Yesterday, my husband and I went grocery shopping. Because of a mix-up on cereals that were included in a certain promotion and a mis-scanned item, I realized after we got home that I'd paid $6.69 more for the four boxes of cereal than I should have.
After mentioning it approximately 100 times to my husband over the course of the afternoon, he offered to go back to the store, explain the mix up and ask for a refund. He had me tell him exactly what we'd paid for what products and then wrote a side-by-side list of what we should have paid, then clipped the receipt, the weekly ad, and the coupons to it.
Ten minutes later, he was home, with $6.69 in his wallet. How can I not love that man?
I know that some people absolutely HATE to return things or ever venture near the "Customer Service" desk. Not me. I am an avid reader of return policies, and my combined hatred of clutter and spending unnecessary money means that I am more than willing to return almost anything.
At the grocery store, I watch them ring up every item and I hold them to the posted store policy of giving you free any item that rings up differently than advertised or marked on the shelf.
If I buy a box of crackers that I open and discover it is stale, you better believe I'll drag it back to the store on my next trip and ask for a refund.
If I buy a shirt that I discover doesn't fit or I suddenly realize I will never ever wear since taking it off in the dressing room, I'll return it.
I'm nice about it, but if the store policy is to correct mistakes, take back inferior or unwanted products, or comp mispriced items, you better believe I'm going to take them up on it.
Is that too much for you or am I in good company?
Showing posts with label Living on Less. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Living on Less. Show all posts
Jun 2, 2010
Jun 1, 2010
The Not So Big House (Carole)
I am a house-lover. Just ask my girls how many model homes I dragged them to when they were growing up, or how many decorating books and magazines I've purchased over the years. I currently subscribe to several decorating/organizing type magazines and usually read them cover to cover every month. I have several notebooks filled with idea clippings I've saved over the years, just in case I have a chance to start a new project in my own house. It delights me to see how many blogs out there are devoted to making the most of one's house. All these young women, just starting out in life, fixing up their homes and apartments and sharing their fun ideas and successes with the whole cyber universe. I love to see the colors people use, the furniture arrangements people come up with, and some very clever renovations -- I love it all! We do not have cable TV in our house, but if we did I'm sure I'd be glued to the home design and decorating shows all day long (hence, we do not have cable).
Out of all the thousands of articles and books I've read about homes over my 26 years of marriage, the one book that has had the most impact on my thoughts is The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka. It is one of my favorite reads about making a house a home. I discovered it soon after it was published back in the late 1990's and have followed its concepts ever since. I think its ideas fall right into line with a frugal lifestyle!
This book is all about LOVING your house. But Ms. Susanka approaches this subject from a unique angle -- although there have been many copycats since her book came out. She is an architect and discovered over the years as she worked with hundreds of clients, that people are most comfortable and content in cozy, small-ish spaces. She tells of a large and grand home built by some friends of hers. This mini-mansion was specifically planned with a super-duper LARGE living room and dining room to someday host their daughter's wedding reception. However, when that festive event finally arrived a few years later, they found that all 100 of the guests gathered in the kitchen to visit and eat and left the grand, showy rooms nearly empty! I bet you've attended a few parties just like this! People like to be in rooms that contain your life and that have a warm, welcoming feel to them -- and this includes you functioning in your own home.
The title of this book might lead you to believe that it deals with reducing your carbon footprint (and there is a bit of that), but that's not her real message. Her message is about making wise choices in your home that will greatly enhance the pleasure, comfort and convenience you find there. This book (and her subsequent 8 books on related subjects) advocates keeping your square footage to a reasonable amount (4,000 square feet or less) and better using your financial resources to create lovely areas that add character, personality and storage to your home. She highly recommends adding architectural details (moulding, railings, stone. . .) to bring charm and real beauty to your rooms, rather than just wanting
big, big, big spaces that end up feeling cool and/or bland. She recommends noticing the view from one room to the next (lining up doors properly -- if you were building a house, having complimentary color schemes, etc) that entices you to enter another warm and welcoming room and that brings a feeling of harmony throughout your home.
Her ideas are simple but thought-provoking and help you understand how to get the most pleasure for your housing dollar. I hope you'll seek her books out at the local library and find your own inspiration on how to create the house of your dreams.
Out of all the thousands of articles and books I've read about homes over my 26 years of marriage, the one book that has had the most impact on my thoughts is The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka. It is one of my favorite reads about making a house a home. I discovered it soon after it was published back in the late 1990's and have followed its concepts ever since. I think its ideas fall right into line with a frugal lifestyle!
This book is all about LOVING your house. But Ms. Susanka approaches this subject from a unique angle -- although there have been many copycats since her book came out. She is an architect and discovered over the years as she worked with hundreds of clients, that people are most comfortable and content in cozy, small-ish spaces. She tells of a large and grand home built by some friends of hers. This mini-mansion was specifically planned with a super-duper LARGE living room and dining room to someday host their daughter's wedding reception. However, when that festive event finally arrived a few years later, they found that all 100 of the guests gathered in the kitchen to visit and eat and left the grand, showy rooms nearly empty! I bet you've attended a few parties just like this! People like to be in rooms that contain your life and that have a warm, welcoming feel to them -- and this includes you functioning in your own home.
The title of this book might lead you to believe that it deals with reducing your carbon footprint (and there is a bit of that), but that's not her real message. Her message is about making wise choices in your home that will greatly enhance the pleasure, comfort and convenience you find there. This book (and her subsequent 8 books on related subjects) advocates keeping your square footage to a reasonable amount (4,000 square feet or less) and better using your financial resources to create lovely areas that add character, personality and storage to your home. She highly recommends adding architectural details (moulding, railings, stone. . .) to bring charm and real beauty to your rooms, rather than just wanting
big, big, big spaces that end up feeling cool and/or bland. She recommends noticing the view from one room to the next (lining up doors properly -- if you were building a house, having complimentary color schemes, etc) that entices you to enter another warm and welcoming room and that brings a feeling of harmony throughout your home.
Her ideas are simple but thought-provoking and help you understand how to get the most pleasure for your housing dollar. I hope you'll seek her books out at the local library and find your own inspiration on how to create the house of your dreams.
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May 28, 2010
June Savings Kickoff
May is almost over, and in June we'd like to do so something new, something a little more interactive.
Each Friday in June, we'll post a list of what each of the three of us has done to save money or live more frugally during the week (increasing 401(k) contributions, using coupons, refraining from buying an item, etc). Some items may have a dollar amount attached, while some may not.
This will help keep us accountable and see what we're doing in our daily lives to save money (and also how it can add up over the course of a month)
And we'd love you to participate too. Each Friday, you can leave a comment informing us of the things you've done to save money or live frugally during the week. At the end, we'll give away a prize to one of the people who participates all four weeks. It will be fun!
Get ready! See you next Friday . . .
Each Friday in June, we'll post a list of what each of the three of us has done to save money or live more frugally during the week (increasing 401(k) contributions, using coupons, refraining from buying an item, etc). Some items may have a dollar amount attached, while some may not.
This will help keep us accountable and see what we're doing in our daily lives to save money (and also how it can add up over the course of a month)
And we'd love you to participate too. Each Friday, you can leave a comment informing us of the things you've done to save money or live frugally during the week. At the end, we'll give away a prize to one of the people who participates all four weeks. It will be fun!
Get ready! See you next Friday . . .
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May 26, 2010
How Much Does Your Lunch Cost? (Janssen)
The other night at dinner, I was telling Bart about the teacher lunches that are provided at the two elementary schools I work at. This is a new program this year, so many of the teachers were really excited because you could buy a non-chicken nugget lunch for only $3. I commented to Bart that $15 a week for lunches still seemed quite expensive to me, since if we both spent that, it would be 60% of our weekly budget.
Last year, in an effort to be healthy, Bart and I gave up fast food. The on-campus Wendy's had been an easy option if we were too tired or too rushed or simply didn't feel like making lunches on a school day. With the dollar menu, it felt like a pretty cheap way to go ($3 or $4 for a full lunch). When Wendy's was no longer an option for us, we were extremely committed to making sure we had a lunch every single day.
As we discussed this, we wondered how much we actually were spending every day on lunch now. Our main priorities when it comes to lunch are as follows: easy (no way are we assembling 7 part sandwiches in the morning when we're rushing to catch the T and beat traffic), cheap, and nutritious.
Here's what lunch looks like for us at the moment:
We have experimented with a ton of different lunch options - string cheese, granola bars (both store bought and homemade), cookies, muffins, vegetables, pretzels, etc - over the last 18 months since we devoted ourselves wholeheartedly to homemade lunches. Some are too expensive, some are too unhealthy, some are too much effort to make in advance.
Our current combination though appears to be just the right amount of food for us - we eat it all, rather than leaving the apples uneaten while devouring the chocolate chip granola bars moments after arriving in the office.
What do you eat for lunch? Any idea how much it costs?
Last year, in an effort to be healthy, Bart and I gave up fast food. The on-campus Wendy's had been an easy option if we were too tired or too rushed or simply didn't feel like making lunches on a school day. With the dollar menu, it felt like a pretty cheap way to go ($3 or $4 for a full lunch). When Wendy's was no longer an option for us, we were extremely committed to making sure we had a lunch every single day.
As we discussed this, we wondered how much we actually were spending every day on lunch now. Our main priorities when it comes to lunch are as follows: easy (no way are we assembling 7 part sandwiches in the morning when we're rushing to catch the T and beat traffic), cheap, and nutritious.
Here's what lunch looks like for us at the moment:
- Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches on homemade wheat bread ($0.30 - ten cents for two slices of bread, ten cents of peanut butter and ten cents of jelly)
- One yogurt ($0.25 cents each since I have become a rabid yogurt coupon collector and I wait for them to go on sale and buy many at once because in my experience it takes yogurt AGES to go bad).
- One apple ($0.38)
- One banana ($0.27)
We have experimented with a ton of different lunch options - string cheese, granola bars (both store bought and homemade), cookies, muffins, vegetables, pretzels, etc - over the last 18 months since we devoted ourselves wholeheartedly to homemade lunches. Some are too expensive, some are too unhealthy, some are too much effort to make in advance.
Our current combination though appears to be just the right amount of food for us - we eat it all, rather than leaving the apples uneaten while devouring the chocolate chip granola bars moments after arriving in the office.
What do you eat for lunch? Any idea how much it costs?
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May 25, 2010
DIY (Carole)
I grew up in a home where it seemed like my dad could make or fix anything. Now that I'm an adult, I'm pretty sure that was not really true, but it seemed that way to me when I was a kid. For instance, my mother wanted a 2nd linen closet in the upstairs hallway. Dad sketched some plans, cut a large hole in the wall and within a couple of weeks there it was -- looking just as permanent and finished as the original one on the other side of the bathroom door. He also painted every room in the house, refinished our kitchen cupboards, upholstered several pieces of furniture (with the help of my mother), painted the outside of the house and dozens of routine plumbing and electrical jobs during my 18 years at home. I remember many interesting trips to the hardware store to pick up some part or other to repair an appliance that had gone AWOL. I often had the fun job, as a little girl, of handing him tools while he tore something apart before putting it all back together again.
Naturally, when David and I got married I assumed he would be right on the same page with this whole DIY lifestyle. Don't all men have these skills? Aren't they hardwired into the male DNA?? Uh, no. And even though I'd made a hundred trips to Ace Hardware with my dad, I didn't have a clue either. Watching was not the same as learning, it turned out.
But David (mostly) and me are living proof that these skills can be learned. We started small with a couple of low-risk painting projects. Painting has much to recommend itself as a beginning place. Not only is it pretty inexpensive, but it is easily painted again if things go bad. My children can attest to the dozens of rooms we have painted over the years. We've saved ourselves thousands of dollars in labor costs and it gave me a much-needed creative decorating outlet when our budget was tight, tight, tight. David used to joke that I was losing square footage on the house by repainting some of the kids' bedrooms so often!
While in dental school, we lived with an elderly woman in a beautiful home by Lake Michigan. Amazingly she had NEVER owned a dryer. I know, it's hard to even imagine that. But there you are. We were unwilling to live without a dryer, being the young, modern twenty-somethings we were. Happily, we had friends with real jobs who were looking to get rid of their old dryer. They just gave it to us because it was very, very noisy. They'd had this dryer for a few years while in college (having purchased it used from other college students) and the cause of this loud racket had never been discovered by the several repairmen they'd brought out to their house. David hauled our "new" dryer into the basement and hooked it up. Sure enough, a very very loud and annoying scraping sound emanated from deep inside the drum. I was willing to live with this, but David was sure that the cure couldn't really be that tough to find. His fix-it rule is that you keep removing screws and taking off parts until you find something broken -- then you replace that. I'm here to tell you this simple method works the majority of the time. You just have to keep close track of all those screws you took off! He used this technique on the dryer, eventually found the broken piece, took that broken piece down to the Sears Parts store and we ended up with a super-quiet dryer that we used for the next 10 years. I think his total cost was under $10. When we finally bought a nice matched washer and dryer, we sold this dryer for $120!
In our first house we had beautiful wood floors in the upstairs. Unfortunately that half held all the bedrooms. This made for some very chilly feet in the frigid mornings in Wisconsin. The living spaces downstairs, however, had ugly linoleum and wall to wall carpet. So, one crisp fall morning, I bought a specialized crowbar and began ripping out the wood floor in our bedroom. By the time David got home from work the deed was done. There was no turning back. He spent the next 2 months laying that wood down in the kitchen (I took the girls on an extended vacation . . .). And we had the bedroom carpeted. We both thought it made more sense. Had he ever laid wood before? Absolutely not. Had he seen it done? Nope. But we talked to a few knowledgeable friends who worked in construction and gave it a shot. That beautiful wood floor was a big plus when we sold the house a year later.
Over the years we've laid a lot of tile, replaced light fixtures, sink faucets, toilets, installed a sprinkler system, laid sod, made curtains, and generally made our houses into the homes we want to live in. I'll do a future post on the amazing custom woodwork David built in our dining room and entry way. (Am I proud of my husband? Yes, I am.)
Maybe my children think their dad can make or fix anything -- and he just about can -- but his many impressive skills were learned one at a time over many years of necessity and a willingness to give it a shot. Not only have we saved ourselves thousands of dollars, but we've had a lot of adventures and fun along the way!
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May 20, 2010
Your New Part-Time Job (Carole)
Are you getting bogged down with trying to save money on EVERYTHING?? Does it sometimes feel like a THANKLESS job?
If your answer was "yes" to either of those questions, here's an idea for you. Try thinking of your frugal ways as a very small, part-time job. Keep a tally sheet on the fridge, or in your smart phone of your savings. I don't think it's worth your time to track every single penny you earn, but the general numbers of your penny pinching is nice to know.
There are a couple of methods for tracking your savings.
1. You can go back into your own financial records a few months (or years) and see how much you USED to spend on certain items like food, eating out, gasoline, car payments, rent, and clothing. List these numbers on your chart and see how far below them you are keeping your current spending during the month.
2. Or you can look up on-line to see how much the average American family that is the same size as yours spends in these same categories (i.e. average monthly food budget for a family of 4 in the the US is $600). Track your spending compared to these averages and see how much you can save.
Any money you've saved is your "earnings" on this new part-time job you've started. Being able to see total dollars saved in a month is a big boost to your confidence that you are making a difference for you family and your commitment to keep it up!
When you think of yourself saving a couple of hundred dollars (or more) on all your combined purchases in a month, suddenly taking the time to clip coupons or drive to Sam's Club or wash your own car begins to look like a good use of our time. Most of the ways we save money don't really take that much time, but they do take some and that time is definitely worth the money!
Turns out Ben Franklin was right, "A penny saved is a penny earned."
I'd love to hear any numbers you'd like to share! We're all in this together. . .
May I mention also, what TERRIFIC ideas our readers share in the comments! If you don't read that part of the blog, you should! We've got the smartest group of readers out there. You inspire me every day!
If your answer was "yes" to either of those questions, here's an idea for you. Try thinking of your frugal ways as a very small, part-time job. Keep a tally sheet on the fridge, or in your smart phone of your savings. I don't think it's worth your time to track every single penny you earn, but the general numbers of your penny pinching is nice to know.
There are a couple of methods for tracking your savings.
1. You can go back into your own financial records a few months (or years) and see how much you USED to spend on certain items like food, eating out, gasoline, car payments, rent, and clothing. List these numbers on your chart and see how far below them you are keeping your current spending during the month.
2. Or you can look up on-line to see how much the average American family that is the same size as yours spends in these same categories (i.e. average monthly food budget for a family of 4 in the the US is $600). Track your spending compared to these averages and see how much you can save.
Any money you've saved is your "earnings" on this new part-time job you've started. Being able to see total dollars saved in a month is a big boost to your confidence that you are making a difference for you family and your commitment to keep it up!
When you think of yourself saving a couple of hundred dollars (or more) on all your combined purchases in a month, suddenly taking the time to clip coupons or drive to Sam's Club or wash your own car begins to look like a good use of our time. Most of the ways we save money don't really take that much time, but they do take some and that time is definitely worth the money!
Turns out Ben Franklin was right, "A penny saved is a penny earned."
I'd love to hear any numbers you'd like to share! We're all in this together. . .
May I mention also, what TERRIFIC ideas our readers share in the comments! If you don't read that part of the blog, you should! We've got the smartest group of readers out there. You inspire me every day!
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May 16, 2010
A One-Car Family (Carole)
I'm not saying this course is for everyone. We currently own three cars (hubby's, mine and one with our daughter at college). But in our former life, with very young children, we were one of those one-car families - for 12 years. It wasn't that bad. Really. My husband and I were both flexible, and I tried to consolidate my errands and only take the car when I really needed it. I think a good attitude helps too. My girls will remember many, many nights going to pick up Dad at his office while they read in the back seats already dressed in their PJs. We'd often crank up That Thing You Do on the CD player and cruise down to his office on Flamingo Road and occasionally stop for ice cream cones at McDonalds before picking him up. If he was running late, we'd dash to the local book store that was open until 11:00 PM and wander around until he was ready to go. It was actually kind of a cozy time.
Besides special, fun times in the car, however, there is one very compelling reason to own just one car: Money. Of course. Your car, as you know, is the single largest guaranteed negative investment of cash you will ever make -- unless something really bad happens to you. Almost no car appreciates -- you spend tens of thousands of your hard earned dollars on a beautiful, shiny car and within 5 years any car is nearly worthless. You can hardly give it away. Ouch.
In addition:
1. Think of the tax you paid when you signed those papers. 7.35% is a lot on $20,000 - $60,000.
2. Interest too, if you have a monthly payment.
3. Then there's auto insurance every month.
4. Gasoline.
5. Maintenance (oil, tires, tune ups, repairs. . .)
6. State licensing (several hundred dollars in most states).
7. And remember you actually had to earn at least 25% more than the cost of the car just to pay the federal taxes on your income that paid for that car. Happily Nevada has no state tax, but if your state does, then add in another 7% or so.
Even a $20,000 car, if kept for 5 years, will cost you approximately $50 per day to own and operate. That's nearly $20,000 per year. And that's if you paid cash. It goes up if you have monthly payments. Or bought a more expensive car. Or both. My goodness, you could have vacationed quite nicely for a couple of months in europe on that! Or fully funded you 401k for the year. And an IRA. And then retire a multi-millionaire at age 50 -- if you started early enough.
Just like when buying a house, cars are big ticket items, so there is a lot of money to be saved by making wise choices. I don't know about you, but I OFTEN wish I lived in a big city (preferably London :), right downtown so I could easily walk most places. I'd happily give up my car. I could rent a pretty nifty auto for the occasional trip out of town for a whole lot less than $20,000 per year. Also, think how trim my calves would be from all that walking or biking!! I'd also buy a lot fewer items knowing I had to carry them back to my home. The benefits and savings just keep on comin'!! Mostly, I'm writing this post because now that I only have one child at home, and my husband stays in one location all day while at work -- I'm thinking about it again. What I could do with all that extra cash! I'm really very tempted. How about you??
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May 12, 2010
Careful on Any Income (Carole)
When I was 5 years old my grandfather gave me 3 silver dollars. I carefully put them in a little pink coin purse for safe-keeping. I was SO proud of these and had absolutely no intention of ever spending them. I kept them perfectly safe for about 2 weeks (you can see this coming, can't you). . . then lost them (and the pink purse) somewhere deep in the bowels of the Sears' Bargain Basement. I must have set the purse down while trying on some shoes and, of course, forgot all about it and walked away. When I realized that I no longer had the purse in my hand, it was too late. Someone else had decided that they really wanted my pink purse and silver dollars too, and they were lost forever.
It's been more than 40 years since that dark day, but I still remember and regret being so forgetful and foolish! Maybe you have a similar story from your youth. Or possibly you squandered a decent sum of money on something foolish that brings you sorrow even today. Yes?
Well, never fear. There are those out in the world that make just about any money mistake you've ever made seem paltry by comparison. As you can guess, most of these famous/infamous folks, in the following list, lost all of their money and had to file bankruptcy, due to mis-management of their huge fortunes. The most common themes in these bankruptcies are: drugs, iffy investments, and uncontrolled spending.
Donald Trump
Dorothy Hamill
MC Hammer
Gary Coleman
Toni Braxton
Burt Reynolds
Mickey Rooney
Sheryl Swoopes
Kim Basinger
LaToya Jackson
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Mick Fleetwood
Walt Disney
Leif Garrett
Willie Nelson
Ted Nugent
Larry King
Mike Tyson
Isaac Hayes
Tammy Wynette
Wayne Newton
Don Johnson
Margot Kidder
Meatloaf
Many, many big lottery winners
The take-home message here seems to be that you have to be careful with your money, no matter how many millions you've got. Seems pretty obvious, but maybe not.
It's been more than 40 years since that dark day, but I still remember and regret being so forgetful and foolish! Maybe you have a similar story from your youth. Or possibly you squandered a decent sum of money on something foolish that brings you sorrow even today. Yes?
Well, never fear. There are those out in the world that make just about any money mistake you've ever made seem paltry by comparison. As you can guess, most of these famous/infamous folks, in the following list, lost all of their money and had to file bankruptcy, due to mis-management of their huge fortunes. The most common themes in these bankruptcies are: drugs, iffy investments, and uncontrolled spending.
Donald Trump
Dorothy Hamill
MC Hammer
Gary Coleman
Toni Braxton
Burt Reynolds
Mickey Rooney
Sheryl Swoopes
Kim Basinger
LaToya Jackson
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Mick Fleetwood
Walt Disney
Leif Garrett
Willie Nelson
Ted Nugent
Larry King
Mike Tyson
Isaac Hayes
Tammy Wynette
Wayne Newton
Don Johnson
Margot Kidder
Meatloaf
Many, many big lottery winners
The take-home message here seems to be that you have to be careful with your money, no matter how many millions you've got. Seems pretty obvious, but maybe not.
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May 10, 2010
Categories to Cut (Janssen)
This year has been a year of focus for us - we've been working like crazy to pay off our student loans (both my husband and I completed masters degrees last summer) before our baby is born in July.
The interest rate was not particularly good on these loans and we really didn't want to have another required monthly expense when our overall expenses would likely be rising with the addition of a new family member.
Putting so much money toward paying off these loans means, of course, less spending in other categories, and we spent a little time looking over our budget to see where we could cut back.
We mapped out how long it would take us to pay off our loans and decided that we would be willing to entirely eliminate a few categories from our budget for the months that we were paying off our loans. That meant no spending, on either of our parts, until our loans were gone in the following categories:
Of course, the categories you'd be willing to give up for the short-term might be different than mine. You may hate to cook or need a weekly dinner out for mental health and the idea of not going out to dinner for six months is beyond intolerable. But you might be willing to give up your cell phone for a year. Or you might be willing to get rid of cable for six months.
What categories would you be willing to freeze spending on for a few months in order to put that money toward something greater?
The interest rate was not particularly good on these loans and we really didn't want to have another required monthly expense when our overall expenses would likely be rising with the addition of a new family member.
Putting so much money toward paying off these loans means, of course, less spending in other categories, and we spent a little time looking over our budget to see where we could cut back.
We mapped out how long it would take us to pay off our loans and decided that we would be willing to entirely eliminate a few categories from our budget for the months that we were paying off our loans. That meant no spending, on either of our parts, until our loans were gone in the following categories:
- Entertainment. We would not go to any movies or concerts or rent movies during this time period. We would use redbox codes or the library to see any movies or watch things online (like Lost, which is available for free from abc.com). We aren't huge movie watchers anyway, so this wasn't a major sacrifice.
- Eating out. I like to cook and it costs nearly half our weekly budget to go out to dinner at an even low-end restaurant. Bart has a number of dinners that he goes to for his job anyway and I don't usually get enough satisfaction from a restaurant meal to justify the cost, so this was pretty low-impact for us.
- Our allowances. I mentioned in an early post that Bart and I both have an allowance of $50 a month. This money is ours to spend as we will, although realistically, since we don't have a clothing budget, this money generally goes to that. We decided to freeze this category until the loans were gone, so no money would be accruing in these accounts during this time period.
Of course, the categories you'd be willing to give up for the short-term might be different than mine. You may hate to cook or need a weekly dinner out for mental health and the idea of not going out to dinner for six months is beyond intolerable. But you might be willing to give up your cell phone for a year. Or you might be willing to get rid of cable for six months.
What categories would you be willing to freeze spending on for a few months in order to put that money toward something greater?
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May 7, 2010
I Have Enough (Carole)
Is is possible to feel like you have ENOUGH?? One of David's cousins used to be the CFO for an uber-wealthy Saudi prince. I believe he saw and heard things the rest of us mere-mortals can't even imagine. A few years ago, we had dinner at this cousin's house and he mentioned that even on this mega level of income, people do not feel like they have enough. The prince who has $50 billion is always on the look-out for things to buy that SHOW that he has $10 billion more than the prince who has "only" $40 billion. What exactly would you buy that would clearly make that point?? I have no idea.
On the other extreme, I know a gracious woman from Georgia who has chosen to be content. She is in her early 70's and always looks very put-together. I commented on one of her outfits one day while walking through an airport with her and she said that she had decided that even though she had always loved buying clothes, she had come to the realization that she had ENOUGH clothes. She determined she was not going to buy any new clothes for the next few years. Instead, she was going to enjoy what she already owned and re-discover items she'd completely forgotten about. Here she was a couple of years into this plan, and looking very, very lovely indeed.
I've thought of my friend often over the past couple of years and wondered if I have areas of my life where I have ENOUGH. Can I cross those kinds of purchases off my list for a few years?? Maybe forever? What about you? Do you finally have enough shoes, sweaters, blouses, scarves, earrings, skirts, jeans, dishes, cars, houses, boats, tools, TVs, CDs, purses, sunglasses, pillows, fabric, whatever??
On the other extreme, I know a gracious woman from Georgia who has chosen to be content. She is in her early 70's and always looks very put-together. I commented on one of her outfits one day while walking through an airport with her and she said that she had decided that even though she had always loved buying clothes, she had come to the realization that she had ENOUGH clothes. She determined she was not going to buy any new clothes for the next few years. Instead, she was going to enjoy what she already owned and re-discover items she'd completely forgotten about. Here she was a couple of years into this plan, and looking very, very lovely indeed.
I've thought of my friend often over the past couple of years and wondered if I have areas of my life where I have ENOUGH. Can I cross those kinds of purchases off my list for a few years?? Maybe forever? What about you? Do you finally have enough shoes, sweaters, blouses, scarves, earrings, skirts, jeans, dishes, cars, houses, boats, tools, TVs, CDs, purses, sunglasses, pillows, fabric, whatever??
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Apr 30, 2010
Priceline Step by Step (Janssen)
Okay, prepare yourself for the fantastic joy of bidding for a hotel on Priceline. Also, take your heart medication beforehand, because that moment while you're waiting to find out if your bid has been accepted and what hotel you've gotten can be as good as running a marathon. And let's go.
Here's a little guided tour through the whole process. Let's pretend you are going to go to Chicago for 3 nights over Memorial Day.
First, you'd go Bidding for Travel.
Scroll down until you find the state your destination city is in and click the link:
Once you're into your city, choose the hotel list:
And you'll get a list of all the hotels (by zone and then star level) that Bidding for Travel has had people win Priceline bids for in that city, with links to the hotels websites and what zones they are in:
At the top of this page, there is a long warning, which I'll repeat here. This list is not going to be hundred percent accurate! Priceline can change the star-rating for a hotel or there may be hotels that are not on the list because no one has ever posted that they've won a bid there or the zones may change unexpectedly, etc. This is just to give you a reasonably good idea of what kind of hotels you have a shot at getting in any particular zone or star level. I usually click around and look at the hotels so I know which zones or star levels I'll be unhappy with and thus which ones to avoid.
Once you have a feel for the hotels in the area, I usually go back to the main list for the city and see what people have been paying for hotels:
The one I've circled is for Memorial Day weekend. If you click the link, you'll notice that the rate on the hotel's website for those same dates is $409 per night, so $99 is a steal. This also lets you know that if you're willing to go less than a 4 star, you shouldn't have too much trouble doing it for well under $100 per night.
Now, it's time to actually go to Priceline and go to the Name Your Own Price section for hotels (but go through Ebates so you can get your 2% back):
In the screen that pops up, fill in your information:
and press "Bid Now."
And now the real fun starts:
Here's the main bidding screen. First you need to select which areas of the city you're willing to stay in. Start with one (so that you have things to add later if your first bid doesn't get accepted).
Lets say you want to stay downtown. And you only want a 3 1/2 star or nicer hotel.
Select "Millennium Park" as your area, choose "4-Star Deluxe "for your star level, and put in how much you're willing to pay per night.
You also need to put in the name of the person the reservation will be in. And then you push "Next."
You'll get a screen that lets you review your bid:
Make sure your dates are right and check out the total price, then initial and go to the next screen, where you'll put in your credit card number. Once that's done, they'll look for a hotel room for you.
If you get a room, hooray! Success. Brag to everyone you know about what a great deal you got.
If not, it'll give you an opportunity to rebid, but you'll have to change something besides your price. You can wait 24 hours and start over. OR. . . you can add zones and star levels.
In this case, you could add 3 1/2 stars as a level you'd be willing to stay at and try again with a slightly higher price.
If it still doesn't work, add the North Michigan Avenue area and bid again (or you could do these in the opposite order and try adding a zone before you lower your star level).
And then, if you are still unsuccessful, you can start adding zones that don't have your star level, which basically is a free re-bid (meaning, you don't have to lower your standards or wait 24 hours).
If you click through the zones, you'll notice some zones only have really low-star hotels available, like Franklin Park which only goes up to a whopping 2 stars.
This means that if you add that zone to your bid but keep your star level at 3 1/2 stars or higher, you have no chance of getting something in the Franklin Park area because they don't HAVE any hotels that are 3 1/2 stars or higher. The Hyde Park zone also does not go above 2 stars, so it'd be another free rebid.
Eventually, you'll get a hotel room. And you'll rejoice, especially when you look at how much money you're saving.
Easy enough, right? Questions?
Here's a little guided tour through the whole process. Let's pretend you are going to go to Chicago for 3 nights over Memorial Day.
First, you'd go Bidding for Travel.
Scroll down until you find the state your destination city is in and click the link:
Once you're into your city, choose the hotel list:
And you'll get a list of all the hotels (by zone and then star level) that Bidding for Travel has had people win Priceline bids for in that city, with links to the hotels websites and what zones they are in:
At the top of this page, there is a long warning, which I'll repeat here. This list is not going to be hundred percent accurate! Priceline can change the star-rating for a hotel or there may be hotels that are not on the list because no one has ever posted that they've won a bid there or the zones may change unexpectedly, etc. This is just to give you a reasonably good idea of what kind of hotels you have a shot at getting in any particular zone or star level. I usually click around and look at the hotels so I know which zones or star levels I'll be unhappy with and thus which ones to avoid.
Once you have a feel for the hotels in the area, I usually go back to the main list for the city and see what people have been paying for hotels:
The one I've circled is for Memorial Day weekend. If you click the link, you'll notice that the rate on the hotel's website for those same dates is $409 per night, so $99 is a steal. This also lets you know that if you're willing to go less than a 4 star, you shouldn't have too much trouble doing it for well under $100 per night.
Now, it's time to actually go to Priceline and go to the Name Your Own Price section for hotels (but go through Ebates so you can get your 2% back):
In the screen that pops up, fill in your information:
And now the real fun starts:
Here's the main bidding screen. First you need to select which areas of the city you're willing to stay in. Start with one (so that you have things to add later if your first bid doesn't get accepted).
Lets say you want to stay downtown. And you only want a 3 1/2 star or nicer hotel.
Select "Millennium Park" as your area, choose "4-Star Deluxe "for your star level, and put in how much you're willing to pay per night.
You also need to put in the name of the person the reservation will be in. And then you push "Next."
You'll get a screen that lets you review your bid:
Make sure your dates are right and check out the total price, then initial and go to the next screen, where you'll put in your credit card number. Once that's done, they'll look for a hotel room for you.
If you get a room, hooray! Success. Brag to everyone you know about what a great deal you got.
If not, it'll give you an opportunity to rebid, but you'll have to change something besides your price. You can wait 24 hours and start over. OR. . . you can add zones and star levels.
In this case, you could add 3 1/2 stars as a level you'd be willing to stay at and try again with a slightly higher price.
If it still doesn't work, add the North Michigan Avenue area and bid again (or you could do these in the opposite order and try adding a zone before you lower your star level).
And then, if you are still unsuccessful, you can start adding zones that don't have your star level, which basically is a free re-bid (meaning, you don't have to lower your standards or wait 24 hours).
If you click through the zones, you'll notice some zones only have really low-star hotels available, like Franklin Park which only goes up to a whopping 2 stars.
This means that if you add that zone to your bid but keep your star level at 3 1/2 stars or higher, you have no chance of getting something in the Franklin Park area because they don't HAVE any hotels that are 3 1/2 stars or higher. The Hyde Park zone also does not go above 2 stars, so it'd be another free rebid.
Eventually, you'll get a hotel room. And you'll rejoice, especially when you look at how much money you're saving.
Easy enough, right? Questions?
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Apr 27, 2010
Saving on Hotels (Janssen)
If you read my personal blog, you'll know that my husband and I really love to travel. Of course, travel can get expensive, quickly, and so I'm always looking for ways to slash the cost wherever I can.
One of the best ways I've found to do this is through Priceline's "Name Your Own Price" feature for hotels. Hotel prices add up really fast, especially if you're traveling for more than a day or two, so saving fifty to a hundred dollars a night leaves you either with a smaller cost of traveling, or more money to spend actually doing things, rather than just having a place to dump your suitcase.
The basic idea is this: you select your city and then the areas of the city you're willing to stay in, the dates for your stay, a star-level of hotel, and the price you'll pay per night. Then you put in your credit card number and push okay to go ahead with your bid.
If your bid is accepted, your card is automatically charged before you ever see what hotel you're staying at. If it's not accepted, you can wait 24 hours and bid again, or change parts of your bid and try again immediately (changing the price you'll pay doesn't count - you have to add areas you'll stay in or change your star level or your dates).
I'll be the first to admit, I was a bit wary of this whole idea for a long time, because it just seemed so sketchy - you could end up with a really skeezy hotel and have no real options for getting out of it, since they charge you before you even SEE your hotel. Not my idea of a good time. But my extremely savings-savvy friend, Kristi, assured me she'd used it a bazillion times and always had good results, and I finally decided to trust her.
We've now used it a number of times and every time it's been a win. We've stayed in beautiful hotels, right in the middle of the city, in San Francisco, Boston, New York City, and Milwaukee. So no complaints from me.
You'll definitely want to use Bidding for Travel to help you use Priceline. It's a message board where people list how much they got their hotel rooms for and the site maintains a list of all the hotels they know of in specific cities that Priceline uses. Otherwise you might overbid or underbid because you have no idea what hotels in a certain city are going for (for example, when we went to Milwaukee, hotels were going for between $50-70 for a four-star hotel, while a similarly nice hotel in New York City was more like $150-200 per night).
And, of course, you can get to Priceline through Ebates (more info about Ebates here) and get 2% of your total cost back in cash. Which I never complain about (except when I forget to use Ebates and then I complain loudly to my long-suffering husband).
On Friday, I'll post step-by-step instructions (with screen shots!) about how to make a successful bid on Priceline.
One of the best ways I've found to do this is through Priceline's "Name Your Own Price" feature for hotels. Hotel prices add up really fast, especially if you're traveling for more than a day or two, so saving fifty to a hundred dollars a night leaves you either with a smaller cost of traveling, or more money to spend actually doing things, rather than just having a place to dump your suitcase.
The basic idea is this: you select your city and then the areas of the city you're willing to stay in, the dates for your stay, a star-level of hotel, and the price you'll pay per night. Then you put in your credit card number and push okay to go ahead with your bid.
If your bid is accepted, your card is automatically charged before you ever see what hotel you're staying at. If it's not accepted, you can wait 24 hours and bid again, or change parts of your bid and try again immediately (changing the price you'll pay doesn't count - you have to add areas you'll stay in or change your star level or your dates).
I'll be the first to admit, I was a bit wary of this whole idea for a long time, because it just seemed so sketchy - you could end up with a really skeezy hotel and have no real options for getting out of it, since they charge you before you even SEE your hotel. Not my idea of a good time. But my extremely savings-savvy friend, Kristi, assured me she'd used it a bazillion times and always had good results, and I finally decided to trust her.
We've now used it a number of times and every time it's been a win. We've stayed in beautiful hotels, right in the middle of the city, in San Francisco, Boston, New York City, and Milwaukee. So no complaints from me.
You'll definitely want to use Bidding for Travel to help you use Priceline. It's a message board where people list how much they got their hotel rooms for and the site maintains a list of all the hotels they know of in specific cities that Priceline uses. Otherwise you might overbid or underbid because you have no idea what hotels in a certain city are going for (for example, when we went to Milwaukee, hotels were going for between $50-70 for a four-star hotel, while a similarly nice hotel in New York City was more like $150-200 per night).
And, of course, you can get to Priceline through Ebates (more info about Ebates here) and get 2% of your total cost back in cash. Which I never complain about (except when I forget to use Ebates and then I complain loudly to my long-suffering husband).
On Friday, I'll post step-by-step instructions (with screen shots!) about how to make a successful bid on Priceline.
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Apr 26, 2010
Saving for Both Short and Long Term Goals (Carole)
Melanie, a faithful FWWL reader, asked about saving for both Long Term and Short Term goals at the same time. Haven't we all been there? If you sit down and think of all the things you really should/want to save money for, it will probably be a mighty long list. Where do you start? Most people don't have the personal discipline to prioritize their wants and needs, so they just buy everything on credit the moment they want it and soon find themselves in deep financial trouble.
There is a better way and it works every time.
First -- Write your list. Take a couple of days or weeks to work on it, as it often takes some time for all your past ideas to come to the surface. Take this time to decide what you REALLY want and need.
Second -- Divide your list into both Long Term and Short Term financial goals.
Long Term Goals might include:
Emergency fund (3 - 6 months of take-home pay saved in cash -- this money is used to cover unexpected car repairs, household repairs, major medical expenses, and possible unemployment),
A down payment on a house,
A new car paid for with cash.
Some of these long term goals aren't that exciting, but they will bring stability and safety to your future financial life. Definitely worth the effort.
Short Term Goals might include:
A new piece of furniture,
Re-carpeting a room,
A vacation.
Remember financial goals are about both wants AND needs.
Third -- Now comes the hard part. Prioritize your Long Term Goals. 1, 2, 3. . . Same with your Short Term Goals.
You will quickly see that you cannot possibly save toward all of these at the same time, unless you have a great deal of extra money sitting around. My husband refers to this as trying to "ride your horse off in all directions at once." (He's said this to me many times over the years). If you try to spread your savings money too thinly, you will make very little progress on anything and will quickly get discouraged.
I suggest that you choose #1 from your Long Term list and #1 from your Short Term list and save for only those two. Decide how much money each of these goals needs to bring them to fruition. Then look to see how much money you can reasonably put toward each goal every month. Make yourself a chart (I LOVE CHARTS!) with completion dates. Tape the charts up somewhere you'll see them every day, so that you will keep these goals in the front of your mind. Take it from someone who has saved for dozens and dozens of things over the years -- the first few months of saving pass very, very slowly. But before you know it, it's been 6 months and your saved $ amounts begin to look pretty substantial. Those big numbers are highly motivating to keep moving forward! I've been saving up for a set of custom doors leading from my dining room to my kitchen for quite some time and just passed the $5,000 mark (these are expensive doors) and it feels GOOD. I'm ordering them soon!
The Short Term Goal will probably max out within only a few months and you can go buy whatever fabulous thing it was you wanted to get -- with cash! Celebrate not only by making your purchase, but also write across your chart in big red marker "SUCCESS!" and begin wallpapering your bathroom with these as you achieve each one OR fold up the chart and place it in your journal for future motivation. Then move onto Short Term Goal #2. You may find that some of your short term goals (possibly items #4 and below) begin to look a lot less interesting as time goes on. You'll be glad you didn't impulsively buy these items on credit and now 18 months later you're still paying for things that aren't important to you anymore. Delaying a purchase often causes your rational thinking to take control again or for you to simply change your mind. The VISA people hate that.
Your Long Term Goal may take you a few years to accomplish, but you'll get there too! It may seem like a slow process at times, but there is absolutely no other way to achieve your long term financial goals. This is where you see the value of keeping your monthly fixed expenses low. The more expensive your daily life is, the harder it is to save for your future or any extra lovely things.
By following this technique you will join that rare breed of people who save money to protect their futures and pay cash when they buy something substantial! Let me be the first to say it, "YOU are amazing!"
There is a better way and it works every time.
First -- Write your list. Take a couple of days or weeks to work on it, as it often takes some time for all your past ideas to come to the surface. Take this time to decide what you REALLY want and need.
Second -- Divide your list into both Long Term and Short Term financial goals.
Long Term Goals might include:
Emergency fund (3 - 6 months of take-home pay saved in cash -- this money is used to cover unexpected car repairs, household repairs, major medical expenses, and possible unemployment),
A down payment on a house,
A new car paid for with cash.
Some of these long term goals aren't that exciting, but they will bring stability and safety to your future financial life. Definitely worth the effort.
Short Term Goals might include:
A new piece of furniture,
Re-carpeting a room,
A vacation.
Remember financial goals are about both wants AND needs.
Third -- Now comes the hard part. Prioritize your Long Term Goals. 1, 2, 3. . . Same with your Short Term Goals.
I suggest that you choose #1 from your Long Term list and #1 from your Short Term list and save for only those two. Decide how much money each of these goals needs to bring them to fruition. Then look to see how much money you can reasonably put toward each goal every month. Make yourself a chart (I LOVE CHARTS!) with completion dates. Tape the charts up somewhere you'll see them every day, so that you will keep these goals in the front of your mind. Take it from someone who has saved for dozens and dozens of things over the years -- the first few months of saving pass very, very slowly. But before you know it, it's been 6 months and your saved $ amounts begin to look pretty substantial. Those big numbers are highly motivating to keep moving forward! I've been saving up for a set of custom doors leading from my dining room to my kitchen for quite some time and just passed the $5,000 mark (these are expensive doors) and it feels GOOD. I'm ordering them soon!
The Short Term Goal will probably max out within only a few months and you can go buy whatever fabulous thing it was you wanted to get -- with cash! Celebrate not only by making your purchase, but also write across your chart in big red marker "SUCCESS!" and begin wallpapering your bathroom with these as you achieve each one OR fold up the chart and place it in your journal for future motivation. Then move onto Short Term Goal #2. You may find that some of your short term goals (possibly items #4 and below) begin to look a lot less interesting as time goes on. You'll be glad you didn't impulsively buy these items on credit and now 18 months later you're still paying for things that aren't important to you anymore. Delaying a purchase often causes your rational thinking to take control again or for you to simply change your mind. The VISA people hate that.
Your Long Term Goal may take you a few years to accomplish, but you'll get there too! It may seem like a slow process at times, but there is absolutely no other way to achieve your long term financial goals. This is where you see the value of keeping your monthly fixed expenses low. The more expensive your daily life is, the harder it is to save for your future or any extra lovely things.
By following this technique you will join that rare breed of people who save money to protect their futures and pay cash when they buy something substantial! Let me be the first to say it, "YOU are amazing!"
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Apr 9, 2010
Teaching Your Children About Money #1 (Carole)
When I was in college, I took an education class from a professor who always had a hands-on method of getting his point across. One of the many great lessons he shared with us was a powerful way to help your children understand the value of money and how it works within your own family.
He suggested that one month, instead of depositing your paycheck in your account, you cash the whole thing into $20 bills. (You may need to hire yourself some security for the evening. . .) Bring all that cash home and stack it on the living room floor. Sit your kids down on the carpet (enjoy watching their eyes bug out) and explain that this is ALL the money your family has to buy things with during the coming month. They will be very impressed with your piles of cash at this point!
Then bring out a poster with the monthly family expenses listed in a large font. Have them count out the bills to "pay" the bills -- mortgage, grocery bill, electricity, water, sewer, insurance, gasoline, car insurance, piano lessons, etc. They will watch those stacks of green backs disappear just like you do every month. When you've paid all the bills, let them count up how much money is left. This just might be the most sobering moment of their young lives, and will help them understand why the $80 tennis shoes or $150 jeans they want might not be in the best interest of the entire family.
If you are uncomfortable using real money, try using Monopoly money or cutting up green paper and writing $20 on each one. But, as you can imagine, it would be much more effective using the real thing.
I
Then bring out a poster with the monthly family expenses listed in a large font. Have them count out the bills to "pay" the bills -- mortgage, grocery bill, electricity, water, sewer, insurance, gasoline, car insurance, piano lessons, etc. They will watch those stacks of green backs disappear just like you do every month. When you've paid all the bills, let them count up how much money is left. This just might be the most sobering moment of their young lives, and will help them understand why the $80 tennis shoes or $150 jeans they want might not be in the best interest of the entire family.
If you are uncomfortable using real money, try using Monopoly money or cutting up green paper and writing $20 on each one. But, as you can imagine, it would be much more effective using the real thing.
I
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Apr 2, 2010
A Peek at the Promised Land (Carole)
A few weeks ago, Tara commented that she didn't see the point in being frugal, frugal, frugal just so she could be a millionaire when she and her husband are 80! What is the fun in that?? Maybe some of you have had the same thoughts as you've thought about coupon-ing, garage sale-ing, eating at home. . . Hopefully, I can give you a glimpse at where this whole Frugal Life thing is really headed.
If you have credit card debt, car loans and/or student loans, most people (when you finally get very serious about it) can pay all of it off within 3 years. We have never carried credit card debt, but we've had a few car loans and we had over $60,000 in student loans back in the 1980's -- so about $130,000 in today's money. We paid minimum payments for a number of years, and then we got religion. We paid off our car in about 8 months and our student loans in about 2 years. So we paid off all our consumer debt in right around that 3 year mark. We weren't making tons of money and we had 3 children. We were extremely average. You could probably pay things off faster than we did.
Our next step was paying off our house. We knew a couple of families our own age (early 30's) who had paid off their houses. We were AMAZED. Could we do that too?? How long would something like that take? We owed about $160,000 on our house at the time. As a little family we confronted this monumental financial goal with everything we had. We printed out an amortization schedule (numerous pages of small type -- very scary), and taped it ALL to the back of the door where the bills were paid in our house. Every month when we paid our regular house payment, we also added as much extra $$ as we could scrape out of our home budget and sent that along to the mortgage company too -- that extra money goes straight to the principle. We often gathered our 3 girls into the room while we marked off the payment amount with a highlighter pen and circled all the skipped interest payments that NEVER HAS TO BE PAID-- EVER!! Did we starve through this time? Live on nothing? Never leave the house? No, we actually took a few pretty decent vacations along the way and fed and clothed everyone. Probably saw a few movies too. But we stuck to our house payback schedule. We threw everything we could at this debt and in 3+ years we received our title, free and clear, in the mail. That is a moment never to be forgotten.
We paid that house off in 1996. In 2003 I wanted a bigger house (we had more children, the older ones were larger, and we wanted to live in a better school district). We found the house we wanted and went back into a $100,000 mortgage (we were able to pay for MOST of the house with cold, hard cash from the sale of our first house -- that felt very, very nice). We paid off this new mortgage in about 2 years. I thought I would mention here that both times we got down to the last $30,000 on our mortgage, extra money just started appearing. I can't even explain it. It's like the Lord knows you are serious about taking care of your family and your finances, so He blesses you beyond anything you've ever seen. The last $30,000 was paid off about 5 months earlier than scheduled -- both times. When you get to that point, let me know if this happens to you too!
So, when you've paid off all of your debt -- in under 5 years probably -- how does life look? It is an amazing place to be. Think of the amount of money you bring home every month in your paycheck. Now think of how much it would cost you to live with no major bills. No credit card payments, no car loans, no student loans, no house payment. Can you even wrap your mind around that?
You still have to buy food, electricity, gasoline, car insurance, clothes, property taxes. That's about it. Hmm. How much would that add up to in a month? Not very much. All the rest of your take home pay is YOURS. Wow.
What will you do with it?
Saving is a big thing. Putting as much money as you can into tax-free or tax-deferred programs is very smart.
Beyond that, you can spend it on anything you want. You could buy a new car with cash -- every few months! You could buy a brand new boat in cash, also in just a few months. You could redecorate your entire house. Put in a backyard pool. You can be generous beyond anything you can imagine. Travel to Europe, Asia, Africa -- every few months. All for cash.
You will finally be free. All the hard work you (or your spouse) puts in to bring home money, will finally benefit YOU. All in about 5 years.
Enjoy.
If you have credit card debt, car loans and/or student loans, most people (when you finally get very serious about it) can pay all of it off within 3 years. We have never carried credit card debt, but we've had a few car loans and we had over $60,000 in student loans back in the 1980's -- so about $130,000 in today's money. We paid minimum payments for a number of years, and then we got religion. We paid off our car in about 8 months and our student loans in about 2 years. So we paid off all our consumer debt in right around that 3 year mark. We weren't making tons of money and we had 3 children. We were extremely average. You could probably pay things off faster than we did.
Our next step was paying off our house. We knew a couple of families our own age (early 30's) who had paid off their houses. We were AMAZED. Could we do that too?? How long would something like that take? We owed about $160,000 on our house at the time. As a little family we confronted this monumental financial goal with everything we had. We printed out an amortization schedule (numerous pages of small type -- very scary), and taped it ALL to the back of the door where the bills were paid in our house. Every month when we paid our regular house payment, we also added as much extra $$ as we could scrape out of our home budget and sent that along to the mortgage company too -- that extra money goes straight to the principle. We often gathered our 3 girls into the room while we marked off the payment amount with a highlighter pen and circled all the skipped interest payments that NEVER HAS TO BE PAID-- EVER!! Did we starve through this time? Live on nothing? Never leave the house? No, we actually took a few pretty decent vacations along the way and fed and clothed everyone. Probably saw a few movies too. But we stuck to our house payback schedule. We threw everything we could at this debt and in 3+ years we received our title, free and clear, in the mail. That is a moment never to be forgotten.
We paid that house off in 1996. In 2003 I wanted a bigger house (we had more children, the older ones were larger, and we wanted to live in a better school district). We found the house we wanted and went back into a $100,000 mortgage (we were able to pay for MOST of the house with cold, hard cash from the sale of our first house -- that felt very, very nice). We paid off this new mortgage in about 2 years. I thought I would mention here that both times we got down to the last $30,000 on our mortgage, extra money just started appearing. I can't even explain it. It's like the Lord knows you are serious about taking care of your family and your finances, so He blesses you beyond anything you've ever seen. The last $30,000 was paid off about 5 months earlier than scheduled -- both times. When you get to that point, let me know if this happens to you too!
So, when you've paid off all of your debt -- in under 5 years probably -- how does life look? It is an amazing place to be. Think of the amount of money you bring home every month in your paycheck. Now think of how much it would cost you to live with no major bills. No credit card payments, no car loans, no student loans, no house payment. Can you even wrap your mind around that?
You still have to buy food, electricity, gasoline, car insurance, clothes, property taxes. That's about it. Hmm. How much would that add up to in a month? Not very much. All the rest of your take home pay is YOURS. Wow.
What will you do with it?
Saving is a big thing. Putting as much money as you can into tax-free or tax-deferred programs is very smart.
Beyond that, you can spend it on anything you want. You could buy a new car with cash -- every few months! You could buy a brand new boat in cash, also in just a few months. You could redecorate your entire house. Put in a backyard pool. You can be generous beyond anything you can imagine. Travel to Europe, Asia, Africa -- every few months. All for cash.
You will finally be free. All the hard work you (or your spouse) puts in to bring home money, will finally benefit YOU. All in about 5 years.
Enjoy.
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Mar 26, 2010
Skills That Save (Merrick)
I recently read a magazine article about saving more than you earn. It went through some basic ideas on how to save money, one of which was to “Get An Education.” They didn’t necessarily mean go to college, but to develop skills and educate yourself on ways that can help you save money. A few of their suggestions were to learn budgeting, computer skills, cooking and/or car maintenance. With the help of a book, internet tutorials, or a friend, you could acquire skills that will save you hundreds or thousands of dollars a year.
One skill that I acquired a few years ago, which I think falls into this category, was cutting my husband’s hair.
Before we got married, Philip went to the local hair school for his haircuts. Like most men who keep their hair short, he went in every 3-4 weeks for a cut. Although it was only $12 or so for a cut plus the tip, it added up pretty quickly when we were forking that over every three weeks.
When Philip suggested, only a few weeks after we got married, that I learn how to cut his hair so we could cut this expense out of our monthly budget, I quickly agreed. Yes, it took a few times for me to really get the hang of it, and yes, one time I put the wrong guard on and the haircut ended in tears (tears from me, not him), but after a few months, my skills improved, I figured out exactly what he liked, and was able to produce a great haircut almost 100% of the time.
Although saving roughly $150 a year on haircuts may not seem like a ton to you, this one skill has given me confidence to learn other skills that will save us money. And if I can learn five other skills that will save me $150 a year each, that will add up very quickly and suddenly I’ll have nearly $1000 per year of extra money that could go toward a vacation, or new clothes, or something way more awesome than a haircut.
So readers, do you cut your husband/children’s hair? What other skills do you have that help save you money?
One skill that I acquired a few years ago, which I think falls into this category, was cutting my husband’s hair.
Before we got married, Philip went to the local hair school for his haircuts. Like most men who keep their hair short, he went in every 3-4 weeks for a cut. Although it was only $12 or so for a cut plus the tip, it added up pretty quickly when we were forking that over every three weeks.
When Philip suggested, only a few weeks after we got married, that I learn how to cut his hair so we could cut this expense out of our monthly budget, I quickly agreed. Yes, it took a few times for me to really get the hang of it, and yes, one time I put the wrong guard on and the haircut ended in tears (tears from me, not him), but after a few months, my skills improved, I figured out exactly what he liked, and was able to produce a great haircut almost 100% of the time.
Although saving roughly $150 a year on haircuts may not seem like a ton to you, this one skill has given me confidence to learn other skills that will save us money. And if I can learn five other skills that will save me $150 a year each, that will add up very quickly and suddenly I’ll have nearly $1000 per year of extra money that could go toward a vacation, or new clothes, or something way more awesome than a haircut.
So readers, do you cut your husband/children’s hair? What other skills do you have that help save you money?
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Mar 25, 2010
Keeping Hobbies Reasonable (Janssen)
I love hobbies. I think they can make your life more fun and fulfilling, give you something to do, help you find a circle of friends, and make you feel better about yourself and your life.
But it's also easy to throw a lot of money into a new hobby before you know if it's really going to be worth it.
You know the drill - you suddenly get the idea, on a beautiful weekend morning, that your family could be really into tennis. You could be out playing every Saturday morning, enjoying the fresh air and exercise, maybe a few games on a weeknight. You'd get years of enjoyment from the sport, probably playing until well into your nineties. You would play doubles with your children. So you hop in the car and head over to the sporting goods store and pick up some top-of-the-line rackets (if you're going to be playing every week for the next sixty to seventy years, you'll definitely get your money's worth out of them) and get fitted for some real tennis shoes too. Pick up a dozen or so cans of balls. Maybe a tennis outfit. You walk out having spent several hundred dollars. And then you play twice. The equipment lingers in your garage, collecting dust, for years. Eventually you donate your expensive equipment to Goodwill.
Which brings me to one of my Frugal Rules to Live By: do not invest a lot of money into new hobbies until you are absolutely sure you are committed to them.
A few years ago, Bart went bike riding with a friend in Austin. The friend was really into biking and had a very nice bike. When Bart returned, he suggested that we consider getting bikes. We'd be a biking family! He tossed around the idea of getting a fairly nice road or mountain bike for a while, but I was wary.
I mean, I liked the idea of being a biking family too. Good exercise, ideal mode of transportation in some areas, and a fun recreational activity. But I was not at all sure we'd get enough use out of them to make it worth having sunk thousands of dollars in to it.
Eventually, after much discussion, we agreed that we would indeed both get a bike, but we should buy some inexpensive ones. We went to Wal-Mart, rode many bikes around the store, and finally each selected one. They cost about $120 each.
We went on the occasional Saturday morning bike ride around our neighborhood and even once down around the lake in Austin. I rode mine to work and back every day for about four months when Bart needed the car to get to work. We went for a nice ride through Boston in the fall. We've definitely gotten some use out of them, but we are in no way a biking family. We simply had and still have no need for expensive, top of the line bikes.
If we had discovered after a year or so that we really loved to bike and were using our bikes weekly and that we absolutely needed nicer bikes, we could have sold ours on Craigslist and then bought nicer bikes.
If you think tennis might be the thing for you, buy some cheap rackets at Goodwill (where the people who thought they would be huge tennis players have now deposited theirs) and try it out for a while. See if you really use it.
And then, if you prove to yourself that you really do have a sustained and serious interest, then it may be the time to spend a little more money. But to start at the high-spending level assures you a low balance in your bank account and a large pile of guilt-inducing junk in your basement.
But it's also easy to throw a lot of money into a new hobby before you know if it's really going to be worth it.
You know the drill - you suddenly get the idea, on a beautiful weekend morning, that your family could be really into tennis. You could be out playing every Saturday morning, enjoying the fresh air and exercise, maybe a few games on a weeknight. You'd get years of enjoyment from the sport, probably playing until well into your nineties. You would play doubles with your children. So you hop in the car and head over to the sporting goods store and pick up some top-of-the-line rackets (if you're going to be playing every week for the next sixty to seventy years, you'll definitely get your money's worth out of them) and get fitted for some real tennis shoes too. Pick up a dozen or so cans of balls. Maybe a tennis outfit. You walk out having spent several hundred dollars. And then you play twice. The equipment lingers in your garage, collecting dust, for years. Eventually you donate your expensive equipment to Goodwill.
Which brings me to one of my Frugal Rules to Live By: do not invest a lot of money into new hobbies until you are absolutely sure you are committed to them.
A few years ago, Bart went bike riding with a friend in Austin. The friend was really into biking and had a very nice bike. When Bart returned, he suggested that we consider getting bikes. We'd be a biking family! He tossed around the idea of getting a fairly nice road or mountain bike for a while, but I was wary.
I mean, I liked the idea of being a biking family too. Good exercise, ideal mode of transportation in some areas, and a fun recreational activity. But I was not at all sure we'd get enough use out of them to make it worth having sunk thousands of dollars in to it.
Eventually, after much discussion, we agreed that we would indeed both get a bike, but we should buy some inexpensive ones. We went to Wal-Mart, rode many bikes around the store, and finally each selected one. They cost about $120 each.
We went on the occasional Saturday morning bike ride around our neighborhood and even once down around the lake in Austin. I rode mine to work and back every day for about four months when Bart needed the car to get to work. We went for a nice ride through Boston in the fall. We've definitely gotten some use out of them, but we are in no way a biking family. We simply had and still have no need for expensive, top of the line bikes.
If we had discovered after a year or so that we really loved to bike and were using our bikes weekly and that we absolutely needed nicer bikes, we could have sold ours on Craigslist and then bought nicer bikes.
If you think tennis might be the thing for you, buy some cheap rackets at Goodwill (where the people who thought they would be huge tennis players have now deposited theirs) and try it out for a while. See if you really use it.
And then, if you prove to yourself that you really do have a sustained and serious interest, then it may be the time to spend a little more money. But to start at the high-spending level assures you a low balance in your bank account and a large pile of guilt-inducing junk in your basement.
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Mar 24, 2010
Recipe Wednesday - Beef Stroganoff (Carole)
It's nice to have a sense of what your at-home recipes cost to cook -- and we are here to help! You typically save about 80 - 90% by cooking dinner at home instead of going to a restaurant. Now that feels great!!
Beef Stroganoff
(Cost for entire dish = $5.67)
Serves between 4 - 6 people. Depending on the people.
2+ lbs beef roast ($4.27)
1 Dry Onion Soup mix ($0.90)
1/4 cup water
1 cup sour cream ($0.50)
Cut the roast into 2 inch pieces, place in a crock pot on low. Add onion soup mix and water. Cook for 6 - 8 hours, stirring occasionally and adding small amounts of water if it gets dry. 10 minutes before serving, stir in sour cream and let heat through.
Serve over rice, potatoes or pasta.
These ingredient prices are so low because I watch for in-store sales. The meat was $1.89/lb (nearly half price) and my local store almost always has store brand sour cream for $1.00 for a pint. I usually buy the store brand of soup mix which is about half the price of Liptons.
And I LOVE my crock pot. It works all day and has dinner ready and smelling divine when I'm ready to feed my hungry crew.
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Mar 23, 2010
Unnecessary Expenses: Part 7 (Merrick)
With the arrival of our first baby only three weeks away, I’ve had a bad case of the “nesting” phase. We were hoping to sell our two bedroom condo before the baby arrived, but with the downturn in the housing market our condo would not sell. Finally, after a year of sitting on the market, Philip and I sat down and talked over our situation. Our mortgage is pretty darn cheap, we had a second bedroom that was very usable for a baby room, and with a few updates and adjustments, we could very easily stay in this house for another few years. We didn’t really NEED a big, new house, we just WANTED one.
And that brings me to another unnecessary expense – new stuff.
With outrageously low housing costs and closeout sales at nearly every other store in town, buying new stuff sounds so appealing. But do you really need it? Are you buying it just because it’s on sale? In some cases, this is a great time to take advantage of all these cheap prices. But in many cases, like ours, you can spruce up your boring house with a few simple and cheap updates.
HGTV’s Design on a Dime show has some great ideas to update your house without breaking the bank:
Revisit what you already own. Refurbishing existing pieces is the best way to do some inexpensive decorating.
Sandpaper, primer and paint can transform just about any piece of furniture. Don't throw something out because you're tired of the color, and don't pass up a good deal on a piece of furniture just because you don't like the finish. You can easily change it.
Check the Classifieds. Peruse your local online classifieds. There are some great deals to be found. Listings in classifieds often have photos attached, so it's easy to find exactly what you're looking for.
Learn to sew. Sewing your own drapery, bedding and pillows will save you a ton of cash in the long run. By sewing your own decorative accents, you have a vast array of fabrics to choose from. Plus, sewing can be a lot of fun.
And here are a few of my own ideas (and things we did to spruce up our place when I was tempted to tear down the place and start fresh):
Sell something you no longer need/use and use that money to buy something new: We sold our bookshelf and our desk that made up the office in the second bedroom, which is now the baby room. With this newly earned money, we felt great about buying a nice new bookshelf and a dresser for the baby clothes.
Inexpensive accessories can make a big difference: Our front room was looking blah and it was driving me crazy. A few cheap but colorful pillows, a mirror hung in an old frame laying around, and some artwork on the walls (done by me) has made our front room look like new. And it all cost under $100.
Rearrange Furniture: Sometimes a little rearranging is all it takes to make a room feel bigger, better, and new.
These are only a few of the many inexpensive options out there that can make a big difference in your home. And you'll probably find (like I did), that once these updates have been made, you'll love your current home and your current furniture so much more. Then you can finally stop daydreaming about a new house and new stuff, which is good...because you and your wallet don't really need it.
And that brings me to another unnecessary expense – new stuff.
With outrageously low housing costs and closeout sales at nearly every other store in town, buying new stuff sounds so appealing. But do you really need it? Are you buying it just because it’s on sale? In some cases, this is a great time to take advantage of all these cheap prices. But in many cases, like ours, you can spruce up your boring house with a few simple and cheap updates.
HGTV’s Design on a Dime show has some great ideas to update your house without breaking the bank:
Revisit what you already own. Refurbishing existing pieces is the best way to do some inexpensive decorating.
Sandpaper, primer and paint can transform just about any piece of furniture. Don't throw something out because you're tired of the color, and don't pass up a good deal on a piece of furniture just because you don't like the finish. You can easily change it.
Check the Classifieds. Peruse your local online classifieds. There are some great deals to be found. Listings in classifieds often have photos attached, so it's easy to find exactly what you're looking for.
Learn to sew. Sewing your own drapery, bedding and pillows will save you a ton of cash in the long run. By sewing your own decorative accents, you have a vast array of fabrics to choose from. Plus, sewing can be a lot of fun.
And here are a few of my own ideas (and things we did to spruce up our place when I was tempted to tear down the place and start fresh):
Sell something you no longer need/use and use that money to buy something new: We sold our bookshelf and our desk that made up the office in the second bedroom, which is now the baby room. With this newly earned money, we felt great about buying a nice new bookshelf and a dresser for the baby clothes.
Inexpensive accessories can make a big difference: Our front room was looking blah and it was driving me crazy. A few cheap but colorful pillows, a mirror hung in an old frame laying around, and some artwork on the walls (done by me) has made our front room look like new. And it all cost under $100.
Rearrange Furniture: Sometimes a little rearranging is all it takes to make a room feel bigger, better, and new.
These are only a few of the many inexpensive options out there that can make a big difference in your home. And you'll probably find (like I did), that once these updates have been made, you'll love your current home and your current furniture so much more. Then you can finally stop daydreaming about a new house and new stuff, which is good...because you and your wallet don't really need it.
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Mar 19, 2010
Savings in the Laundry Room (Carole)
So, here's another set of easy ideas for saving money -- in your laundry room.
Do you use the right amount of detergent when you do your laundry? If you use a liquid detergent, it seems obvious to fill up the cap to the top. Not so. If you read the side of the bottle, it will tell you to look closely at the cap and you'll see that there are faint lines inside that indicate the amount you should use for a small/medium load and a large load. These lines are unbelievably hard to see. I had to feel for them with my fingers so that I could mark the outside of the cap for this photo. You will notice that both of these lines are significantly below the top of the cap. By filling your cap to the top for every load, you are using more than double the amount recommended for a small/medium load. This also means you are not getting your full loads/bottle for your money. Instead of the advertised 40 loads, you are getting about 20, doubling your cost to wash each load of laundry.
The same is true for those of us who use powdered detergent. The lines on the scoop in the box are much easier to see, but probably just as ignored by most of us. Again, filling the scoop up to the top with detergent uses about twice what the manufacturer recommends in their directions on the side of the box. Congratulations! By using the right amount, you're suddenly going to be getting twice as many loads of laundry from your detergent purchase. That could add up to about $100 saved per year -- and that's before coupons. In addition, if you have a High Efficiency washer, your washer is made to rinse clothes until the soap is gone from the fabrics. Using too much detergent means your washer will rinse and rinse and rinse to get all that extra soap out . . . your energy prices will really climb!
For years I have ripped my dryer sheets in half before putting them in the dryer. This one step saves me 50% on dryer sheets every year. When I'm feeling REALLY frugal, I rip them into thirds. Trust me, there's plenty of "stuff" on the half (or 1/3rd) sheet to stop the static in your dryer. Suddenly your little box lasts twice or three times as long. The savings just keep on comin'!
Lastly, doing your laundry before noon or after 7:00 PM will significantly reduce your electricity costs. No kidding! All electricity does not cost the same. Check your electrical company website for their Time of Use rules. Electricity costs a lot more from Noon - 7:00 PM (peak use hours) when everyone in town is using it too.
Frugal and Cheap are different animals.
Last fall, I bought a dozen bottles of a liquid laundry detergent on sale -- and I had some coupons. I was so proud of myself!! Month after month I've delighted in bringing down a new bottle when the old one was empty, knowing how little I had paid for this detergent. This was not an off-brand or a store brand, but it wasn't one of the big names either. However, a few weeks ago, I was visiting my parents in Idaho and did some of my laundry while I was there. My mother had her big box of Tide sitting on the washer, so I used it, of course. I was amazed (and embarrassed) to see how noticeably whiter my socks came out of the wash. Hmm. I'd saved a few dollars and ended up with dingy laundry. Not a savings, in my book. Now, I'll watch for sales and coupons and go back to a product that cleans better. Cheap is getting the best price, no matter what. Frugal is getting a good product for the best price. Very different.
Anyone else have some good laundry ideas?
Do you use the right amount of detergent when you do your laundry? If you use a liquid detergent, it seems obvious to fill up the cap to the top. Not so. If you read the side of the bottle, it will tell you to look closely at the cap and you'll see that there are faint lines inside that indicate the amount you should use for a small/medium load and a large load. These lines are unbelievably hard to see. I had to feel for them with my fingers so that I could mark the outside of the cap for this photo. You will notice that both of these lines are significantly below the top of the cap. By filling your cap to the top for every load, you are using more than double the amount recommended for a small/medium load. This also means you are not getting your full loads/bottle for your money. Instead of the advertised 40 loads, you are getting about 20, doubling your cost to wash each load of laundry.
The same is true for those of us who use powdered detergent. The lines on the scoop in the box are much easier to see, but probably just as ignored by most of us. Again, filling the scoop up to the top with detergent uses about twice what the manufacturer recommends in their directions on the side of the box. Congratulations! By using the right amount, you're suddenly going to be getting twice as many loads of laundry from your detergent purchase. That could add up to about $100 saved per year -- and that's before coupons. In addition, if you have a High Efficiency washer, your washer is made to rinse clothes until the soap is gone from the fabrics. Using too much detergent means your washer will rinse and rinse and rinse to get all that extra soap out . . . your energy prices will really climb!For years I have ripped my dryer sheets in half before putting them in the dryer. This one step saves me 50% on dryer sheets every year. When I'm feeling REALLY frugal, I rip them into thirds. Trust me, there's plenty of "stuff" on the half (or 1/3rd) sheet to stop the static in your dryer. Suddenly your little box lasts twice or three times as long. The savings just keep on comin'!
Lastly, doing your laundry before noon or after 7:00 PM will significantly reduce your electricity costs. No kidding! All electricity does not cost the same. Check your electrical company website for their Time of Use rules. Electricity costs a lot more from Noon - 7:00 PM (peak use hours) when everyone in town is using it too.
A Cautionary Tale:
Frugal and Cheap are different animals.
Last fall, I bought a dozen bottles of a liquid laundry detergent on sale -- and I had some coupons. I was so proud of myself!! Month after month I've delighted in bringing down a new bottle when the old one was empty, knowing how little I had paid for this detergent. This was not an off-brand or a store brand, but it wasn't one of the big names either. However, a few weeks ago, I was visiting my parents in Idaho and did some of my laundry while I was there. My mother had her big box of Tide sitting on the washer, so I used it, of course. I was amazed (and embarrassed) to see how noticeably whiter my socks came out of the wash. Hmm. I'd saved a few dollars and ended up with dingy laundry. Not a savings, in my book. Now, I'll watch for sales and coupons and go back to a product that cleans better. Cheap is getting the best price, no matter what. Frugal is getting a good product for the best price. Very different.
Anyone else have some good laundry ideas?
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