A Month of Reducing - Reduce Buyers Remorse

Reduce buyer’s remorse. With the Internet, you can look up other people’s opinions on anything before you buy it. This especially should be done with electronics, because you can find out what product will exactly fill your needs. *sigh * I love the Internet.

Budget Update November/December

Food budget (groceries and eating out) was $350 for November and we came in at $434.50. Eek! That is very high! The chickens were an unexpected $50, but I guess I wasn't being careful enough the rest of the month. I'm sad. I'm going to put our December budget at $400 because we have some parties to go to and food to purchase for that.

Fuel budget was $75 and we went over on that too. :( We spent $86.50. We went to Milwaukee once the whole month, otherwise I'm sure we would have been under. Every single week was around $15 except for the week we went to Milwaukee was $27. Our average mpg was 19.4 which is better than last month, at least. Next month I'm setting it at $84 (average $21 per week) because we're going to Chicago, and probably Milwaukee at least once. I hope that's not too low again....

In praise of Bed and Breakfasts

So, you and your Honey want to take a romantic weekend away from home, and you want to stay at some place nicer than the local Budgetel....

You could go on Hotwire or Expedia to find the rare deal on a four star hotel. You could call a travel agent and ask them to find you something. Or, you could look into the local Bed and Breakfasts.

I used to think that Bed and Breakfasts were the most pricy option, but I've been proven wrong. It's true that some B&Bs are more expensive than the area's hotels, but not always. You can often find out of the way B&Bs that are just as nice, but significantly cheaper than a hotel.

Brent and I are planning on spending a night away in a few weeks. All the local hotels were over $100 (some by a lot). We searched for a Bed and Breakfast and found one for only $90. Then when we called for our reservation, we found that they were running an Anniversary special, and it was only $70! And, we are getting a more personal and friendly staff, a beautiful (non-cookie cutter) room, and a full and elegant breakfast - for less than what we would pay for a hotel.

It may not be the best option for all your vacations, but remember to keep it in mind when you plan your next get-away.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce restaurant eating

Reduce your restaurant purchases. I'm a big proponent of cooking from scratch and eating at home, but sometimes even I get tired and don't want to cook. (surprising, I know!) It has taken me a long time to get past this, but now I buy convenience foods set aside for those nights. If we don't have any convenience food in the house, we go to the grocery store and buy a frozen pizza instead of ordering in. It is so much cheaper this way. Our eating out expenses went down by over $100 a month when I started doing this. If you usually go out to restaurants with friends, try only going out for dessert and coffee. Or you could stay in and play games. Even going to McD's is more expensive than making a burger and fries at home.

Yeah, I'm still around

Despite the rumors you may have heard, I did not get murdered by a rampaging turkey out to avenge his brother's Thanksgiving death.

Our holiday was great. Brent had to work a little, but it was still nice and relaxing to have an extra day of weekend. We spent Thanksgiving at my parent's house, and Brent's parents came too. After dinner we went to the movies and to bed at a pretty early hour. Compeletely uneventful, which is just the way I like it.

I'm done with all my family Christmas shopping. Yay!!! We really only have to get for our friends now, but we're making homemade food gifts, so we can't do that until closer to the holiday.

Now it's back to work and normal routine. But at least there is only four more weeks until another vacation. :)

Earth Friendly Christmas

You have to buy stuff for your family and friends (and me) for Christmas anyway, why not make less of an impact on the environment this year?
Here are some stores to get you started.

Eco-Artware All products are made from recycled, reused, or natural products by independent artists. Not your grandma’s crafty crafts.
Green Earth Office Supply This site not only has 100% recycled office supplies, but also a few other things you might want in your office like furniture, lamps, and filing cabinets.
Good Humans A variety of products (over 600) for all parts of your life - lots of organic and hemp products.
Green Home There are many tips on this website on how to ‘green your home’ and products to help you do just that. An excellent one-stop-shop for anything you ever need to ‘green your life’
Viva Terra This site has more gifty stuff and less workaday stuff. Combine graceful and elegant with eco-friendly and you get this website.
Vulcana I have to add this one because I got a gift from this site last year. Vulcana makes products from recycled tires. They have purses, bags, wallets, and binders and portfolios. Excellent stuff, I can attest to that myself.
Green Karat And for that extra-special someone (me) - recycled fine jewelry. Very pretty pieces here.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce Stress

Reduce stress. There is a reason why the Third Commandment is “Remember the Sabbath Day.” God doesn’t want us to get burnt out. If you have to work on Sundays, make sure you set aside a different day of the week to just kick back and relax.

What's that white crap coming from the sky?

We had our first snow last night. Booooo. I hate winter. It was also very windy, and a good reminder of all the drafty holes I have to cover before it gets even colder. There was a breeze coming through one of the light switches, and I'm unsure how I'm going to fix that, but I guess I will figure out something.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce One-use Purchases

. Reduce one-use purchases. Your sink is clogged, and no amount of Draino is clearing it. Do you really need to buy a plumber's snake, or maybe your neighbor or family member has one you can borrow? Remember to always return the item promptly and in good condition. And a homemade pie is always good payment.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce your pay

Reduce your take home pay. What??!! If you consistently paying the IRS when April 15 rolls around, maybe you should increase the money the government takes from each paycheck. Then you won't get slammed with a big payment at tax time. Another thing you can do is ask the bank to automatically deduct a portion of your paycheck and deposit it into a savings account or a retirement fund. The easiest no-hassle savings plan.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce your bills

Reduce your bills. Look at each of the bills you get throughout the month and decide if you really need the extra features that you're paying for. If you never use automated voicemail or those extra movie channels, why are you paying for them? You can also call the electric and/or gas company to do an energy audit on your home and they will tell you where you can save on your energy bills.

A Month of Reducing - Reducing Interest

Reduce the interest you pay. Call your credit card companies and ask them to reduce your interest rate. They may be hard-nosed about it, but be persistent. If you have been a faithful customer for X number of years, you shouldn't have to pay 13% interest. For other loans, the more often you pay, the less interest you will pay. If you have a monthly car payment, but get paid every two weeks, why not ask the bank to divide your payment in half and pay every two weeks. When we made our last car purchase, we opted for weekly payments (Brent gets paid weekly) and interest savings was over $300 for the duration of the loan.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce Cleaning Products

Reduce the cleaning products you use. You know how on toothpaste commercials, they fill the whole toothbrush head with a perfectly squeezed helping of toothpaste. Yeah, you don't need that much. You also don't need to fill the laundry detergent cap to the overflowing. Read the side of these containers and they will tell you how much is recommended - and even that is usually more than enough.

Homemade air filter - revisited

Back on October 14th, I posted about a homemade air filter that we were going to try out because Brent was having allergy problems.

Anyway, it is so awesome!! We're really surprised at how well this makeshift thing works! We used it for a couple of days and his allergies improved, but then we kept forgetting to turn it on for about a week. Then there was one night he was up all night hacking and wheezing. We turned the filter fan back on and he slept so soundly - no problems at all.

We have the same type of filter on the heater, but I think this works because it circulates only the air in the room.

Here are some pictures of our cheap but wonderful filter fan. A box fan fits a 20x20 filter (but they were out so we got the wrong size).

Link of the Day - FatWallet.com

FatWallet.com
Just in time for Christmas shopping. We buy 75% of our Christmas gifts online, so this is a great resource. They list all kinds of discounts and coupon codes for online retailers, and have forums where people can post deals that they found. If you're just looking for deals in general, it may be a lot to look through before you find the thing you want, but if you're doing specific shopping, the Compare Prices tab is awesome. Not only will it give you the best prices for the items you are looking for, but it will calculate shipping for each of the stores - plus you can see what other people thought of that online store so you're not buying blind at some obscure retailer. I'm glad I went there today because the place that I was going to buy one of Brent's gifts got an overwhelming 1 star - now I can look elsewhere.

The only downside is that they are relentlessly trying to push a Cash Back card at you and you have to click through their Offer screen a couple of times to get where you're going.

Other than that, great site - lots of good information in one place.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce Clutter

Reduce clutter. That junk in a box in your basement - why are you keeping that again? Sell it in the newspaper, give it away to friends, Freecycle it. If you donate to a thrift store, remember to get a tax deductible receipt.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce Bulk Buying

Reduce the bulk buying. Gasp! But buying in bulk is frugal!!!! Blasphemy!!!! Yes, it can be more frugal to buy in bulk, but not when you find the excess food rotting in the back of your fridge. If you'll only ever need a small amount, only buy a small amount. This happens too frequently with Brent and I because there are only two of us, but we're getting better at it.

Happy Discovery at a Local Farm

Once a month or so I go out to a neighboring town to stock up at their salvage grocery store, and also go to a small hobby farm where they raise chickens. I picked up three dozen free-range eggs for $5 (store price would be $8.37). I know buying the cheap eggs at the store would be more frugal, but looking at the whole picture, I'd rather give my money to a local farmer and get a superior product. Also, I know too much about factory egg farms and never want to buy store eggs again, but that's a different post.

Anyway, I was chatting with the lady who lived there and I offhandedly asked her if she knew anyone who sold organic chickens. She said that she sold chickens that were 'natural' (no anti-biotics or hormones) and free-range, but she couldn't guarauntee that they were organic. For only $2 per pound! That's the price I try to stay under for regular meat. Orgainic chicken breasts are $8 per pound, so this was a super deal. So I ordered 6 chickens. She said they were butchering in the next two or three weeks so she would give me a call when they're ready. I'm super excited about this, and I'll let y'all know when I get them.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce Disposables

Reduce the disposables. Yeah, I know paper plates are nice for picnics, but do you need them every day? What about paper napkins? Cloth napkins are just as easy. You just toss them in the laundry instead of the trash. Paper towels? Rags work fine. Toilet paper? Eh, that's going a little too far..... Bring a coffee mug to work and Starbucks instead of using their Styrofoam cups. Get a Hello Kitty lunch box (or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, if you aren't so fond of pink) instead of a paper bag for your lunch. Every disposable product has a reusable counterpart. Be creative.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce Meat

Reduce the meat you eat. And increase the vegetables. Not only is it cheaper, but it is more healthy too. One or two vegetarian meals a week is not as difficult as you think.

Okay, so I'm only a little bias on this one..... :)

Indoor Composter

Saw this on Treehugger.com

The NatureMill Indoor Composter

Ack!! I want one!!! I need one! *whine* It's $400! *cry*

Life in General

This week has been productive so far. The weather has been super nice, so I've been trying to catch up on the laundry while I can stil hang it outside. And I'm finally getting around to finishing up my garden for the year. I just have to add the compost and plant the garlic, then I'm done until the spring.

Yesterday we were able to put a huge payment toward the business debt. It felt really good to put a big downward line on my graph. Brent's business is going to slow down some now, so it may be the last big payment for a while. But we're still putting all of my income towards the loan, which amounts to almost double what our regular monthly payments are.

I restructured our budget a little - now by week. What we had been doing before is not paying attention to the weekly spendings, only the monthly spendings. Then by the time each check came, we were close to over extending ourselves. So I got a piece of paper and figured out all the regular weekly stuff we have to buy and subtracted it from our weekly income. It looked like this:
Income
- tithe
- car payment
- groceries
- gas money
- allowance
- bill budget
- Sunday eating out
= $30

So after all the stuff we need, we have $30 left for the week on whatever else comes up (this week was cat food). I thought that was a fair amount, and now I feel a little more in control of things.

I suppose I should get back to work......

A Month of Reducing - Reduce Junk

Reduce the junk in your mailbox. www.dmaconsumers.org has instructions on how to get your name off those mailing lists. Also, remember to watch for the check boxes that ask if corporations can send you more information, or give out your address to other corporations. If you get any unwanted catalogs, there should be an 800 number you can call to get your name off the list.

A Month of Reducing - Reducing Miles

Reduce the miles you drive. Pay attention as you drive home from work - is there a grocery store or a gas station that’s not out of your way? Can you carpool to work? Can you combine your errands and order them for maximum efficiency? Call ahead if you are looking for a specific deal or product. See how many days you can go without driving - how few miles you can drive in one week. Our record is 70 miles.

A Month of Reducing - Reduce Plastic Bags

I thought I would have a different theme for each month and include a 'tip' for each day regarding the month's theme.

November is Reduce (from Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), so here is Day One...

Reduce the plastic bags that come into your home. Do you really need a bag for that one book or CD? What about groceries? Canvas bags are very durable and cheap too (thrift stores usually have a good collection of suitable totes). Some grocery stores have incentives when you bring your own bags. You can buy shopping bags, lunch bags, and even reusable produce bags at Reusable Bags.com

Feel free to send me your Reducing tips.