I have to brag :)

$74.50! That's only about one tank of gas! Wahoo!
No hypermiling required. Well - Brent has admitted to trying to drive more conservatively.
Here's what we're doing:
- Only biking or walking to the grocery store. It's about a mile away, and last week I think I overdid Andrei so we might drive today, or maybe we'll have a rest in the park on the way home.
- Only taking the bus downtown. We go once a week to the library and save all of our other downtown errands for that one day. It's about the same price to drive and to bus, but Andrei has a cheap summer pass which makes it better to ride.
- Only run 'south-side' errands after work, or combine errands as much as possible.
- The big one here - I started biking to work! My hours changed and I got a route tip from a co-worker, so now I can bike in. :) It's only 3 miles each way and I really love it (coming from someone who complained last summer about biking to the video store less than a mile away). Actually this probably didn't affect our budget too much since I only started last week, but I'm looking forward to an even lower number at the end of July.

We are going out of town once in July and three times in August, but hopefully we can still keep the numbers low, or find alternative choices instead of driving.

So even though I gave Brent the evil eye for choosing to drive short distances, and sometimes we all run errands together that are somewhat unnecessary, we did great last month and I'm super proud of us!

Hypermiling to save gas

Hypermiling is a new term used for the practice of driving very conservatively to get as much MPG as possible.

Here are some tips I found on how to do this.

104 hypermiling / ecodriving tips

The website above has listings of people getting 80+ MPG on their non-hybrid cars.
I'm trying to beat 21 MPG on my way to work. Maybe we need a different car.

A fresh start

Happy New Year everyone! Have you broken your resolutions yet?

Since we left for Russia (almost a month and a half ago) I have not been keeping up with balancing our checking account. We've had money in there from our adoption loan so we weren't worried about the balance, so there was no pressing need to stress about budget when there was so much else going on.

But now it's January 1, and it's time to get back down to business.
I started a brand new Quicken file and started all of our accounts over fresh.
I also made a debt repayment plan, and according to my hopes, we will be out of debt the end of 2010. I don't know the exact figures, but we're probably around $38,000 in the hole right now.

A big chunk of this will be paid off from our Adoption Tax Credit which we will take advantage of this year. The rest of it will be almost completely paid off from my income. Brent's check will go for living expenses, my check will go toward debt. This is what we did when we had our business loan which we paid off in just under 3 years.

So here's our loans, and when we hope to pay them off:
Credit Card: April 2008
Car loan: Fall 2008
Small Adoption Loan: Summer 2009
Large Adoption Loan: End of 2010

We also still have a good start at an emergency fund, and we're able to still increase that and our retirement funds while still paying off this debt.
So, even though we're under so much debt here, I'm confident in our situation and our plan. Maybe we can even start saving for #2 soon...

Super Awesome Spa Deal!

Go to Walgreenssparewards.com to check it out.

Buy 2 Wyeth Products (Advil, Centrum, Dimatapp etc) and get a $50 spa rewards certificate - buy 4 and get $100. There are a lot of spas listed in every state.

Apparently you have to buy all of the products at the same time, and they all have to be full sized. I'm going tomorrow to Walgreens anyway, so I'll check it out.

And, officially - $100 spa certificates are always on my Christmas list. :)


Heard about this on Wise Bread.com

Saving money on cooling

Our curse is back - I complained about them last year, and I'll complain about them again. We have west facing picture windows in our living room. It can be all fine and good in our house around noon - hot but not unbearable. But come around 1-2 PM, and you think you're going to melt like the wicked witch of the west.

So yesterday we got some of this - Heat Control Window Film. It was $45 for 90 sq feet at Home Depot. I can tell that it's working already - it was definitely darker after we put it up. But then it cooled off outside so we won't really know how well it works until it heats up again.

On installation - it's hard. It's a two person job, and then it's still hard. Don't install it when the sun is shining in at the hottest part of the day. It's incredibly difficult to get the wrinkles out and our windows look kind of crappy now. But I'm trying to ignore it.

Another bonus is that you can get a tax credit under the Energy Policy Act. Just save your receipt and fill out IRS form 5695 when you do your taxes next year. Here's more information about the Energy Policy Act

Money tip

toothpastefordinner.com

May challenge: Line dry all of our clothes

Now that the temeperature is above 50 degrees, I can hang our clothes outside again. I used to hang our clothes out exclusively when we were on a super tight budget, but got away from that because of laziness.

If it rains, we have lines in our basement. Also, these will be used for the few pieces of clothing that I don't want seen blowing in our backyard.

So here's what I hope to accomplish:
-Spend more time outside
-Save money
-Use less energy
-Think ahead and keep on top of laundry, instead of waiting until we have run out of clothes.

I even taped our dryer shut as a helpful reminder. :)

End of the grocery store challenge

April's challenge was to not go to the big grocery stores in town. Here are the highlights

Good:
Visited some new grocery stores
Only spent $100 for the month
Found a new brand of crushed red pepper that Brent really likes (burns his mouth off)
Forced to be creative
Tried some new recipes

Bad
I never found a good source of meat. Well, I found one butcher, but they were closed when I stopped by so I didn't really check them out. We get chicken from a farm, but nothing else.
Lack of convenience food. Well, we shouldn't be eating processed convenience food anyway, but there were at least two times when we were too tired to cook anything and we would have gone to the grocery store for a frozen pizza or something. Instead we went to Taco Bell. Much worse.
Not enough fresh fruits and vegetables. I missed these. In the summer it's a nonissue because of the farmer's market, but in the spring they're still scarce.
I also missed bananas very much.

Conclusion:
I probably could not do this forever, but perhaps I could avoid grocery stores during the summer, or only visit them once per month.

Grocery Store Challenge Update

First week we didn't buy anything.
Second week we bought coconut milk, onions, red lentils, oats, milk, and vegetable oil.
Third week we went to a bigger natural food store in Milwaukee (not Trader Joe's) that almost falls under the 'grocery store' description, but it's locally owned and not a chain, so I decided that it was okay. We bought cheese, salsa bread (mmmm), chocolate, green peppers and frozen broccoli.

Stuff we have in excess: spaghetti, tomato soup, quinoa, rice mixes, eggs, chicken, potatoes, and flour. Also we have finally used up almost all of the frozen produce we had leftover from last year's farm share. All we have left is a ton of garlic.

Things I have improvised on: homemade potato chips, homemade tortillas, used tomato soup and pureed veggies for spaghetti sauce, ate refried beans on bread since we ran out of PB (that was kind of gross), made chocolate cupcake cookie things (madeleines?).

I think it's going okay. I think Brent doesn't like that there are no super easy microwave meals, but he'll only have to suffer for 12 more days. Of course, Taco Bell isn’t a grocery store…...

When you can't afford a KitchenAid mixer

Self imposed grocery challenge

The challenge is to not go to any chain grocery stores in April.
Locally owned (like ethnic groceries) are allowed.

I'm hoping that I will
- use the stuff in our pantry
- plan meals around what we have
- buy more locally and discover new places to buy food
- really look at what our food needs are
- buy less convenience foods
- try new recipes
- save money

So far I've done well. Today is the first day I really need to shop, and will buy cheese (cheese factory), oats and milk (natural food store). Oh yeah, I bought eggs from a farmer too.

This only really works because our pantry was super overflowing, but it's kind of fun to be creative. I plan to do it again in the summer when we start getting our farm share again.

10k by Labor Day

That's our saving goal. Yikes, this one is going to be tough.

I submitted our goal to the NCN Netowork so it should be up soon.

New debt assessment

So, we paid off our business loan, as I said in the previous post. But, we also managed to ring up a bit of credit card debt. Christmas always brings some because otherwise we can't hide from each other what we bought. Also Brent had to make a purchase for work, and we put the repayment money on the business loan. Boo.

Only $3500, so that's hardly anything. We can knock that out in a couple of months - hopefully less.

We probably should have paid off the CC debt before the business loan because of the higher intrest, but the joy of seeing that business loan go was so much better. Brent and I have just been walking around the house saying to each other "Can you believe our business debt is gone?" It's a nice feeling.

After our CC debt is gone we will only have the car loan. We are currently paying $76 every week on this - and we're halfway done. We have thrown around the idea of paying this off early also, but we also have to save a crapload for this adoption, so we're torn. If we dumped all of our money into that loan, it would probably take us until fall to pay it off completely, and we're hoping to be in the middle of our adoption by then. So I think we're going to keep it at the weekly payments. Maybe if we come into a large amount or manage to save a lot, then we'll pay ahead on the car, but we really need to save a lot for this adoption and every dollar we fail to save is a dollar we'll need to borrow later. So maybe instead of saving, we're really forward-paying on a loan we have yet to get.


I'd like to start a new goal at the NCN Network (for our adoption) but right now the dollar amount is indefinate and the due date is indefinate. So there's no way to plan for a goal. Maybe I'll just make a random goal of saving X amount by X date, and if our adoption goes through before that, then I"ll just have to refocus our chart.

First we should focus on the CC of course - should I make a chart for that too?

Wahoooooo!!!!

Back in February of 2004, Brent and I got a business loan for Brent's video editing business. It was for $25,000.

In March of this year, we had $12,500 left and I joined the NCN Network with a goal to finish paying it off by the end of the year.

Today, Brent and I went to the bank and paid the last bit off.

We have no business debt left.

I am so happy I am bouncing off the walls!

Wahoo!!!

Get some money from Amazon

In case you didn't know, or have forgotten, Amazon has an unadvertised policy about price drops. If you make a purchase and the price drops within 30 days, you are eligible for a refund of the difference.

This way you can shop early for Christmas, and then take advantage of the deals later on.

I did this just the other day, and got $50 back on some of our Christmas purchases.

I also found one gift that went up $100, so I'm glad the policy doesn't work both ways.

Go here to submit your refund. - Return and Refunds Contact Form

Thanks Blueprint for Financial Prosperity for the tip.

Micromanaging for Martial sanity

Ever since the beginning of our marriage, I have handled the finances 100%. I enjoy it and frankly, I'm better at it.

I try to keep Brent in the loop, but it's hard for me to even remember what exactly what we spend every penny on and let him know what our financial situation is at any given time.

So began the "Last Week's Financial Review" email.

I made a chart in Excel, and at the top is Brent's weekly take home pay.
Then I list every day of the week and what we spent on each day - bills, car payment, McDonalds, cat food - everything. Then the next Tuesday, when Brent gets paid again, I email him the last week's spending, and start over for the next week.

I love this, and so does Brent. Now we both know exactly where our money is going. It's simple and easy to read at a glance, and it makes our communication so much better in this area. I give the Weekly Finacial Review 2 thumbs up!

So so so close!

We made another payment on our business loan yesterday. So now we have $2500 left to pay with 33 days before our goal. Can we do it? Yes, I think we can. I hope so anyway. It will surely be a stretch though.

We also had a quick sit-down with our loan officer and he was very impressed to see that we had paid over 10K in the past year. I'm also impressed - I have no idea how we managed that.
I was a little depressed yesterday while balancing our meager checkbook, and was lamenting to Brent that we had nothing to show for all our frugality - but I guess we do. Paying off a $25K loan (almost) in less than 3 years is quite a feat.

I'm pretty proud of us. :)

RIT to the rescue

Brent and I have several red shirts, and none of them have ever given us any laundry trouble. So I didn't think twice when I threw a maroon coat (that had not yet been washed) in the laundry with all our other clothes. I compleltely ruined my best pair of khaki pants. There was not just a small pink dot or two - it looked tie-dyed. I yelled in anger and kicked the washer in frustration.
Then I went up to the trusty internet and was advised to buy RIT color remover. The directions said to set the washer to agitate for 15-20 minutes, so I set it to prewash, and came back after 5 or so to check on it. All the water had drained out! I was really mad that I would have to run to the store agian and get more of this crap, but I picked up my pants and they were perfectly clean! Yay! Not one pink spot.
I think it helped that I never dried the clothes or and washed the color out right away (within 2 hours) - but I would recommend this product for all your laundry disasters. :)

Almost 4K

Here is our latest update on the NCN network - we're at $4200 - so close to being done. This year we've paid $10K toward that loan, and I'm sure we'll finish before Christmas. Yay!

Wants vs. needs - the grey zone

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other. Chinese Proverb

So there are things you need (food) and things you want (like HDTV), but what about all that other crap that we buy that's in the middle?

Are the two end tables for our living room a need? Is art? Is make-up? Is a spa visit? Are hobbies needs? Our microwave has started sparking occasionally - do we need a new one?

None of these things are really needs. We wouldn't die if we didn't get a new microwave, or mascara, or chocolate (that one's debatable - it is food afterall). I am pretty suprised at how often we say that we need something, that we really don't. I told myself about a dozen times today how much I needed a cup of coffee, when what I really needed was to sleep.

Most of the time these needs are the 'easy way out' for a different problem. With some creativity, they can be met for much less money. When you find the real issue, you can find something that will really fix it.

Here is a little article that talks more about that.

Wants vs. needs - the wants

Is it okay to have some wants? Of course it is. Is it okay to charge your wants on a high interest credit card with no plans on how you are going to pay for it? Probably not.

Here are how we deal with wants in our house -
-Just pay - going out to eat, movies or other dates - stuff we do together
-Allowance - Brent and I both get $20 per week for whatever. Coffee, books, earrings, video games, etc.
-Save - like our vacation, a new TV or PS3
-Ask for Christmas - my favorite way :)

For me it's pretty easy to deal with wants - either we can afford them, or we can't. The disagrement comes when Brent and I have different definitions of 'afford' or 'need'....

Wants vs. needs - the very basics

Since we're trying to save for vacation, and that means being extra frugal, I've been thinking a lot about what we buy in terms of wants or needs.

If we really went to what we only actually need, we could pare it down to living in a tent next to a river and only eating rice and beans that we cook on the campfire. We probably wouldn't need much of a job so not many clothes. We wouldn't need a car or a TV or any appliances. If you traded land rental(for your tent) for lawn care or something, you could live almost for free. But who wants to live like this? (Actually I did read a book once about a man who lived like this, and he seemed to like it pretty well. It was really interesting and unfortunately I can't remember the name of the book)

Anyway, I'm finding much grey area between want and need. Food is a need - but is steak, or chocolate, or ice cream? Probably not, but we buy these things. Shelter is a need, but not neccessarily a $10M house. What about a $1M house? What about a $100K house? (there are places you can still buy <100K houses)

I guess we could all agree that healthful food, drinkable water, adequate (meaning not condemned) housing, and clean clothing are all needs. But how frugally you go for these needs depends on a lot of things besides only money - your personal level of comfort, your community, etc. You may find it cheapest to live in a van down by the river, but if you are not contributing to society as a whole, maybe you should look into a house - or at least a trailer.

What about us? We live in a four bedroom ranch style house, which we rent. We have clean water, we eat good food - as much organic as I can justify. Brent eats steak once in a great while, we each chocolate often, ice cream not so often. Both of us have nice-ish clothes - not designer, but not bag lady either. Do we have more than we need? Oh yeah - way more.

What about you?

My Little Price Booklet

A lot of people say that Pricebooks are the way to save the most when you're shopping, and I agree that they probably are right. But I'm far too lazy to put any effort into a full-blown everything I buy Price Book.

But there are a few things that I alternate buying online and locally, and I never really know what is cheaper. So I made a little page in my notebook with the basic prices, so I can get the best deal next time.

Here's what we paid the last time we bought these items...

- Brent's vitamins - $1.00 per ounce
- My vitamins - $.50 per ounce
- Toilet Paper - $.81 per roll - this is high - we used to pay $.20 per roll, but now I try to buy recycled Seventh Generation stuff and it's more expensive. At least I know if we go to the poor house we can save a little by going back to the virgin paper stuff.
- Dish cubes - $.23 per cube
- Laundry detergent - $.32 per ounce - both the dish and laundry soap is Method brand - again, I buy it because it is more eco friendly. I have no idea how it compares to other brands
- Cat litter - $.29 per pound - this is from Big Lots. I'd much rather buy the Target brand, and if it's not that much more expensive, I probably will do that instead. The Big Lots stuff is too dusty.

The challenge of one income

Even though I work, Brent and I live on his income.... mostly. When I get paid, my check goes fully toward our debt.... most of the time. When we go on vacation, or Christmas comes around, or the car needs repair or the insurance bill comes - then we use my check to pay for these bigger expenses.
We realize that this can not happen forever. I hope to quit my job someday, and we're still going to have to pay for Christmas and insurance and such. Also whenever we use my income, that is less money going to debt reduction.

So we have a vacation coming up, and I want to pay for it only using money we set aside from Brent's income. I suppose I should have thought of this earlier, because it's only six weeks away and we're budgeting about $600 for the week. We have about $100 for it already, so that's where we are right now.

We might have to scrimp a little more than normal, but I think we can do it.

Thinking about getting more into debt.... part 2

When I wrote that last post I was kind of in freak out mode - very worried about the future and stressing majorly. I'm more calm now. Whew.

What I mean is I'm more calm about us going back into debt. I still know it's not a good thing, but for us, I feel it's worth it.

Most people buy a house at some time in their life, and most people go into debt to do this. It's considered something worth going into debt for. Certainly our child is worth going into debt for - no matter what it ends up being in the end.

On a message board I frequent, a lady posted about how before each of their adoptions, her and her husband would sit down and weigh their financial security against another adoption. And the adoption has won out twice, and they've completely depleted their life savings twice to adopt.

I also just read a Suze Ordman book where she says multiple times - People first, then money, then things. If something happened to our child that we already had and we had to plunk down $40K, we would not think twice about it.

So I'm accepting this debt as a neccesary thing.

If we feel God is calling us to this, He's going to have to help us through it. And Brent mentioned tonight that often times when God calls us to something, He doesn't make the whole way clear or easy. But He promises to take care of us. The Bible verse that has been impressed upon me since the last post has been "Seek first my kingdom, and all these things will be added onto you" So that's what we're doing. Following God and not worrying. Easier said than done, but kind of exciting too. I look forward to letting you all know how this works out. :)

Thinking about getting more into debt.....

I know, it's a taboo subject. But Brent and I are considering getting another loan after this business loan is paid off.

I've mentioned before that Brent and I are starting the adoption process. An international adoption typically runs 30-40K**. We simply do not have this money. I suppose we could wait and save, but honestly it could take years, and I'm just not willing to put off mommyhood any longer.

We have been talking about getting a line of credit or something, so that if we need the money, we have it. If we are able to save up a bunch before we get a child referral, then we won't need to use it. And of course we are planning on applying for grants and scholorships and the like. We don't have a home loan that we can borrow against.

As far as our current debt goes, we've been able to pay off $25K in about 3 years, but that is with me working. While it kills me to think about working after we become parents, I suppose I could. But the nature of my job is that I'm flexible and work all weird hours - and we'd need childcare for that - majorly cutting into my income.

I don't want to go back into debt. We plan to adopt again someday, and I don’t want to get into this vicious cycle of paying off one adoption, only to get a loan for the next. I get so stressed out thinking about it. I'm working all the extra hours they offer me (which has been a lot lately) and we're selling stuff and being as frugal as possible. But I just don't see any other way.

Any advice for us?



**we're adopting from Russia - I know other places are less expensive, but that's not negotiable

If I had a million dollars.....

If I had a million dollars to spend however I wanted...

-I'd pay off all our debt - about 13K at the moment.
-I'd quit my job.
-I'd adopt a kid or two.
-I'd invest, so Brent could retire early.
-I'd buy a house.
-I don't know if I'd buy another car. We don't use the one we have very often. But Brent would definately want to.
-I'd donate a lot to our church.
-I'd only buy organic, local, and/or sustainable food, clothing, furniture, etc

Sun Bleaching

Y'know I've heard that you can bleach things with the sun, but I always thought it was kinda silly. So yesterday I was going through my drawer and found a white Tshirt at the bottom with yellow spots on it. I have know idea what it was - I hadn't worn that shirt for years. Probably just put it away without washing it. So I threw it in the wash to see if I could get the spots out. Nope, didn't work. But I hung it out to dry, and when I brought it back in, it was nice and white again. I seriously should have taken a before/after picture - I was that amazed.

I'm wondering how this works, actually, because my dishtowels don't bleach white - so maybe it is just is some stains.

I have also heard one can use lemon juice to bleach. Maybe I will try that on my dishtowels some day to see how that works.

Ways to sell your junk

Amazon.com
Best for selling: Books (not paperbacks though), Video Games, Movies
Advantages: If you list something, it automatically stays up for 6 weeks and you don't have to think about it again unless it sells. Amazon will send you an email with the buyer's address and how much money you made. Amazon deposits your money directly into your bank account once per month. Easy to get started.
Disadvantages: Fees are pretty high - not sure what percentage. Sales go to the lowest price, so it's wise to check back and lower your price if someone has undercut you (you don't have to though).

eBay
Best for selling: Electronics, Clothing, Batches of things, Old or rare things - anything really
Advantages: Fun to watch people get in bidding wars on your stuff. People sometimes pay much more than something is worth if they get caught up in bidding. If you have a bunch of one type of thing that is not worth much by itself, you can sell all of them at once in a big batch.
Disadvantages: Fees (not as high as Amazon, but still there). You have to pay even if your item does not sell. If you are just getting started, people might be wary of buying from a seller with no or low feedback. There are scammers, so you have to be careful of anyone you are doing business with

Consignment
Best for selling: Clothing, High ticket baby items
I have no experience selling through consignment shops, but I'm pretty sure the shops only really accept things that are in style and in very good condition. If anyone has some things to say about this, let me know and I will add it to this post.

Pawn Shops
Best for selling: Electronics, Jewelry
Again, no experience with this. I believe you get cash up front for the things you are selling, and sometimes that comes in handy. However, I would think you would also not get as much money.

Classifieds, Craigslist, etc.
Best for selling: Appliances, Furniture, Cars and other vehicles, things that are too big to ship in the mail.
Advantages: Free for Craigslist, very small fees for newspaper classifieds. Can reach people who aren't net-savvy.
Disadvantages: Can't reall think of any at the moment.

Garage Sales
Best for selling: Lots of little things that aren't worth selling individually, toys, baby clothes
Advantages: People will buy just about anything at a garage sale. Fun if you like haggling and that sort of thing. Can make decent money if you do it right.
Disadvantages: A heck of a lot of work. Pricing everything, making signs, putting ads in the paper - adds up to a lot of time spent. If the weather is bad, your sales will drop.

And if you absolutely can not sell that ceramic cat figureine, or your 1992 prom dress, you can always give it to a thrift shop and get a tax deduction.

More debt going away!

We made another payment toward our business loan. Almost up to 75% paid off. So close now, but still pretty far away.

Here's our updated chart - now with more yellow and less green!

Deal of the weekend

So Brent and I needed a new bed in a really bad way. Brent's parents bought us a used bed when we were first married (4.5 yrs ago), but it was kind of falling apart. The springs were all poking through the bottom and the mattress had a tear on either side with metal parts sticking through ready to gash your leg open if you got up wrong.
Problem is that a new bed costs around $800-$1000 and we don't really have that. Even if we did, I can think of much better things it could go to.
So yesterday, we just happened to be walking through Goodwill, and there just happened to be a new-looking king sized bed for sale for only $100. Yes, only $100. You can't even get sheets for a king sized bed for $100. We bought it and took it home and put it together and slept very well.
Thanks, God!

And here's a little rant - don't read if you don't want to hear me be not very nice..... Some of my friends have said that they would never buy a used mattress. Well, you know what, I don't care. There is a mattress pad, a feather bed, and a sheet between me and the mattress. I buy used everything else, what's the difference really? I've never had a new bed in my life, and I know a lot of other people in the same boat. Being willing to buy a used bed is one of the reasons our debt is going down and yours is not, so nyeh.

Loans for people with crappy credit

Usually if you have bad credit, you go to get a car loan or whatever, and they charge you crazy high interest, because, well, you have bad credit.
When Brent's credit was really bad, he found a place that had a program for people like him. The first year they charged really high interest, like 22% or something. If you were successful and paid on time for a year, the second year your interest would drop to 19%. Then to 15% on the third year. As the loan progressed, and you were still faithful with your payments, the interest would drop to normal rates. But if you screwed up once, it was back to square one.

If you do have terrible credit, getting a loan and successfully paying it off will improve it, and with this type of loan, it's more of an incentive and not as big of a punishment.

I really have no idea where Brent got this or what it would be called, so you'll have to find it yourself, but if you need it, I hope you can find it.

Phone lines and TV and Internet, oh my!

Your frugal assigment of the day is to look at all the companies you have these services though, and see if you can't combine, break up, or change them to make it cheaper. Internet could go either with your cable company or your phone company if they offer it. Is sattelite cheaper than cable? Is getting enough cell phones for the family cheaper than keeping your home phone?

Don't forget to factor in hook up fees if you start a new service, but there also might be good deals for new customers, so take advantage of these!

The possiblities are endless!

Principles of Frugal Cooking - part 2

Copycatting your favorite restaurant meal.

What restaurant do you love the most - you'd go there every week if you could. You mouth is watering right now thinking about it, isn't it?
It may seem like you could never duplicate that yummy food at home, but it probably not as hard as you think. It may take a few tries, but soon you'll be an expert, and never have to eat out again! (okay that maybe is not true, but when you get the craving, but don't have the cash, at least you have an alternative)

The extra nice thing about cooking restaurant food at home, is that you can cater to your own tastes. You can vegetarianize things, or use organic ingredients.

So far I have made Taco Pizza, Southwestern Eggrolls from Chilis (vegan), and Curry Noodles from our favorite Thai place (but I never wrote the recipe down - grrrr)

Here is a site for your inspiration - Copykat.com, or you can just type in your favorite restaurant meal + 'recipe' into Google and see what comes up.

Principles of Frugal Cooking

Frugal cooking is not all about trying for a great bargain and clipping coupons. Stretching your food budget continues into the kitchen, where cooking on a budget becomes an art and a skill. A woman said on her frugal website once, that we spend most of our time eating and sleeping, so she tries to make both experiences as quality as possible, even on a very limited budget.

Presentation is a huge part. When you go to a fancy-pants restaurant, the more the food costs, the prettier it looks on your plate. Even if it’s just spaghetti with red sauce, the chef will make sure that your first impression of his cooking is as pleasing to your eyes, as it will be to your mouth.
When you’re planning your meal, try for an array of different colors, shapes, and textures. Cut your veggies or your sandwiches differently. Make designs with the sauce around the edge of the plate. Grind a little fresh pepper or sprinkle parsley on top to make it look a little more interesting. All of these are very little things you can do to make the food look less like Aldi bargain food and more like a gourmet meal.
At our house I pretty much always plate things before bringing them to the table. I can arrange the food how I want, and Brent sometimes has no idea what we’re about to eat until I set it right in front of him.
“Mmm, this looks awesome” is something every cook wants to hear, even before the first bite.

How I feel about our debt

How do I feel about our debt? Debt Hater answered this question about her own situation, and then asked others to comment. Debt Hater was mostly commenting on her credit card debt, and we have a little bit of a different situation, so I’ll talk about that.
Our debt right now is a business loan that Brent and I got in February of 2004. Brent was working at a crappy job and wanted to start his own video production business. I was working full time then, we had only a small car payment and a cheap apartment, so we thought - what better time to do this. So he gave his two weeks notice - and at a great time too because his office was just about to announce that they were moving everyone to a different city.
The thing about video production is that you need a good amount of equipment to make it work. You can’t just do professional grade stuff on your Dell Home PC. So what Brent had to do was drive an hour and rent a production studio for $100 per hour every time he wanted to do a project. This was huge pain, obviously. After about a year of doing this, Brent decided to venture out to buy the equipment and set up his own studio. So we got a loan for $25,000. About this time his business dropped quite a bit. He still had enough work, especially right when we needed it, but he also had a lot of free time. So he started spending a lot of time volunteering at our church, and using his equipment to make videos for them. Eventually they hired him as their Tech Director, and that is where he has worked for almost 2 years. So now, even though Brent really isn’t doing any work with his business, we’re still paying the loan. I can’t really say that his business failed, because it could have worked, but our circumstances and priorities changed. Now he’s slowly selling off some equipment, getting different stuff, and our church has the best tech team in the state :) I don’t regret or resent getting this loan. Don’t get me wrong, I will be so glad when it is paid off and gone, but it was not a rash decision or a bad move for our family. I asked Brent how he felt and he said, “without it we would have been screwed” and “I feel like it got us out of a very bad situation [his old job], and got me my dream job”
Our other debt is our car loan. We have about $8K to pay yet. I don’t regret this either. We only had one car, and it was really falling apart. We didn’t have the money to fix it (could have been up to 2K for repairs – I don’t think the car was even worth that), and it was a miracle it made it as long as it did. As I said in a previous post, Brent researched for a long time for what car to get. Yes, we could have gotten a cheaper car, and we did look around some, but I think we made a good choice. Our car will be around long after we pay off that loan. Hopefully by the time we need a second car again, we’ll have some money saved up and we won’t have to get a loan, but if we do, I trust that it will be the right decision for us at the time.
So all in all, we have about 16K in debt. My pie in the sky goal is to pay all off by next summer, and we’re on a good track for that now. We’ve learned a lot about business and money and debt and saving in the four years we’ve been married. Our pie in the sky goal is to pay all off by next summer, and we’re on a good track for that now.

My very, very, most bestest money saving tip

My very best money saving tip is to research before you buy anything.

Some questions you should be asking before you make any purchase -
Do I even need the thing I want to buy, or will something else work?
Where can I get the best price?
What do other people think of this product?
Will it suit the purpose I need it for?

Most importantly - where can I get the best quality for my dollar?

Sometimes cheap things fall apart easily; expensive things are sometimes overpriced. Where is the happy medium? That's what you have to find.

Brent wanted a drill for Christmas. He did some research and they all said the best drill was $300 or so. But he wasn't going to use it very often, so he didn't need such an expensive tool. On the other hand, he didn't want a Fischer Price My First Drill. So he asked an 'expert' (my dad) and they found one that would suit his needs for a good price. They got a drill that was around $65 that was designed for light use. It may not last a very long time, but it's cheap enough to replace when we need to. The super expensive drill would have lasted longer, but even the cost of a replacement battery was out of our budget.

The more expensive the purchase, the more research you should do. Brent gathered information for almost a year before we got our current car. It has great longevity, top rated safety, and it also has massive depreciation - so we could get it for an affordable price. On the other side, we bought our coffee table at Ikea (nothing against them - I love Ikea), but it was cheap and now it's falling apart - our cats actually have unscrewed the fasteners - cheap piece of crap.

Right now Brent really really wants a new PC, but he's going to wait until Windows Vista and DirectX 10 Graphic Cards come out next year and that will save him some cash. (While computers go obselete fairly quickly, there are times when the tech makes a huge jump and you should wait until those times to buy - I really don't know much about this - Brent is mostly telling me all about it)

Anyway, gather as much information before you buy anything - get good stuff, save money, and minimize buyers remorse.

Also, check out everyone elses very, very most bestest money saving tips at NCN, and then add yours!

Freakin' hot hot hot

I have reached my hot weather breaking point. During the day when it gets to be 85 F, that's when I need to turn on the air conditioning. In the evening it can get warmer because we're just sitting on the couch with the fan blowing at our faces, but during the day when I'm cleaning and cooking, I can't stand much more than 85. Of course I was wearing long pants and shoes, so I probably could have shed some clothing and been okay, but I think it was a reasonable temperature to turn on some cool air.

Yesterday was only the second or third time we turned the air on, and we turned it back off a few hours later, so that's not bad for being mid summer already.

Here are some of my tips for not dying of heat stroke.

- Wear less clothing, turn on fans, all that usual stuff
- Drink a crapload of water. Your body's natural cooling system is sweat, so you have to replace all that water you're losing
- Close the curtains - and get insulated curtains if you can. Insulation is just as important in the summer as in the winter. We have a west facing picture window and our living room would become a sauna in the summer - even with the air blasting. Now, with an insulated curtian, it is much more tolerable. Still the hottest room in the house, but not unbearable. I'm amazed at how well this works.
- Better yet, don't have a west facing picture window.
- Take a quick cold shower. For bonus cooling; don't dry off and lay nekked and dripping wet on your bed with the celing fan on high. Feels soooo gooood.
- Try to avoid using the stove and the oven (not an excuse for take-out), but if you must, you can still eat outside away from the hot kitchen. I don’t know why people only eat outside when they're grilling. It's so nice!
- Build a fridge tent - Simpson style. Okay, this one doesn’t help with the energy bills, but it sure seems like it would work :)

Energy Savings for the Lazy Mac Owner

On the MacCast, they gave a tip on how to schedule your Mac to turn itself on or off at certain times of the day. I usually turn mine off while I'm sleeping and at work but sometimes I forget, so I put this to use right away.

Go into your System Preferences, Energy Saver and click on the Schedule button. You can tell it to only auto-start (and shut off) only during the week, or only weekends, or both.

I have my computer plugged into a power strip also, so I can shut off the power strip and prevent all that phantom power usage, but this Mac tip will be great for those weekends when I stagger straight to bed at the late, late hour of 11 PM.

Does anyone know if Windows has something similar? probably not, since windows sucks.....

Halfway through the year, and way under budget

Brent gets a housing allowance from his job and a portion of it is set apart to be for our utilities. So far for this year, we are less than one third through what we are allowed. Sure, we're just starting super hot season where the air conditioning runs constantly, but we will easily come under budget for the year, with hopefully a lot to spare.

Protecting your Investments - Claying your car

Brent spent most of the afternoon washing, waxing, and claying our car. He hired a friend to help and show him how.

Even if you wax your car regularly, bugs, dirt, and industrial fallout will get trapped in the wax and will eventually damage the paint and lead to rust. The only way to get that junk out is to use clay bar. It basically works like if you were to smush silly putty or tickytack into something and all the dirt would stick to it. (Uh, don't use silly putty or tickytack to clean your car though....)

So anyway, now our car feels as clean as glass. It will last about a year before we'll have to do it again.

Keeping your car nice and shiny may not prolong the running life, but you will stay happy with it longer because it looks so awesome.

Also, a nicely waxed car will get better MPG because of the slick surface - better aerodyanmics.

Here is a link about how to do this yourself, but I would recommend talking to a professional because doing it incorrectly could damage your paint.

And Here is a link for some car obsessed people for everything you want to know.

Brent is one of those car obsessed people, and he insisted that I post a pic of his second love (after me, of course).

Check out my chart!

While I was away, Brent sold a piece of his business equipment and made a significant payment toward our business debt - we are down to about $8500 now! Check out our chart on the No Credit Needed Network here.

Nine super easy ways to save a buck on your vacation

1. Bring a book to the airport instead of buying a magazine
2. Bring juice and snacks to the airport - they are super overpriced there
3. Go to the grocery store and buy some foods to make in your room instead of eating out every meal. Even if you go to the super expensive organic grocer, it will be significanly cheaper than eating out.
4. If you're driving cross country, check which states have cheapest gas. Also, if you're driving on an interstate tollway, gas is at least a nickel or dime cheaper if you get completely off the tollway. You will not pay more in tolls if you exit and then come back. But you wil l pay more in gas at the convenient tollway gas stations. Same goes for the Overpass Expressway places - much more expensive.
5. Instead of going to all the touristy places, try searching for 'free' or 'weird attractions'. You might find some very interesting places that no one has ever heard of.
6. Continental breakfasts - oh yeah. Just make sure you eat some fruit and not just doughnuts.
7. Reset your thermostat and turn down your water heater (most have a vacation setting) if you are going to be away for more than 2 days.
8. Look into public transportation in your area. If your hotel is close to some stops, you could save a bunch on parking fees.
9. Go on a business trip and get your company to pay for everything.... this one's my favorite :)

Keep your ticket

If you get a parking pass for any reason, don't store it on your dashboard, even if there is a little clip there that looks like it holds parking tickets. It might fall under your dashboard and then you'll have to pay for a whole day even though you've only been there for 20 minutes. And then it will obscure your VIN number and you'll never be able to get it out and you'll always be reminded of the $25 you wasted because you put your ticket on the dash instead of the overhead sun visor like you usually do.

Trust me on this one.

Up for Review - thanks NCN!

I've been reviewed on the No Credit Needed Podcast! And what a great review it was. I'm flattered! :) Thanks NCN!


Listen to it here

Review of Cash Only April

Back here I mentioned that I was going to try the envelope method for April, but only with gas, groceries, allowance, and dining. It went okay, and I think I'm going to change our bill organization because of it.

In the gas envelope we had $60. I think we burned through that by April 10 or so - due to the gas prices and extra Easter travel. Since we couldn't go the rest of the month without filling up, we just scrapped that budget and filled up when we had the money.

In the grocery envelope we had $100. This lasted almost the whole month, until it came time to buy food for the party, then it ran out.

In the dining envelope we had $100. This lasted the whole month - no problem.

Allowance we usually divide up weekly, and I just gave it out all at once. I liked this much better, but I don't think Brent did.


All in all, I don't think I'll do this again. I didn't feel comfortable carrying a huge wad of cash with me everywhere, and every time we went out, I had to run in my office and get the envelope. I did like having extra for groceries for stocking up, but then I had to scrimp at the end of the month. The best part I think was not having to be so anal all the time about every penny. Usually I would have to get groceries and gas on Tuesdays - right when Brent got paid - pay bills, and then scrimp out the rest of the week until the next Tuesday. April was much less stressful.

So, here's what I'm going to change.
Gas - screw the budget - it never works anyway. Drive as little as possible, and fill up when I need it.
Groceries - still try to keep it under $25 per week and use the pantry as much as possible. I still want to keep some cash on hand for when we buy milk and eggs (from farms, not the grocery).
Dining out - We go out on Sundays after church. If we have extra cash during the week, we can go out. If not, well, too bad.
Allowance - Since I like it monthly and Brent likes it weekly, maybe I'll just change it to the 1st and 15th of the month. Good comprimise.

We'll see how this new situation works out for now.

It's a drawing!

NCN at the No Credit Needed Netowrk is having a drawing for anyone who is a member of The Network. The winner will recieve a copy of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Revisited

So sign up today!