Have you made any big (or small) lifestyle changes in order to pay off debt or build savings? Have done things other people have considered too hard? What were they?

When I first was a SAHM, we had no cable TV, no cell phones, no gym/YMCA memberships. It felt like we were the only family in our community that did without these things. We slowly built them back in as our budget allowed. We did just fine without them!

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"Try and enjoy the here and now. The future will take care of itself somehow. The grass is never greener over there." -- Howard Jones




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Heather

When my husband and I were first married we knew that I would not work, but instead go to school full time. We waited quite a few months before ever buying a TV so we didn't worry about cable! We had laptops so we watched movies on those.

We became very familiar with the local $5 pizza as our treat.

We cooked most everything from scratch -- and true scratch no bisquick or mixes.

Of course no gym memberships or anything really, we wanted it to work and so far it has.

When I first got married, I was still a full time student and about to start my semester of student teaching (you pay to work and get nothing back, except a degree ). We planned ahead and starting saving money before we got married, so we were prepared. We both have worked two jobs since we have been engaged and used our wedding money to pay off my husband's student loans. We then paid off his car by not using a heater or air conditioner in our apartment (we live in TX). We then saved enough to buy a new house with 26% down. We now have a goal to be debt free by August of 2011. This means that we are continuing to work two jobs (one part/one full) and then working on lowering all of our other bills.

I don't know if any of these are drastic but this is what we are doing.

Making a list if it isn't on it I don't get it.
No cable
no caller ID , call waiting etc.
I am working two part-time jobs
My DH is working every Saturday so he is now gone 6 days a week (this one hurts the most)
I put a lot of my kids stuff in a consignment sale
I am planting a bigger garden this year.
Driving old cars so we have no payments
Walk around the block for excersize no gyms!!
Kids only have one extra curricular activity and I get a discount because I am bartering my time to help the instructor.

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Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

Robert Collier

One of my dreams: Walking along a beach with BLUE water.

When we first moved into our older home, it was never equipped for cable. Because we had so much work to do on the house, this wasn't a problem. Then when I became a SAHM, we had to really buckle down. For 5 years we:

Didn't have cable/satellite
Didn't have a computer or internet access
Didn't have cellphones (only have them now bc godparents got 2 extra ones on their plan)
Drove old beaters (still do!)
Didn't have a car for a year when my baby was just a year old. This was the hardest part because there's really no place to walk to around here. Plus, I had to wait to do all my errands/shopping, etc until my hubby got home from work. It got very depressing

When we got in better shape, we got a bundled package from AT&T saving tons on long-distance for us, plus we got internet, and satellite all on one bill. After 5 years, this was very good for my state of mind!

When my kids were young and I was a SAHM I switched to cloth diapers, made my own bread, laundry detergent, and baby wipes. Grew a big garden and canned.

And now:
We have never had cable or satelite, we have "country cable"
We go to the library weekly to get books and movies.
Just started packing lunches for everyone.
Plan my errands on days I have to work, this has really saved on fuel costs!
Love my garden!

Oh and I forgot when DH quit his job to start his own business we cashed in his 401K and paid off all of our debt except our mortage. We got a lot of flack for this but it was the only way to get out from under all the debt we had built up. We would of never made it thru those first 5 years if we had had all that debt along with the stress of a new buisness. And we have learned from that lesson, no more payment plans ever again! If we don't have the money we live without it!

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"God determines who walks into your life…
it’s up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay and who you refuse to let go." - Anonymous

We've taken some big steps that like many others have too:

We decided to get out of major debt about 5-6 years ago, and it wasn't just credit card debt either. We sold our camper and large payment pickup truck for a Toyota Corolla with a low car payment. We also decluttered our house and got rid of everything we didn't actually use or need around that time. You'd be amazed how much you don't want "stuff" once you have simplified.

This gave us some cash to pay off debt, and cut our car payment in half. We then payed cash for an older used pickup for yard work etc. It was like having two vehicles for half the cost of our big truck we used to use to tow the camper. The decrease in gas consumption was also a huge savings. Our family lost our camping vacations, but the kids were getting to the age where their extra-curricular activities limited our ability to go camping anyway.

We got married in 2005. Hubby is the only bread winner.

1. We both lived with our parents until we got married (DH 21 and me 19).
2. We paid cash for our wedding. Although it wasn't as fancy as I wanted at the time I sure am glad that I didn't waste our money on things that aren't important now. Like when I insisted that the reception had to be a certain way and now wish I hadn't cared.
3. We rented the appartment above his parents home for a family discount.
4. We have never had cable (but since we had never lived together before found that living with someone else was pretty enteraining!
5. Only ever had one car. Although we just bought a new one. The other one was ready for the junk yard.
6. We don't have long distance, call waiting, caller Id or any of the other phone extras. Just plain local calling.
7. We have dial up internet and bought our computer used a year ago.
8. We have all used furniture except a lamp, dresser, and entertainment center (all bought from walmart).
9. Bought an older house that we could afford and decided to remodel as we could afford.
10. clip coupons and shop ads... but instead of going to a bunch of stores we match ads at walmart.
11. Eat only $21 of out food a month... if we want an expensive date we save up our outfood money until we have enough.
12. Make homeade foods.
13. Use the cheapest good quality products that we can.

Not enough

Still we have the usual list of things we don't get
1. no Cable and movie rental are an occasional treat
2. Cell phone is a pay as you go phone We pay $100 once a year for 1000 min. Its nice to have for emergencies and when you need to call someone but I never have conversations
3. Make due with what we have.
4. Do activities instead of gifts to celebrate birthday's and anniversaries.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006