When I lost my job, i immediately stopped my $425 monthly mortgage prepayments and of course my spending on entertainment, clothing and eating out (fast food only now) is minimal, altho I’d like to have the discipline to make it $0 as well. But I really needed a few new clothes, since I put on 15 pounds after losing the job.

I’m squeaking by, but obviously, this can’t go on much longer when i lose benefits and COBRA subsidy disappears.

I already have basic DSL and basic cable, both of which I could cut if I absolutely had to, and I’m ready to ditch my prepaid cell phone when I run out of minutes, plus my AAA membership since I’m not driving anywhere far.

Basically, all I spent money on regularly these days, aside from the mortgage and utilities, are gasoline, groceries and cat food. I’m single, and my bare bones expenses run about $2,000 to $2,500 a month.

First-to-Go Wave

Gas $40 – No more driving to work.

Mortgage Overpayment $160 – We would only pay the $740 due instead of the $900 we’ve been paying.

Massage Envy Membership $49 – My husband loves it but agrees it would go first.

Vacation Account $250 – That’s how much we put in a month to take a couple of annual vacations.

Eating out $100 – We’ve only eat out a couple of times a week now and would cut that out. Last year it was 4-6 times a week, but we started cooking mainly at home in 2010.

Entertainment Expenses $50 – We don’t go to the movies or participate in many paid activities, so that’s as much as we could cut. We’d still hang with friends, have potlucks, and board game though.

“Fun” Money Allowance $150 – We each get $75 to just spend every month.

Biweekly Maid Service $90 – I love Jacquie and would invite her over for dinner, but we would have to cut this cost.

Newspaper subscription $6.50 – We pay $19.50 for 13 weeks of the Houston Chronicle…I use the coupons but we don’t need them. I’ll buy more from Angel Food Ministries.

Groceries $100 – We could cut back to $300 or less a month if we needed to.

That’s all we could cut and still be happy. That adds up to $995.50 and includes cutting back on our extra mortgage principal payments.

If we were about to starve, I’d stop contributing up to matching in my 401k and stop maxing out our Roth IRA to save $575 a month.

We could probably get rid of cable, internet, and our cell phones for a total of $160 a month…but it would be hard to get a job without the internet and a cell phone and I don’t want to live with my husband if he doesn’t have cable.

I don’t feel bad about spending a little less than $1000 a month on “fun” expenses…that’s how we can stand to save 40%-45% of our total income for retirement, long-term savings, and financial opportunities like paying off our house in 10 years or less.

Admittedly, we live in a high cost area and we do spend money on things that could easily be cut. (but we also put away for 529, IRA, 401K and have an emergency fund, so we’re not irresponsible – just not hardcore frugal either) – I’m not a fan of materialistic expenditures, but I find life experiences, especially for the kids, to be worthwhile. For instance, I have my oldest in piano lessons, we just took him skiing for the first time, and we’ll go see a magician or go to a Bounce place or whatever now and then – Dad&kid stuff. If we were struggling, we’d cut that stuff out. But these are life experiences we’ll cherish and hopefully mold him in to a well-rounded happy kid that spent a lot of time having fun with his parents. Time will tell. (We also spend a ton of time in the backyard, parks and other FREE stuff, but I like to mix it up and get him unique experiences that stand out).

Regarding who the article was tailored to, the concepts really apply to any budget. This exercise is scalable to $40K or $400K. Everyone should really be thinking about their fixed costs and what they’d sacrifice first. While the net savings will look different household to household, I think it’s helpful regardless.