3-4: unnecessary expense

This post is a continuation of the post 10 ways to reduce your monthly expenses. Here are numbers three and four on the list, and how we accomplished them.

3.  Eliminate storage payments
 

This one doesn’t apply to everyone, but there are a lot of people that have storage units full of stuff that they don’t need/want. We emptied ours and completely eliminated the $50/month payment.  I’ll talk about how we dealt with all of the furniture/stuff in the unit in a later post.

4. Cancel cable/extra channels

We didn’t actually cancel any cable, because I have never paid for it, but it is a great way to cut your monthly expenses. (As an added bonus, you’re less likely to watch TV and will have much more time on your hands.)

Now, it’s not that we don’t watch TV at all. Buying an antenna ($20 tops) allowed us to get the regularly broadcast networks on TV for free. This includes FOX, ABC, CBS, and NBC. We also get a couple local channels that have various other shows on them.

Another thing you can do is watch TV shows online. There are a lot of shows available on sites like hulu.com, as well as some of the shows being available on the websites of the TV networks.

I truly think that by tuning into the free channels and figuring out which shows you can watch online, cable and extra channels aren’t missed.

Key:

1-2: pay off loans

This post is a continuation of the post 10 ways to reduce your monthly expenses. Here are numbers one and two on the list, and how we accomplished them.


1.  Pay off smaller loans

We had some small loans that were the result of zero percent financing for so many months that would have very high interest rates when zero percent financing expired. For example, Alex had a new air conditioner put in his house that offered him zero percent financing for 6 months but was about to change to a very high interest rate. Paying off the small loan allowed us to avoid the high interest rate and eliminate a monthly payment.

Paying off high interest loans first also means you are paying less in the long run. The way that Alex and I have dealt with this is to make a spreadsheet of all of our loans, complete with interest rates. We then prioritized which loans would be paid off first, based on balance (how feasible is it to pay it off) and interest rate (how much will it cost us to keep it).

2. Pay off a vehicle

This was a big one for us, as it reduced our monthly expenses by $200/month. However, that being said, it’s a big financial commitment to pay off a vehicle and that decision should be well thought through.

It made sense for us to pay off a vehicle, since we had already paid off all of our high interest loans. We paid off our cheaper car first, since it would make the lesser dent in our savings. (We have plans to pay off the other car, but given the balance of the loan and the interest rate it hasn’t made sense to do that yet.)

Key:

10 ways to reduce your monthly expenses

  

When Alex moved to Colorado in March, we started to try to cut our monthly expenses. So far, we’ve managed to cut expenses by $1000/month. Here’s a list of the things that we’ve done, plus a couple that I had already done/looked into before he moved in. 

1. Pay off smaller loans

2. Pay off a vehicle

3. Eliminate storage payments

4. Cancel cable/extra channels

5. Switch to a cheaper cell phone plan

6. Minimize rent/mortgage payment

7. Combine car insurance

8. Combine health insurance

9. Take advantage of things that are free/discounted

10. Make a budget

Cutting monthly expenses is a great accomplishment! As my wonderful husband put it, it’s like getting a $(amount of expense reduction X 12) raise this year!

In the following posts, I'll write in detail about how we did each of these things.

my valentine's day

Happy Valentine’s Day to all! For those of you that were hoping for a big Valentine’s Day post, complete with an elaborate plan by my husband…Sorry! I’m not big on Valentine’s day, never have been!

Knowing this about me, the first Valentine’s Day we were dating, Alex got me a gift…the movie SAW IV! So, our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple has consisted of working out, eating quiche (recipe later!), and watching SAW VI. (We decided we’d seen SAW 4 too many times!)

I hope you all had a good one!

earrings to match one of my fav necklaces

I bought this necklace at New York and Company a year or so ago, and it’s one of my favorite necklaces. I just had to post this picture, because I got the earrings in the mail from my sister, Rachel, for Christmas. They (unintentionally!) almost perfectly match it!  I never wore earrings with this necklace because it’s very unique, and nothing I had really matched.

And, they were a gift! I didn't have to buy them, or even think about how much they cost! My sis is very good for my accessory collection!

Thanks Rachel!

P.S. You can find her blog here.

snow day in denver

No need to be put together today, it is definitely a pajama day! The weather forecast yesterday said that we could expect 4-6 inches of snow in the Denver area last night/today, and that number just keeps growing! Latest prediction: 10-18 inches in the metro area and 18-40 inches in the mountains by tomorrow afternoon! With all the snow, lots of businesses and schools have closed. Unfortunately, since I can work from home, I am not off the hook! I just wanted to take a few minutes to show you all a couple pictures of the snow!

If you live in the Denver area, enjoy your snow day!