I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Archive for the ‘33 days’ Category

To balance the frugal failure post this morning, this evening in the spirit of NCN’s Day 16 of his 33 Days series ~ Enjoy Being Frugal ~ I’m going to list some of the (sometimes odd) things I use less of or ways I embrace frugality and how it improves our quality of life.

• When I put cheese on top of a casserole, I use a smaller handful. Healthier!
• When I clean up a mess, I use less paper towels. Maximize every towel’s potential!
• When I put lotion on my legs, I start with less in my hand and only add more when needed. Hands less slippery after!
• When I brush my teeth, I turn off the water. Lower water bill and I feel green too!
• I open the windows instead of turning on the a/c (sometimes). I can hear birds! And my kids love the fresh air too. Of course now it is cold out but I meant for the summer.
• I keep the TV off more. My brain says thanks
• I combine trips to use less gasoline. And the world smiles down at me and declares me its champion
• I avoid going to places I spend money frivolously. More money to pay down debt!
• I spend more time doing and less time acquiring. Playing in the backyard with my kids was never so much fun….
• My kids have less toys and use their imaginations more (working on that still…. working on it).

Being frugal can be lots of fun. It can be challenging but the rewards are boundless. Less (stuff) is more (rewarding)! I promise.

It is kind of funny that I am proudest of the cheese one. Who knew using a smaller handful could make the bag last so much longer? Duh!

~J

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Somehow, most of us are conditioned to not ask for things, myself included. Especially in regards to money. From a raise in our salary to a discount in what we pay, generally, people don’t ask for it. Again, myself included. But you never know until you ask, and you could make or save a lot of money in the process. And what’s the worst that could happen? If the answer is no, then you’re still exactly where you started, and all you’ve spent is a little time and effort (and probably achieved a little personal growth in the process!).

Day 14 of No Credit Needed’s 33 Days and 33 Ways to Reduce Debt and Increase Savings Series puts the challenge onto us - call for discounts. Gather up your bills, call all the companies involved, and ask every one of them for a discount. He does this every quarter and he’s had some great results. I have not yet achieved this impressive level, but I have taken small steps towards it. Two instances stand out in my mind where I have discounts through my own initiative.

First is my insurance. I have my auto insurance, my life insurance, and my homeowners insurance all through the same company. Each time I have added some sort of policy, I have been sure to talk to my agent and make sure any multi-policy discounts were in effect on each policy premium, and reviewed all the coverage on my existing policies to make sure they were giving us the maximum savings for what we wanted covered. This has resulted in hundreds of dollars in savings a year. In fact, when we closed on our house, my mortgage broker said he’s never seen a homeowner’s policy so inexpensive for the size house we were insuring. Now that the flurry of new policy adding has died down, I need to make an appointment for myself a few times a year to call my agent and review each policy to make sure they continue to be accurate and there are not any additional savings I could be taking advantage of.

The other instance of reducing costs came from calling my credit card company to reduce the interest rate I was paying. This is something I should have done a long long time ago, and I credit David at My Two Dollars for giving me the final kick in the pants I needed to accomplish it. Calling my credit card company resulted pretty painlessly in a 1% rate reduction, which may not be much but every little bit counts. I have since moved that account to a 0% interest balance transfer offer but even saving 1% for 2 months on a close to $6K balance resulted in a nice savings. And the emotional benefits I got from conquering my fears and calling the company to request the discount were priceless.

So… ask! Call and request a discount. I already have on my calendar a reminder to call my cable/internet/phone company the month before my new subscriber package deal ends and see if it can be extended or how I can change my coverage to reduce my rates. The worst they can do is say no. And they could say yes…..

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

To expand on the “organization” theme I have going today (sometimes the stars just align and all the topics fall squarely together), Day 13 in NCN’s 33 Days series is about Focus and Organization in regards to money management.

I am such a proponent and fan of organization, even as I am still learning the very basics of it. The “baby steps” I have taken towards living an organized financial life have helped SO MUCH in not just keeping track and maintaining our financial position, but I credit organization in regards to money management as the single biggest factor in improving our situation.

The steps I follow are not complicated, and they have one goal. Make every dollar work for you. I have probably said that 100 times, and I will say it 100 more at least. If it is too complicated, I will abandon it. This is really a prime example of keeping things simple and maximizing your time (for me, I generally tend towards the complex so to me this defines streamlined). The four steps I follow in maximizing financial organization are:

Budgeting. Both creating a budget and then maintaining it.

Basically, I made time to sit down, review a number of different methods of budgeting, and then picked one and created a budget. No it was not perfect at first (and still is not) but I keep at it, tweaking it a little each month. If I am going to make every dollar work for me I need to track those dollars closely and carefully. You can find more information about my budgeting process in my budgeting for dummies series.

Keeping track of important financial information.

What are my accounts? When are they due? How much do I owe? What is the target for debt elimination or savings accumulation? If you don’t know what is going on you can’t keep up with it. I use a master list of all our monthly obligations (from the budget) and note due dates next to each one as well as amount due. The dollars don’t work for me if I don’t know where and when to send them.

Scheduling financial tasks both large and small.

I have a scheduled time each day and each week I do financial-related tasks. Everything from entering receipts into my budget spreadsheet (daily) to paying bills (weekly). I sit down with my checklist and I do all tasks for that day at once. Then I have more time to blog knowing all my dollars are working for me.

Researching other options

This is something I don’t do every day or every week, but once a month I research the accounts I have and the choices I’ve made and make sure they are still working for me. I collect information until that time and spend an hour just doing a kind of data dump. I look at options for banks and also try to learn a little about investing and generally try to stay up to speed with why I’ve made the choices I have. I look for ways to make my money work a little harder for me.

How do you organize your financial time, energy, and resources?

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

No Credit Needed is really getting into a groove now of advice I can completely relate to in the 33 Days and 33 Ways to Reduce Debt and Increase Savings series. Day 10 was about selling your stuff (which I’ve been talking about and doing for months) and Day 12 is Be Sure, which basically is know what you are doing and be certain of the decisions you make before you make them…. and I could not agree more!

In the past I have made several shaky if not downright stupid financial decisions. There were the student loans I took out without a second thought and then consolidated once I started repaying them without once considering the interest rate or length of payment plan, just the “how much do I have to pay a month” number. I am now ashamed to admit that the first two years, I was paying interest only on my loans. Not really because I thought it was a good idea… the fact is, I gave it ZERO thought. That was the plan I was offered when consolidating and I simply agreed without a second thought.

Then there was the banking on future income to pay for the present. Our “not so big not crazy expensive but still above our means wedding” was paid about half in cash and half on our credit card. My spouse had a good job with a more than decent income and we banked on using a good portion of that over the next little while to repay all of those expenses. Until the company he was working for basically folded and he was laid off and unemployment paid only a fraction of his previous salary. We went from having this plan to pay things off pretty quickly, to simply treading water and adding daily to that debt. Re-employment for him took a relocation and a pay cut as well as me giving up my job, and it took more than a while to get back on our feet. Banking on the future to pay for the present has left us in a position where we are still paying for the past today (although the wedding part is finally done, it is the unemployment part that is still being paid for). Instead we should have been saving in the present to pay for the future so we would have been prepared for the unexpected. Hard expensive lessons to learn.

I will say though, that as time has progressed we have become better stewards of our money and have begun to seriously think through financial decisions before we make them. When we bought our car we researched prices online to determine what was a good value, stuck to our guns about not buying on the spot, and negotiated for a better interest rate as well as resisted the myriad of upsells the dealership tried to add on to the car. Yes, we did finance it (we weren’t in a position to pay for it in cash and our then-current 11 year old car needed way more repairs than it was worth and was a time bomb waiting to happen) but we did it in a considered and thoughtful way for the position we were in at the time. And then when we bought our house we knew what our income could afford and we stuck to that, even when the mortgage co offered us loans for up to 30% more than our firm high number. We may have ended up buying a little more house than we need, but not more than we can comfortably pay for because we stayed under our firm high number. I’m not claiming we are perfect, but we are definitely improving.

I have talked a lot in the past about how knowledge is power, and I truly believe that. Knowledge is power. The more you know before you make a final decision, the better. Don’t make financial decisions on impulse or without carefully considering all of your options and needs and constraints and how those interact. You’ll be in a healthier financial position for it, and a lot happier in the long run as well.

~J

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Day 10 of NCN’s 33 Days series is a subject I have been talking about and putting into practice for the past several months now - selling your stuff. This is a subject very near and dear to my heart. There are several benefits to putting this tip into practice:

• Most of us have way too much stuff.

• Most of us could use some more money.

• One person’s trash is another’s treasure. Something that has next to no retail value and we don’t want or need might be very valuable to someone else because they have a want or need for it.

I have sold things through a few different sources, and the most useful tips I have picked up are:

• Identify your target market. I run all my textbooks through online buyback sources (like the Bookbuyer link on my sidebar) because I’m not going to be selling a textbook at a yard sale for much of anything. Anything heavy and bulky is better off on Craigslist than EBay, usually. A specialty item (like my son’s XW Stride Rite shoes) are better off on Ebay than Craigslist so it reaches more potential customers. Look for a consignment sale you might be able to sell outgrown clothes in.

• Be willing to haggle if appropriate. Especially at a yard sale, people love to feel like they are making you give them an even better bargain than they are already getting. I marked all my big items for about 25% more than I expected to sell them for and then marked the ones that hadn’t sold in a few hours down a notch (with the original price clearly crossed out but still there), or took a lower offer on them (still within what I expected to sell them for). All the big items (including two air conditioners, a stroller/car seat combo, and hammock) sold at our yard sale before the end.

• Price well. You know what you *paid* for something, but that isn’t what it is worth now. It may be hard to let go of something you paid $30 for and get $5 but that may be what you’ll get. Do research online and see what used items like yours go for before setting a minimum auction bid or a price waaaay above market value.

I’ve made several hundred dollars over the past few months selling unneeded and unused stuff we had. And I hope to make several hundred more in the next few months through a yard sale and a number of online sales. I have set a goal of $100 of alternative income a month to go directly to paying down our credit card through simplifying our lives and letting go of stuff. Yes, it is non-renewable income in that eventually we’ll run out of stuff to sell…. eventually. Like a lot of people, we have a *lot* of stuff. Hopefully by then we are long out of debt.

~J

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!