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I’m a new Kollel guy and need help to save money
Buy off-brands, don’t go to restaurants, and wear second-hand clothing. I’m sure others will add some more ideas.
make a monthly budget and stick to it
verizon has a lifeline phone plan- 7 dollars a month for the unlimited local calling. no caller id, long distance or call waiting. you will have to send in a copy of your benefit card. Of course there is foodstamps (giant help, you’d be surprised) and medicaid. retailmenot.com has coupons for websites. also, a lot of websites have rewards programs, or sign up for savings….. also, you’ll learn how to shop on sale racks ((buy off season for next season…clearance can have great stuff too…), or find stores that are cheaper than others. also, maybe consider side jobs- shabbos groups or something… Just remember Hashem sends! Some months we have no idea how we paid our bills, but it happens! Bitachon Bitachon Bitachon!
also, i always search online for whatever i’m buying to get a deal. search it in google, then click shopping on top of the screen and sort from low to high. ebay has good deals too!
These are a few of my tips. When shopping for groceries make a list and stick to it. Don’t shop when you are hungry – it leads to a lot of impulse purchases. Study the weekly grocery store flyers and shop where the prices are lowest. Use manufacturer coupons that come in the newspaper – but only if you need or use the product. If something you use often is on sale at a great price and isn’t perishable, stock up. Often, on the internet, you can find coupons that aren’t published elsewhere. I recently got a coupon for 5.00 off ice cream using the internet.
Don’t eat chicken/beef etc most of the time – save it for shabbos and yom tov. Eat more eggs, beans, rice, potatoes and vegetables.
Walk everywhere you can. Bike further distances.
If you just got married, I am assuming that you each came with an adequate wardrobe. Don’t buy new clothing unless absolutely necessary.
Don’t hire out cleaning help. If you find that you and your wife are having trouble keeping up on your current schedule, take off 1 hour a week from Kollel. That should be enough to clean your apartment since you don’t have kids (again, going with the newly married just in Kollel vibe). If it saves you the $100/week, its that much longer that you can stay in Kollel.
Check out http://www.pennilessparenting.com to see how a frum womanlives frugally. Its a kosher site – and all the recipes are kosher:-)
Get rid of smartphones – use pay as you go phones and rarely use them.
sjs, chicken isn’t all that expensive. about $11 for a pound of chicken cutlets, which is all you need for a new couple. you can eat normally! maybe meat should be saved for shabbos, but then again I’m not are who eats meat during the week regularly anyway. pasta is a great supper and so is chicken cutlets with a rice etc. etc. etc. cut off on the things you don’t need (like a $400 suit when there is a good quality suit for $200, or skip the candy aisle at the supermarket. or, like in my house i buy the cheaper brand tissues, but if someone has a cold I will buy the softer brands so there nose won’t fall off!)- shop wisely! also, luach.com, torah times and probably other classifieds have stuff for free (used, but comes in handy for the stuff you don’t want to spend on)
sms007, I hope that was a typo. $11 for one pound of cutlets?? Mine are $3.89 a pound! A nice “family-size” package is usually around $11. Maybe that’s what you meant.
Good point about the cheaper brands – I started buying Target brand tissues (pretty much the same as Kleenex, and that’s not even the extra-soft ones!), paper towels (okay, but not as good as Bounty), and even the “compare to” versions of some of my toiletries (I usually can’t tell the difference, but if you can, just switch back – buying one can’t hurt!). Also, a lot of ShopRite brand stuff is kosher and tastes the same as the regular brands (i.e. rice, baking stuff, pasta, etc.).
Look online for coupons before making big purchases, and keep your store coupons (no matter how small, but only if you know you’ll use them) organized by store and date so that you can pull them out while shopping and check that they’re not expired.
Shop at outlets and look out for sales. Shop around for bigger items like appliances and be sure you’re getting the best possible rate for insurance.
Good luck!
it actually wasn’t a typo. maybe I’ll be looking around for different prices…. maybe i read wrong???? gotta go check that out
Wow. I don’t know where you live, but I can get a nice brisket for $11 a pound…
The question was “How do I save money?” Beans are cheaper than chicken hands down.
Start using cloth instead of paper towels, napkins, tablecloths etc.
chicken is cheaper than vegetables. send to the cleaners less often, try to avoid credit cards and buy off brands.
Subway Savings
Subway fares are going up!
On Dec. 30, 2010 subway fares are scheduled to rise from $2.25 to $2.50
The bonus will change as follows:
-A $10.00 or greater amount will be needed to get the bonus (currently $8.00)
-The bonus will be 7% (currently 15%)
A $1.00 fee will be charged when buying a new metrocard.
Unlimited ride cards will be refillable. This allows the MTA to charge the $1.00 fee for new unlimited ride cards, too.
IIRC, an expired or expiring card can be traded in for a new card without the fee.
Here are a few suggestions:
1) Buy several metrocards before the scheduled increases. This will provide you with an instant 8% savings, based on the 15% bonus they currently come with. Also, this gives you several metrocards, just in case you ever need more than one and want to avoid the upcoming $1.00 fee for a new one.
2) Use an online metrocard bonus calculator (Google it) to see what amount should be put on your card for a specific amount of rides without leaving any money over on your card after the last ride.
A couple of caveats:
Firstly sit down with your wife and “discuss” a budget and discuss what you need versus what you want. Then figure out what you can actually do without before asking anyone else for advice. Try to figure things out as a couple and then as a couple ask for ideas from the other couples in your community. Sometimes it pays to buy in bulk and split things with a neighbor or two so you all get the benefit of the savings. So for instance if one couple hosts Friday night and one couple hosts Shabbos day, you each wind up spending on just one meal and it really comes out cheaper than both of you spending on two meals.
Walking and carpooling if you can work that out with your neighbors will save on gas and/or car insurance or car payments. Using extra sweaters or heavier blankets can save on heating bills if you pay for heat. Buying on sale is always a good idea and then making up menus with items you find on sale works as well. You don’t necessarily have to be stubborn about the foods you eat, try new foods because they are on sale.
But most importantly disscuss everything with your wife and make sure you are on the same page.
ilovetohock
Avoid eating out as much as possible especially in expensive restaurants. Its a huge expense on young couples. Try to get rides carpool.
Quit smoking if you do that. Shop online, you can buy most things cheaper online than in retail stores.
The food suggestions are good, but bear in mind that the first few months can be tough on a new kalla, especially if she doesn’t have much kitchen experience. And especially if she has a tough schedule even if she can cook, so chill a bit till you get your bearings.
Though reading the circulars, getting to know prices, finding an older local woman to be a mentor as far as learning the ropes go is a good idea.
And as you’ve seen so far, there are a lot more areas to explore than food. Hatzlacha!
There are great second hand suits on e-bay for $10.
Get to know pricings, don’t just buy. I know the price of mayo, milk, eggs all the basics so I know when I see a good deal. I am the type that will do my grocery shopping in 3 diff stores to save. Pple say they dont have time etc. it doesnt take much longer if you go with a car and good attitude.
ilovetohock
cancel your internet service, if it’s that important leave kollel and get a job!
Kollel IS a job.
sjsinnyc – Why take off kollel for 1hr a week instead of having claning help? Is it worth it to be Mivatel Torah for a whole hour – just for $10 Dollars?
Don’t use chicken cutlets. Use dark meat pieces and chop meat for fleish. Save things like kolichel and other cuts for Shabbos chulent, and even in that, don’t use too much fleish. Shop in places like the Kollel store that are on the more inexpensive side. And consider doing things to make money, like the following idea that is a mitzvah in and of itself- record chaburos on different sugyos with Rashi, Tosfos, rishonim, acharonim and sell the recordings through the Torah Tapes library, or through the internet. I would be your first customer. You can buy a recorder for about $30.00 at stores like the Buzz or other places. You can make some extra money this way, or by learning b’chavrusa with people who work, for a fair fee (maybe something like $25 an hour).
I found a fantastic way to s-t-r-e-tc-h your money- it has no gimmicks- no hidden charges. Pay $255 and get a debit card of $300. This is just to start. Can also get cards from the worlds biggest retailer paying $155 and getting $200 cards. http://tinyurl.com/savnearn listen to this call to find out more 8 p.m. Eastern Wed or Sunday Thursday Est at noon 605-477-2100 ext: 1093752#
Correction put in the wrong place above to find out more info:
http://tinyurl.com/savenearn It’s just fantastic- it’s a must do for anyone struggling to make ends meet!
chesedname, if ilovetohock “loves to hock”, what would s/he do without internet? (You can’t say hock with friends because you need Facebook for that…!)
My own personal secret, which I learned from my mother, is to combine coupons, coupon doubling, sales and rebates to get the best price on the food items we use most commonly. Now, with resources like eBay, I have improved upon my dear mother’s methods.
Here’s how it works for groceries and personal care products:
Say your family uses a lot of ketchup.
Go on ebay and search for heinz ketchup coupons.
Buy 20 of them for about $6.00.
Wait til Heinz Ketchup goes on sale at your local supermarket. This week, at mine, they are 2 big bottles for $5.
Buy about 20 bottles of Ketchup. $2.50 per bottle – $1.50 off per doubled coupon – – net cost $1.35 per bottle, about 1/3 of regular price.
I do this on shampoo, eggs, cereal, yogurt, spaghetti, salsa and many other items. I recently got brand name baby shampoo for $0.75 per bottle. I have enough to last me several years in the basement.
Of course, you need a lot of storage space if you buy this way, but the prices end up being 1/2 to 1/3 of the regular prices. Do this for your top 10 or 20 items, and you will end up saving thousands each year.
I would like to brag briefly: Once, I went shopping and got a large bag of groceries, and they PAID ME $8. This was the perfect storm combo of coupons, doubled coupons, sale and a manufacturer’s mail-in rebate. It doesn’t happen that often, so it’s sort of the hole-in-one of guerilla shopping.
da
i agree, maybe kollel isn’t for him, especially if he’s getting or plans on getting a tuition break, which we have to pick up!!
one easy one is shut lights and water when not in use
chesedname
i hope your school doubles your tuition so you can have the zchus to support some kollel guys, even if you dont want to.
rebdoniel – who do you know that buys chaburos?
missme
don’t you mean i hope you can pay double to help support kollel guys?
they can charge what they want, who said i could pay?
I really love this thread. Definitely a good start learning how to save money. Tutoring on the side as was mentioned here is a nice supplement as well.
To Ronsr:
I assume the coupons were good for seventy five cents each, so in effect you were buying $15.00 worth of coupons for $6.
Not every store doubles over $1.
Not every store that does accepts internet coupons.
I just read a couponing book and signed up on CouponMom’s website. I have yet to come across coupons for the products I buy And no, I’m not a brand snob but it’s the cheapest decent detergent; with coupons and what not the other brands are not likely to be cheaper as sales are less frequent.
Which actually brings me to a good tip: buy generic. The world will not come to an end if you buy the store brand mayo at 1.99 . With time you’ll know which kinds of things are fine in the knockoff version (we still splurge on Pledge furniture polish, vs. the dollar store’s, but maybe that’s us), etc.
About chickens, when you are on a budget you don’t buy cutlets. You buy whole chickens and debone them yourself. Its cheaper that way.
tzippi, I’m not ronsnr but the coupons he is talking about are probably not internet printables, so they’d be accepted by most stores (subject to coupon limits, which vary by store).
I save the coupon inserts from the Sunday paper (I pay less than $1/ week for the daily paper). If the inserts for a particular week include very good coupons, I buy extra papers at the dollar store.
I don’t cut out and sort these coupons. Instead I write the date on each insert and file it. When I plan my shopping, I look up the product in an online coupon database & cut out the coupons I need for that week’s sales.
Also, when you are shopping you can find extra coupons in advertising displays (either tearpads or those blinking machines that dispense one coupon at a time). I try to pick up a few of any coupon I see for a kosher product, even if it doesn’t seem to be worth much, because you never know when a sale or other promotion will come along that will match perfectly with the coupon.
Beside couponmom you may want to try other couponing websites, especially those with active forums for your grocery store. Sometimes the best deals aren’t well-advertised, but are discussed online.
I don’t pay more than $1.50 for a bottle of brand name mayo. I am not brand conscious about laundry detergent, so I don’t pay more than $1 for a 32 load bottle. (I find that some products manufactured specifically for dollar stores are of lower quality than their regular store-brand or name-brand couterparts).
Sales on brand-name products are less frequent, but sometimes brand-name products can work out to be cheaper than store-brand, since you can combine sales with coupons and other promotions. This does require storage space and some planning but is not too difficult.
This week my grocery store paid me to take home cereal, snacks, and baking mixes.
dear Tzippi,
The coupons I buy are not internet coupons, but rather coupons found and clipped from newspapers and magazines, and collected, then sold on ebay.
The Heinz Ketchup example was an expensive one, since those are popular coupons, but I generally get coupons for $.10 – $.20 each for Pasta, laundry detergent, eggs, etc.
I am fortunate enough to live near a supermarket that doubles coupons up to $0.99. I also have a large basement that is quite cold in the winter, so I can store a lot of this stuff.
That said, I still save thousands per year on groceries, with two teenaged boys with huge appetites.
Hey, how do you get the Sunday paper for less than $1/week?
on Ebay, you can buy sheets of postage stamps for 3/4 of their face value. Stamp collecting isn’t as popular as it was in the old days.
I had a business once where our largest cost was postage. This saved me a lot of money.
Did anyone watch http://www.pennilessparenting.com as suggested above in this thread by some member? I went there, and was astounded at this young ladies’ unique way of living. From “family cloth” re-washable toilet paper, to canning olives she picked off some tree in old bottles. I am ashamed to ask Must people really live this way? I mean how much can Disposable Menstrual pads cost monthly? $4 ? She makes everything. Must a frum person live this way?
does she do it by choice, or by necessity. I know people who are seeking to simplify their lives, and reduce their footprint, who do some of those same things.
“on Ebay, you can buy sheets of postage stamps for 3/4 of their face value. Stamp collecting isn’t as popular as it was in the old days.”
ron – You’ll be licking a bunch of 9 cent stamps to each envelope this way. (Who sends much postal mail anyways these days?)
Frumladygit, if you aren’t supporting your family on your current income, you should either increase your earning or decrease your spending.
She is living debt free. Her husband has a simple job and earns little. She stays home with her kids and takes *gasp* cleaning jobs on the side.
It is a Jewish value to support your family. Its also a Jewish value to take care of your environment. She is doing both. That’s a lot more noble than people who say “it doesn’t pay for me to work because I can mooch off of others.”
yes, Ben Torah, I favored stamps with a value between $0.20 and $0.40. Yes, I did a lot of licking, but I saved a lot of money. Postage was the major cost of my business.
SJSinNYC
She wouldn’t last in Williamsburg.
Subway Savings – Last Chance
If you use pay-per-ride metrocards, stocking up on them today will get you a 15% bonus.
Tomorrow the bonus will be only 7%.
Thanks ICOT. Just passed that on to someone living on a Kollel budget who commutes to work daily!
never buy take out food ..
not I – what is a kollel budget mean if he commutes to work?
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