How to cut back. | Imamother

mummiedearest

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 4:47 pm

amother wrote:

OP here. Bh my dh is an electrician and all over handyman so he can fix anything that goes wrong. 6 months ago the upstairs neighbor sold and the new owner changed the heating and water from fuel to gas so the owner of my house paid that. The mortgage on this apartment will be the same as paying rent so thats not so bad. right now we are getting together the money for a down payment which we need to have by the end of this week.Dh is under a lot of stress from this. Hopefully we will get it.

look, my dh and I are BOTH handy. and my dh is happy to do electrical work. however, time is money. when your dh is working 2 jobs, how does he find time to do major immediate repairs? regardless of his ability, he just may not have the time. and making the time for it means taking away time normally spent with his family. it's not so simple. a simple repair can take up all his potential free time on a day off. and what happens if your dh is away for a few days and something breaks? can you fix things? do you have money to spare for emergency repairs? aside from finding the time/having the money for emergencies, diy repairs STILL costs money. even if your dh is able to install a water boiler, you still have to purchase a new one. and some larger repairs may require permits.

if you really feel that home ownership is a good idea right now, I wish you success. I just wanted to give you a heads up on what kind of expenses you may run into.

SRS

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 4:54 pm

It might work out. It might be stressful. Apartments generally have less issues than homes. But the condo or homeowners could also shoot up. Just be prepared to cut back. Also, remember that labor isn't always the expensive part of the repair. We just had to replace something major. Less than a 1/3 of the cost is the cost of labor. It was a killer that we delayed and explored options and called numerous handyman for other suggestions before just paying for it. Cost nearly double our mortgage payment. Ouch.

amother

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 4:54 pm

mummiedearest wrote:

Thanks and your right, unless something is really important to do right now it doesn't get done straight away.

zaq

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 5:21 pm

amother wrote:

New amother.

How are you managing now?

I have always considered frugality a virtue and saving an imperative, and wouldn't know how not to be frugal. Bal tashchit to me also means not wasting money. If I were a millionaire, I would still comparison-shop and buy things when they're on special. Why would anyone buy tuna for the regular price of $1.89-2.29 for a 5-ounce can when they can buy it on sale for $1 a can? yes, when you first move in and have zero food in the house, you have to buy some things when they're not on sale. But after that, you stock up on each item as it comes on sale and buy at regular price only in an emergency--of which you try not to have too many.

Why would you buy individual packages of cold cereal when a family-size box is a fraction of the cost per serving? Why would you pay for bottled water if your municipal tap water is perfectly palatable? Sure, if you're going camping overnight and didn't want to bring dishes for breakfast, it makes sense to buy the individually-packed servings, and you should keep a few gallons of bottled water in the pantry in case of a water emergency. By the same token, it makes no sense to buy something in the large economy size if you won't be able to use it up before it spoils or loses all its flavor.

As for cooking, I prefer to cook from scratch, as it's much healthier. When you cook, you know exactly what went into everything, and can adjust ingredients to suit your own taste and health concerns. Most prepared foods are loaded with sodium and (usually saturated) fat, as well as a whole lot of artificial ingredients the human body doesn't need or want.

amother

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 9:06 pm

coupon- read up the blogs and learn the system- I started a few months ago and have amassed a stockpile of toiletries, diapers, paper goods, beauty products, non perishables for either 20% of the regular retail or free. It takes time and patience but my grocery bill has shrunk, we are saving ton's of money on gas due to gas rewards and the weeks when I don't have the money to grocery shop we have enough around to eat a varied diet and not go hungry. I also have treats available for shabbos without spending a fortune, I even have family members who don't have time to do the shopping that I do come and shop in my closed and pay for the items more then I paid but much less then they would have spent. anon because I don't want to give away my screen name and I've been talking about the virtues of couponing to everyone I meet.

MaBelleVie

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 9:16 pm

Is this apartment part of a homeowner's association? Because you should realize that in addition to monthly fees they will also have special assessments to cover things like: repairing building plumbing, replacing the roof, painting the building, putting up a new fence, putting in a security system, etc etc. These things come up way more often than you would assume. Unfortunately, being handy will not save you any money there Sad

And it won't make the boiler/central ac unit/ refrigerator any cheaper to replace either.

Dolly Welsh

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 10:18 pm

OP, you seem to need that cleaning help, and your food expenses are on the low side because of your husband's contacts.

So I don't see much you can cut back.

It might be an idea to give classes in something you naturally have a talent for and a liking for. Opinionated suggested sewing, and challah. Great ideas.

If you want to sell synthetic wigs at home, Alibaba will sell them to you cheaply in bulk.

http://www.alibaba.com/product......html

http://www.alibaba.com/product......html

http://www.alibaba.com/product......html

http://www.lightinthebox.com/c.....buy_1

But challah might be more defined hours, and fewer problems. And you probably do it already.

Or you could occasionally sell a wig when women come over for challah! Have a few on display on Styrofoam heads. Charge sixty dollars each, or three for a hundred dollars. (That's not gouging, you will need to do that.)

lavender_dew

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 11:24 pm

I don't know what your grocery shopping habits are like, but I just realized mine were out of control (and I consider myself a very frugal person). The problem was I wasn't organizing my meals and ended up shopping several times a week, then of course, ending up buying a lot of things I didn't necessarily need.

Now every week I make a full menu - breakfast, lunch, dinner - for every day of the week. Do all the shopping on Thursday so I'm ready for Shabbos. Leftovers from Shabbos go towards DH's lunch for a day or two and I force myself to follow my schedule. I somehow spent the same amount of money grocery shopping for a FULL WEEK of meals than I normally do if I just show up and buy whatever I feel like for only Shabbos.

Seraph

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 4:15 pm

OPINIONATED wrote:

Plan A: Cut out the following foods from your diet:

1. All chicken, meat and fish
2. All soft cheese, hard cheese and yogurt
3. All baked goods
4. All fruits and vegies (except for cabbage, which is cheap)

For $2 a day, you can live on beans, corn, rice, oatmeal, quinoa and eggs.

Plan B: Have your children bring extra pens and pencils and sell them to classmates

Plan C: Stick freeze pops in your freezer and sell them weekends and after camp hours

Plan D: Buy all shoes from shoe gemach

Plan E: Start a sewing class for girls from your home. Get products at stitches.
http://www.smstitches.com/

Plan F: Start Challah baking business and invite people to come over and be Mafrish Challa for women who don't have time otherwise

I'm not sure if you meant this seriously... but quinoa is not cheaper than veggies.

amother

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 5:06 pm

cookiecutter wrote:

I wholeheartedly disagree with this. If it costs, say, 10% more to pay a mortgage than it costs to rent, you will pay more for two, maybe three years but rent continues to rise and soon the payments will be equal. After that your payment stays the same until the mortgage is paid off. If you keep renting because you can't afford it, then in three years you'll be paying the same amount anyway and not only will you not be able to afford it, but you'll also know that it will continue to rise.

I cannot agree more. My in laws live in LA and are still renting, and married off all their kids. They do not live in a fancy apartment yet they pay almost 5k a month in rent. Yes, this is LA where rent is expensive, but for various reasons they cant move to cheaper neighborhods/communities.
Had they killed themselves when they were younger and bought a house they would be MUCH better off right now. I'm not saying this to judge, they say this to us all the time and a main conversation at the yom tov table between the kids and my in laws is their regrets not buying years ago. (now, even tho they are financially more stable, housing is through the roof and no longer possible for them)
Rent GOES UP OVER THE YEARS! If its at all feasable to buy one should go for it!
I should preach to myself since were still renting!!