400 for fun.  As you read above I was spending $140-200 on groceries & my gas was really only $100-150.  And yet I was almost always left with $150 or less at the end of the month in my checking AND putting stuff on credit cards.  So credit cards aside that means I was spending closer to $400-500/mo on fun & unnecessary things.  That's absurd!  My new goal... no credit cards & $300 for "fun."  This will save me AT MINIMUM $100/mo

6. Cell Phone
I'll be done paying for my current cell phone in September & I don't have any intention of getting a new one until I absolutely have to.  That will save me $26.77/mo once it's paid off

Just these 6 things should save me anywhere from $336-522+/mo

I should also mention though that I will most likely be taking a pay cut because I will no longer be coaching.  I will hopefully soon be finding out just what my new annual salary is once I sign my paperwork for my new district.  Either way, saving money is necessary.  Even if I don't take a pay cut equal to my savings, I do have debt that I need to take care of!

What are different things that you do to save money each month?

Part 1 of My First Ever Spending Freeze

Three weeks ago I decided that I needed to do a big time spending freeze.  Even though I had more money than normal in savings, I wanted to be able to keep it that way.  Plus, I have a trip to Denver coming up in June that I wanted to make sure I could still afford come then.  I decided to do the spending freeze over 2 pay periods because I had hurt myself big time within the first week of the first pay period because of 2 concerts & because I wanted to come out ahead, not just break even.

So the first part of my spending freeze spanned March 30 - April 19 & allowed for 3 exceptions: Big Texas Beer Festival, my Houston trip, & eating out on nights I had grad school.  Here's how I did.

Week 1: 3/30-4/5

Thursday March 30: I spent $0.

Friday March 31: I spent $13 at happy hour & $7.57 on beer for kickball.  I spent $20.57

Saturday April 1: I spent $28.05 on Uber.  That's also all I spent at all of the beer festival.  I also spent $2 at the airport dropping my friend off.  I spent $30.05

Sunday April 2: I spent $18.40 on groceries.

Monday April 3: I spent $0

Tuesday April 4: I spent $0

Wednesday April 5: I spent $7.55 at Old Chicago because I won a free calzone but then felt bad not paying for something so I got a beer.  I also spent $21.83 on groceries & $30.44 on gas.  I spent $59.82

Total: I spent $128.84 (70.67 was on necessities, 28.05 was 100% an exception, 28.12 was questionable adjusted exceptions, & 2 was just unplanned.)

I had made eating out before/going out after class on Thursdays an exception.  I did not spend anything on Thursday so I justified the going out Friday & the beer with my free calzone Wednesday.

Week 2: 4/6-4/12

Thursday April 6: I spent $7.76 on supper before grad school

Friday April 7: I spent $21.35 on going out after kickball, but got $10 in cash for it from a friend, & justified it because I didn't go out after class on Thursday.  I also spent $33.47 on an oil change which was not planned but 100% necessary because I realized it had been 7000 miles since my last one.  I spent $44.82

Saturday April 8: I spent $25.27 on groceries & $ 11.41 on gas.  I spent $36.68

Sunday April 9: I spent $0

Monday April 10: I spent $0

Tuesday April 11: I spent $0

Wednesday April 12: I spent $0

Total: I spent $89.26 (70.15 was on necessities, 7.76 was 100% an exception, & 11.35 was a questionable adjusted exception)

Just like with the first week I didn't go out after grad school on Thursday so even though I did eat supper before class, I justified going out after kickball on Friday because I didn't go out after class Thursday.

Week 3: 4/13-4/19

Thursday April 13: I spent $0

Friday April 14: I spent $29.07 on gas, got $20 out of an ATM with a $2.95 fee, $2.21 at a gas station getting water & a snack, & $78.42 eating & going out in Houston.  I spent $132.65

Saturday April 15: I spent $28.84 on gas, $10.52 getting food & drinks at gas stations, $35.69 eating out & on souvenir type things in Houston, & $6.62 on groceries.  I spent $81.67

Sunday April 16: I spent $27.68 on groceries

Monday April 17: I spent $9.07 on eating out

Tuesday April 18: I spent $31.38 on gas

Wednesday April 19: I spent $0

Total: I spent $282.45 (123.59 was on necessities, 149.79 was for Houston which was an exception, & 9.07 was flat out not allowed)

Full disclosure: I also spent
$89.50 on a hotel room in Dallas (but it came out of my Houston Savings)
$296.40 on a plane ticket (but it was for a wedding I'm in & because it's over a holiday weekend I was too afraid to wait until the end of May to book it...it came out of savings)
$216.45 on new brakes which came out of savings

Overall I don't think I did too bad.  I didn't go insane with my exceptions, I ate out a lot less than I normally do, & spent less on eating out when I did go out.  Of course the brakes were definitely unexpected & the plane ticket is not a normal expense.  I know those are the things that my savings are for but it still hurts to pull from there.

It's Time To Freeze

I have never done a spending freeze.  Not for real.  I've talked about it plenty of times, but I've yet to pull the trigger.  Mostly because I feel like when I do think about it it's when I have a ton of stuff coming up where I'll be spending money.  However, yesterday I finally sat down & looked at my finances.  Normally I'm really good at tracking my spending right away but I hadn't done it yet for this pay period which started on the 20th.  I knew I had spent more than normal simply because I went to a concert on the 21 & again on the 25.  

I normally set aside 800/mo for gas, groceries, & going out.  As of yesterday I had just over $475 of that left...for the remaining 3 weeks.  Yikes.  Now luckily, I had also put way more in savings than I normally do too.  However, even though I had already planned on using part of that for an upcoming trip, I don't want to have to dip beyond that.  So starting today until May 18, I'm going on a spending freeze.  For someone who has never done a spending freeze at all, nearly 2 months might be a bit extreme but it needs to be done.

So here's my plan:

1)No eating/going out

**This is honestly my biggest problem.  Now like I said, this has been a weird pay period because of the 2 concerts right away, but within the first 10 days I spent almost $225 at bars/restaurants...**

2)No unnecessary purchases

Remainder of my current pay period (Mar 30-Apr 19) exceptions

1)Big Texas Beer Festival
**I already have my ticket purchased.  I wasn't originally going to get a hotel since I only live 40 min away but because it'll probably be the last time I see the best friend for awhile it just seemed smarter to get a hotel over there so I didn't have to worry about drinking & leaving late.  Plus, because I'm cutting my Houston trip short (see below) my Dallas hotel is basically in place of my 2nd Houston hotel so the money for that is coming out of my Houston fund.**

2)Houston

**I have had this trip planned for a couple of months now.  I was originally going to go down the 14-16 but for the past week or so I've been going back & forth or whether or not I wanted to be there for 3 days or just 2.  Well my finances decided for me.  I'll head down there Friday morning & leave Saturday evening.  That way I can save on eating out & the second night hotel can go to BTBF above.**

3)Grad School Class Nights

**I'm actually not going to class tonight so that I can work on my case study but the 6th & 13th I will be.  I'm also not entirely sure if we'll go out both or either of those days but we normally do go out after class & since my friend Katherine is moving at the end of April I'm not going to skip out on our last few chances to hang out before then.**

Exceptions for (Apr 20-May 18) pay period

1)Grad School Class Nights

**Only 2 actually fall in this pay period because class ends April 27**

2)Girls Night Out

**Like I mentioned my friend Katherine is moving at the end of April so we're having a girls night on the 22**

3)2 Non-Grad School/Girls Night Eating Out

**I don't even know that I'll actually use these.  I have no plans & would like to keep it that way at least until grad school ends.  This also doesn't mean I can eat out just because I feel like it.  But if a friend happens to invite me out & I'm free then I can say okay twice.  I honestly don't know that I see this happening just because the people that I would hang out with will either be gone, dealing with the same teaching & grad school balancing act as me, or works opposite hours.**

So there you have it.  Unless it's gas, groceries, or any of the above listed exceptions it's not happening.  Even in my exceptions I'm not going to let myself go crazy with how much I'm spending.

For those of you that have done a spending freeze before, any tips or suggestions??