Quote:
Originally Posted by Derek Sutton
So you’re essentially “living” off of $7500 a month. First thing is to live off $6500 a month and put $1000 away into tax free savings accounts for you and your wife. Then you have to make a budget and “STICK TO IT”. Somewhere you have to find a one time expense for a deep freeze. This will make food budgeting easier and allow you to save in the grocery store by stocking up on sale items.
Meal planning is a great place to start finding ways to save on food costs as well as cutting food waste. Meal planning also solves the “what’s for dinner tonight” question. Include everything in your meal plan from snacks and treats to every meal. A key to this is download the FLIPP App which contains all the weekly flyers and allows you to create lists from store to store. Focus on two stores each week to shop at which willcut down on time and fuel costs (and save your sanity) vs going to 4 or 5 different stores. Set aside time once a week to go to the store(s) and by what is on your list and what is on sale!! If strawberry’s are $7 a dozen, well guess what? Buy bananas and wait until the berries go down to $4 a dozen
Avoid Costco unless you are committed to your shopping list. If you go to Costco try to get in and get out as fast as possible and avoid “shopping”. We all buy T shirts we don’t need, a couple of books, etc… when going into Costco.
What you spend on food and consumables is one thing you CAN CONTROL vs the cost of gas to work, property taxes, utility costs etc. And don’t be afraid to stay home, every time you leave your house be prepared to spend $100. And getting back to one of my first statements, pay yourself first, and make yourself a budget.
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THIS!
Yes... gotta budget and stick to it. Also review EVERYTHING if you're serious and really REALLY question if something is a WANT or a NEED. If you're serious you need to pull all your bills and review, often.
And question EVERY recurring bill/fee related to anything and everything. Odds are you can eradicate or reduce a lot of them. Simply like:
- Netflix, Prime, gym, etc... recurring subscriptions.
- Phone/internet/tv... are you paying the ongoing rate or did you find a promo rate... you can usually beat the promo rates with some savvy internet sleuthing and bringing that to the table
- Cell phone bills... I see/hear of people paying $100++ PER PERSON in their family, and that does not even include a monthly fee for new phone. AND every person in their family has some whizbang fancy plan and a newer phone. I'm at roughly $35/person for 75gb unlimited north america everything.
- Do you pay for parking? find a lower price or alternate means
- do you buy takeouts often? coffee?
- do you/your family like "nice gear" like name brand stuff, and replace it too often and/or have too much?
- Plan better and be more pro-active than reactive
- Do buy stuff on sale, or not at all. Stock up, sensibly.
- Don't buy new everything, there's a VERY healthy used market in Calgary. might mean waiting a bit before finding that special item... and by then maybe you've figured out you don't need it.
- maybe you can sell some of your family's unused stuff too. Learn how to post decent photos and descriptions as that makes a massive difference to final price, interest, and how fast stuff moves. Be aware of seasonality of many things.
- DO take advantage of EVERY single chance to get discounts, free money (ie workplace matching), and to legally reduce your taxable income.
- Your home... small things like energy efficiency stuff (lower home temp, shorter showers, less stuff plugged in, better utility plans, changing driving habits)
Too many people say to themselves "gee, I work hard and earn enough to afford this coffee.... or new jacket etc etc." and then apply that logic to EVERYTHING. wrong wrong wrong. Sure buy the occasional MEANINGFUL item/experience, but otherwise... don't.
Too many people say to themselves "gee... it's only $5, or $10 etc..." but don't realize they do this daily, multiple times.
I'm definitely not saying do nothing and live on catfood here. When you consider that the national FAMILY income is about $75k, that means lots of people have figured it out. Lots haven't too.
Great question and I appreciate you putting yourself out there with intent to learn. It's not easy. You'll get lots of advice, and not all of it may work for you, or resonate with you. But simply start.
didn't mean for such a long post... I've been down this road myself, and come out the other end with way less debt, more investments, better ability to deal with life surprises (helloooo Covid layoff!!), and a decent investment approach/results.