Tag Archives: Frugality

I confess, I’m not always frugal

Every month I’m learning more about saving and frugality. I freely admit, though, that I’m not as frugal as I could be. Not by a long shot. There are plenty of choices that I make that aren’t the most frugal, but I continue to make them anyway. Some of them are out of convenience, others compromise. Some are simply weaknesses that I’m continually trying to improve on. Here are my worst offenses:

Paper towels

I use dish rags and cloths for a lot of things, but sometimes I just want a paper towel for particularly tough messes. I don’t like keeping dirty or wet rags around the kitchen, so if I was going to switch to completely reusable rags, I’d be washing them constantly. Sometimes it’s just easier to use a paper towel. Of course, I use coupons to buy them, I always look for sales, and I try to keep my use to a minimum. That’s my frugal compromise.

Cable television

We don’t spend a lot of money on entertainment or meals out. The compromise? We spring for cable television with DVR. It’s expensive at about $60 a month, but it certainly makes it easier to stay home instead of going out and spending money.

Brand Names

For most things, I don’t mind buying the generic version to save money. But there are some items (including paper towels, dog food, laundry detergent and shampoo) that I spring for the brand name. In my experimentation, I’ve discovered that I really can tell a difference. Most of the time I can’t tell a difference between brand names and their generic counterparts, but if there’s a considerable quality difference, then I’ll spend a little more for the better product.

Food

The grocery store has always been our top weakness. We’ve worked really hard to cut our grocery spending down from $80-$90 a week to about $55-$60 a week. I wanted to cut it to $40 a week, but I found it to be too much of a struggle. So to make things easy on us, I decided to cut myself some slack. Somehow we still manage to go over budget on food every month, so this is definitely an area that I continue to work on. But I’ve stopped being quite so hard on myself about our failures. Every week is a learning experience.

I’m still working on doing better, and I continue to improve. But there are some things (like cable and paper towels) that I may never give up. Frugality is as much about compromise as it is about saving, so I try to keep a balance.

Do you have any frugal weaknesses?

What would we do in a financial emergency?

Yesterday Kacie at Sense to Save wrote about what she would do in a financial worse case scenario like a job loss or sudden medical expenses. I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot lately. Unfortunately, an acquaintance’s husband recently lost his job, and it made me wonder if we’d be prepared for a similar situation.

Our emergency fund is nowhere near complete. We actually only have enough to cover us for about a month and a half. Yikes. But we’ve only been working on it for about four months, and we plan to make it a top priority in the coming year.

Obviously, just as Kacie suggested in her post, the first thing to go would be discretionary expenses (cable, entertainment, cell phone extras, etc.) Our budget is pretty bare bones already, but cutting discretionary spending would probably free up $250 or so max. That’s easy enough.

But what if that wasn’t enough? What then? I think it’s important not just to have a plan for financial emergency, but also a plan for financial catastrophe.

For us, it would mean putting my student loans back into forbearance (a lender-approved pause in repayment that wouldn’t negatively affect my credit score, but still leads to interest accrual). That would free up another $200.

Next we would consider downsizing to a smaller apartment. We currently live in a 2-bedroom because we like the extra space (a 1-bedroom can get a little cramped with two people and a dog). We considered downsizing last summer, but then our landlord offered to renegotiate our lease and lower our rent. We decided it wasn’t worth it after we crunched the numbers (including a $300 loss for nonrefundable security deposits) and considered the hassle of moving and living in a smaller apartment.

In an emergency we might try to get out of our lease or find a subletter. Moving to a smaller apartment could save us another $200 a month.

Until we have a 6-month emergency fund in place I consider it a priority, but if we had to choose between saving and eating, I’d be willing to cut back temporarily.

With all of those expenses cut, we could reduce our spending by about $1000 a month. Wow, that would make a huge difference. Of course, it would be uncomfortable. But there’s no room in the budget for comfort in times of extreme hardship, is there?

Finally, in the event of an extreme emergency, Tony would drop out of grad school and find a full time job. He’s currently paid a stipend to teach, but it’s much less than he’d make in a full time job (if he could find one in this economy).

We might even consider packing up and moving back home where we have a support network. That would be an absolute last resort if we had no other options. Tony only has about 18 months left in his program, so I’m hoping nothing too extreme happens before he finishes. :)

How about you? What’s your plan for financial emergency?

What was the poorest time in your life?

Photo by larimdame

This month, the Extended Group Writing Project at PFBloggers asks a very interesting question: What was the poorest time in your life? It made me think. A lot. So I decided to chime in.

I want to begin by clarifying that I’ve never fallen into the category of genuine poverty. To me, poverty is the point beyond budget cuts when you can’t just cut the budget to make ends meet, because you’re already living with so little. When you’re truly poor, you’re not worried about debt and savings. Your main concern is keeping a roof over your head and food on the table.

Thankfully, I’ve never been there, and I’m certainly not comparing my experiences with debt and low income to genuine poverty. That being said, it’s definitely possible to FEEL pretty poor even when you’re not living in poverty.

My first inclination was that a year ago, right after we moved here, was the “poorest” time in my life. Tony’s teaching job didn’t pay nearly enough to make ends meet, and I struggled to find a job for months.

Technically, we had more money in the bank than ever. We’d spent a year saving $10,000 for moving and living expenses. But with very little income, we sure felt pretty poor. It’s a really scary thing when your bank account is dwindling with very little coming in.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I came to realize that my first inclination was wrong. Last year was not the poorest time in my life.

Our living expenses may have been much higher than our income, but our circumstances motivated me to get serious about personal finance. Even though our financial situation was bleak, I felt more empowered than I ever had before. I started budgeting, cutting unnecessary expenses, and tackling debt. Despite our low income, we managed to get through the year without adding to our debt. We even paid off a huge chunk of my credit card debt.

Because I was making the decisions about where our money went, I didn’t feel deprived or scared about money. It was exactly the opposite. When we stopped spending money out of choice rather than out of necessity, we suddenly felt incredibly rich. We realized just how far the money we had could go if we weren’t blowing it.

We made smart choices to make our savings last. For the first time, I was paying my bills a month ahead of time instead of waiting for a paycheck at the last minute. We didn’t have money to buy a lot of stuff or eat out, but we didn’t have to worry about paying our rent or buying groceries. When I think about that, I realize that I didn’t feel poor at all a year ago. Quite the opposite, actually.

On the flip side, I lived pretty opulently in college. I went out to eat a lot. I bought a lot of “stuff.” On the outside, I appeared to be anything but poor. But I never had money in the bank. I blew through what I had so quickly that I often came dangerously close to overdrawing my account. As soon as I got a little money, it was gone. I was stressed every time I swiped my debit card, because I wasn’t sure there was enough in my account to cover it.

One night, my gas tank was so low that my car started sputtering. I knew I had to get gas, but I also knew that I had less than $5 in my bank account. I pulled into the gas station and put one gallon in my tank to make it home. When I got home, I had to check my account to make sure I hadn’t overdrawn it.

That’s the poorest I’ve ever felt.

Sadly, that wasn’t an isolated incident. Stuff like that happened to me a lot in my college days. I had no control over my money, so I didn’t feel like I was making the decisions. Obviously, I was just making the wrong ones. But every time my account balance dipped that low, I didn’t think about all the things I spent my money on. I only thought about what I couldn’t afford.

I still hesitate to refer to that as being “poor,” because it was my own fault. If I hadn’t spent my money on pizza and movies, then I would have had enough to pay for gas. The point is that feeling poor isn’t about the stuff you have or money in the bank. Some people feel “poor” if they can’t afford all the things they want. For me, feeling poor is stressing about whether I can afford the things I need.

Buying time between haircuts

My hair is trouble. Always has been. It’s naturally curly, oddly textured, and prone to breakage. If I don’t take good care of it, I end up looking a little like the Bride of Frankenstein.

Obviously, I try to cut costs on things when I can. When we first moved and money was even tighter than it is now, I thought haircuts could be one of those things. I went with my husband to the $8 hair cuttery where he gets his trimmed. Bad mistake. My hair looked like it had been butchered with a dull steak knife. I was self-conscious about it for months until it grew out and I could get it cut again and evened out.

So I’ve resigned myself to paying a little extra to a stylist I trust will make me look my best. Since I pay about $40 a haircut (a luxury to be sure), I have to limit myself to just a couple haircuts a year.

There are a few things I do to extend the time between haircuts without letting my hair look like a hot mess. Even if you don’t pay a lot for haircuts, these tips will keep your hair looking healthier for longer and extend the time between haircuts.

Use a good shampoo and conditioner.

I’ve written about how I get pricey salon haircare products for $3.25 a month. If your hair is no fuss, you might not notice a difference between salon products and more affordable brands. If you have dry, naturally curly, or damaged hair, you probably know what I’m talking about when I say it really can make a huge difference in the overall health and maintenance of your hair.

Take it easy on the heat styling.

I used to be a blow dry fanatic until a just a few weeks ago. Then I did the math and realized I was spending about 5 days a year styling my hair. Yikes. Now I’m wearing it curly more often. Even when I blow dried, though, I never did it more than twice a week. Heat styling damages hair and causes split ends faster. If you’re addicted to blow drying, limit yourself to a couple times a week.

Just trim your bangs.

Typically your bangs need trimming sooner than the rest of your hair. If you’re handy with scissors, keeping your bangs trimmed yourself can buy you a lot of time between cuts.

Personally, I don’t trust myself to cut my own hair. But my stylist will trim my bangs for $7. I can pop in for a trim every other month and extend the time between full cuts to 6 months or so.

Obviously, the easiest way to avoid the hassle and expense of maintaining bangs is to grow them out.

The easiest way to save money on haircuts is not to be so particular about them. I know many faithful frugals who swear by beauty school haircuts. Maybe some day I’ll get past my bad experiences and take the plunge. For now, I’ll continuing seeing the stylist I trust twice a year. :)

Frugal ways to make your dreams come true now

Photo by darwinbell

Being frugal involves a lot of waiting. But frugality isn’t just about planning, saving, and waiting. Sometimes it’s about finding ways to get the things we want now without going into debt or spending a lot of money.

Yesterday I wrote about the dreams my husband and I have for all the things we want to do with our money in the future when our debt is paid. Today I want to share what used to be on the list of things we want, and the frugal ways that we found to get them now.

Washer and dryer

Every time we trudged our laundry to the laundromat and spent hours washing, drying, and folding, we dreamed of having a washer and dryer of our own. A few months ago, I bartered with a co-worker: she and her husband had an extra washer and dryer, and they needed help moving. In exchange for a Saturday and some heavy lifting, we got a nearly new washer and dryer for free. Now we do our laundry at our leisure in the comfort of our home without having to schlep it to the laundromat. Best deal I ever made.

Furniture

When we moved out of our college apartments, we left behind the furniture that belonged to our roommates. The nice thing about college towns, though, is recent grads are always trying to get rid of decent furniture for next to nothing just so they won’t have to move it.

I spent my last year in my college town collecting furniture. Some of it we bought for very cheap; some of it was given to us by generous friends and family members. As I said yesterday, we dream of the day when we can replace it with new(er), nicer furniture. For now we have a comfortable place to sit and sleep even if it’s not the prettiest or the roomiest. Most importantly, we didn’t have to go into debt to furnish our home.

A good set of knives

For people who love to cook, good knives are an important investment. For years we used dull knives and dreamed of chopping with ease with a good quality sharp knife. We thought it would be a while before we could afford a nice knife set, but a few weeks ago we found a clearance knife set at a Linens n Things closeout sale. Using birthday money and a little from our regular spending budget, we finally got the knives we’d always wanted at an affordable price. We’re still on the look out for cookware, though.

A dog

For as long as we’ve been together, Tony and I dreamed of welcoming a dog into our family. When we moved to North Carolina, we knew we wanted to adopt a puppy. We saved up enough to pay the adoption fee at a shelter (significantly less than we would have paid to adopt a pure bred puppy). We also negotiated with our landlord before we signed the lease to reduce the pet deposit.

Once we adopted Howie, we found frugal ways to care for him. We bought a nearly new kennel on Craig’s List for 1/4th what we would have paid at a pet store (the previous owner’s German shepherd puppy had only used it 3 months before she outgrew it). We found a vet that offers a 20% discount on vaccinations every Thursday, and we continue to make his appointments on Thursdays to save a little money. We buy his flea and heartworm prevention medicines online to save money. We spent a lot of time training him so he doesn’t have destructive habits that cost us a lot of money. Despite our best efforts, pet care is still expensive. It’s worth every penny, though.

What about you? How have you used your frugal skills so you don’t have to wait for the things you want?

Planning ahead for the big stuff

Photo by martie

Living frugally eliminates a lot of life’s spontaneity. Because we’ve made the decision to live with as little debt as possible, we save for every purchase instead of charging it. We plan ahead for everything and scrimp and save to reach our goals. But planning and saving take a lot of time.

Yesterday on a long walk with the dog, Tony and I had a conversation about where our money will go when our debt is paid and our savings is fully funded. Mostly we were just dreaming about what we’d do with our money if we were free to spend it however we like.

By planning now, we can map a plan for saving. We can also keep our eyes open for frugal ways to make it happen sooner. Here’s our tentative plan for buying the things we want and building our future.

New furniture and television

All of our furniture is second-hand. We’re still sleeping on the second-hand double bed my grandmother gave me before I moved away to college. We bought our only couch and dresser drawers second hand as well. (I actually love the dresser and will probably keep it, but we really need a second chest of drawers since we’re sharing one now). Someday we’d like to have new bedroom and living room furniture. It’ll probably be a pretty long time since it’s pretty low on our list of priorities.

Also bought second-hand, our TV is pretty much an antique. It’s not even a flat screen (gasp!). But it still works. Stations are now broadcasting in wide screen, so our TV cuts off the sides of the picture. It really bugs my husband. Eh … doesn’t really bother me much. A TV isn’t a necessity at all, so this will also wait a while.

Sometimes I check Craig’s List, but I’m never impressed with the cost considering what they’re selling. I’m happy to wait a while until we can save up for furniture we really like rather than dropping a chunk of change on something we don’t. When we replace our TV it will most likely be second-hand, too, but I see no reason to do it until the one we have stops working. I’m keeping my eyes open, though!

A house of our own

Someday we’ll finally settle down in a nice suburb near a university that wants to hire Tony for a tenure-track teaching job. Then we’ll buy a little house with three bedrooms, a big open kitchen, a wood-burning fireplace, and a nice big fenced-in backyard with room for a garden. (I haven’t been thinking about this one at all. :) ) First we have to get Tony through school and pay down our student loan debt. Soon we’ll start saving for a 20% down payment. It’ll be years before we get there. I still like to dream, though.

A family

I’ll be honest, I wish it could happen sooner rather than later. But I want to be able to stay home with our baby. Until Tony is finished with school, we need my full-time salary. We’re planning now so we can start a family in the next three years, but it’ll probably be another two years before we can really start thinking about it.

This list used to be even longer, but through craftiness and frugality we found a way to get some things sooner. Come back tomorrow, and I’ll share that list with you!

What about you? What would you spend your money on right now if it didn’t take years to save?

Eating out doesn’t have to be all or nothing

Photo by vox_efx

When times are tough and it’s time to cut back, restaurant meals are often one of the first things to go. We try to keep eating out to an absolute minimum. Cooking at home is not only healthier but also more economical.

Cutting back doesn’t have to mean cutting restaurant meals altogether. We enjoy eating out, and we like to go out once a month. The problem with limiting restaurant meals is that it’s often tempting to go overboard when you do get to eat at a restaurant. Drinks, appetizers, desserts … adding those things can double the cost of your meal.

Eating out doesn’t have to be all or nothing, though. There are ways to keep the costs low and still enjoy the fun of a good restaurant meal. Here’s how:

Go out for lunch.

Prices are often lower, and many restaurants offer lunch specials. If you’re craving a restaurant meal for a low price, lunch is often a better option than dinner.

Drink water.

Alcoholic beverages often cost almost as much as an entree. Even fountain sodas can tack on an extra $2 each to your bill. Ordering ice water with a slice of lemon is not only a healthier option, it’s also free.

Don’t order more than you’ll eat (or more than you should eat).

Restaurant portions are usually ridiculously big. Even if you have the willpower to resist overeating, you’re still paying for food you can’t finish. Many restaurants are now offering smaller portions for a lower price.

If they don’t, I ask if they’ll allow me to order from the kids’ menu. I’ve never had a waiter tell me no. Sometimes they’ll add a dollar or so to the price since I’m not under 12, but most of the time they let me order the kids’ portion at the kids’ price. It’s just the right amount of food for me, and it usually only costs $4 or $5. That’s a huge difference from the regular entree prices of $8-$12.

Order an appetizer instead of an entree.

Appetizers are often just as filling as entrees at a lower price. My husband and I sometimes order one appetizer each and split them.

Take advantage of specials.

A lot of times certain entrees are on “special” for a lower price. Take this opportunity to pay less for your meal and try something new.

Many restaurants also offer special deals like reduced-price appetizers or entrees on certain weeknights. If your favorite restaurant offers specials like this, try to schedule your meals out on these nights.

Fill out comment cards and mail them in.

At the end of the meal your bill often comes with a comment card or survey. I always fill these out and mail them in. In return, I often receive coupons for money off or free appetizers just for giving my opinion. They even pay the postage.

Use gift cards.

If you’re enrolled at MyPoints, there are a ton of restaurants that offer gift cards for points. (If you’re not already enrolled, email me for a referral link!)

Another option is Restaurant.com. They offer “gift certificates” for restaurants at a reduced rate (usually $10 for a $25 gift certificate). They sometimes offer promotions for even more money off, and you can often get $25 gift certificates for as little as $2.

What’s the catch? You have to spend a certain amount on your meal to redeem the gift certificate. You might pay $2 for a $25 gift certificate, but your total bill has to be $35 not including taxes, tip, or alcohol in order to redeem the gift certificate. You’re still getting a $35 meal for $12. Not too bad! Check the site to see if any restaurants in your area offer gift certificates through Restaurant.com.

Save money with these little changes (you’ll hardly notice, I promise)

Photo by photo-clips.com

With the holidays fast approaching, everyone is looking for ways to pick up a little extra money. What if I told you that you could save an extra $50-$100 a month with just a few little changes that you’ll hardly notice? You’d be crazy not to try it, right?

Here are the little ways that I save money every month.

Use just a little less.

Toothpaste, laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, shampoo and conditioner. The instructions on all of these items often suggest using more than you actually need. Try cutting the amount you use. You most likely won’t notice a difference except in the amount of time the items last.

Wear it once more.

I wear pants a couple times before I wash them, and I sometimes wear tops twice. We also hang towels to dry in the morning and reuse them throughout the week. If you or your spouse works in a labor-intensive or outdoor job that causes your clothes to get pretty dirty, this probably isn’t for you. But if you work in the home or in an office job, your clothes probably don’t require washing after every single wear.

If you throw them into a basket they’ll get wrinkled and smelly, of course. Rehang them in your closet. When it’s time to rewear an item, I often throw it into the dryer for 5 or 10 minutes on fluff to refresh it a bit. It’s usually good as new.

Eat a little less.

Do you find yourself throwing out leftovers at the end of the week? Are you snacking throughout the day out of boredom rather than hunger? If you cook only what you’ll eat, and eat only when you’re hungry, you’ll reduce your grocery costs and maybe your waistline, too.

Even better: designate one or two nights a week as “leftovers night.” You can clear out your fridge, and you won’t have to buy food to cook that night.

Buy generics.

Most of them are exactly the same as the name brands. I promise.

Stop paying for what you don’t need.

Are you watching all the channels included in your cable package? Do you lose unused cell phone minutes at the end of the month? Are you overinsured? Check into all of these services and policies to make sure your paying for only what you use and only what you need.

Use the library.

We used to waste a ton of money buying books and renting movies. Now we use the local and university library instead for free. Even if they don’t have the book or movie we want, we can usually borrow it from another library with the interlibrary loan program.

What about you? What little changes have you made to save money?

Frugal ways to keep warm without turning up the furnace

Photo by mharvey75

Lately the blogosphere has been abuzz with tips for reducing heating costs while staying warm this winter. Kacie at Sense to Save wrote a pretty complete list of tips to beat cold this winter. I recommend you check out her post, but first here are some extra tips from me for staying warm in the house without turning up the heat.

While I live in a pretty warm climate, the temperature does drop to 30 degrees or so in the evening, sometimes lower at night. What I really want is a cozy fireplace, but we don’t have one of those. We were able to stay pretty cozy without one last winter, even with the thermostat set at 60 degrees.

If you live in a colder climate, you might not be able to keep your thermostat that low. Find your personal limit — the temperature where you’re a little chilly, but not endangering yourself, your family, or your pets. Bundle up with some warm clothes, socks, and slippers.

Still cold? Then use these tips to warm up:

Exercise!

Get up and get moving! When I get cold in the evenings, I throw on a sweater and do some yoga. Physical activity stimulates blood circulation, keeping you warmer. It’s also good for you, and it’ll keep those extra pounds from creeping up during the cold winter months.

Dress your bed for the weather.

Invest in a down comforter and warm flannel sheets. A down comforter can be a big initial investment, but with proper care it will offer years of warmth with lower thermostat temperatures. Down alternative is just as warm for a lower price. Our down comforter was a gift, so it cost us nothing. And it keeps us toasty all night even though our bedroom is the coldest room in the apartment.

Invite your pets to snuggle with you.

Animals emit a remarkable amount of body heat. My dog is like a little mini furnace. Whenever I’m chilly, I invite him onto the couch or bed to snuggle with me. We keep each other warm, so I don’t have to worry that the apartment is too chilly for him. It’s win-win.

Add a little extra warmth.

I love the idea of the homemade heating pad. Unfortunately, I don’t have a microwave. So I just use a plain old heating pad under my blanket set on low. It’s like a little mini electric blanket. I feel like it would be overkill if I was covered up completely with an electric blanket, but a little heating pad provides just enough warmth without overheating me. Sure, it uses a little electricity, but not as much as the furnace would use pumping heat throughout the apartment.

Sometimes when my husband’s feeling extra sweet he’ll lay the heating pad on my side of the bed and turn it on while I’m getting ready for bed. My side of the bed is all warmed up by the time I lie down! Isn’t he sweet?

Quilt.

I’ve taken up hand quilting in the past few months, and it’s really one of the best ways to stay warm on a cold evening. It gives me something to focus on, keeps me moving, and best of all I have a cozy quilt covering my lap while I work.

Take a long, hot bath.

When all else fails, I run a bath as hot as I can stand it, close the bathroom door to trap the heat, and soak until I feel warm. When I get out of the tub, I dry off completely and bundle up in cozy clothes before I open the bathroom door. Usually I head straight to bed and snuggle with my husband under the down comforter. Honestly, though, if the bath water is hot enough, the cold air feels great when I open the bathroom door.

Sip a glass of red wine.

Not only will it warm you up and put a little color in your cheeks, but red wine is actually good for your health in moderation. Not to mention tasty and relaxing. :)