I’ve learned so much from reading posts. I know how it feels that moment that the money for college tuition feels “real”, and I have to figure out how to cut back on spending when I already cut out the “coffee” money long ago. There’s many seasoned parents here on CC, I thought it might be good to share any financial tips that helped to save money. We’re still looking for ways to cut back. Here are my tips:
We buy larger ticket items used. There’s a site, “nextdoor” that’s very local, and when we need something, we keep our eyes out until we find what we need. It takes time and energy, but the savings are great. Our 20+ year old mattress was killing our backs, and we were able to find a decent used mattress and box spring for $50. A frig for $200. We know our very old, twice repaired dryer has limited life, so we’re now watching ads for that. For us, it is eye opening that there are quality used items out there.
Shopping at goodwill. Kid1 bought a minifridge for college for $4.99. Surprisingly, I’ve scored some nice clothes there. Plus, its green, and I feel good that something has been recycled. I’m not going to sugar coat it - I really just had to get over myself a bit before I made this change.
This weekend, we are changing our internet service, and are not doing any TV service. We’ve purchased a HD TV antenna, and will be installing that for free TV. Wish us luck! With the monthly money we save, the antenna should pay for itself in 3 months. I’ve learned many people have done this, I was I knew sooner.
Amazon prime, gone. I now wait until there are multiple items I’m getting that puts the $ spent into the free shipping category.
Amazon Prime can SAVE you money if you order things. Remember that free shipping part? BUT your kiddo can get a Prime membership for a reduced rate at least for a while as a college student.
The items you list above will save you some money…but also might cause you some annoyance. Just be careful about what you buy used. You might be penny wise and pound foolish. And really, the above aren’t going to save you $25,000 a year.
We also cut the cable but it was more because we hated our cable company. We get better TV now.
How did the Thumper family pay for college? Mr. Thumper worked, and his salary paid our everyday bills. Mrs. Thumper worked, and all of her take home pay paid college costs…all of it. For seven years. So, if spouse number two doesn’t have a job, this could be a good time to get one.
We did see small reductions in things like food consumption at home, and utility costs (especially electric bill…went down by about $30 a month).
One thing I wish we had done…but thought of it way too late. We should have taken ALL of DH’s bonuses and put them in 529 accounts for college.
We took almost all of our pre-tax daycare checks (we’d already paid the daycare bill, just submitted receipts) and socked ‘em into the 529s. Smartest thing we did. Gave our kids lots of choices even after their parents divorced. Ignore this threads about saving costing you. Saving gives you choices.
@intparent yep…we should have done that too. Our kids were in daycare from 1984-1994. There were years when we paid $9000 a year for this. At some point, that money was diverted to private music endeavors…but it could,have been saved for college. First kid didn’t start college until 2003.
@intparent yep…we should have done that too. Our kids were in daycare from 1984-1994. There were years when we paid $9000 a year for this. At some point, that money was diverted to private music endeavors…but it could,have been saved for college. First kid didn’t start college until 2003.
BUT that brings up a good point. In our family, the kids were musicians who each took two different instrument lessons a week, played in precollege wind ensembles and orchestras, and went to summer programs. Those expenses went away when they went to college!
@brantly Lived that small repair advice! and, not to worry, we are bug free, and initially I wasn’t so sure about buying used until I went to the house. I know some areas have a bigger problem than others. The home from which the bed came seemed pretty low risk - I realize you can never tell, but I was willing to take a chance that the selling family had a moral compass. We threw the dice, and lucked out. The larger point I’m trying to make is that where I live, there are families that upgrade, or move, and sell bigger-ticket items at a low cost just to get them out of the house. 5 years ago, it would have never crossed my mind to look at items for sale on Nextdoor.
We opened a 529 when our daughter was born. Grandparents and great grandparents were great about just doing small gifts at xmas and taking the rest of the money they would have spent on toys and stuff that would have been grown out of in 6 months into the 529. Any extras we earned went into the 529 as well.
Drive cars until they are 8 to 10 years old, and my husband currently drives a car that would be considered cheap even for a high school kid!
We just aren’t buying stuff these days – want to downsize in a few years anyway.
Saved in 529s (but frankly not enough as we prioritized retirement saving)
Sold an inherited vacation property that I had 1/3 ownership in. We mentally ‘earmarked’ this asset for college about 10 years ago, but that’s when the real estate market was terrible so we didn’t sell. My brothers and I finally felt like timing was good enough to sell last year and my share is 100% for college. Doesn’t compensate for my kids losing that grandma when they were young, but I’ve let them know the contribution she made toward their future. It’s covering about 1 year of college for each them which is very helpful!
We’ve also mentally earmarked some equity in our home for kid #2 if he attends private. We plan to downsize when he’s a first-year in college to a smaller home in a nearby less expensive area. Some of the money we get out of this house (we have a lot of equity) can help with college. Or, if market tanks and we can’t sell, we’d take out home equity loan until we did sell, but I hope that doesn’t happen.
@AlmostThere2018 We had a downsize plan to move the next town over with cheaper property taxes and house values. We put the house on the market in June 2018, we just took it off the market 2 weeks ago. We leaned so much about today’s buyers, basically, everything needs to be in move-in condition. We’ve decided after college to do the renovations and wait for a good market to sell if our timing is off. The market had spoken, and our house was “too much work”. We thought the neighborhood desirable enough that someone would be willing to re-do a kitchen the way they wanted, but it didn’t work out that way. Real estate is very local, our high property taxes, combined with the property tax deduction changes and raising interest rates put a damper on sales. House were no longer getting snatched up, even when I kept hearing the stories in the media. I’m watching the prices drop, although it could be seasonal.
@twoinanddone I’ve learned to love old school, hoping my car will last that long.
@DoinResearch – I hear you! We redid our kitchen and floors about 3 years ago. We’re about to do a big backyard landscaping project. And we have a bunch of small inside repairs I need to get started on. We’ll paint and get new carpets right b4 we put on the market. Fort., we live in the district with, arguably, the best public schools in the state and are within walking distance to the middle and high school. We’re a tech and medical hub area with good growth right now. Not in the NE so that mortgage deduction change doesn’t affect houses in our area much – or at least not in our neighborhood.
We’ve had a lot of turnover recently and houses are selling within a couple months. Fingers crossed that continues cuz we can’t move yet as our S is only a Sophomore!
We have always had our ways of saving money here and there, love thrift stores, but we don’t have 529s or specific money saved for college. We did buy the girls their cars, pay for gas, and most expenses so that the great majority of their wages went to their savings accounts. I think we’re going to get both through without major financial stress- mostly by choosing inexpensive schools.
DD’17 went off to community college with $16K in the bank from working/graduation/birthday gifts etc. She got several scholarships and what little I do pay in tuition we get back with the tax credit. She works enough to pay for rent and groceries and therefore still has $14K. She’ll be all done with her program in May. So that’s how we managed that one.
My plan for DD’19 who will attend a 4 year is as follows: Choose a college with a COA after auto merit of $15K or less. We have found a few (yay for living in the Midwest!) and the one I think she’ll go to includes a laptop and books at no extra cost. She’s in the running for competitive merit so she’ll apply for that, every possible local scholarship, and the school’s foundation scholarships for continuing students every year. She’ll have about $12K saved, and continue to work summers and school year. DD currently cleans the office where I work, so I’ll take over that job when she’s gone and contribute those funds and what I earn as a church organist. Over the next several months I think I will save back some bonuses and part of what DH gets from his side gig. She’ll save some money by moving off campus the last two years, and we’ll get money back with the tax credit. After all that, I think we might just have to chip in a couple thousand a semester out of income, at most!
Just long term commitment to saving (we do this for retirement too and that is a sacred account- can’t be used for ANYTHING barring true emergency). 1. Systematic savings plan every month for the past 15 yrs (for college).
2. Whenever I can, throw extra money at savings. My income has always been commission based. When we get a nice deposit, I always pretend it was a little less and throw the difference in the college fund. Otherwise we would likely spend it. This way, we don’t miss it and it has helped the compounding process.
One of the biggest savings is that I’m the handy mom around the house and have a good handyman for things I need help with. I deal with issues while they are small. When our fence started to look terrible, I was able to extend its life by replacing individual boards. (Eventually, one of the post rotted and I had the fence replaced - not bad for a 24 yr old fence.)
No cars for the children. They use Uber as needed. DS takes the city bus, school shuttle, or carpool with parents when in town. Much cheaper than a car + insurance. I’m looking at paying our non-escrowed property taxes with a rewards credit card this year and using the miles for flights for DS. (His Thanksgiving trip home cost me $14.) I’ve been doing a self escrow and will pay the bill off immediately.
My hard-to-fit daughter did an interesting thing for her homecoming dress, although not as cheap as direct second-hand purchase might have been for someone easier to fit. She ordered a dress from Rent The Runway. I love the process and the service! I told both daughters to look for dresses for their end of the year events. (I have three formal outfits purchased on sale and just rotate them. I don’t care!)
I glad it is getting colder. That’s crock pot season for us. Knowing there is a tasty home-cooked meal waiting for us will cut down on eating take out due to lack of time.
Be married to someone who loses his job when the children are very young and decides to not look for work for six years.
Freak out because of item 1) and spend the rest of your life being afraid to spend money on yourself.
Okay, I actually don’t recommend this but the fact that 1) and 2) resulted in me having enough money at this point in my life does mean that it has been effective, if draconian.