I think I’m going to work on cutting our family living expenses for 2025.
It’s not that I feel we had excessive spending last year, but when I saw how much we spent on interest last year, I had a renewed desire to get our debt paid down. What a difference the interest rate makes…
Our monthly typical monthly expenses include food, heat/cooling, power, TV/internet, and gas. Not much fluff.
Where do I even begin to cut expenses if I don’t feel like we had many “foolish” purchases last year?
What to Cut
My first thought for saving was eating out. When we go to a big town to get parts, occasionally drop cows at the sale, or go through a big town as a family we treated ourselves to fast food. How much would we save for the year if we packed a cooler instead?
Starting as we prep for calving, we typically go to Costco or Sam’s Club to stock up on packaged snacks. Then we continue to keep the stock through planting, haying, and harvest. It would be significantly better for our health to not be on packaged snacks and I wonder if it would save us money switching to fruit and baked goods, if it would be a wash, or if I would end up spending more money?
If it was up to me, I could easily cut our TV package! I wouldn’t miss it and would be excited to mark that as money in the bank. Kyle isn’t on board at all so we’ll be keeping the TV for now.
Thinking through our summer clothes inventory, we all should make the summer with no new clothes purchases. I’ll see if the kids’ feet grow and we have new shoes to buy; then again it feels like they would rather be barefoot all summer anyway!
Margins Feel Slim
It doesn’t seem like there is anything obvious to cut. It feels like we were already running a tight ship, but I’m excited to see if watching our food expenses can make a bigger difference than I think it can.
Perhaps, when I’m tempted to buy something that falls in the gray area of we need it, I’ll choose to pass for now.
I would love to hear from you if you found an expense or area of expenses that you were able to cut!
PS — You’re welcome to join the “challenge” and we’ll see how much of a difference we can make together.
The Comments
Shaye Wanner
I started packing my own snacks and lunches for road trips last year. Not that we leave the farm that much, but it probably saves us a few hundred dollars in the long run. Gas Station food isn’t cheap and I prefer to be in control of what I put in my body. It takes more prep time, but I’ve found it to be beneficial for my health and checkbook. Kennedy Younggren also known as the LegenDAIRY dietitian has some AMAZING tips for eating healthier as farm and ranch families. I also just stopped buying some of the packaged food so it forces us to eat healthier. Not always convenient but worth it in the long run.
chelsey
> Shaye WannerI’m on the verge of really jumping in for the health reasons also. Saving money plus taking better care of our bodies sounds like a win-win. Now to make it happen…
Denise Pardee
Sandwiches can be a good filler with lots of tasty varieties. Changes of bread, meat, dressings, veggies, pb&j, grilled cheeses, the list goes on. My parents and I ate sandwiches all the time. We never ate out on the road. My mom packed sandwiches. Always!! Healthier than hamburgers and donuts. lol! Good luck!
chelsey
> Denise PardeeThanks for sharing this! So encouraging to hear from someone that has made it happen!