Last week my computer died, which, while inconvenient, was not totally unexpected. We bought a new one on Friday night at Office Depot. Sunday morning my husband was looking through the ads and found the same computer for $50 less on sale at Office Depot.
Today, I returned to the store with the receipt and was given a $54.75 refund for the difference between what I paid and what the sale price is this week. (The other $4.75 was refunded tax.) The clerk told me that they have a 14 day window where you can receive a refund for the difference if it is advertised as cheaper.
Make sure to check the ads after a major purchase; you may be able to get a refund if it goes on sale shortly thereafter.
Showing posts with label saving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saving. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Why We Have Not Purchased A Home--Yet
My husband and I moved to our current apartment 10 years ago. At the time, we naively thought we would be here for one year. Then my husband began his combined M.A./Ph.D. program, and a few years after that, we had our son. The years began to stretch out. My goal was to move closer to family by the time my son was 5, but with the addition of our daughter a year and a half ago, my husband’s schooling took a back burner. We had hoped to be out of this area by this summer, but once again, that is not going to happen. My husband is painfully close to completing his Ph.D., so we are truly hoping we can move past this stage in our lives in the next year.
Meanwhile, I had to call our landlords to renew our lease, again.
We have been in this apartment building for 10 years now. The first three years were in the smaller one bedroom apartment while the rest of the time was in the much larger (more expensive) two bedroom apartment. A quick tally of 10 years’ of rent equals approximately $100,560 paid in rent.
Many people would consider that wasted money and argue that we should have bought a house in this area long ago. Yes, the equity would have been nice, but believe it or not, I am glad we haven’t undertaken home ownership yet.
When we first moved here, my husband was not working, and I only earned a salary in the low $30s. Couple that with my student loan and credit card debt that I accrued while in and out of grad school, and we were lucky to pay the rent. My income improved dramatically within four years, and we didn’t have much trouble living off of my income while my husband went to grad school. Perhaps we could have bought a house then, but we would have had very little money to put down and very little in the way of an emergency fund.
That $100,560 that we have paid out in rent over 10 years averages out to $838 a month. Sure, it is quite a sum, but it is no where near what a home loan payment would cost on a monthly basis. But then there is the property tax to add in, the heating (which we do not have to pay now), the repairs, the insurance (which would be much more than our smaller renter’s policy now), the upkeep, etc.
Some people may argue that we have been throwing money away on rent these last 10 years. I would argue that we have not. Not owning a home and having the related expenses has afforded me the chance to take a leave of absence when my second child was born and to be off work again now that our third child has been born. It has given us the chance to build up a five month emergency fund.
We will own a home someday, hopefully in the next 5 years. But when we buy that home, I want to make sure that we can afford it and all of the related expenses. I want to have both a healthy down payment and a healthy emergency fund so owning a home will be a blessing and not a curse.
Meanwhile, I had to call our landlords to renew our lease, again.
We have been in this apartment building for 10 years now. The first three years were in the smaller one bedroom apartment while the rest of the time was in the much larger (more expensive) two bedroom apartment. A quick tally of 10 years’ of rent equals approximately $100,560 paid in rent.
Many people would consider that wasted money and argue that we should have bought a house in this area long ago. Yes, the equity would have been nice, but believe it or not, I am glad we haven’t undertaken home ownership yet.
When we first moved here, my husband was not working, and I only earned a salary in the low $30s. Couple that with my student loan and credit card debt that I accrued while in and out of grad school, and we were lucky to pay the rent. My income improved dramatically within four years, and we didn’t have much trouble living off of my income while my husband went to grad school. Perhaps we could have bought a house then, but we would have had very little money to put down and very little in the way of an emergency fund.
That $100,560 that we have paid out in rent over 10 years averages out to $838 a month. Sure, it is quite a sum, but it is no where near what a home loan payment would cost on a monthly basis. But then there is the property tax to add in, the heating (which we do not have to pay now), the repairs, the insurance (which would be much more than our smaller renter’s policy now), the upkeep, etc.
Some people may argue that we have been throwing money away on rent these last 10 years. I would argue that we have not. Not owning a home and having the related expenses has afforded me the chance to take a leave of absence when my second child was born and to be off work again now that our third child has been born. It has given us the chance to build up a five month emergency fund.
We will own a home someday, hopefully in the next 5 years. But when we buy that home, I want to make sure that we can afford it and all of the related expenses. I want to have both a healthy down payment and a healthy emergency fund so owning a home will be a blessing and not a curse.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Do You Automatically Deposit Your Savings?
Last year when I returned to work and knew that baby #3 was on the way, I decided to have $250 taken out of my paycheck and automatically deposited in my savings account in a different state. That adds up to $500 a month.
I had been reluctant to do this previously because I thought I needed the money. However, knowing I wanted to stay home with my kids motivated me to finally make this change because what I really needed was a healthy emergency fund.
I’ll be honest and tell you the dip in take home pay was difficult to get used to at first, but within 3 to 4 paychecks, I adjusted to my new take home salary. Now I don’t even think about the money being sent to my savings. Meanwhile, the amount is steadily climbing, and because I do not have any access to the money unless I ask my mom to take some out and send it to me, I am not tempted to dip into it.
Have you tried to automatically send a portion of your check to a savings account? Trust me, in a month or so you will not even miss the amount and your savings will grow.
I had been reluctant to do this previously because I thought I needed the money. However, knowing I wanted to stay home with my kids motivated me to finally make this change because what I really needed was a healthy emergency fund.
I’ll be honest and tell you the dip in take home pay was difficult to get used to at first, but within 3 to 4 paychecks, I adjusted to my new take home salary. Now I don’t even think about the money being sent to my savings. Meanwhile, the amount is steadily climbing, and because I do not have any access to the money unless I ask my mom to take some out and send it to me, I am not tempted to dip into it.
Have you tried to automatically send a portion of your check to a savings account? Trust me, in a month or so you will not even miss the amount and your savings will grow.
Monday, May 17, 2010
How Does Your Parent's Financial Example Affect You?
Within the last several weeks, two of the bloggers I read regularly have written posts about their parents and how little they learned about finances from them. Each of these bloggers basically said that they were lucky to have turned out financially responsibly because their parents were woefully irresponsible.
Something about these posts bothered me. In each case, their parents earned very little money, and whenever they did manage to make extra money, they spent it on their kids to give them something they had previously not been able to afford. Each blogger routinely condemned their parents for doing this instead of saving the money.
So, I started thinking about my grandparents, who raised a family of nine children all while living off one salary, my grandpa’s factory salary, while my grandma stayed home and kept up the house and took care of the kids. They were VERY financially responsible. They both lived through the depression, and my grandma washed out baggies and foil until she was on her deathbed. My mom tells stories of her parents looking over the grocery ads together and shopping the loss leaders at several stores. They paid for a private education for each of their children even though it was a financial hardship. They invested wisely and spent conservatively. My grandpa lived to 88, my grandma to 90, and they never ran out of money in retirement. In fact, there was enough leftover to give each of their nine children a small inheritance.
Unlikely the bloggers’ whose posts I read, my grandparents set a beautiful financial example for all of their children. And you know what, I have come to think that means very little. Of their nine children, two have filed bankruptcy during their lifetime. A few are routinely late on bills and have collectors calling. Several others pay their bills on time, but don’t save a lot. Whatever extra they have, they spend. Then there are a few who are very financially responsible, just like my grandparents.
It seems to me that parents’ financial habits do affect their children’s financial habits, but ultimately, the individual has the choice of how responsible they want to be (or not be) with their money.
Something about these posts bothered me. In each case, their parents earned very little money, and whenever they did manage to make extra money, they spent it on their kids to give them something they had previously not been able to afford. Each blogger routinely condemned their parents for doing this instead of saving the money.
So, I started thinking about my grandparents, who raised a family of nine children all while living off one salary, my grandpa’s factory salary, while my grandma stayed home and kept up the house and took care of the kids. They were VERY financially responsible. They both lived through the depression, and my grandma washed out baggies and foil until she was on her deathbed. My mom tells stories of her parents looking over the grocery ads together and shopping the loss leaders at several stores. They paid for a private education for each of their children even though it was a financial hardship. They invested wisely and spent conservatively. My grandpa lived to 88, my grandma to 90, and they never ran out of money in retirement. In fact, there was enough leftover to give each of their nine children a small inheritance.
Unlikely the bloggers’ whose posts I read, my grandparents set a beautiful financial example for all of their children. And you know what, I have come to think that means very little. Of their nine children, two have filed bankruptcy during their lifetime. A few are routinely late on bills and have collectors calling. Several others pay their bills on time, but don’t save a lot. Whatever extra they have, they spend. Then there are a few who are very financially responsible, just like my grandparents.
It seems to me that parents’ financial habits do affect their children’s financial habits, but ultimately, the individual has the choice of how responsible they want to be (or not be) with their money.
Monday, March 22, 2010
How We Used Our Tax Refund
I ran a poll on my sidebar about how people planned to utilize their tax refund. So, I thought I would share with you what we did with ours. What follows is the percentage of how we distributed our tax refund.
Savings = 86%
Paying down debt = 10%
Nice dinner out = 1.0%
My blow money = 1.5%
My husband’s blow money = 1.5%
I used my blow money to get another 3D ultrasound. We still do not have a name for our baby, so I thought seeing her again might help. After we went, it did help us settle on what we think we will name her. In just 4 short weeks we’ll see her in person!
My husband is still deciding what to do with his money. My guess is he might make it all through the summer before he decides what to spend it on.
Savings = 86%
Paying down debt = 10%
Nice dinner out = 1.0%
My blow money = 1.5%
My husband’s blow money = 1.5%
I used my blow money to get another 3D ultrasound. We still do not have a name for our baby, so I thought seeing her again might help. After we went, it did help us settle on what we think we will name her. In just 4 short weeks we’ll see her in person!
My husband is still deciding what to do with his money. My guess is he might make it all through the summer before he decides what to spend it on.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Just Ask - Part II
I bought some tortillas cheap a few weeks ago for .99/package. I wanted to buy some imitation crab meat for Seafood Enchiladas, and I found a package for $4.83. I noticed that the expiration date was 2/19 (and I was shopping on 2/19); there was another package with an expiration date of 3/2. It would have been easy to just pick the package with a later expiration date, but I decided to ask the woman behind the fish counter if I could get a discount since the expiration date was the same day. She smiled, slapped a sticker on the package and handed it back to me. She gave me 50% off, so I got the crab for $2.41.
Just ask. (To see my previous post on just asking and saving money, go here.)
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Do You Search for Internet Discount Codes?
A few months ago, I was reordering my checks from Checks in the Mail. As I was checking out, I saw that they had a box for a discount code. I did not have a code, but I decided to open another browser window and see if I could find a code by typing in “Checks in the Mail discount code.” Sure enough, I found one and received $2 off my $14 order.
Just last week, I was purchasing a restaurant.com certificate for a Mexican restaurant my husband and I were going to. The price was $15, which would give us $25 off our order at the restaurant. However, I once again opened another browser window and typed in “restaurant.com discount code” as my search. After opening a few links, many of which had expired codes, I found a valid code, so our certificate that would have cost $15 only ended up costing $6. I saved $9 by taking another minute (if that) to search for a discount code.
If you haven’t tried this, try it. You will be amazed by all the discounts you can find!
Just last week, I was purchasing a restaurant.com certificate for a Mexican restaurant my husband and I were going to. The price was $15, which would give us $25 off our order at the restaurant. However, I once again opened another browser window and typed in “restaurant.com discount code” as my search. After opening a few links, many of which had expired codes, I found a valid code, so our certificate that would have cost $15 only ended up costing $6. I saved $9 by taking another minute (if that) to search for a discount code.
If you haven’t tried this, try it. You will be amazed by all the discounts you can find!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Words of Wisdom
In an article, “Finding Joy in Frugality” in Parade Magazine by Alix Kates Shulman, she talks about her rules for purchases. She says, “I adopted a set of simple if stringent rules [to save money when she was a grad student] that still make sense today: If you don’t need it, don’t buy it; never buy a new one if your old one works; never buy an expensive one when a lower-priced one will do.”
Monday, October 5, 2009
Words of Wisdom to Ponder
I was reading in Parade Magazine a few months ago about a woman, Alix Kates Shulman who made frugality a permanent feature of her life, even after she was financially secure and could have changed her habits. She states:
“Like most true transformations, becoming frugal involves a change of mind, heart and perception, not merely of spending habits.”
How true!
“Like most true transformations, becoming frugal involves a change of mind, heart and perception, not merely of spending habits.”
How true!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Mental Tricks to Make Financial Goals More Attainable
I was talking to a friend the other day about how swamped I am and how I can’t seem to get half of what I want to accomplish done in a day. The friend advised me to just take it one day at a time and not worry about what work was coming down the pipe. She said if I only focus on today and what I need to get done it won’t be overwhelming. Good advice.
Later, I started thinking that the same could be said of financial goals. It is overwhelming to think “I want to save $30,000 for a down payment on a house,” or, “I want to save 5 months of expenses so I have a safety cushion when I become a stay-at-home mom.”It is much easier to think, “How little can I spend today? I want to spend as little as possible for today.” That also helps avoid the feelings of deprivation that sometimes occur because I am only trying not to spend money for one day. Of course, over time those days and months add up to accomplishing those big goals.
Later, I started thinking that the same could be said of financial goals. It is overwhelming to think “I want to save $30,000 for a down payment on a house,” or, “I want to save 5 months of expenses so I have a safety cushion when I become a stay-at-home mom.”It is much easier to think, “How little can I spend today? I want to spend as little as possible for today.” That also helps avoid the feelings of deprivation that sometimes occur because I am only trying not to spend money for one day. Of course, over time those days and months add up to accomplishing those big goals.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Saving Money Painlessly--Sharing Expenses
My mom had a sudden loss of income two years ago, so she had to find some creative ways to make her dollars stretch further. One of the ways she made a painless cut in her budget was to share resources.
She likes to read the paper daily, but the price was affecting her budget. So, she began sharing a subscription with my aunt. Now, once or twice a week my aunt comes to her house and picks up all of the papers and reads them. She also shares a garbage plan with her. My aunt just comes by to drop her garbage in my mom’s container. Instantly my mom cut her paper and garbage costs in half.
Are there any expenses you could be sharing?
I shared this post at Life as Mom.
She likes to read the paper daily, but the price was affecting her budget. So, she began sharing a subscription with my aunt. Now, once or twice a week my aunt comes to her house and picks up all of the papers and reads them. She also shares a garbage plan with her. My aunt just comes by to drop her garbage in my mom’s container. Instantly my mom cut her paper and garbage costs in half.
Are there any expenses you could be sharing?
I shared this post at Life as Mom.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Do You Check Your Receipts?
When I had my No Spending Month back in June, I started looking very carefully at my receipts. (Every penny counts!)
I had a stack of coupons at Jewel, but only a few scanned. I did not notice this until I had the groceries and my daughter in the car, so it would have been easy to just let it slide. I probably would have if we weren’t on such a tight budget. Instead, I took my daughter and the groceries back out and went to the customer service desk. For my effort, I received back the $2.75 I should have been credited for the coupons.
At a little local store, I got ½ pound of cheese from the deli. I noticed that they charged me $1.00 more per pound than was advertised. That was another .50 saved.
I bought apples at the store that were supposed to be $2.50 per bag, but I was charged $3.49. I didn’t catch this mistake. It cost me .99.
I went to Jewel and bought 3 packages of tortillas which were priced at 3/2.00. They scanned at 1.99 EACH! I went to the customer service desk and got back $4.02.You have probably heard that you should check your receipts, and before my No Spending Month I did do it casually. Now I see over time the savings can really add up.
I had a stack of coupons at Jewel, but only a few scanned. I did not notice this until I had the groceries and my daughter in the car, so it would have been easy to just let it slide. I probably would have if we weren’t on such a tight budget. Instead, I took my daughter and the groceries back out and went to the customer service desk. For my effort, I received back the $2.75 I should have been credited for the coupons.
At a little local store, I got ½ pound of cheese from the deli. I noticed that they charged me $1.00 more per pound than was advertised. That was another .50 saved.
I bought apples at the store that were supposed to be $2.50 per bag, but I was charged $3.49. I didn’t catch this mistake. It cost me .99.
I went to Jewel and bought 3 packages of tortillas which were priced at 3/2.00. They scanned at 1.99 EACH! I went to the customer service desk and got back $4.02.You have probably heard that you should check your receipts, and before my No Spending Month I did do it casually. Now I see over time the savings can really add up.
Monday, August 31, 2009
A New Set of Monthly Goals
I am now back to work full-time and expect to keep my job until at least April. These are the new goals I am working on to help my dream of being a stay-at-home mom a reality.
Save 5 months’ of living expenses. I get nervous when there isn’t any money in the bank. If I am able to quit and my husband takes over as the breadwinner, our income will drop by about 1/3. I would like a cushion to help us deal with that
Have 2 no spending months. Just based on my salary and our expenses, I do not have enough extra income to save 5 months’ of living expenses. One of the ways we plan to get around this problem is by having several no spending months and putting the difference away.
Pay off 50% of my business debt. Yes, I opened my eBay business 4 years ago before I had every heard of Dave Ramsey. In the first two years, I accumulated quite a bit of debt. I want to pay off 50% (or more, if I can) of that debt. Then when I quit my job, we can use some of my eBay income to live off of instead of to repaying debt.
Sell at least $500 worth of extra household items on eBay.
Pare down our expenses and put the difference in the bank.
I’ll report back every month and let you know how we are doing!
Save 5 months’ of living expenses. I get nervous when there isn’t any money in the bank. If I am able to quit and my husband takes over as the breadwinner, our income will drop by about 1/3. I would like a cushion to help us deal with that
Have 2 no spending months. Just based on my salary and our expenses, I do not have enough extra income to save 5 months’ of living expenses. One of the ways we plan to get around this problem is by having several no spending months and putting the difference away.
Pay off 50% of my business debt. Yes, I opened my eBay business 4 years ago before I had every heard of Dave Ramsey. In the first two years, I accumulated quite a bit of debt. I want to pay off 50% (or more, if I can) of that debt. Then when I quit my job, we can use some of my eBay income to live off of instead of to repaying debt.
Sell at least $500 worth of extra household items on eBay.
Pare down our expenses and put the difference in the bank.
I’ll report back every month and let you know how we are doing!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
How I Plan To Survive My Return To Work--Part II
I don’t officially return to work until August 24th, but I have already been spending roughly 15 hours a week at work updating all of my work in preparation for the big return. Adding in that 15 hours has given me a taste of just how hectic life is to become. I will be adding in a lot more hours beginning on the 24th.
Dave Ramsey has a plan for those with irregular incomes. He asks them to make a budget by listing their most important bills first all the way down to the least important ones. On a lean month, one should pay those most important bills first and when the money runs out, it runs out, even if some of those bills at the bottom of the list don’t get paid. In a month where there is a lot of income, all bills are paid.
I plan to apply this strategy to my time. In the 10 months since I left work, I have added a baby to this family and created my blog, which I enjoy immensely. Still, my work load was heavy previously. Now I think it is going to be insane!
So, in the interest of keeping my sanity, here is my list of activities to spend my time on from most important to least. On very busy days, those at the bottom will receive little or no attention.
1. Take care of myself. I have a hard time doing this, but I must put myself first. That means making time to exercise, relax a bit and eat a healthy diet.
2. Spend time with family.
3. Complete responsibilities for my full-time job.
4. Ship out eBay items sold.
5. Write on my blog.
6. Take care of household responsibilities such as grocery shopping, paying bills, etc.
7. Pick up around the house.
8. Read other people’s blogs. I spend a little (okay, maybe way too much!) time reading other people’s blogs. I still want to do this because I find it personally fulfilling and I learn new things, but I am going to have to put it in its place, maybe only doing so for 15 minutes a day.
9. List new items on eBay.
10. Clean deeply.
In addition to this list, my husband and I need to simplify, especially in the area of meals. Those who read my blog know we like food. (Maybe too much.) In addition, my husband was raised in a family where there were several little side dishes in every meal. I was raised on one pot meals. We c ompromise with about two side dishes at a meal.
For this season in our lives, we must simplify. We will rely heavily on the meals I have made and frozen. Sometimes we will have to eat simply—grilled cheese and soup, frozen ravioli and canned pasta sauce, etc. It may not be the way we prefer to eat, but I do not want to waste money eating out. I want to save money so I can be a stay-at-home mom.
Dave Ramsey has a plan for those with irregular incomes. He asks them to make a budget by listing their most important bills first all the way down to the least important ones. On a lean month, one should pay those most important bills first and when the money runs out, it runs out, even if some of those bills at the bottom of the list don’t get paid. In a month where there is a lot of income, all bills are paid.
I plan to apply this strategy to my time. In the 10 months since I left work, I have added a baby to this family and created my blog, which I enjoy immensely. Still, my work load was heavy previously. Now I think it is going to be insane!
So, in the interest of keeping my sanity, here is my list of activities to spend my time on from most important to least. On very busy days, those at the bottom will receive little or no attention.
1. Take care of myself. I have a hard time doing this, but I must put myself first. That means making time to exercise, relax a bit and eat a healthy diet.
2. Spend time with family.
3. Complete responsibilities for my full-time job.
4. Ship out eBay items sold.
5. Write on my blog.
6. Take care of household responsibilities such as grocery shopping, paying bills, etc.
7. Pick up around the house.
8. Read other people’s blogs. I spend a little (okay, maybe way too much!) time reading other people’s blogs. I still want to do this because I find it personally fulfilling and I learn new things, but I am going to have to put it in its place, maybe only doing so for 15 minutes a day.
9. List new items on eBay.
10. Clean deeply.
In addition to this list, my husband and I need to simplify, especially in the area of meals. Those who read my blog know we like food. (Maybe too much.) In addition, my husband was raised in a family where there were several little side dishes in every meal. I was raised on one pot meals. We c ompromise with about two side dishes at a meal.
For this season in our lives, we must simplify. We will rely heavily on the meals I have made and frozen. Sometimes we will have to eat simply—grilled cheese and soup, frozen ravioli and canned pasta sauce, etc. It may not be the way we prefer to eat, but I do not want to waste money eating out. I want to save money so I can be a stay-at-home mom.
Monday, August 3, 2009
On Not Keeping Up with the Joneses
I had a very good friend in graduate school (10 years ago!) that I lost touch with soon after grad school. When I knew her, she was heavy set and had long, curly hair and glasses. She refused to wear her hair up even in hot, sticky southern summers because she didn’t want anyone to see her neck.
I found her on Facebook a few days ago and excitedly sent her a message. I could tell from her picture it was her, but she looked so different. Her face was thin, her hair lightened and pulled up! She wasn’t wearing glasses. She looked very polished. When I showed the picture to my husband who also knew her, he wasn’t sure it was her. I had to dig up old pictures to compare to the Facebook picture. When I did that, I could really see the difference.
And that is when it happened. My husband and I started wondering what dramatic change had happened in her life. We started speculating about all sorts of things that could have happened to her in the 10 years since we have last seen one another.
And then we started looking at ourselves critically. We don’t look that good. Ten years time has aged us. (Having two kids can do that to a person.) We feel stagnant. My husband has been in grad school getting his master’s and Ph.D. for the last 7 years. We rent instead of owning a home, even though we are nearing 40. (That seems to measure certain failure to many, especially before the current economic downturn.) I am working at a job I don’t enjoy just waiting for my husband to graduate so I can be a stay at home mom.
We were previously proud of ourselves for NOT owning a home, for not taking on that financial burden when we weren’t ready for it. We do fairly well on one income, and we were also happy with that. Of course, we love our children and are grateful to have them; in fact, we would like to have one more. But one look at my friend’s picture and her new polished look made us immediately question everything we are doing.
Isn’t that the way it is? You see a friend drive up in a nice new car and you wonder how they can be doing so much better than you. You see a friend’s remodeled kitchen and you are envious and annoyed with your kitchen that previously you were satisfied with. But often what we are envious of is only a one dimensional image, like a picture.
I don’t know what happened to my friend; I hope to hear from her soon and reconnect. Meanwhile, like teachers used to say, “Keep your eyes on your own paper” we need to keep our eyes on our own life. We are working hard so that someday we will achieve the life we dream of. I hope that my friend has already achieved hers.
I found her on Facebook a few days ago and excitedly sent her a message. I could tell from her picture it was her, but she looked so different. Her face was thin, her hair lightened and pulled up! She wasn’t wearing glasses. She looked very polished. When I showed the picture to my husband who also knew her, he wasn’t sure it was her. I had to dig up old pictures to compare to the Facebook picture. When I did that, I could really see the difference.
And that is when it happened. My husband and I started wondering what dramatic change had happened in her life. We started speculating about all sorts of things that could have happened to her in the 10 years since we have last seen one another.
And then we started looking at ourselves critically. We don’t look that good. Ten years time has aged us. (Having two kids can do that to a person.) We feel stagnant. My husband has been in grad school getting his master’s and Ph.D. for the last 7 years. We rent instead of owning a home, even though we are nearing 40. (That seems to measure certain failure to many, especially before the current economic downturn.) I am working at a job I don’t enjoy just waiting for my husband to graduate so I can be a stay at home mom.
We were previously proud of ourselves for NOT owning a home, for not taking on that financial burden when we weren’t ready for it. We do fairly well on one income, and we were also happy with that. Of course, we love our children and are grateful to have them; in fact, we would like to have one more. But one look at my friend’s picture and her new polished look made us immediately question everything we are doing.
Isn’t that the way it is? You see a friend drive up in a nice new car and you wonder how they can be doing so much better than you. You see a friend’s remodeled kitchen and you are envious and annoyed with your kitchen that previously you were satisfied with. But often what we are envious of is only a one dimensional image, like a picture.
I don’t know what happened to my friend; I hope to hear from her soon and reconnect. Meanwhile, like teachers used to say, “Keep your eyes on your own paper” we need to keep our eyes on our own life. We are working hard so that someday we will achieve the life we dream of. I hope that my friend has already achieved hers.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Interview with a Frugal Mom--Part One
I have mentioned before that one of my favorite discussion boards is FrugalMom.net. I have been involved in a dialogue with Mandi, and some of her tips were so good, I decided to share some of her knowledge on this blog.
Mandi is a 27 year old mom of 3, (6, 4 and 3 months) and has her own blog, Earthly Living. She describes herself as a modern hippie who loves homeschooling her kids. She also sells items on Etsy at Stitchin Mama.
This first installment focuses on changes newcomers to the frugal way of life can adapt.
Q. Have you been frugal all your life, or is it a habit you acquired recently?
A. I grew up frugal but never realized just how frugal until I had my own family.
My husband and I never really considered ourselves any different than most in the way we did things. We figured you just do what is natural, and for us it included baking our own breads and growing our own vegetables and even sharing our bed with our children. It wasn't until we began to talk with other parents that we realized how we live as a family isn't so popular but very sadly looked upon. It was about three years ago that our life slowly changed into a more frugal, simple & green living way.
Our smallest yet biggest adjustment was getting rid of paper items. We began with napkins and paper towels. Once those were replaced with cloth everything else seemed to follow.
We have been making our laundry detergent for 3 years now and we don't use any fabric softener, instead we use our homemade wool dryer balls. We started making homemade cleaners after we started making our own laundry detergent.
My husband’s current hobby is candle-making. My hobby used to be writing, but now they have expanded to gardening, sewing, crafting & re-crafting. It's funny how things change over the years.
Q. What motivated you to become so frugal and sustain that way of living?
A. For me it was about exploring. My first attempts at removing paper items and replacing them with cloth and making all our own cleaners and detergents was all because of curiosity. We didn't financially NEED to change, but I felt the eager curiosity to try it. And here we are today, proudly living frugally.
Sustaining this lifestyle isn't easy at first because when you get overly tired or sick it's so easy to fall back into old spendthrift ways. I just remind myself that I simply can't afford to fall back that way and when I do hiccup a few times it hits the budget belt a lot harder. Keep a pattern, schedule and find support! If you begin a frugal lifestyle without a pattern, schedule, support and motivation it won't last long!
Q. What can someone who is just attempting to conserve money do to improve their family's financial situation? What is the first thing they should do?
A. First and foremost, budget. You need to evaluate where your money goes. We all have to budget our money otherwise we don't know when or where it's safe to cut back financially, and we tend to go into a panic. If you have it written down in front of you, you can go to it and see what's not needed in the budget and conserve the money more efficiently. Manicures/Pedicures and Sunday ice cream outings aren't a NEED, just for example. Purchase the manicure products and spend time together as a family having a spa day and make your own ice cream in a bag instead of spending more money and less time with your family.
Q. What is an easy thing one can do to make a difference in their family's budget?
A. SCRATCH baking & cooking! It will cut back SO much on the grocery bill, which besides basic living bills is where we spend most of our income.
Q. What has been the biggest benefit of your more frugal lifestyle?
A. Spending less money & having more time with those that really matter. There is a learning curve to living frugally, but the knowledge you gain can easily be adapted to many situations and that is inspiring. That's helped me continue to live frugally. I love nothing more than researching out information of how life used to be as opposed to how it is now. The information is overwhelming!
Thanks – for your advice!
Mandi is a 27 year old mom of 3, (6, 4 and 3 months) and has her own blog, Earthly Living. She describes herself as a modern hippie who loves homeschooling her kids. She also sells items on Etsy at Stitchin Mama.
This first installment focuses on changes newcomers to the frugal way of life can adapt.
Q. Have you been frugal all your life, or is it a habit you acquired recently?
A. I grew up frugal but never realized just how frugal until I had my own family.
My husband and I never really considered ourselves any different than most in the way we did things. We figured you just do what is natural, and for us it included baking our own breads and growing our own vegetables and even sharing our bed with our children. It wasn't until we began to talk with other parents that we realized how we live as a family isn't so popular but very sadly looked upon. It was about three years ago that our life slowly changed into a more frugal, simple & green living way.
Our smallest yet biggest adjustment was getting rid of paper items. We began with napkins and paper towels. Once those were replaced with cloth everything else seemed to follow.
We have been making our laundry detergent for 3 years now and we don't use any fabric softener, instead we use our homemade wool dryer balls. We started making homemade cleaners after we started making our own laundry detergent.
My husband’s current hobby is candle-making. My hobby used to be writing, but now they have expanded to gardening, sewing, crafting & re-crafting. It's funny how things change over the years.
Q. What motivated you to become so frugal and sustain that way of living?
A. For me it was about exploring. My first attempts at removing paper items and replacing them with cloth and making all our own cleaners and detergents was all because of curiosity. We didn't financially NEED to change, but I felt the eager curiosity to try it. And here we are today, proudly living frugally.
Sustaining this lifestyle isn't easy at first because when you get overly tired or sick it's so easy to fall back into old spendthrift ways. I just remind myself that I simply can't afford to fall back that way and when I do hiccup a few times it hits the budget belt a lot harder. Keep a pattern, schedule and find support! If you begin a frugal lifestyle without a pattern, schedule, support and motivation it won't last long!
Q. What can someone who is just attempting to conserve money do to improve their family's financial situation? What is the first thing they should do?
A. First and foremost, budget. You need to evaluate where your money goes. We all have to budget our money otherwise we don't know when or where it's safe to cut back financially, and we tend to go into a panic. If you have it written down in front of you, you can go to it and see what's not needed in the budget and conserve the money more efficiently. Manicures/Pedicures and Sunday ice cream outings aren't a NEED, just for example. Purchase the manicure products and spend time together as a family having a spa day and make your own ice cream in a bag instead of spending more money and less time with your family.
Q. What is an easy thing one can do to make a difference in their family's budget?
A. SCRATCH baking & cooking! It will cut back SO much on the grocery bill, which besides basic living bills is where we spend most of our income.
Q. What has been the biggest benefit of your more frugal lifestyle?
A. Spending less money & having more time with those that really matter. There is a learning curve to living frugally, but the knowledge you gain can easily be adapted to many situations and that is inspiring. That's helped me continue to live frugally. I love nothing more than researching out information of how life used to be as opposed to how it is now. The information is overwhelming!
Thanks – for your advice!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
My Garage Sale Find
I didn't grow up going to garage sales. A friend introduced me to the concept when I was about 24. I remember being slightly embarrassed going to other people's houses rummaging through their things. However, when I got ready to go to grad school a few years later and I needed to furnish my apartment, I realized how much I could save. I found a blender for $3 that still is working for me today.
Now I love garage sales! A few weeks ago, I found these sheet sets (one for my son and one for me and my husband) for $5 each. Honestly, this is the only way I buy sheets now. I just can't part with all the money required to buy them new. My son's other sheets are a fighter plane print I bought at a garage sale when he was just a baby. We each only had only one set of sheets, but now, thanks to this recent purchase, we have two. We will throw them in the laundry on hot, dry them, and voila! we have a second set of sheets.
Now I love garage sales! A few weeks ago, I found these sheet sets (one for my son and one for me and my husband) for $5 each. Honestly, this is the only way I buy sheets now. I just can't part with all the money required to buy them new. My son's other sheets are a fighter plane print I bought at a garage sale when he was just a baby. We each only had only one set of sheets, but now, thanks to this recent purchase, we have two. We will throw them in the laundry on hot, dry them, and voila! we have a second set of sheets.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Just Ask
As I mentioned earlier, we are living off of savings right now, and one of my guilty pleasures is our very limited cable (consisting of E!, Food Network, Animal Planet, and the Weather Channel, yeah, we live large here!). However, I feel guilty for the extra expense.
So, I called our local cable provider a few weeks ago and asked if they could give me a discount. The agent first tried to talk me into getting my local phone service through them (this is what they say every time I call). However, after further probing on my part, the service agent agreed to lower my bill by $20 every month for the next 6 months. This more than covers the extra cost of cable and saves us $120.
Have you tried to make a call like this? If not, try it. You will be pleasantly surprised. I tried this once a few years ago when my husband was not going to have any income for a semester. I wasn’t trying to get a discount; I just asked to disconnect my service. The customer service agent wanted to keep me as a customer, so she offered me a significant discount for 6 months. She then told me that once the discount expires, the cable company asks that I pay full price for 3 to 6 more months before I ask for a discount again. Don’t feel guilty about asking for a discount. They are used to doing this. That is why they have a clearly stated policy.
You might want to expand further if you carry credit card balances and see if they would be willing to lower your interest rate. Nicely stating that you may switch to another card with a lower interest rate helps the negotiations. Try it. You’ll like the results!
So, I called our local cable provider a few weeks ago and asked if they could give me a discount. The agent first tried to talk me into getting my local phone service through them (this is what they say every time I call). However, after further probing on my part, the service agent agreed to lower my bill by $20 every month for the next 6 months. This more than covers the extra cost of cable and saves us $120.
Have you tried to make a call like this? If not, try it. You will be pleasantly surprised. I tried this once a few years ago when my husband was not going to have any income for a semester. I wasn’t trying to get a discount; I just asked to disconnect my service. The customer service agent wanted to keep me as a customer, so she offered me a significant discount for 6 months. She then told me that once the discount expires, the cable company asks that I pay full price for 3 to 6 more months before I ask for a discount again. Don’t feel guilty about asking for a discount. They are used to doing this. That is why they have a clearly stated policy.
You might want to expand further if you carry credit card balances and see if they would be willing to lower your interest rate. Nicely stating that you may switch to another card with a lower interest rate helps the negotiations. Try it. You’ll like the results!
I shared this post at Money Saving Mom.
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