After meeting with Walkington, the Radicks put new limits on their spending. Here are eight key ways that they saved money:
• Reduced their grocery bill from $800 to $480 a month.
• Cut clothing purchases from $300 to $75 a month.
• Jeremy cut his comic book splurges from $120 to $60 a month.
• Dropped entertainment spending from $250 to $100 a month.
• Cut restaurant expenses by more than half, from $500 to $200 a month.
• Cancelled their gym memberships.
• Took public transit to save on gas and parking.
• Consolidated their cellphone plans.
Walkington also set up a system for the Radicks' discretionary purchases (such as meals out, alcohol, books and DVDs). Every two weeks, a specific amount of cash was put into an envelope for each category, and once the envelopes were empty, the couple put a lid on further spending until the funds were replenished in their next pay period.
Walkington also had Jemma and Jeremy set up a series of separate savings accounts for ongoing expenses, such as gifts, travel, car repairs, gardening and home maintenance. A separate account was also set up for fixed expenses, such as rent, cellphone bills and car insurance, and another just for groceries. Walkington acknowledges that some people may find this overwhelming. However, she says it's simple to set up: Just open the accounts online, then set up an automatic transfer to deposit a specific amount of money directly into each account every payday.
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