Budget Challenges

     

     My son will have a hard time getting a loan for a mortgage because of how his earning cycle has been unless he has a very large down payment. He's had a feast or famine kind of career, so when "feast",  he tries to save and squirrel away as much as possible. Now, I'd be happy him staying as long as he needs though of course understand this is a temporary arrangement. He wants his own place, but also not the lack of any equity if he rented. There's no specific timeline. Because prices change and different areas of the metro have different housing costs, what he needs to set aside could vary dramatically. Until he's committed, he'll just keep building reserves.

      As we share some expenses here, and I have my own money goals, we're in a few self directed money challenges together. He probably wouldn't call them challenges but it's how my brain works. I put targets out there, say, staying below $500 for groceries, and hone  in on ways to achieve that. His approach to saving money on everyday living costs is more organic. He's like his dad that way. Here's a few recent "challenges" we've undertaken.

Use it up meals to stretch out grocery shops: No meal combination is off the menu. He eats healthy and I've been doing much better. As long as the meal is balanced with nutritional value, we don't think about the food needing to go together. Ironically, though, eating this way from time to time,  yields new meals for future rotation because we enjoyed the combination. Black bean, potato, onion, and pepper grilled burritos is an example of this. 

Bulk buying our way: We don't have prepper level stockpiles, but to leverage the previous strategy, buying loss leaders we know will be put to use at some point, or multiples of items sold at better prices, but not at regular shopping places, is our way to bulk buy. An example of this is canned coconut milk that is outrageous in our local grocery store and impossible to find at Aldi or Walmart, so we get several cans when at Trader Joe's for a consistently fairer price. I like to keep shelf stable Almond milk and 2% on hand to have as back up. Sharing large quantities such as dog food or basmati rice between my family's households, keeps overall costs down too. 

Playing the Streaming Game: We subscribe and unsubscribe to streaming services in different cycles to minimize cost while maximizing our entertainment budget for shows, movies, or events we want to see. This is my son's domain. 

Leveraging mileage/ gas fill ups to maximize gas coupons: Not that I want either of us to risk running out of gas, we both try to fill up when we know we can get the best tank discount. Recently I saved $5 on my gas fill up, but more typical is in the $2-$3 range. Paired with trying to see where gas is lowest, has kept a bit more funds in both our accounts. It gutted me though when I filled up in town with a 10¢ coupon before a little day trip to find the town 20 miles south of us had gas 54¢ a gallon lower. 

Evaluating Clothing Needs: I have a line in my budget for clothing. I'm not sure what my son spends, but recently told me that my one standard gift at Christmas, blue jeans, are not needed as he has the last two pairs not even worn. He always looks appropriate and well fitted for his work environment. I only go in the office one day a week and my video calls I'm usually in a neat shirt, shirt and sweater, or pullover sweater depending on season. Occasionally I'll pull a suit type jacket on if that sort of meeting. I have plenty of work and non work clothes- too many probably. What I'm trying to say, is neither of us need new clothes in the immediate transition from summer to fall to winter. For me though, I've lost quite a bit of weight and things that used to be getting tight now are quite baggy. Likely I'll need to get a couple bottoms by spring, especially if I continue to lose weight and tone up ( thanks new knee), but not essential yet. When I do, it will be thrift store shopping first. I'm amazed at the quality of jeans I've found second hand. 

     If charted out the amount that could be saved just with diligence of the above expenses, conservatively that's $100 a month or $1200 a year. That alone isn't  getting my son in a townhouse or me to Europe. However, added with other big and small ways to save, the pennies turn to dollars and the dollars to the goal. 

**Edit to share I still do my fair share of splurge or some might say silly spending. I came home unplanned with five bottles of wine from a local winery (two are gifts and others will be used for the holidays), and cute little chalkboard cheese markers. Not needed at all, but in efforts to have friends and family over more, it was a little gift to myself to have fun hosting. These were both purchased at small businesses and I strive to support them even while being frugal other ways.