As most of you know, we are in the very beginning stages of buying a house and possibly moving to Colorado. However, that’s not planned to happen for at least 1.5 years from now.
Some of you have asked why we’re waiting to buy a house and why we’re not moving right away.
Well, we still have to save for our down payment.
We would like to put around $100,000 on our next home (GAH that is scary to even think about), and that means we really need to buckle down and start saving since we still need to save for retirement as well.
We need to save money so that we can go to Colorado a decent amount and find our dream home. I don’t want to buy a home or live in a brand new town that I haven’t researched or visited at least a few times.
We’ll also have some big expenses come up and we need to start paying for and saving for those too. I’m assuming that selling our current home will be a disaster, and we will either break even or owe a few thousand dollars. we’ve had some odd disasters happen at our home and we need to replace some things (for example: our garage door needs to be replaced after our truck flung into reverse, all by itself when no one was in it, and slammed into our garage).
So, because of all of the above, we need to save a decent amount of money over the next two years. However, we are not freaking out. We know that we have some time to save and that we have fairly low budgets already.
There are many ways we are currently saving money. These include: lowering our food budget, switching to a more fuel efficient car (we are saving hundreds each month now!), finding frugal entertainment, cutting our cable bill, switching to a cheaper cell phone plan (read here to find out how you can save $2,000 a year on your cell phone), and more. Most of these are lifestyle changes and we have been extremely happy with the changes we’ve made since they’ve allowed us to enjoy life more and save money as well.
Here are some of your responses to my question “What would you NOT cut from your budget (i.e. what do you value) in order to reach a current savings goal?”
@SenseofCents Travel saving. That’s a non-negotiable for me.
— Marissa (@Thirtysixmonths) October 9, 2014
@SenseofCents The monthly fee for my gym membership!
— Theresa (@Foothills2Fog) October 9, 2014
@SenseofCents Pet related expenses. Hawkeye never gets cheap food or knockoff flea meds, and she goes to the vet and groomer regularly! — Stephanie (@NotEntrlyPrfct) October 9, 2014
@SenseofCents good food, travel, home comforts and our cats 🙂 we’d never cut these out, ever! — Nicola (@thefrgalcottage) October 9, 2014
@SenseofCents Therapy! At first maybe but it’s been really helpful 🙂 — Athena (@accordingathena) October 9, 2014
@SenseofCents eating decently. I would rather pay a bit more for groceries to get food I enjoy rather than a bunch of cheap junk! — Chelsea (@chelseaoliviaxo) October 9, 2014
@SenseofCents annual pass to my local comedy club. $150 for 2 people. Great laughs, cheap date and we get out of the house! — Kate (@goodnightdebt) October 9, 2014
@SenseofCents I would never cut internet. I think it’s so vital to life today. It’s become a need not a want — Allison (@LSLWBLOG) October 9, 2014
Even though we are saving money in many different ways, there are certain things we will not cut out of our budget unless we absolutely need to. The “old” Michelle would have probably freaked out and cut everything in sight (except for number 2 below, of course) just because I used to let money control my life.
1. I won’t downsize my home.
I won’t sell our current home right at this moment (and move into a cheaper place) in order to save money more quickly. Our home is relatively cheap and to me it’s not worth it to move into a cheaper place in order to save a tiny bit of money
Also, moving twice seems like a nightmare. we moved many times before we moved into our current home so I will do anything to limit the amount of times I have to move all the stuff into my future home.
2. I won’t get rid of my dogs.
Some people don’t understand why dogs are so awesome, and that is fine. However, I am an insane dog person. I remember when someone once asked me why I spend money to have dogs. It’s because I LOVE them.
I will not get rid of my dogs to put more money towards my down payment.
3. I won’t stop traveling.
We love to travel, so I don’t see us completely eliminating vacations from our lives in order to save for a home down payment. Our trips are usually fairly cheap, and I just signed up for a new credit card in order to gain some fast rewards points again. I will be talking about this soon.
4. I won’t jeopardize my health.
We recently received a letter stating that our health insurance will be going up a little over 64% each MONTH. Even though this is happening, it does not mean that I’m just going to completely eliminate health insurance from my life.
I’m also still going to go to any and all annual preventative appointments I have as well.
5. I won’t drain my emergency fund.
We have a large emergency fund, and we could put it towards our house down payment fund. It would definitely help us reach our goal more quickly, but this isn’t something I want to do.
My emergency fund is there to help me in case something bad happens. Also, you just never know if something bad will happen with the future move, so keeping my emergency fund intact is very important to us.
6. I won’t stop having fun.
We have relatively cheap fun. We go for bike rides, walk on trails, go hiking, and more. However, even though it is a cheap hobby and all we really have to do is pay for the gas to get places, I won’t cut that out of my budget.
Too many people think that you can’t have fun when you are on a budget. That is just not true!
7. I won’t get rid of internet.
Nope, nope, nope. This is something I could never get rid of. Keep in mind that in order to work, I need internet. Yes, I could go to the library and get it for free, but I’ll pay my very minimal internet costs so that I can work in my home.
What are you currently saving for? Are you cutting everything out of your lives in order to save for it? Why or why not?
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We’re saving for an investment property deposit and an overseas trip to visit family.
I’m limiting my visits to the local shopping centre to avoid temptation as I have a habit of always finding something either for me or my baby and it’s so hard to resist. Safer just to avoid the place altogether unless absolutely necessary. I’m also cutting back on how much I spend on gifts throughout the year as I’m good at going over budget. Otherwise there’s not much to cut out as we don’t have or need cable, we don’t smoke, and we don’t eat out too often. We eat healthy and manage to keep our weekly grocery bill at a reasonable level.
Our aim is to start earning more once I return to work from maternity leave rather than spending less in order to reach our goals faster. I think it’s easier to find an extra source of income than to keep on cutting things in the budget. Better for the sanity too!
Saving $100,000 or a home is a great goal and I’m sure you’ll reach it faster than you think. All the best.
Thank you! Good luck with your goals as well 🙂
So glad to hear about your dogs! That was the one thing we were not willing to compromise on. We moved them with us to Malta, and now to Spain. It’s been trying and costly, but we just can’t part with these pretty beagles 🙂 . Good luck with the savings and all.
Thank you! Getting rid of my dogs isn’t even an option 🙂
I agree with you… I won’t get rid of the Internet but I can give up my cable. Actually, I have given up the TV cable for half a year. It was hard to adjust but knowing that I can save as much as $45 a month is really worth it.
Good job on giving up cable Jayson!
When we were saving for our downpayment, we didn’t cut out any of those things either. And, now that we’re saving for financial independence, we’re also not cutting these things! We’re pretty frugal about everything, but, we still enjoy life and prioritize healthy options. One thing we’ve cut entirely is eating out. It saves us a ton every month!
Good job! I wish we could cut out eating out. It’s been so difficult for us for some reason.
Hey thanks for the shout out!!!
Obviously internet! But like you I would never get rid of my pets. They are just too important and basically members of the family!
Yes, my dogs are my family members!
These all sound reasonable, Michelle! I hope you get your 100K down payment saved up! =)
Thanks Holly!
You still have to enjoy your life when you are saving, so I don’t blame you for all of these. I think that people who don’t own dogs just don’t get it. We currently have two and are actually thinking about getting a third. They become little extensions of your family.
And that is so freaky about your truck!
Haha yes non-dog people just don’t get it!
Yes, the truck thing really stunk. That happened like the first week we bought our home!
Love this post!! What a great goal of $100K down!! Our goal is to put about $50K down when we go to buy (we just moved to NC from AZ so we probably won’t buy for a few years). I agree with your entire list! As “cheap” as I try to be, there are just some things I’m not willing to give up. Plus, we work hard for our money!! We should be able to enjoy it a little, too 🙂
Thanks Sarah! Yes, we should be able to enjoy our money 🙂
It seems like this post could be summed up by saying that you’re happy to delay the move to a new house in order to keep balance in your life. I would do exactly the same in your shoes. It’s not worth sacrificing things that are important to us just to rush something else through a bit quicker. A smart play IMO.
Thanks Jack!
Right now we are focusing on building up retirement funds. We don’t want to end up being a burden to our kids or have to work until old age.
Good job Lara! What are you not cutting from your budget?
We don’t want to cut our gym membership. It is good for us and also it has a pool and playplace that the kids adore!
Sounds like a good deal! Thanks Lara 🙂
Good job! What are you not giving up? 🙂
I like that you’re not cutting into your emergency fund. I think that’s a financially smart move. And way to go on the $100k down goal – that’s awesome!
Thanks Natalie!
Thank you! Yes, people can definitely enjoy life when they are trying to save for something.
Hawkeye is my spoiled little baby! She gets the best food and treats. She even has a water bed. I love her too much and only get such a short time with her to not spend $ on her. It’s worth every penny.
Awww I love this! Always nice to hear about another crazy pet momma 🙂 I’m one too.
A great point. It never makes sense to stop living life because you want to enjoy something else down the road. Kudos to you to have the courage to say as much
Thanks Mario! I was a little nervous to write this post. I’m glad everyone seems to understand!