A Few Budgeting Tips

Posted Sunday, June 08, 2008 6:30 PM

You've heard all of the usual tips to for staying within your wedding budget (cutting guest list, prioritizing items that are the most important to you, etc.).  Well, as a bride that has spent the last 16 months scrimping and saving to make my dream wedding a reality, I thought I'd pass on a few of my money-saving tips.

*eBay is your friend!!  This not only includes searching regularly, but also contacting sellers directly to make offers as well as posting "Want it Now" listings.  I got my garter via a "Want it Now" post, and got several offers from sellers for Texas garters.  I also made an offer to a seller for my CZ cuff bracelet and saved $50 off his Buy-it-Now price.

*If you get regular manicures and pedicures, cut the frequency in half (if not more).  I am not saying let your nails and cuticles go by any means (as I think nice nails and hands are a sign of being "put together" and looking professional).  Instead of going weekly or bi-weekly, try monthly, and in the off weeks, take matters into your own hands (pun intended).  I found that their are two keys to looking salon fresh while DIY'ing: salon qualiy polishes (such as OPI - check your local beauty supply store), and maintained cuticles (you can buy cuticle trimmers at your local drug store).  A pumis stone (also available at drug stores, beauty supply stores, or dollar stores) can also keep your feet smooth.  I know it may be hard for you to consider cutting back on this type of pampering.  It was hard for me too at first, but I ended up saving at least $60 a month by cutting back. 

*More DIY beauty: facial waxing.  I am SOOO thankful I discovered Nair home wax strips.  I would never have thought to try them if I hadn't gotten a free sample one day.  I found that with these strips, you can get an accurate, clean wax at home with salon quality results.  The box is $7.00 and lasts for months (a lip wax at a cheap salon starts at $7.00 each, so it pays for itself immediately).  Some boxes even include a coupon for a discount off the next box you buy.  Some of you may not trust yourself with your own brows, so still continue to see a professional for that, but there is no reason you need to pay a professional for a lip wax that you can DIY.  For those of you who do want to save on the brow waxing, what I do is maintain below the brows with tweezers, and use the wax strips to keep the easier above-the-brow strays away. 

*If you have a private spot at home to tan, get your base tan au naturel before spending the minimum of $30 a month at a tanning salon.  If you want to have a nice even tan closer to the wedding, go to a tanning salon for a month prior to the wedding, but before that, why pay if you can get the base going at home for free?

*Clip coupons for groceries.  If you have a Ralph's local to you, they do a great thing in the Sunday papers each week.  In the Sunday paper Ralph's usually has an ad that shows you the best deals for the week if you combine an in-store sale with the coupons (that they double) that are included in the same Sunday paper.  By scanning this ad and clipping coupons accordingly, you can get many name brand items for $1.00, $0.50, and even FREE.  I love that Ralph's does this work for you!

*Speaking of the paper, if you don't have time to read it much during the week, downgrade your subscription to weekends only, or even just only Sunday.  This is also better for the environment since you are just gonna toss all of the papers during the week anyway.

*Speaking of food/grocery shopping, plan your meals out for the week or two, and shop for everything.  When you know you have good meals planned and all the ingredients stocked, there is less of a temptation to go out to eat and spend 3-5x the amount for one meal than you would pay if you just purchased the ingredients at the grocery store.  This is also healthier, as when you cook your own food you are more aware of what is going in your body (including the calorie, fat, carbs, etc. if you are cooking from recipes), as opposed to when you are going out to eat and gorge yourself on large portions, appetizers, and bread or chips.

*Like wine?  Keep your eyes out for sales on your faves at BevMo during their $0.05 sale.  Even without the sale, you save 2-3x the amount buying your bottles at the store and enjoying at home compared to restaurant mark-ups.

*Sign-up for email mailing lists for Joann's, Michael's, MyPublisher, and other WR craft and supply retailers.  Sometimes I wait for a good free shipping or discount promo code so I can purchase items online.  Not only do I save gas money by not having to drive across town to these craft stores (and for the same price if you get free shipping, or even sometimes less), but I also save time (as I don't have to leave work early to make it to one of these stores during business hours).

*Try not to shop as much for your own clothes.  I know, this is HARD!  This has been one of the hardest things for me this year.  I justified shopping trips if I could tie my finds into being WR purchases (honeymoon or bachelorette party outfits and shoes, etc.).  When it's tough, just remember how much your wedding dress costs, and think that since you purchased yourself an outfit for $_____ this year, you have to give up some other outfits.  Of course, make sure you have nice, polished outfits for work, but try to curb the shopping a bit for the rest of the time.  Also, avoid shopping on your dept. store/retail credit cards, because the monthly payment will be higher (and therefore still cost you money that you are trying to save).  Then, have a nice spree like Fi and I did a few weeks ago when we got our wedding and honeymoon wardrobe (but make sure you account for this spree in your wedding budget and try and stick to it).

*If you are like me, wedding planning is your favorite hobby this year.  Because of this, I can't think of many other priorities or passions of mine in the past year besides wedding planning.  Because of this, I let my friends and family know that any gifts for me for my B-Day and the holidays this past year should be WR (to save some of my budget).  I even would offer some suggestions for gifts to them if they asked, and included small things like the champagne glass toasting set I wanted, certain postage stamps that we wanted for our STD's, a check for $70 so that someone could "get us" our marriage license, the archival quality pens I wanted for my guestbook from Target, etc.  This was a win-win situation.  My friends and family knew they were getting me a gift I really wanted and that was really helpful to me, and I got to cross things out of my budget!

*Ask Knotties!  I know I have saved some money thanks to the helpful gals on the Knot.  For example, I may have paid full retail price on personalized embroidered hankies from Exclusively Weddings if I hadn't heard about Felicia's Fancies from Knottie Mrs.Veroni (where you can get the same product for 1/3 of the price).

OK, I think that's enough for now.  :)  While on one hand I can't wait to be done budgeting, I also feel like this was a good habit to start.  Now that Fi and I are more conscious of our spending, it may help us with our next stages (saving for a house, then eventually saving for children and their college educations).