Livin' it up... well sort of

Are you living on or off post? If you are living off post maybe you should check into base housing. My daughter and son-in-law live on post, which means basically their house is paid for each month, which saves them a considerable amount of money each month. He is Army, and makes a bit more than that due to his ranking. One way to save is to start looking at every little thing you spend money on. Do you eat out often, go to coffee shops, etc.? If so, start buying flavored coffee and making it at home, just one example.

That's about what we have for our family of...5+. I don't know how big your family is or what food prices are in your area or your habits but I can think of a few things that might help. Buy store brands at least half the time (you can mix some things half and half with a brand name to make it better or seem more like the brand....canned veggies, juice, laundry detergent), but aim for completely switching to store brands on as many items as possible. Cancel magazine and newspaper subcriptions, usually most of them can be found online for free. Join a local freecycle group, you can often find nice things on there that you would have had to pay a lot of money for from a store...this is especially great if you have small children. Switch to the most basic packages on your tv, phone and internet...at least the most basic that is still practical for your needs. Paying for unlimited long distance might seem like a great deal, but if you rarely make long distance calls you might be better off just paying for actual usage (just as an example). Limit convenience items like frozen dinners and single serve items. If you have kids, those juice boxes might seem a lot easier than dealing with lost cups all the time but they are a lot more expensive. You could buy various gladware containers and make your own ready to heat meals Use coupons, watch for sales, and hold on like the rest of us are struggling to do!