Saving for the Wedding

Hay Ladies,

I was just wondering how you were going about saving for the wedding. I have been on many vacations on a budget and have been trying to apply those same rules to the wedding and I think in the long run you might be able to save some extra money (for little things here and there). So what are your tips for saving money??

- change in those bottles and cans.
- save your change (I once rolled up almost $100 - that could pay for something!!)
- cut out one thing you splurge on everyday, like a coffee or even for those smokers, try to cut down. But put that money aside instead of throwing it back into the budget.
- Join programs online that will help you save money (mypoints.com etc. etc. ).

Hmm can't think of any others right now. Does anyone else have any ideas??

Bring breakfast & lunch to work is a big money saver.

Cutting down on entertainment expenses.

We saved our change for over a year and that coverd most of our spending money on our HM.

When we were first engaged we had just bought a house and FH became umemployed, !!

But we did okay with:

We stopped going out to eat for several months and really cut back on our entertainment expenses. Buying nice steaks and a bottle of wine at the grocery store is still much cheaper than eating out and paying tips.

We use Netflix DVD rental service and almost never go out to see films.

We invested in some good imported board games and have friends over to play neat games-- saves us all money!

Save those tax refunds, that really helped!

FI and I used to religiously go out to very expensive dinners. Since we got engaged, we have basically stopped doing that except for special occasions. That has helped us drastically !!! Also, I stopped purchasing clothing. I only get clothing that I REALLY want on my birthday, christmas, etc. It is not fun to do this, but it's necessary until the wedding day !!!

I would have to say that overall I think limiting entertainment expenses is the easiest way to save money.

20% of my salary goes into various accounts for the wedding. And I go thru stages of a few months at a time where I am extremely frugal about everything, then I loosen up just for a short time so I don't feel deprived!!


We also do the change thing - FI has been putting his in a jar as long as I've known him. But he doesn't like when I roll it or bring it to the bank, whereas I want to do it all the time.

I am also a religious coupon user and gotten a Shell Mastercard where I get cash back for my gas purchases (since I'm filling up all the time to get back & forth to work).

We're actually saving for a house in a year and a half, hopefully, so we're trying to save agressively... pretty much like everyone else, cutting back on entertainment, shopping, eating out. It's a lot healthier to cook your own food.... you have control of what you cook with. I just found an awesome recipe site... www.epicurious.com...

We spent a lot of money last month, so hopefully this month will be a little better....

Good luck all!

We try to save by not going out a lot. we NEVER go to the movies. We only go out to eat once in awhile--i'm talking full dinnners--we go out with friends for dessert and late night snacks lol

we save change-we had over $300 last time we cashed it in - and our bank does it for free so we don't have to roll it or pay a coin star machine a percentage of the amount to do it for us! lol

we put anything of our paychecks that we can put away after we pay bills.

just basically cut all corners and don't do any unnecessary spending.

No movies, no going out to eat, no take-out or delivery, bring cheap lunches to work everyday, tucking away over half my income every month, saving up change, and WE BOTH BOUGHT BRAND NEW CARS!!!

How does buying two brand new cars save us money?? Well, we already were making car payments anyway so we got lower interest rates, which lowered each of our monthly payments by up to $100/month (not bad) PLUS both our cars were starting to need expensive maintenance work so now, with new cars, we have fresh warranties so no worrying that one of our cars will blow up a screw up our savings plan!!!

Heres what I did to save money:

Stop the shopping... i know painful as it sounds, I havent shopped for clothes, makeup etc now for months! im dying but realized that I had bought a lot of things I didnt need.

make my breakfast and lunch- im saving so much money there. I do buy a coffee in the morning but buy a smaller size.

we dont go out as much anymore.. bottle of wine and a video...

it was hard at first because i like to shop.. i dont go to the expensive stores but i do like to buy things to make myself feel good. Shopping is my therapy... but we did save a lot and Im proud of what we saved!

I didnt read through this post so I apologize if I repeat any.

I am paying for my wedding myself.

Bring food to work. I have fallen in love with Cheerios Berry since it went on sale and I tried it! PB&J isnt all that bad if you treat yourself to a yogurt or small bag of chips.

Food Shopping - Watch them pennies. Do you really need Premium bag of cookies or could you spend it on buying some tasty chips for work instead? We started buying Coke by the can as opposed to the bottle for work. The can is enough and it's cheaper. We buy lots of Pasta and Ground Beef or Steak.

Eat IN! - This is big for the same reason as Food shopping. Jim & I eat dinner at home for around $6 ($4 for Steak, $.65 for Corn, $??cheap for Rice) Pasta Dinner is even cheaper. We have gotten creative with dinner. Not eating out saves SOOOO much. Still we go out once on the weekends to keep our sanity.

Order Food (when out) to EAT - Now that we only eat out once a week we found we really don't need the appetizer and the salad and the entree and the dessert to make a dinner. We have found better places that serve large portions and we share. Sounds simple but it's huge. Jim & I eat out now for $25 total with tax!!! It's mussels di zuppa in great red sauce with a pasta dish to follow and soda. We share both dishes and honestly we're stuffed. We were amazed to see how much we could cut back when going out and still be happy.

Going Out? Why? - We have become big time believers in Hollywood video. We plan out what we want to see in movie theatres. We signed up for various clubs that give us discounts on things we must HAVE to do (Jillian's & Dave & Busters) but mostly we just found alterate ways to entertain ourselves.
haha not all just that. Jim & I spend tons of time together so we've found more and more we both like in common. Video Games, movies, TV series (Alias, CSI and so forth)

Shopping for what you Need - Ok, I say this after spending $480 at a Dooney & Bourke Tent Sale, but that's the first purchase over $150 we've made since we got engaged in June. We only buy what we absolutely need. Meaning shoes, clothes and such. Do you REALLY 'NEED' that? We walk aroud as a couple saying 'Ooohh I want I want.. errr.. favors, cake, tux.. hrmm nevermind'. We've made a joke of it now.

Look for hidden savings - Food, Insurance, travel. For us, we save tons by buying Coke (which we both drink religiously) only when it's on sale $0.79 for 2 liter bottles. We buy the max allowed, we stock up. If we run out, we just deal (which honestly we should do more often) until the next sale. Same goes for corn and rice. Insurance, we both worked on what we could afford in our insurance auto, home, health that was or wasn't needed to save money. Raising deductibles if possible, dropping extras we don't use. Travel, ok this was easy. If he drove me to a certain train station I saved $70 on travel and he paid $5 extra in gas than normal. That math was easy.

Time Management - Save money on how you live your life. Try (if you're comfortable) to pay stuff online when safe instead of spending stamps or paying overdue charges when missing payments the old fashioned way. Make that trip to the store worth it (gas-wise) plan out the weekend. Don't get bored!

WILLPOWER!! - We physically pay for our wedding every paycheck. We actually deposit a little (im talking real little) with each check. Seems like nothing but it adds up.

Bank accounts & Interest rates - No real brainer here. Pay off those smaller debts that you're getting taken on with the interest rates! I moved my bank account to save money charges. I was paying $30 a month before, nothing big right? Well that's over $350 a year!

Good Luck!

PS: If I sound obessive, I am! I can stretch a penny!!!! LOL

OH ! and get Free meals!!

I did the same thing with ING.. they offer great rates its amazing!! Good posting!! :).. Now is the hard part.. have any of you become soo frugal that when you go to register you register for the most inexpensive items?