One of my original savings goals when I formally started my savings journey* five years ago was to have $10,000 in our savings account for emergencies.
*I say formally, because prior to setting this goal, while I had been frugal most of my life (always buying clothing on sale or clearance, comparison shopping for large purchases), I didn't have a coupon wallet, do rebates, obtain freebies, or enroll in points programs or birthday clubs. I had two grocery club cards and that's about it.
In 2006, as we were planning our wedding, the fiancé (now Mr. Cacoupondiva) and I decided to save $10,000 to have a cushion in case of emergencies (that's a nice little emergency fund for two people in their twenties!). I had $934.00 in my savings account, so we had a long road ahead of us. With a budget drawn up, I started couponing and using frugal living strategies that I had read about online on various forums and websites. We matched sales with coupons, requested freebies online, ate out less, and really watched our bottom line.
By the end of 2007, we had gotten married and our savings account swelled to $8000 (thanks in no small part to all of our wonderful family and friends who gave us cash as wedding gifts). We were just $2k away from our goal. But I started thinking about what to do after the goal had been achieved... Do I give up at $10K? NO! Do I continue to save for a next big milestone? YES!
In February of 2008, we hit our goal (Thank Uncle Sam for the nice Tax Refund!!), and I took 1/2 of the amount in savings and opened a Money Market account. Our Credit Union was offering a nice APR, and I figured we weren't going to spend the money right away, so I plopped $5000 in a money market account and let it accumulate some interest.
We discussed our goals, and decided that our next goal would be to plump up both accounts (savings and Money market) up to $10k EACH! That's pretty lofty a goal, but I knew that we could do it. We continued to put away $200-$400/month, as well as any gift money, tax refunds, rebates, insurance dividends, whatever extra money crossed our palms.
Late in 2010, Mr. Cacoupondiva was laid off :( With his severance package, we were able to hit our goal for our money market account, as well as pay a few bills in advance (rent, phone, life and disability insurance). I was able to re-work the budget, and we saved his Unemployment benefits and lived off my paycheck alone, and by January of 2011, we had achieved our goal in full!
2010 was the year of "The Free" and after the lay off, "The Free" became even more important. We used the groupons we had, restaurant.com gift certificates, and other gift cards we had on had for date nights, I worked mypoints to obtain more gift cards to lower our OOP at CVS, Walgreens, and other places we shopped regularly. We skipped nights out with friends when it was too costly, and frequently had friends over for dinner and a movie or games.
I've hosted several houseparty.com parties as well. Those are always a source of great entertainment, the goodies are supplied and there are always freebies for the guests to take home!
Since our goal of $10k in each of our accounts has been achieved, we've saving for milestones in $5k increments. It's easier to achieve goals if you break them down. It wasn't easy to save $10k, it wasn't easy to save $20k. I'd like to save a million dollars, but that seems daunting. By breaking a goal down into bite sized pieces, sometimes going without a brand new car with huge monthly payments, a flat screen TV, or a new Coach purse seems easier. When we want those "things", I look at the screen capture of our savings account and Money market account balances that i have saved on our desktop and remind myself that buying those "things" won't grow our net worth. "Things" won't help us save for a house or a newer (but not brand new) car for Mr. Cacoupondiva. Our current TV works well, his car still runs, and we'll be able to start looking for a house in the next few years.
We're still living frugally. We're still savings $200-$400/month.
My top frugalista tips are:
- Use coupons. Combine them with sales. Not just on groceries. JCP has coupons all the time! I never pay retail prices for anything!
- Buy mark down meat- Freeze it. It isn't rotten when you buy it, it is a few days away from it's pull date.
- Go meatless one or more days a week. Meat is expensive! Other sources of protein are cheaper.
- Buy markdown bakery items (bread, croissants).
- Cook from scratch. It's cheaper and better for you.
- Buy items in bulk when they are less costly than the smaller quantity (Not everything at Costco is a good deal!!).
- Menu Plan. If this is too daunting, keep a list on your fridge of meals that you can make with the food in your house. After you have cooked a meal, cross it off the list.
- Eat what is in your cupboard! A full cupboard is swell, but if you don't eat the food in it, you are wasting money.
- Freebies! Keep your eyes open for samples, clubs that offer freebies (birthday clubs, store loyalty clubs), free community events, etc.. Take advantage of FREE!
- If you want/need to buy something, wait a week. It may go on sale, you may find it cheaper at another store, or you may decide that you don't "need" the item after all.
- It pays to shop around.
I've had a few people ask me how free samples helped us out? I order free samples online for several reasons:
1- Often times it is a new product. By trying a free sample, I am saving money by not buying the product before I try it. Most samples come with a coupon as well. So if we like it, I'll buy it when it is on sale (and use my coupon!)
2- We used to travel a lot more (family camping trips, Disneyland trips, weekends away) and sample sizes are great for a travel toiletry kit. Travel size toiletries can be expensive! Now I use them as I get them, after I re-stock our travel toiletry kits (we still go camping once or so a year with the fam).
3- In the past I have used some of the nicer freebies in gift baskets, especially if they are higher end samples or if I know the gift recipient specifically likes a product.
We're still saving. We will continue to save. I encourage everyone to save money- for a nest egg, for a home, for a car, for no reason at all, other than you want to protect yourself in case of a rainy day!
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