We still go out to eat, but we don't order appetizers anymore and we don't order beverages.

Also, we have been making a point to save at least half our paychecks. Luckily we have very little debt, and no car payments.

It also helps that my fiance works for Comcast! Yay, for free cable!

well the first step for us was me getting a job.. which was intended anyways but where to look became very limited. Luckily I ended up with an awesome work at home job. :-)

the next step which we are working on is paying attention to where we spend money and on what, cutting back in areas where it is possible (eating out less). We don't intend to cut out things 100% just put a cap on what is spent there and how often. Like eating out is once every two weeks instead of every week, possibly even cutting that back to only once a month. Trimming down what is spent at stores instead of saying we just won't shop there. This helps keep it to realistic for us.

Instead of paying double on each debt payment we make just make the minimum on all but one. That one we picked based on the snowball effect (different ways to go are highest interest or lowers amount owed -snowball-) this was picked because we would get to say we paid ---- off sooner and more often which would keep us both inspired to work towards our goals. :-) So the one we picked we put the extra money into to pay it off and then take the money and move it to the next on the list, ect.

We have just started this method but are already seeing rewards. just by gathering a list of what we spent and where i saw we went over board on a few things last month and am watching it for the remainder of this month. While compiling a list of what we had left in debt and where I was surprised to see how close we were on our car (should have been paid off late summer time frame), was able to make the final payment this month, early. :-)

hope that helps someone :-)

We don't have a child yet, but are already changing our spending habits to get ready.

I can't work and we have a very high mortgage payment compared to how much we have coming in, so our budget is very tight. When ever I hear the old 50-30-20 plan on budgeting I simultaneously cringe and laugh. However, we did manage to squeeze some saving in there by putting caps on what we spend on pretty much everything (groceries, gas, clothes, eating out, etc). I'm still trying to get DW to acknowledge that there is a limit and that no, there is not any money to spare.

This is emberassing to admit, but the way we've cut spending the most is simply by not getting overage charges every month on our debit cards.

I have not had a child yet, However since I've chosen to do it by myself I have to be extra deligent in my spending habits. I've paid off my credit card so I won't inccur intrest charges, I bring my lunc to work now, that saves me about $100.00 a week, and I put a little extra in my savings as opposed to keeping everything in my checking so it will make it harder to access. I've stopped frivoulous shopping no more clothes..being as though I don't know what kind of shape my body will be in...I hope this will help someone

We've cut back on credit cards. I now have just one. When shopping for something we actually wait till we find a deal instead of doing the spontaneous kind of shopping. Don't eat out as much.