As November comes to an end, it’s time to reassess the “November Live For Less Challenge.”
This challenge, put down at the beginning of the month asked Non-Consumer Advocate readers to:
“Try and whittle down one’s set monthly expenses. To bring down how much you life is costing you, without bringing down your quality of life.”
And here we are at the end of November.
So . . . .
How did you do?
Did you lower your credit card interest rate, cut cable or sign up for less expensive insurance?
Please share any set expenses you were able to nix in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
My husband and I cut out our gym membership, which will save us $66/month.
Our new form of exercise will be biking, and we’ll likely have his parents buy him a bike for Christmas. Thankfully it’s just a one-time expense and will likely save money from not using the car so much.
I took $30 off our water bill (started in September) by cutting showers to 3 times per week (sink bath the other days) and using the left over shower water to flush the toilets.
I have salad everyday for lunch. I cut $20 off our monthly food bill by foraging in my yard and the park across the street for chickweed, creasy greens and rocket and by growing my own sprouts.
We started making our own bread products and dog treats again and are saving $30 per month on our food bill and hanging out in the kitchen together.
A couple of months ago, my husband got in a car accident and his car was totaled. After much discussion, we have decided to be a one-car family. We both take the bus to work and only use our vehicle for long trips. We are saving on insurance, gas and other car-related expenses. So far, we haven’t missed it.
As for the other “extras” in life–we renegotiated our phone/Internet bill to only $25 per month (saving $15). Also, I stopped our $10 monthly Blockbuster expense. From now on, we will only borrow movies from our local library.
I bought a Yoga for Inflexible People video and cut my yoga classes in half. I also canceled our Blockbuster online and now we rent movies for 99 cents. (Our library charges for movies.)
I also read something about UPS making their routes so they mostly make right turns (not so much waiting for lights and cross traffic) and they saved a bunch of time and fuel. I started trying to plan my errands all at once and I go in a pattern that is mostly right turns. I don’t know if I am saving a lot because I don’t drive that much anyway. But I am trying it for the sake of giving stuff my best shot.
I know I am saving at least 50 bucks a month just on yoga and movies.
I followed your tips to lower my credit card rate.
honestly I feel terrible about having a card since interest based transactions are against my religion, so reducing the rate has helped me more forward to the day where i will be done with it forever and feel better.
And out of necessity I reduced the amount we spend at the grocery store, was shopping out of the freezer for a while.
thanks for the challenge
I’m new to your blog & didn’t get through all the posts yet, so I wasn’t aware of this challenge. However, DH & I were working on it anyways. I’m happy to announce our electric bill is down to $55/month. I was paying upward of $125-150 on FPL’s ‘budget billing’. Not having the A/C on is a big help since our sweltering summers are over. Now, it’s on to the food bill!
We just moved this month, and housesharing with family means $75+ less spent on rent and utilities. We no longer need bus passes so that’s $160 less each month, since my husband works at the same place as his sister and they can car-share. Our share of the gas cost so far is about $10 a week. (We’re in Canada, and gas is expensive here.) We are in the Advent fast now, so we’re not buying meat, dairy, fish or eggs for the two traditional Christians (us) in the house, and while that’s temporary, we will continue with the two-day a week fasts after the holiday ends on January 6 (Epiphany.)
We have reduced our living expenses by over $700 a month by doing one simple thing. Selling our SUV. We are now a one car (paid for) family and I cant tell you how wonderful not having a car payment is.
We also ditched cable which saved another $30/month. Hurray for the challenge!