A couple of factors have combined to put me in a budget cutting mode: first, was a blog entry over at the Juggle in which John Edwards lays out a few particulars in his financial diet; second, a couple of discretionary expenses and a getaway weekend in San Francisco have blown my monthly budget sky high.

Taking a quick look at my expenses last month, out of roughly 90 transactions, over 30 would have been cut using Edward's formula. Ouch. (I'm have bad spending habits because we don't have any housing expenses because of my wife's job, but long haul we really need to be as disciplined as anyone else.)

If you have been on a financial diet, what did you go after? What are the easiest items to cut? What are the hardest? How well have you stuck to your diet?

Cellphones cable and internet are a good place to start for us usually lunches are another one. I find that I buy too many days every week since the morning is a real rush.

Personally we are real bad with money so I could use some advice too.

We cut back but it all climbs back to where it was before.

I find a good tool helps. I like using mint.com It's a really easy way to track where all your money goes and get a good full picture of your finances. I'm going into a cut back mode in anticipation for the baby.

I went on a budget cutting crusade a few years ago and have managed to (mostly) stick to it. The most important thing to do before embarking is to really visualize what you are going to do with the money you save. If it just goes into the slush fund you probably won't stick with it.

I set up a separate savings account with a separate bank and had it auto-withdraw money from my checking. So I knew that we had to stay strong with our budget or we wouldn't have enough in our checking to cover bills. Plus, it's really fun to see that savings account grow!

Here's what I did:

• Went down to smallest house phone plan. Only kept it so we could have 911. Saved about $10/mo.


• Went down to smallest cell phone plan. No data or text. Saved about $25/mo.


• Went to $10/mo reception-only cable. Only got about 10 channels. Went up in our netflix to
  $15/mo to give us more things to watch. Saved us probably $40/mo.


• Went to the slower broadband, down to 700K. Saved about $15/mo.[/LI
  [LI]Packed breakfast and lunch when I had time. Saved probably over $100/mo. Also eat ALL leftovers first. Saving $$ on food could be a blog post all by itself!


• Set the cruise control at 60-65 (rather than 80+). Saved around $20, depending on the price of gas of course.


• Cut our energy costs around the house doing various things such as weather stipping and just dealing with less comfortable conditions. Not sure if this saved us at all, but hopefully it did!

I really hammered away at cost cutting tactics leading up when our daughter was born and for the first year or so. It was a bit of a struggle since we both had a lot of old debt (college, credit cards from college) that needed to be taken care of and I had a difficult time getting the wife on board. She worked hard to get through college and has a good job and has the attitude that she should be able to buy herself things without worrying about it. Well yes, but not all the time.

All the effort has paid off and we are nearly in the clear with all of our back debt other than the car I bought last year and the house.

Here are some tips from my experience (some have been mentioned already):

Savings: Set up an automatic savings plan, even if it's only a couple bucks. It's out of sight, out of mind.

Pay off debt: Get all your bills together and make a chart so you can look at the amounts, interest rates, payments, etc. Make a plan on the order in which you will pay them off and how much to pay each month. It's great when you get one paid off and can increase the amounts on others.

Utilities, necessities:
Take a look at things you pay for each month and think about how much value you are actually getting. Long distance is free on our cell phones, so I moved the home phone to the very basic and saved $30! Cable/internet gets plenty of use, so it's worth it to us to have the full package.

Food: Food is a big budget factor that often gets overlooked. You always hear the 'don't buy $4 coffee/bring your lunch to work' advice, but there is much more money to be saved by planning/cooking your own meals at home and shopping smarter. Use coupons, stock up on sale (only things you actually use) and think about how much things cost at the grocery store and if it's really worth that to you.

Oi Same Boat

We decided to live off my single income during my wife's pregnancy, and put her income into savings. Depending on how much we actually manage to save, we might be able to live off my income alone (with her income as supplement only) so my wife can be a stay at home mom for a year.

First thing I did was create an expense worksheet in Exel (or google docs) outlining all our non-negotiables (Rent, Utilities, Auto Payments). Using the worksheet I could compare our income to expenses. I could also easily see where I wanted to reduce cost.

I used these numbers to create projections of our expenses when baby comes. Adding new montly expenses like heath insurance, diapers... all that. Then added yearly expenses (birthdays, taxes...) , and took the total number and added 10% per month for a safety buffer. It's just good to look at so you can see where your money is going, and were it might go when baby comes.

I would be happy to share this document for anyone who wants to take a look at it. I'll take out my numbers and repost an empty doc.

Here's were we cut spending:

TV - No more cable. Just nextflix. With the amount of free TV on the net these days... netflix is basically all you need. Almost all major networks have their shows online now. I also suggest maybe getting an HD receiver if you live in an area with decent reception. It would cost less then a cable plan for fewer channels (HD broadcast has substations, so more channels!)

Phones - switching to smaller plans, but keeping it realistic! Nothing is worse and harder on your wallet then paying for extra minutes usage.

Food - We have a monthly grocery budget. We also have to buy on sale and buy smart. We used to try and keep organic... but that's not always realistic for budgeting (Oraganics can cost 3 times as much). Basically never walk into the store with out making a list. ALSO never go to the store hungry!!! HAHA seriously... it matters that much.

No more buying lunches at work, That's like $50-100 a month. Unless we meet for lunch (which is like once every two weeks, and we share.)

Utilities - Stop showering.... ok really though, I used to take like 20 minute long showers. Most of the time I'll try and hop in there while my wife is in there If you wanna be extra eco friendly, get wet, turn off the water, soap up, water back on, wash off. Get out!

Turn your lights off, bla bla most people know all the power saving tips anyways. Switching bulbs can save a lot too. OR using timers. Do your research on laundry detergent too, most brands tell you to use more than you really need.

Pets- We actually found that the Vet inside PetsMart (Banford) was the best in our area. If you sign up for their health plan it covers A LOT of stuff. It would save you about 15% A YEAR on pet expenses (medications, shots, vet visits)

Allowance - I think what's really hard is feeling like you have no give in your spending. Both my wife and I work, and she goes to school as well... sometimes it's hard to get dinner going. We allow ourselves a CASH ONLY allowance. $150 at home, we each carry like 20-30, but it makes so we are less likely to spend it.