This Nestie couple let us peek at their monthly budget to find out where they’re overspending and how to save.
Location: Farmington, CT
Ages: She's 24; he's 25.
Careers: She's a youth counselor; he's a photo editor.
Financial Goals: Establish a realistic monthly budget and save to buy a home
See their money makeover plan after the jump.
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| Transportation Depending on your driving record, insurance can cost less than $100 a month. Add that to negotiating a cheaper lease (or a less pricey ride altogether!), and Joe’s car payments could go down to as little as $200. Don’t forget about cash for gas!
Saved: $415 |
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| Cable This might make you cringe, but if you’re working on paying off that credit card debt, get basic cable (which can cost as little as $10 a month!) and go over to your friends’ houses to watch HBO.
Saved: $40 |
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| Drinks On-the-Go We don’t have to tell you that spending on S-bucks (or, ahem, “five-bucks”) is money down the drain. Save some cash -- and paper -- by brewing at home and toting your caffeine in a thermos.
Saved: $10 |
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| Eating Out Okay, so you don’t want to stay cooped up in your house all the time. Next time you go out, skip the wine or eat at home and just order dessert.
Saved: $50 |
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| Traveling to Friends' Weddings Wow, um, 10 weddings?! You do know you don’t have to accept every invite, right? Unless it’s the wedding of a close friend or family member, just politely decline and send a small gift to congratulate them.
Saved: $125 |
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| Big Brother Volunteering Can’t argue with spending money for a good cause! Good news: Cash you shell out for a charity/volunteering (for Joe, it’s taking his “little brother to ball games”) can be deducted from your taxes and save you bucks. So keep those receipts!
Saved: $14 |
|  | Student Loan Payments If you’re having trouble making your minimum payments each month, talk to your lender. You might be able to get a lower rate or at least talk about different payment plans.
Saved: $900 (or less) |
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| Credit Card Payments Got will power? Doubling the amount of your credit card payments (from $300 to $600) will be tough, but it’ll get you that much closer to being a prime home-buying applicant! The cash you have left over can be socked away for savings, a new home, retirement...the options are endless (no more stress, yeah!).
Saved: +$300 |
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| Total Saved: $354 a month(Plus, they'll dig out of debt twice as fast by doubling their credit card payments!) |
> See how another real couple made over their budget
> More getting-out-of-debt solutions
-- Caitlin Moscatello
See More: Getting Out of Debt
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danielle.ryan
We are doing the same thing, only we started with the highest interest rate debts...and using every spare penny to pay extra. It has been working so well!
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devowens
I find what helps is the "snowball effect"..which is paying off the smallest debt first and then when that's paid off, apply what you were paying monthly for that debt to the next smallest debt on top of what you were already paying for that debt..so you pay it off faster and are less likely to spend what you were spending on one debt on more starbucks and movie rentals..
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