No dryer.
Since the weather is warming up we are instituting a ban on the heat setting of your dryer. Line dry your clothes and use the dryer on air only setting to soften them up if you desire. Using liquid softener or vinegar in the wash cycle will also help. The savings will be higher for an electric dryer than it will be for a gas dryer, but still worth it.
If you live in an apartment or rent and can't install a clothes line you can use an indoor drying rack. It will take more time to dry, but will also be great on rainy days.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Saturday, February 28, 2015
March Challenge
If you've read about the Lenten challenge (which is to spend money only on what's necessary) you may be wondering how we are planning to save money over top that. So this month's challenge is:
No unnecessary driving.
Don't worry, if you aren't interested in the Lent challenge you can still save money by driving less. We will still drive to work, church, and the store (combining those as much as possible), but other than that, driving will be off limits. Emergencies are one thing, joy riding to Sonic for a milk shake is another. Now that doesn't mean we aren't going to do anything; we still have healthy legs and a set of bikes. With winter coming to an end we have no reason not to get out and enjoy the warmer weather.
Good luck and get some sun.
No unnecessary driving.
Don't worry, if you aren't interested in the Lent challenge you can still save money by driving less. We will still drive to work, church, and the store (combining those as much as possible), but other than that, driving will be off limits. Emergencies are one thing, joy riding to Sonic for a milk shake is another. Now that doesn't mean we aren't going to do anything; we still have healthy legs and a set of bikes. With winter coming to an end we have no reason not to get out and enjoy the warmer weather.
Good luck and get some sun.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Lenten Challenge
No spending on nonessentials.
If you don't know what Lent is, look it up for yourself. Essentially it is the 40 days (excluding Sundays) before Easter to reflect on the Lord's suffering and death. Many give up some "luxury" in order to gain firsthand understanding of the suffering Christ endured leading up to his death. It also reminds you that Christ gave up his life for yours.
We're nearing the end of February's challenge, but have decided to take it one step further. It's rather quite simple: we will not spend money on things we don't need. Our decision to do this is more on the saving money side but the religious aspects can't be overlooked either. The idea actually came from another blog we've been reading recently and really liked the idea.
Now why in the world would anyone want to cut out unnecessary purchases? Other than saving the most you can in a month another reason is to test the waters of your emergency fund. And no, credit cards are not an emergency fund. A general rule of thumb is to save 3-6 months of expenses, however is that your current expenses or barebones expenses? Either way, in order to make the money last as long as possible (and in order to have a safety margin) you have to cut out everything that isn't necessary. Why not test a barebones budget while you still have an income? You'll be able to see where you can cut the fat further or can determine that your emergency fund isn't enough.
Having said that here's our list of essentials (not necessarily barebones, but pretty close):
The real difficulty will lie in our upcoming trip to Texas for a family wedding. 12 hour drive, three nights in a hotel and four days of eating away from home. We will be driving instead of flying and renting a car. Estimated savings of $500. We are staying in a cheaper hotel than the rest of the guests. Estimated savings of $100-$150, not sure what the actual negotiated rate is for the suggested hotel. We will bring sandwich/bagel supplies for the car ride, breakfast is provided by the hotel, dinner is provided at the wedding, leaving three meals to provide ourselves. Two of those will be lunch, so we can make sandwiches. For the last meal I'm going to bring our crockpot (Because guess what? There are grocery stores in Texas too.) and let dinner cook itself while we are out enjoying the wonderful March weather. Estimated savings of $75-$100, including the cost to eat out while traveling. I'm not sure if the crockpot and sandwiches will go over with the other family we're meeting there so we'll see how that goes. Total estimated savings of $675-$750.
Share what you plan to include in your essentials only budget.
If you don't know what Lent is, look it up for yourself. Essentially it is the 40 days (excluding Sundays) before Easter to reflect on the Lord's suffering and death. Many give up some "luxury" in order to gain firsthand understanding of the suffering Christ endured leading up to his death. It also reminds you that Christ gave up his life for yours.
We're nearing the end of February's challenge, but have decided to take it one step further. It's rather quite simple: we will not spend money on things we don't need. Our decision to do this is more on the saving money side but the religious aspects can't be overlooked either. The idea actually came from another blog we've been reading recently and really liked the idea.
Now why in the world would anyone want to cut out unnecessary purchases? Other than saving the most you can in a month another reason is to test the waters of your emergency fund. And no, credit cards are not an emergency fund. A general rule of thumb is to save 3-6 months of expenses, however is that your current expenses or barebones expenses? Either way, in order to make the money last as long as possible (and in order to have a safety margin) you have to cut out everything that isn't necessary. Why not test a barebones budget while you still have an income? You'll be able to see where you can cut the fat further or can determine that your emergency fund isn't enough.
Having said that here's our list of essentials (not necessarily barebones, but pretty close):
- Church offering
- Mortgage
- Utilities: We don't need internet, so I guess we're not depriving ourselves as much as we could be. However, we've recently cut our internet cost by 43% just by asking for a cheaper price. All we had to do was commit to a one-year contract and sign up for auto pay.
- Food: for people and pets
- Toiletries: Mostly just toothpaste, we have enough of everything else to last us until Easter. Ah, the joys of cloth diapering.
- Gasoline: Only to go work, church, maybe a trip or two to the library, and pre-booked travel.
- Necessary car/home maintenance: Which if gone undone will result in further damage. At the moment nothing is screaming to be repaired though.
The real difficulty will lie in our upcoming trip to Texas for a family wedding. 12 hour drive, three nights in a hotel and four days of eating away from home. We will be driving instead of flying and renting a car. Estimated savings of $500. We are staying in a cheaper hotel than the rest of the guests. Estimated savings of $100-$150, not sure what the actual negotiated rate is for the suggested hotel. We will bring sandwich/bagel supplies for the car ride, breakfast is provided by the hotel, dinner is provided at the wedding, leaving three meals to provide ourselves. Two of those will be lunch, so we can make sandwiches. For the last meal I'm going to bring our crockpot (Because guess what? There are grocery stores in Texas too.) and let dinner cook itself while we are out enjoying the wonderful March weather. Estimated savings of $75-$100, including the cost to eat out while traveling. I'm not sure if the crockpot and sandwiches will go over with the other family we're meeting there so we'll see how that goes. Total estimated savings of $675-$750.
Share what you plan to include in your essentials only budget.
Walk to the airport?
Welcome to our new segment: random acts of frugality. Where we will occasionally post topics on living a frugal lifestyle. The first edition is as follows.
Ever thought of walking to the airport? Well recently Jack had to go to out of town for work and decided to walk from his hotel to the airport. This is what he had to say on the experience:
Ever thought of walking to the airport? Well recently Jack had to go to out of town for work and decided to walk from his hotel to the airport. This is what he had to say on the experience:
I just walked from Luxor in Las Vegas to the airport. My company would have paid for a cab or shuttle but it just felt wrong when I can walk. It was only 2.5 miles but the luggage made it a little more challenging. I probably would have chickened out in the summer though. Did not see anyone else walking here. a few people walking to work in the other direction (I'm guessing that they were going to work since they did not have suitcases or anything). I am enjoying watching these people who are out of breath from just walking in the terminal.So the next time you go to out of town check the distance from the airport to your hotel and consider walking.
February Results
Well we are at the end of the first official challenge so thoughts of successfulness are coming to mind. Whether or not you are successful is up to you. After all this was about cutting a category from the budget not about saving a certain dollar amount. For those with a budget, your savings will be fixed. For those without a budget, your savings are more obscure. If you usually eat out 4 times a week, but cut down to once a week, were you successful? If you usually spend $200 per month on dining out, but only managed to spend $50 this month, were you successful?
Here's our outcome:
Jack went out of town on business for a week and bought food at a local grocery store. However the last day there he made some sandwiches for lunch and the trip home, but accidently grabbed the bag of trash and left the sandwiches in the hotel room. Just a bit of advice, don't put your lunch in the same type of bag that the hotel uses for trash. He ended up buying fast food for lunch ($8.38) and stopped at a restaurant in the airport ($31.00 Yikes!). All of this will be paid with per diem from the trip, but we would have otherwise pocketed the money so they deserve to be added to the list. While Jack was gone, I went to the store to get groceries. On the way home I had a splitting headache, a screaming baby in the car who wouldn't eat, two other stops to make and the thought that dinner still had to made. So I caved in and went to Wal-Mart to get something from the deli. At this point we hadn't decided whether hot-and-ready food was allowed but I knew in the back of my head I shouldn't buy it, especially since I'd just come from the grocery store. While there I also picked up a candy bar, 6-pack of hard cider, and a tub of frosting ($16.47). All in all we spent $55.85.
Lessons learned this month: We normally eat out 6 times a month on average, however this month Jack ate out twice while I ate out only once and neither of us felt deprived for having done so (though we wanted to a few times). In fact, our home cooked meals were far tastier than anything we could have bought from a restaurant for a similar price. Now we can easily cut down our eating out habit and be much happier for it. We will save more money each month and be healthier too. Even though we spent $56 this month eating out, we spent 30% less on groceries this month than the average over the last three months. We feel we were successful due to the long term benefits this challenge will provide, but there is still room for improvement.
How did you do? Share your own story below in the comments.
Here's our outcome:
Jack went out of town on business for a week and bought food at a local grocery store. However the last day there he made some sandwiches for lunch and the trip home, but accidently grabbed the bag of trash and left the sandwiches in the hotel room. Just a bit of advice, don't put your lunch in the same type of bag that the hotel uses for trash. He ended up buying fast food for lunch ($8.38) and stopped at a restaurant in the airport ($31.00 Yikes!). All of this will be paid with per diem from the trip, but we would have otherwise pocketed the money so they deserve to be added to the list. While Jack was gone, I went to the store to get groceries. On the way home I had a splitting headache, a screaming baby in the car who wouldn't eat, two other stops to make and the thought that dinner still had to made. So I caved in and went to Wal-Mart to get something from the deli. At this point we hadn't decided whether hot-and-ready food was allowed but I knew in the back of my head I shouldn't buy it, especially since I'd just come from the grocery store. While there I also picked up a candy bar, 6-pack of hard cider, and a tub of frosting ($16.47). All in all we spent $55.85.
Lessons learned this month: We normally eat out 6 times a month on average, however this month Jack ate out twice while I ate out only once and neither of us felt deprived for having done so (though we wanted to a few times). In fact, our home cooked meals were far tastier than anything we could have bought from a restaurant for a similar price. Now we can easily cut down our eating out habit and be much happier for it. We will save more money each month and be healthier too. Even though we spent $56 this month eating out, we spent 30% less on groceries this month than the average over the last three months. We feel we were successful due to the long term benefits this challenge will provide, but there is still room for improvement.
How did you do? Share your own story below in the comments.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Start Here: Complete this challenge before proceeding
First things first: Creating a budget.
If you made it past the introduction post then you've already decided to save money and have set a goal for the use of that money. If you aren't interested in saving money why are you still reading?
So let's get started making a budget. I can just hear the complaints starting to roll in. But, honestly if you don't have a budget how will you know if you are saving money or not? While it is possible to responsibly handle your money without a written budget it never hurts to track your expenses for a month or two just to see where your money is really going.
If you are married you need to be doing this together. You married this person because you wanted to share your life with him/her. How can you share your life with him/her if you do everything yourself? This also spreads the responsibility between two people and eliminates any finger pointing when mistakes are made or when the kids don't get everything they want anymore. If you are single it will be a bit easier because you get to decide how to spend your money.
Budgets are a way to tell your money what to do, rather than wonder where it all went. At the end of the month you'll know exactly what happened and won't be stressing about whether to pay the credit card or the electricity because somehow the money disappeared from the bank account. They are easy to create and to don't require much of anything. You don't need a degree in accounting, math, or business to do it. All you need are a piece of paper and a calculator. Got those? Let's begin:
Good luck and feel free to share any advice on budgeting below.
If you made it past the introduction post then you've already decided to save money and have set a goal for the use of that money. If you aren't interested in saving money why are you still reading?
So let's get started making a budget. I can just hear the complaints starting to roll in. But, honestly if you don't have a budget how will you know if you are saving money or not? While it is possible to responsibly handle your money without a written budget it never hurts to track your expenses for a month or two just to see where your money is really going.
If you are married you need to be doing this together. You married this person because you wanted to share your life with him/her. How can you share your life with him/her if you do everything yourself? This also spreads the responsibility between two people and eliminates any finger pointing when mistakes are made or when the kids don't get everything they want anymore. If you are single it will be a bit easier because you get to decide how to spend your money.
Budgets are a way to tell your money what to do, rather than wonder where it all went. At the end of the month you'll know exactly what happened and won't be stressing about whether to pay the credit card or the electricity because somehow the money disappeared from the bank account. They are easy to create and to don't require much of anything. You don't need a degree in accounting, math, or business to do it. All you need are a piece of paper and a calculator. Got those? Let's begin:
- The basic necessities of life are food, shelter, clothing, and transportation to/from work. At the top of the page put your income, then subtract each of the essential items. Remember for food and clothes, these are just enough to get by (think thrift store, not mall boutique). Shelter is your mortgage/rent and utilities. Transportation will be operating cost only (gas, insurance, and new tires). It will look something like this (these are arbitrary numbers, not based on actual experience):
- Next will be other bills: health insurance, life insurance, car payment, credit card, student loan, HELOC, etc. In our example I'm assuming health insurance and life insurance are taken out by the employer.
- Using our sample above, you have $530 left to for charity, savings, recreation, eating out, gym membership, Netflix, etc.
Wow! Look at that, a budget in 3 simple steps. See not so hard after all, on paper anyway. In real life creating a budget is difficult the first few months, then it becomes routine. The first budget meeting will not be easy if you've been coasting along in neutral and not paying attention to what you're spending your money on. However, you'll attain your goal faster if everyone makes concessions and does their part. Use these percentages as a basic starting point for your budget:
Charitable Gifts 10-15%
Savings 5-10%
Housing 25-35%
Utilities 5-10%
Transportation 10-15%
Food 5-15%
Clothing 2-7%
Medical/Health 5-10%
Personal 5-10%
Recreation 5-10%
Savings 5-10%
Housing 25-35%
Utilities 5-10%
Transportation 10-15%
Food 5-15%
Clothing 2-7%
Medical/Health 5-10%
Personal 5-10%
Recreation 5-10%
Debt 5-10%
Good luck and feel free to share any advice on budgeting below.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
February's Challenge
I'm starting this blog a bit late, but here is the first month's challenge anyway.
Do not eat out (that includes sodas and coffee too).
All food/drink products must come from the grocery store (and I don't mean the prepared stuff from the deli). As a side challenge let's see how low we can get our grocery bills by eating the food we already have in our pantry/fridge/freezer as often as possible and only going to the store when we run out of toilet paper or milk.
If you are already coming up with excuses let me quiet your complainypants with a few helpful tips about MENU PLANNING:
Our Plan:
We have recently decided to do a monthly menu and buy our groceries once a month. We go to the store together the first week. Then Jack stops by the store on his way home from work once a week in weeks 2-4 to buy produce and milk. Two fold savings: 1/4 of the gas used to get to the grocery store and more efficient menu planning means lower grocery bill. Here's a sample of the next four weeks meals at our house (this is actually for the end of February/beginning of March):
Do not eat out (that includes sodas and coffee too).
All food/drink products must come from the grocery store (and I don't mean the prepared stuff from the deli). As a side challenge let's see how low we can get our grocery bills by eating the food we already have in our pantry/fridge/freezer as often as possible and only going to the store when we run out of toilet paper or milk.
If you are already coming up with excuses let me quiet your complainypants with a few helpful tips about MENU PLANNING:
- This WILL require some preparation in advance. Meaning get out a calendar and plan each weeks menu at the beginning of the week. (You should be doing this anyway, whether your participating in the challenge or not) This eliminates the "Ahh! It's 5:30 and I have no idea what we are having for dinner" syndrome. This isn't difficult. In fact, it's so easy I don't know why more people don't do it. Not to mention the time and money it saves as well.
- The first week will be pretty easy: search your pantry/fridge/freezer high and low and create meals out of what you already have adding a few items here and there to create a well balanced diet.
- Don't forget to plan at least one day of leftovers
- Don't plan elaborate meals on nights when your schedule is jam packed
- Get the whole family involved. Let each person chose at least one meal (with veto powers from dad and mom of course. Ice Cream and cookies are not a meal). This helps stop the battle of picky eaters at least one night a week.
- This is not a restaurant! Don't make individual meals for every person because they don't like what's on the menu. Dietary restrictions are acceptable, picky eaters are not! Lay down the law, if they don't like what's for dinner, they can have a few crackers and wait for breakfast. If you are diligent your kids won't skip too many meals. Don't fall for the myth that you are starving your kids. Remember you are providing them with a decent meal, they are just choosing not to eat it.
- Prior planning prevents poor performance: make sure to plan for extended outings. Take sandwiches, snacks, or whatever to prevent yourself from stopping for fast food.
- Cook double batches and freeze half, now you have precooked meals for next month or next week.
- Use a cookbook to find tasty and easy meals to make. Don't forget the library has cookbooks, too. If you are getting tired of the same meals month after month, consider checking one out to mix things up. Just make sure to photo copy those you enjoyed.
- Keep tabs on your perishables. If they look like they will spoil soon, eat them or freeze them. 40% of food in the US goes uneaten.
- Use an app to help with meal planning
- Check out this site for more tips
- Once you've mastered the weekly menu planning. Try a two-week plan or a monthly plan.
- Buy all your groceries at the beginning of the month, with the occasional trip to the store for perishables.
Our Plan:
We have recently decided to do a monthly menu and buy our groceries once a month. We go to the store together the first week. Then Jack stops by the store on his way home from work once a week in weeks 2-4 to buy produce and milk. Two fold savings: 1/4 of the gas used to get to the grocery store and more efficient menu planning means lower grocery bill. Here's a sample of the next four weeks meals at our house (this is actually for the end of February/beginning of March):
I use a whiteboard with grid lines drawn with a permanent marker and use an erasable marker for dates and meals. You can see where I make a double batch to freeze and then reuse it (26th make double batch of jambalaya then reuse it on the 12th). I put a checkmark next to each meal once that day's supplies have been added to the grocery list to ensure I don't forget anything. I also put the cookbook and accompanying page number for new recipes in the grid as well.
Good luck and get cooking!
Challenge Ideas
Please use this post to share ideas for future challenges, just leave a comment and I will see where I can fit it in.
Current Ideas:
Current Ideas:
- No eating out
- No clothes dryer, line dry only
- No disposable diapers
- No spur of the moment driving
- Plan multiple errands/trip
- No furnace or air conditioner
- Sell more "junk" than you spend
- 5 minute shower
- Super low grocery budget
- Drink only water and milk
- Buy no more beverages
- Buy a month's worth of groceries
- Find another source of income
- Replace/reduce phone plan
- Plan garden only dinners 3x per week
- Eat something from the garden everyday
- Cash only week, no credit/debit card
- Bike/walk everywhere
Introduction: Why are challenging ourselves to save money?
Who are we? Well we are an average couple living smack dab in the middle of the United States. We are proactive do-it-yourselfers who enjoy a bit of frugality. We decided we don't like having a mortgage payment and that our money is more useful in investments. We don't like giving our hard earned dollars to the bank each month and seeing only a small portion go towards principle. We have played with amortization schedules and realize it is going to take us longer to pay off the mortgage than originally estimated (mostly due to investing more). So in order to pay more on the mortgage we have to earn more or spend less. Thus, we have decided to challenge ourselves each month with different ways to save money.
We thought it might be fun to extend our challenge to others as well. So join in on the fun or sit back and watch us each month as we chip away at our mortgage. Not every challenge will fit into everyone's lifestyle. If you don't like a certain challenge that is no reason to quit for a month, chose a previous challenge and keep going. The more you participate the stronger your frugality muscle becomes so that over time you naturally save more money.
If you are new here don't wait until the beginning of the next month to start a challenge, do it today! Even if it's only for 5 days! Why wait when you can create a positive life changing habit today? It is the same reason I don't make new year's resolutions. If it's March and I decide I want to change my life I'd have to wait 9 months. I'll be much happier and so will you if we set a goal today and follow it until completed. Then in January we'll be 9 months ahead of all those people who waited to make a new year's resolution and we can laugh in there faces when they quit two weeks later and we are still going strong.
If you've read this far, that means you're interested in participating. First step is complete. You didn't even know it, but half the process is just deciding that you want to save money. The other half is setting a goal. Saving money will be pointless if you don't have a plan on how to use it. Comment below on how you will use your money saved. Debt? Down payment on a house? Retirement? Tune in each month, you'll be surprised how much money can be saved.
Now with all that out of the way just a few bits of technical jargon remain:
We thought it might be fun to extend our challenge to others as well. So join in on the fun or sit back and watch us each month as we chip away at our mortgage. Not every challenge will fit into everyone's lifestyle. If you don't like a certain challenge that is no reason to quit for a month, chose a previous challenge and keep going. The more you participate the stronger your frugality muscle becomes so that over time you naturally save more money.
If you are new here don't wait until the beginning of the next month to start a challenge, do it today! Even if it's only for 5 days! Why wait when you can create a positive life changing habit today? It is the same reason I don't make new year's resolutions. If it's March and I decide I want to change my life I'd have to wait 9 months. I'll be much happier and so will you if we set a goal today and follow it until completed. Then in January we'll be 9 months ahead of all those people who waited to make a new year's resolution and we can laugh in there faces when they quit two weeks later and we are still going strong.
If you've read this far, that means you're interested in participating. First step is complete. You didn't even know it, but half the process is just deciding that you want to save money. The other half is setting a goal. Saving money will be pointless if you don't have a plan on how to use it. Comment below on how you will use your money saved. Debt? Down payment on a house? Retirement? Tune in each month, you'll be surprised how much money can be saved.
Now with all that out of the way just a few bits of technical jargon remain:
- There are no official prizes, just the satisfaction of knowing how much money you are able to keep in your wallet or put towards your bills.
- We encourage you to leave comments. However, while we believe that everyone is entitled to free speech, we will not tolerate nonsense. If you don't like it, tough! This is our blog. Create you own and you say whatever you want there.
- We are not a replacement for financial advisors, doctors, lawyers, tax professionals, or basic commonsense. We are just average people who like to live a frugal lifestyle and want to encourage others to do the same. Any challenge you participate in is at your own risk. Do your own research and weigh the benefits against the risk.
- While we'd like to be as transparent as possible, you don't need to know the exact figures of our income, budget, or savings. When it comes to budgeting/saving ratios are more applicable. Everyone's situation is different and $50 may be small potatoes to some while at the same time others may have difficulty finding $5 leftover at the end of the month. We will try to use percentages when we share our own part of the adventure.
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