People are always looking for more ways to save money - we all would rather spend our money on the things that are important to us! If we're not careful, though, we often spend too much money just keeping up with life! This is the year to get things in order so you can spend less money on the less important things, and get more out of life! So today I'm sharing some of my favorite tips for reducing your expenses so 2018 will be all around great!
1. Call your phone company, cable company, internet provider, and insurance companies (as applicable) to negotiate better rates. You can often save a lot just by asking for a lower rate!
2. Make sure your water company knows how many people live in your home (the more people you have living there, the more water you can use at the lower tariff) - update them when you have a change in family circumstances, or when you move.
3. Check that you are getting any Arnona discounts you may be eligible for.
4. Always shop with a list and a budget, and stick to it. Don't spend more than you've allotted for whatever it is, be it food, shoes, clothing, or whatever. If you must spend more than you planned, you'll need to compensate by cutting back somewhere else, or you quickly fall into the overspending trap! The easiest way to be sure you don't spend more than you budgeted is to pay in cash and don't use a credit card. If you don't like to carry cash, you will need to be super disciplined with your credit card purchases!
5. Only buy items you really need. If you see something and think you need it, don't buy it right away. Go home and really think it over. If it really is something that will improve your life or save you money, go back and buy it (after doing some comparison shopping. Sometimes those gadgets are much less expensive online, from stores like aliexpress (see my online shopping guide for more ways to shop online). You can also get help finding a great deal in the Groupon Israel's Best Deals Facebook group!
6. Cook your own food. Stop buying food - whether it's restaurant food, takeout food, or frozen prepared food, it's almost always more cost effective to cook a simple meal. (Need a recipe? I've got lots of recipes for you!) Save eating out for special occasions only!
7. Buy secondhand whenever possible. Turn this into a source of pride, not shame. Secondhand purchases do a lot to save energy and resources. Convince yourself (and your kids) that this will do a world of good. (**Even better - scavenge or dumpster dive if you are up for it! We have scavenged many perfectly good and useful items over the years!)
8. Accept hand me downs. People give things away all the time - much of it is still perfectly useful. Join your local "freeswap" style group to connect with others!
9. Walk or ride a bike to get around whenever possible. Gas is EXPENSIVE in this country. Walking is free. Sure, that means a little more time and possibly carrying some heavy items home when doing errands, but it saves a ton that whenever I do things locally, I walk! And it ensures we get moving, too!
10. Use the library instead of buying books. Or go to book swaps! (If you're local to me, there's a book swap shelf outside my house - feel free to use it!)
11. Don't pay for TV access. It's just not worth it when you can almost always stream your favorite shows online!
12. Take short showers! If you can shower Israeli style, turning the water on only to get wet and then rinse off, you'll really lower your water consumption.
13. Drink water. If your water has an unpleasant taste, get a simple filtration system, like a Brita pitcher. No need for a pricey, water wasting reverse osmosis system. We also like to add orange or lemon slices to our water in order to enhance the taste! It's easy and really inexpensive (especially if you or a neighbor has a citrus tree)!
14. Find free alternatives to expensive "needs". My computer was dying. I abandoned Windows and gave my computer a new lease on life by installing Linux.
15. Make homemade cleaning solutions instead of buying pricey bottles of cleaner. Not only will this save you money, it will save you from exposure to questionable chemicals used in many commercial cleaning products. (I use baking soda, vinegar, and simple soaps or natural detergents to do most of my cleaning. I add essential oils for fragrance purposes)
16. Learn to cut your kids' hair. This will really save you a lot, especially if you have a whole crew of kids! If you're brave enough, swap hair cutting with a friend, too, so you can save on your own haircuts as well!
17. Use low-energy lightbulbs. Swap out older style lightbulbs with LED bulbs when you need to replace them. I recommend you choose "warm white" instead of regular white - it's easier on the eyes.
18. Keep your mazgan filters clean - cleaning them regularly will keep your mazgan working more efficiently, and will save money on your heating and cooling bills!
There are lots of other everyday ways to save money, so please share your favorite tips in the comments!
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Some of you may have decided to bring a lift with your belongings to Israel when you make Aliyah. So I sat down to write up my list - a mix of items we actually brought, and items I would have brought in hindsight. If you've decided that you do not want to bring a lift, this post is not meant to discourage you from your decision. Everyone's Aliyah is unique!
Note: Some items I brought or would bring are because they may be very difficult to find here, and others I brought or would bring because the cost is just SO much less in the USA, and once you're packing a lift, you may as well use it wisely.
Furniture:
We brought beds (but in hindsight I'm not sure we should have), sofas (definitely a good choice. the ones we have are built to last and were inexpensive compared to prices here), cheap closets from IKEA (bought on sale for crazy cheap and shipped flat in their boxes - they are A LOT less expensive in IKEA in America when there is a sale than any you will find here!). We did not bring our dining room set, but I wished we had. We also brought filing cabinets - more than one. These are VERY hard to find in Israel. Israelis file
things in labeled binders on shelves, so if you are partial to your old
filing system, bring the cabinet and all the hanging file folders and
manilla folders you can fill it with!
Appliances:
Standalone Freezer - we have one that is larger than any sold in this country, and is specifically made for a desert climate.
A self cleaning, Shabbat mode oven - assuming you have space in your kitchen for an American size oven, this is worth buying in the 220V version and bringing. If you don't have the space in your kitchen, do not bring it!!
A large capacity 220V food processor - but only if you can get a reliable brand for a good price. Otherwise, just buy something here.
Household goods:
Here are things I think are worth bringing, with some explanations:
TERRO ant bait - I cannot find anything similar sold here, and Boric Acid is not easy to buy in order to make your own.
Pantry Moth
pheromone traps - I now buy them on ebay, but if you want to stock up before you come, you won't regret it.
Borax 
- if this is something you use regularly, bring a supply on your lift. There are occasional reports of being able to buy it locally, but it seems like a huge hassle to me.
Diatomaceous Earth - if you are so inclined to use it for keeping bugs away.
Books
of course - We brought about 3000 books with us. But we're crazy bookworms.
Very warm blankets (something like this wool blanket, or down comforters are great!) - these save us a ton of money, as we don't have to run the heat at night ever!
Towels and comforter covers, sheets if you are bringing beds from abroad (I got some good deals at TJMaxx and HomeGoods)
Clothing, including stuff for the kids to grow into (I shopped all the thrift stores on discount days for months). It made my life much easier knowing I wouldn't have to shop at first, when I was still learning my way around and figuring out what stores are worth shopping in and what's not (now we shop at the local second hand shop a LOT!).
Rain boots and shoes, including stuff for the kids to grow into (I found great deals at Marshall's, TJMaxx, and Famous Footwear - I did not want used shoes.)
Kitchen Items - like good stainless steel baking pans, pots, mixing bowls. I brought a KitchenAid stand mixer, but since then the local price has come down, making it a toss-up whether or not you should bring one or buy it locally. I now know where to get deals for other kitchen items locally, as well, but it was certainly easiest for me to not have to shop right when we moved!
Thermal Carafe
- these are really great energy savers for those of us who drink a lot of coffee, tea, and the like. All winter long, we boil a pot of water in the morning and then fill a carafe to use throughout the day, saving on our energy costs!
Good sponges
(cheap sponges are abundantly available here, but "good" ones are hard to find, in my opinion.)
Insulated bags
like tote bags, picnic bags, and lunch bags (reusable) - I'm always walking around with my insulated tote bag! So helpful when running errands on a warm (or hot) day!
Good thermos items like travel coffee cups and thermos bottles, and good 24 hr ones for keeping water hot on shabbat - a good one will keep your water hot from before candle lighting thru
Shabbat morning for coffee, and you won't need to run an electrical
appliance for hours and hours!)
Specialty items specific to my needs like these bandages
- I'm allergic to most...
Legos, bought on sale, or at garage sales, thrift shops, etc
Wooden toys, bought on sale, or at garage sales, thrift shops, etc
Fisher Price toys, bought on sale, or at garage sales, thrift shops, etc
Playmobil toys, bought on sale, or at garage sales, thrift shops, etc
Anything your kids will play with that is well made
Storage containers to store your things - fill them when you pack the lift!
Dollar store items that are decent deals: toothbrushes, dental floss, hairbrushes, nail clippers, nail files, etc are also good to stock up on if you have extra space
Fabric Tablecloths
and cloth napkins are good deals in the USA when you can find a sale, so if you see some for a great price, those are good stock up items, and make great gifts here, too.
I brought other items like coffee, laundry detergent, and shampoos as well, but I no longer feel that is essential, with Vitacost, eChemist and iHerb shipping the natural products I can't find here!
Obviously, we brought our personal belongings as well. We knew we were "starting over", but we didn't want to have to forget who we are or where we came from!
Other pre-aliyah items I highly recommend, but that came with us on the plane, not in the lift:
Very lightweight Duffle Bags
that meet airline regulations (I found these awesome duffle bags that weigh just one pound and are EXACTLY the right size!)
Wheeled Cooler
(preferably one that keeps food cold for several days) for at least one of your pieces of luggage (you will be so happy to have it, whether it's while you are waiting for a fridge to be delivered or when you are going on a tiyul, or just for getting ice cream home from the supermarket in summer!)
Kindle or a Tablet (I have found both very useful)
In addition, I recommend you stock up on OTC meds in America. If you use ANY, they are almost always cheaper there (especially at Costco or similar)! Also, be aware that certain products are simply not available here without a prescription, and some are not available at all. Those items will make a post of their own, I hope to get to that!
I'm sure there is more to add to this list, so please let me know in the comments!
I'm writing this post to all of you out there who just made aliyah, are thinking of making aliyah, or will soon be making aliyah.
We've been here a little over 5 years (this time around), and I cannot lie. It's hard. It's not ALWAYS hard. But overall, there are so many adjustments to make when you pick up and move from a Western country to Israel, so I won't lie and say that it's easy.
But it's important to remember why you're here. Each of us has our own reasons for picking up and making this move, so it's important to keep that in mind, especially on the hard days.
Remembering why you came will help you get through the hard times.
Here are a few other things I think can help:
Find support. I cannot stress enough just how important it is to have someone to talk to when things aren't going your way. Someone who will understand you, won't judge you, and hopefully, maybe, will help you see your way back to feeling better. If you don't have support, some days it will seem like it's just too much for you to handle! (This can be a supportive friend, family member, or a therapist. It all depends on what works for you.)
Have an emergency fund. I know it's not easy to save money, but try to scrimp and save and set some aside. Because one day you're going to need that emergency fund. Maybe your landlord lied to you and your new place is not livable and you need to move - you'll need a way to pay for it. Or maybe your roof in your new house is leaky - and you'll need to find a way to fix it. (Trust me, I speak from experience. My roof has sprung a leak. Again.)
Live smaller than you are used to. It isn't easy, but if your emergency funds are low, this is the only way to build it up. Live small, and save any extra shekels. Are you used to ordering pizza on a regular basis? Maybe that's the 50 shekels a week you can set aside. Make a simple supper at home (nothing wrong with eating sandwiches for supper sometimes!) instead of ordering pizza, and use that money to build up your emergency fund! Or maybe you don't even order pizza ever. There is probably something you can cut back on. I have rarely met a new "oleh" in this country who doesn't spend extra somewhere.
Learn Hebrew. I know, it's hard. It really is. But when you don't understand the language it's easy to feel lost. So if you are eligible for a subsidized Ulpan, I recommend you MAKE IT HAPPEN. Too many olim I've spoken to don't bother to do ulpan, or drop out after a short time. It's not worth it! Speaking Hebrew will help you survive for the decades ahead.
Check your credit card statements. I have heard the (rare) story of horrendous mistakes. You can log in to your account (where exactly depends who issued your card) and keep track. If there is a mistake, make sure you track down the source (did your barber charge you 5000 shekels instead of 50, like the story I heard recently?) and get it fixed. You can also call the credit card company for help with that.
Check your bills. Does your water bill list the correct number of people in your household? Did you know that if you have a larger family than what they think, you are missing out on your rate reduction? Get it straightened out, right away. Most water companies won't do much about retroactive reductions, but at least you'll have a lower bill from now on.
Find Discounts. Keep track of things like income tax refund programs, and arnona discounts you may be eligible for. Apply early - too many people push it off and miss out.
Give yourself a break. Making aliyah is stressful. If you don't relax and de-stress, it's going to wear you out. Pick an hour a week when you have down-time. This doesn't actually have to cost you anything. It can be as simple as turning off your phone and going for a walk to a nearby scenic overlook. Or sit and talk with a friend (in person or on the phone), or watch a movie or TV show with your spouse or significant other, or anything else that may relax you. As long as you see this as "my break-time", it can go a long way in recharging your batteries and helping you de-stress.
I'd love to hear all of your survival tactics, too. Please leave yours in the comments section below!
Let's also remember that sometimes a smile and a helping hand to someone who's new here and having a tough time can REALLY go a long way!
Aliyah may be stressful, but I know you can do it. I'm rooting for you!
