Your Grandparent's Budget

When I was traveling this fall, I spent some time with my brother, and we spent some time going through boxes of old books he has inherited from various family members.

I came across an amazing little...book cover.

The book title is "Budget Envelopes" and although it is not dated, it was mixed with other frugal-friendly books, like how to use the "cheap" cuts of meat to give your family protien even during the Depression, and other books dated from the 1930's to the 1950's.  So let's just say it reflects the budget of my great grandparents, when they were my age.

Aside from my utter amazement that my great grandmother was using the envelope system for budgeting long before the days of Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, David Bach or the myriad of others (hmm, I wonder who the budget-guru of 1930 was?) was my interest in what envelopes were being used.

Luckily for me, although the envelopes have long been removed, the inside front cover has a complete list of "Suggested Budget Classifications"

I have heard and read people who talk about (whine? Make excuses?) that budgeting is harder now because we "need" so much more.  There were no cell phones, gaming systems, Ipods, personal computers, DVD players, cable television, GPS or all the music, movies and games we need to use those items.  Malls and restuarants were not as temptingly prevalent and the world was just a "different" place where you didn't "need" as much money.

I would challenge those people to identify one item they spend money on, that does not fit into the following categories, as listed on the book cover I found in my brother's garage:

1. FOOD:  Including beverages, lunch money, restaurants, etc.
2. CLOTHING:  Husband, Wife, Children
3. SHELTER: 
1. Rent, Mortgage Payments, Etc
2. Real Estate Taxes, Repairs & Improvements
3. Fuel:  Coal, Oil, Gas, Wood
4. Utilities: Telephone, Electricity, Water, Gas
5. Payments: Furniture, Appliances, Etc
4. AUTOMOBILE: Payments, Operation, Registration, Insurance, Taxes
5. MEDICAL: Doctor, Dentist, Hospital, Etc
6. INSURANCE: Life, Health, Accident, Fire, Insurance for Furniture & Home
7. EDUCATION: School Expense, Books, Magazines, Newspapers, Etc
8. DONATIONS: Church, Charitable, Personal Gifts for Birthdays, Christmas, Etc
9. ENTERTAINMENT & VACATION
10. SAVINGS:  Banks, Government Bonds, Stocks, Etc

We all need to find a system that works for us, and the envelope system may not be it.  I don't like using envelopes because I don't like using cash, but I take the idea and put it into my spreadsheets.  Others simply allow themselves a certain amount of money and know that one month that money might go mainly toward the doctor, or to car repairs, and another month might take the family to Disney.  The idea of envelopes makes those people feel too structured and limited.

But I think this small brush with the past is a pretty good reminder that the key is not to try to reinvent the wheel.  Not to try to come up with new and different categories or to stress yourself trying to peg every item you buy into it's own category.    The categories have been around longer than you or I and they will be the same when your grandchildren are struggling with their own household budgets.  (Afterall, if you think fuel is expensive NOW, imagine how much it will be to fuel those rockets they will all be driving in the future.)

Follow up to the Prescription Hunt for Discounts

Last week, I wrote that I was looking into savings options for my prescription.   Blogging is great, because then I have to be accountable and actually follow-through!  I must admit I have never thought about where I get my prescriptions filled, until this week.

The short version is that I will be keeping my prescription where it is.

I did learn that there is a $24 swing between the most expensive place to get my prescription and the least expensive place, which really surprised me.  There is no generic form of the medication I take, so I would have thought that the cost would be steady no matter where you purchase it.

Also surprising was that drugstore.com was the most expensive place I found, even if I bought three months at a time.  I actually started this hunt after reading a magazine article touting the great deals available at the online pharmacy.

Most importantly, I learned that my insurance has an online tool that allows me to plug in any drug and see what all the pharmacies in my area would charge me, what the insurance-sponsored mail-order drug plan would charge me, and what alternatives (different doses or generic versions) are available.   Hopefully I don't add any new prescriptions to my life, but it sure is good to know that online tool is available.

In the end, it turns out that the pharmacy I am using (Walgreens) is about $4 higher than the least expensive option, but it's significantly more convenient in terms of location and hours, so I won't be changing. . . but I am very glad I took the time to do the research!

Big Brother is Watching - And Saving Me Money?

OK, I admit I have an email address that I have given over to junk mail.  Junk mail that I read, when I have the time.  The daily newsletters and deals and promos from every site that has an Internet presence, really.

Conagra Foods, which is a large conglomerate of all sorts of brands, sends out the occasional "Simple and Delicious" emails, with some coupons, some recipes, some advertisements for their own brands, and lots of links to their website. 

This morning I clicked on a link for a Pizza Calzone...afterall, I have some crescent rolls in the fridge and a vague memory of how this was made at Pampered Chef parties, so a quick refresher might lead to another dinner option for us.

Then came a strange Big-Brother moment, perhaps made more freaky by the fact that it is 8am on a Saturday and I am not really awake yet.   Next to several ingredients was a button marked "On Sale," which, thinking it would be a link to a coupon, I scrolled over, only to find it was actually advising that THAT item was ON SALE, currently, at a store in my area (there were two on sale ingredients of the five in the recipe, one at Hy-Vee and one at Bakers).  

Crazy!

Cool!

Might make this site slightly more intriguing as I write up my Saturday-morning grocery list and "dinners of the week" plan....This site would seem to have combined the two chores together.

(Note** Your local store does have to participate.  When I looked at store options in my zip code it did not include the "Our Family" branded stores, which is several local chains where I do most of my shopping.)

Tax Tax Tax

It's the thing people are talking about these days.  The Statue of Liberty and Uncle Same are both walking the sidewalks, waving in innocents on their daily commute, promising larger-than-life tax returns.

I very nearly broke even this year on mine, owing just $32.  I shoot to break even, because the idea of the government having an interest-free loan from me makes me twinge.  If I was a little braver, in fact, I would pay no taxes, let it all earn interest for me, and then pay only what I owed the last day possible.  I am not quite sure enough in my savings fortitude to do that, though.

I always cringe when I hear people bragging about how much they'll get back.  When the commercials lure people in with promises of thousands of dollars MORE back, if you use their service and not someone elses.

It makes me cringe for a few reasons.  On the one hand, I sort of think SOMEONE has to pay SOME tax if the American government will EVER have a balanced budget.   Sure,  it's broke right now and needs to cut back on it's spending, but, as we all know, you need some income to get yourself unbroke.   Also, I just can't believe people are HAPPY that the government has been holding their money needlessly for a year, while they run up credit card bills and go into debt at 5, 10 or 30% interest rates.

It also always amazes me when I say something along the lines of "I hate getting a big return back" and have people star at me as though I've grown a second head.

Being the nerdy Google-girl that I am, I've collected a few facts I like to toss at people.  Like that withholding didn't even occur until the 1940s.  Prior to that, people paid their tax bill, in full, on Tax Day.  No such thing as refund checks.  Withholding started during World War II, to generate fast income for the nation, but it stayed because if sure made it easier on citizens....no need to save or plan or be aware that they owed tax.

It's funny though, what's happened now.  People getting their own money back, money they overpaid, and bragging about it like they have pulled one over on the government. People willingly overpaying and treating withholding like a savings plan.

I'm happy with my $32 owed.  I'm jealous of people getting $5,000 back, since I didn't even pay that much in.  I wouldn't mind the government sending me a big old check.  Overall, though, I am just considering it the closing out of 2010 and a reminder that 2011 is well underway.

Time to get saving.

Gas is messing with my Budget!

OK, my budget, in case I haven't ever explained it on here, is a simple hand-written, self-created form.

I fold a piece of paper in half, and the top half is for the 1st through the 14th of the month, and the bottom for the 15th through the end of the month.  I get paid, clearly, on the 1st and 15th.

I start with my average paycheck, and then write the fixed expenses paid in that time period (ie, rent, gym, cell phone), then the amounts alloted to other expenses, like food.

Meanwhile, my car doesn't get filled up with gas all that much.  I work two miles from home.  The gym and the grocery store are both between home and work.   I fill up about every three weeks.

Initially, this worked out great.   I budgeted about $40 per pay period to gas, and some months it hit where I used the 2 fill-ups in one month, but most months I had $40 "free" money to cover over-spending or to "snowflake" into savings.

Then, gas prices started to climb.  It now costs me over $50 to fill up and all reports are that this will get worse, not better.

I really don't want to rework my budget and take away $20 from other things in order to budget for 2 $50 fill-ups a month. 

I really don't want to have to top off the tank in every two week period to use the money as I have it budgeted. . . even though that would mean I did stay under the $40 mark.

And I am really not looking forward to what happens when it costs me $60, $70, etc, to fill up.

Blogging: Free and Modern Therapy

I had a meltdown this weekend, and, since I don't want to spend money to talk about it, I am going to tell you about it.

First, we need to back up a few weeks, to a lovely weekend, with wonderful weather, and a lazy Saturday where he said "Let's go to Lincoln!"

What followed was a relaxing, pleasant day, a nice drive through a land of melting snow and shining sun and some light exercise walking around the downtown area.   We even had lunch at a "it must be fate" sandwich shop - Pickleman's!

On the way home, we stopped off at the outlet mall in Gretna... I can't remember what, specifically he was looking for, but it was meant to be a quick stop-off.

As we pulled up, I saw the L'eggs/Hanes/Bali store and I thought, "Hmm, I could use some new sports bras" and I said "I'll meet you in a few minutes, I am going to run in there."

When I walked in, I was told, "Today is Buy two Champion Sports Bras, get the third for $1."

So I bought three, and two tank tops.  All told, I spent $85.

Side note, only to be read if you're not creeped out by me discussing bras:   This was not a purchase I had preplanned or thought about before that moment, however, for the past few months I have been working out five days a week, consistently, and I plan to continue to do that.  Before this purchase, I owned three sports bras, all were cotton and I had owned all of them since high school (so they are all about 15 years old).  The average person might say I "needed" new bras, although, in my post-broke, still-getting-un-broke mentality I will only admit they were not a completely frivolous purchase.  I didn't NEED them since my old ones haven't fallen apart yet.

OK, so, purchases made, we continued home.   Life went on.  New bras were worn and enjoyed.

This weekend he told me that he had bit the bullet and bought the coffee table he's been eyeing for about 10 months in the CB2 catalog.  The coffee table he has compared all others to for months, and that always came up less expensive, more versatile, sturdier, and most in-line with the style he was looking for. 

You would think my response would have been "yay" or "awesome," but let's say it was more along the lines of "You sure are spending money lately."

Hmmm.

Ooopsy.

What followed after that I will spare you, but let's just say it was one of those 20 minute periods where you realize how much you really should send yourself to therapy, no matter the expense.  Twenty minutes of out-of-body experiences where your body cries and shakes while your mind tries to make it stop.  

In the end, I realized you much my "unplanned, unneeded, unbudgeted" purchase of bras was weighing on me, bothering me.  It felt like a floodgate to spending "willy-nilly."   It felt like inviting brokeness back into my life.  It felt like every expense that comes up now all I will be able to tell myself is "If you hadn't spent $90 on those bras, you would have that money to. . . ."  fix the car, put toward a plane ticket, spend on groceries, etc.

It's scary for me, these meltdowns.  I suppose it's yet another reason why I need this blog - an outlet to tell my story, an inlet to hear others say "hey, I know what you mean."

Prescription Savings?

This is a pre-post.  Just letting you know my plan.

You see, I have 1 prescription that I take regularly, post-kidney stones, to hopefully prevent future kidney stones.   (No guarantees or promises on that, just fork over the money every month and keep your fingers crossed.)

Well, at my local drugstore, the prescription is $73, for 100 doses, and I take 1 or 2 doses a day, depending on what I am eating.  So it's somewhere between $0.73 and $1.46 a day, which really isn't so bad, so I never much questioned the price.

Recently, however, I read an article talking about "Cut Your Medical Bills Now" and how different stores have really different pricing on drugs (even if you can't get a "$4 generic" version), and not to overlook the mail-order programs your regular insurance might offer.   Then a few days later there was the article about how different stores offer different generics.

So then I got to thinking.... "If there IS a $4 version of this stuff and I'm paying $73, I am a moron."

So this week I will be taking the time to ask around and see how much this prescription would be at other pharmacies. . .

Stay tuned!

What's the deal with Trader Joe's?!?

First off, in case you don't know me, let me say I am a farm girl, a country girl raised in a land of, well, tree-huggers.   Not only was I not brought up thinking organic and grass-fed were best, I was actually raised to think the people who believed they were best were mis-informed at best, and a bit off their rocker at worst.

As I got older and farther away from the farm, and as I developed health issues directly related to the nutrients I consumed, I started to think maybe there was something to all the "go green" chatter.  It was still baby steps, though, and I was always quick to jump at the research and news reports pointing out what items you shouldn't bother to buy organic (bananas).  Not to mention, I still want my beef grain-fed and happy, thank-you-very-much.

I was prepared, then, to ignore Trader Joe's.  Especially when it was presented as "like Whole Foods, only less expensive."  Whole Foods being a store I find frustrating and over-priced (although I have to frequent it in order to buy my doctor-enforced calcium without vitamin D included).

In the interest of fairness, though, I went for a shopping excursion.   (It didn't help that he was already in love with the store and prepared to do 100% of his shopping there, regardless of how out-of-the-way it is.)

I must admit, I fell in love, myself.

Nothing to do with organic, or locally sourced, or range chickens.

I love that it's a GROCERY store!  It sells GROCERIES!   No aisles of cookware and small appliances.  No tripping around random over-priced lawn furniture on your way in.  No gift wrap, no hardware.  They do sell some cleaning supplies, some personal care items, but it's kept to a small, easy-to-peruse section, not an entire mile of toothpastes and 400 types of dish soap.

It's a small store, but has more FOOD in it then the store I wear my pedometer to and combine my workout and shopping as I log miles trying to find a loaf of bread.

The last time we were in the store, I calmly waited as a father with two toddlers tried to select his coffee of choice and entertain his daughters.  Entertain his daughters?   I smiled and I looked around, and realized it is a store that doesn't need to market to children and toddlers.  Trader Joe packaging is not bright and shiny and covered in cartoons.  The bottom shelf holds food, not candy and overly sweetened treats just calling out for children to grab, to scream out requests for.  

Oh, and the 29 cent bananas are nice, the bag of avocados are well worth the gas money to an out-of-the-way store, and don't even get me started on the 32oz bags of chips for $2.

Borders Bankruptcy

The news broke recently that Borders, the second largest bookstore chain in America, is declaring bankruptcy.

It is stories like this that make me cringe, and even feel a little bit guilty about my frugal ways.

The claim is that the old "brick and mortar" stores are losing ground, to the online retailers and the e-readers, etc.  That may be true, but as more and more people are hit with tough times financially, they are cutting back, like I did.   

No more buying books.  No more love affairs with cookbooks.  No collection of coffee table books in the living room or bathroom trivia books tucked next to the vanity.  No silly books given as random day gifts or gags.

Borders and other bookstores have lost much of my business, but it didn't go to online retailers - it went to the library and it went to Goodwill and to book swaps among friends.

I feel a bit guilty, then, about leaving the bookstores behind, and

I love my library and all it has to offer, and I don't think I am alone.  This article from Long Island claims that library membership is at an all-time high.  Maybe then, that is the trouble.  One too many people, like me, choosing to borrow a book instead of buy it.  Letting the library spend the money and take the risk that the book won't be any good.

So I am torn. 

On the one hand, I love that perhaps people are using the library.  I love that people are perhaps making a conscious effort to reduce needless spending and to reduce the clutter in their homes (I move a lot, I am well-aware how much a book-addiction costs in heavy boxes and U-haul space!).  I love that I have made that change.  I love my library-sponsored book club, and I love being able to grab a cook book just for one recipe or a few new ideas.

On the other hand, my library doesn't have the selection of the bookstore. I can never open a crisp, uncreased book from the library the way I can a book from the bookstore.  I can't look at a five or 10 year old book and know where every wrinkle and stain came from, remember where I was and how I felt when I bent the cover that way or dropped that book in the bathtub.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy doesn't mean Borders will be gone forever, and I hope they come back better, and stronger then ever, just as I did after my own bankruptcy. 

I wonder, though, if I will be their customer after the restructuring.

I am not Julia Roberts

As shocking as it is to admit, I am not Julia Roberts.  

I am not her character in Pretty Woman, either.

I have never walked into any store, of any kind, and been treated as openly cruelly as that character was on Rodeo Drive as she visited for the first time.

Nor have I ever burst into flames setting foot in a store that was "out of my price range."

Something happens to us when we go broke.   I think it starts because we are trying to be frugal, trying to find the best deals.   Cleaning supplies at the dollar store.  Furniture at Goodwill and Salvation Army.  Groceries at warehouse stores, scratch and dent stores.  Clothes at Wal-Mart and Goodwill.  We justify our purchases, we brag about how inexpensive our purchases were.

Just last month I proclaimed "Why would ANYONE spend over $3 on Velveeta brand mac and cheese? The value brand is great and I never spend over 30 cents a box!"  Completely disregarding, in the process, that for 25 years of my life I was a mac and cheese snob and yes, yes there IS a difference.

There's a clue there.  We know when we're broke.  We know when its time to start shopping around, time to start avoiding our favorite stores where we always walk out with three new outfits or eight new books or some knick-knack.

Unfortunately, there is no green light that says "hey, go shop at the mall."  There is no signal that if you really want a new top, you can go look for the one top you really want, and not run into Walmart and buy what you want.

There are loads of places I still avoid, simply because I think of them as places I can't afford.

What's funny, though, is that I am finding, as we slowly start browsing these nicer stores, is that I can usually find things just as inexpensively as the "cheap" stores.

I signed up for Eddie Bauer's rewards, and I get emails daily with 50 to 80% off various departments.  We stopped in the Bass outlet store, and men's shoes and pants were both "Buy one, get two free."   More and more stores have a bargain bin or a reward program that you will never know about unless you go in and sign up.

It seems like an easy thing.....being comfortable shopping at nice stores.  After so many years avoiding them, though, it takes the occasional reminder that I, in fact, not Julia Roberts.

Valentine's Confession

OK, so I've never been one to be all ga-ga over red hearts. And the mark up on roses come mid-February was pretty much disgusting for me long before I was ever broke, let alone unbroke.

Thus far in our relationship, I've been able to maintain my cool around this, and other occasions for mushiness.   My feelings were summed up perfectly this morning by a random person at the gym.  She said "I was single for so long, and said so many times that it was a silly holiday and the people who make a big deal out if it are stupid, I would be a hypocrite if I made a big deal out of it now that I am in a relationship."

This year, however, I have been struggling.  I have wanted to know what I was getting. . . internally I was thinking something big would be quite nice, thank you.    I was much more into what I was getting then what I was giving, which is also not very like me.

It took a while for me to figure out why this was happening.   I've had a few weeks to mull it over because I've been contemplating presents for several weeks.

Was it the "missed" Christmas at our house?  No, that wasn't it.  I had a few new things from my trip and I got a few gifts from our extended families, so I wasn't at all deprived there.

So what could it be?

Selfish as it is to admit, my trouble seems to be that he has been spending money on himself lately.  Bought a few nice things, dropped a good chunk of cash.

Everything logical in me says that is all the more reason NOT to make a big deal out of Valentine's Day, and not to allow money to be spent on something I don't need.

But everything honest in me must admit, I wanted that money spent on me.   Internally I even had the thought "he should get me something because I never get anything.  But I shouldn't get him much because he's just bought all sorts of things."


You will be happy to know moderate gifts were exchanged, and, in recognizing and admitting my selfish, childish feelings, I am able to overpower them.

Come on Spring!

Here in the middle of the country, we're having a thaw this weekend.  A warm-up.  A Spring teaser.   After a week or two of bone-chilling temperatures, every day is 10 degrees warmer then the last this weekend, and hopefully into the coming week.

Looking at our temperatures just here in Omaha, highs are going from 4, to 14, to 34, to 45, and now moving into next week they are giving us hope they will climb all the way to 65.

I say that I love a good February thaw just doesn't come close to how I feel.  I can actually feel my muscles, my bones, thawing out.  Having it happen on a weekend, when I can open the curtains, let the sun shine in, and maybe open a window and let the breeze clear out the winter air, is even better.   I will run Saturday errands with joy this afternoon!

From the standpoint of a person who is trying to afford pickles, there is another reason I love this weather.

Jump start on spring cleaning!    Seriously!

One of the important things when you are IN debt, and when you are climbing out of debt, is to respect your stuff.   Given the strong urges to shop we're feeling in this house right now, I can tell you it is Just as important when you are out of debt and relearning how to budget.

This weekend I will clean the spring clutter from my car.  Not just wash the outside (which happens now with every thaw because SOMEONE lived in Salt Lake City and thinks washing the salt off is more important than keeping fuel in the tank), but I will head out with three or four plastic grocery bags, and I will open all the doors and I will gather any trash (mainly errand lists that slipped to the floor), and I will gather "things that shouldn't be in the car" like the two windbreakers and the toaster (don't ask).  I will pull out the stack of paperwork I had for my road trip in October (without GPS, I had printed instructions to every place I needed to find).   I will shake gravel from the floor mats and wipe dust from the console.  I will let the fresh air in and the push the stale air out.   I will gather all of the cloth shopping bags and tuck them safely into the pocket behind one seat, where they belong.

By Monday I will have a clean car.  More than that, I will have a car that doesn't have a toaster in the back that rattles with every turn and bump and makes me think my car is falling apart.  I will have a dashboard that shines like new as I drive along.  I will have found quite a few things that I have lost since the weather turned cold.   I will once again love my car and I will be happy it is clean and warm.  Just that little switch will reduce my urge to pay attention to new car sale promotions or to test drive anything else.

His car will get the same treatment.  CDs will be reorganized and stashed away.   He'll discover one he hasn't listened to in year and will be renewed with "new old" tunes.  (Hopefully Blind Melon because I don't like most of his other old stuff!)

Once the cars are clean they will stay out of the garage and he will reorganize and sweep out the gravel and the salt.  The reorganization, and putting things where they belong instead of tossing them where ever because its so cold, will reduce his need for a new shelving system.

Recycling will be taken away, as well, freeing up a section of the basement, and again reducing the desire to "do something else with this basement, because it's always a mess."

These mid-winter thaws lead to a lot of work around here, clearly.  However, they result in a new respect for the stuff we have.  The stuff we still like and that we don't need to spend new money on.  Stuff we were taking our frustration at the cold out on.

Shopping Bulimia

When it comes to shopping, I am sort of a feast or famine type girl.  

I can't remember, really, what I was like in high school or college, but I can remember the years after college.

I was working for a non-profit, in the cattle industry, and not really making all that much money, but it didn't matter because I had NO time.   I didn't shop, I didn't even THINK about shopping.  We simply existed, days running into weeks, into months, and the rent constantly past due.    Every so often, though, there would be a lull.  The first one was the ice storm.  Couldn't get to work, but we could get to Wal-Mart.

Several hundred dollars later and I had a brand new apartment, it seemed like.  A telephone, a new television (and antennae) new dishes and new silverware and new canister set. Loads upon loads of things that I hadn't particularly planned on buying but I didn't have, so, why not?   Since I rarely spent money (and I didn't even have a savings account) I had the cash.

After that the shopping binges usually centered on clothes.  A work event or special occasion would be looming on the calendar, and my roommate and I would head to the mall.  More then once I was parked in the dressing room while my roomie and random store personnel threw clothes over the top of the door.  I never walked out with just one thing, but with a new wardrobe.

When I was no longer working hectic hours, I was broke. I didn't shop. I didn't go to stores because "why bother looking at things I can't have?"   But every so often. . . generally in the middle of the night, I would head off to Wal-mart and binge.  Usually small, worthless items.  Cassette and VCR tapes, pens and toys.  Sometimes I would talk myself down before I checked out, and I would leave a pile of VHS tapes (and I mean a PILE, 7 or 10, at least) somewhere in the picture frame section of the store and slink out, dejected. 

It was after I was out of debt the purging started.  Load after load taken to charities or simply given away.  Anything that could be used up, I become obsessed with using... I get excited at using the last piece of paper on the notepad.  I love when pens run dry and I have to throw them away.  I won't waste or toss needlessly, but using up anything makes me happy.

It's an odd dynamic around this house, because I am the person who will make a meal out of something that I don't really want, simply to use up the last bit of whatever.  And he is a man that will drink all but one glass of juice, and then stop.  And that container will remain in the fridge for 6 months or more 1/16th of the way full.    I will silently fume.

That weird dynamic carries into shopping.   If I am a bulimic who must control the urge to binge and buy one of everything, he is the foodie.  The shopping connoisseur.  The most skilled of Sommeliers, he will sip and taste and weigh the pros and cons. . . endlessly. . . .until my urge to buy has faded away and I am back in frugal mode, and then he will continue to look and contemplate and nibble. . .until the urge to binge comes over me again.

We re-did the office recently.  Much needed new paint, and a rearranging of furniture led to the need for a new bookcase.  Which led us to shopping, and since the bookcase will hold, primarily, my things, I had a keen interest in this purchase.   By the time we were done, I was ready to buy, had internally justified and was mentally preparing the written justification to this blog, a new couch, a new love seat, the needed bookcase, a new dining room table and chairs, new dishes and silverware and a new bedroom set.

I can't even afford all that.   WE can't even afford all that.   So the urges had to be tamped down, which is easier, in a partnership:  "You decide what you think we should get, and I will get it for us."

He looked uneasy.   "You're sure?"  Followed by "I didn't even know you didn't like my couch."

Oops.   Yes, I was sure.  I was jonesing to buy something..anything...  Never mind that recent Oprah episode where I learned that the pleasure of a material purchase never lasts more then seven months.  The pleasure of new furniture would at least carry me into spring.   Just PICK SOMETHING and let me BUY IT!!!

But he is not a buyer, he is a shopper.  A Shoppie.  His pleasure comes from the process.   This couch or that couch?  Or perhaps the dining room table would make the most sense.  We don't really have a nice coffee table, though....

We bought nothing but the bookcase, which only whetted my appetite, so the next day we were out shopping again.   Sitting on the same couches, eyeing the same tables.    Purchasing nothing.    I got desperate.  Reminded him he had a tax refund coming and we could BOTH buy things and then we could get twice as much stuff!   But still no decisions were made.

A few weeks have passed, and I am over my latest crisis.  I am happy with the bookcase, happy with the office, and ready to sock every penny into savings again. 

He's out shopping, again, looking at furniture.  Worrying over choices and sampling from every couch in the greater Omaha area.   He's still spending his evenings online, searching out the best coffee table, at the best price.

I'm over it.  I don't want any of it.  I don't want to hear about coffee tables any more because nice ones are expensive and we can't afford any of them.

Most of all, I am worried that he won't be over it before I get sick of living frugally and just want to buy something.

Stuff Happens

There are so many cliches I could start with that I don't even know what to type.  Life works in mysterious ways.  Sh*t happens.  Best laid plans. . . .

None of us planned to be broke.  Nor do I think we "failed to plan" to be rich.  We all know what we're going to spend our money on, if only we had enough of it.  We are all planning on having enough of it.

But stuff happens.

Stuff.

I was a certain person, for 25 years of my life.  Good times, bad times, weird times, fun times.  I was a certain person.

When I started going in to debt, I saw myself doing it.  Clearly.  Every day I KNEW that whatever I was doing wasn't making it better and was, in fact, making it worse.  To this day I envision myself standing on a muddy hill and sliding backward with every step.  Only it was less funny at the time.   I won't get into all of what I was thinking today, but lets just say I thought I could somehow out-smart and out-work debt.  But things happened.  And no one is smarter then debt.

I've changed a lot, but maybe not all that much.  I still don't like emergency funds because I think "what could happen that would REALLY be an emergency?"  

Some part of me still thinks if I lost my job, I would "just go get another". . . despite jobless rates and news that the average span on unemployment has now stretched to a year.  Despite knowing personally multiple well-qualified and capable individuals who are not employed.  

I think if my car were to die, then we would be a one-car household for a while, as if that would put no strain on our lives. 

I laugh in the face of medical bills ~ Hit me with your best shot, I have seen it all before!   Even though I have learned that hard way that hospitals and doctors don't put off their bills because you are paying another bill.  They all hit you at the same time.

I look around this comfortable home and nice things, of which few are MINE, and I think if we break up, I would miss none of it. . .I've lived without it all before. 

So I don't like emergency funds, which is why I trick myself into saving for other things the way I do.  I might say I will never randomly need $1000 for anything, but I can save $1000 for a new wardrobe shopping spree and if something else happens to come up the money is there.

Every so often though, you hear something or you read something that reminds you just how absurd life is.

Like this article about a high school wrestling tournament in North Dakota  

Not to give away the ending, but the reigning champions were disqualified.
Why?
Because there was a raccoon on their bus during the trip there and it got away before it was tested for rabies.

Some contingencies just can't be planned for.   I think this week the pickle money is going into SAVINGS!

Money Well Spent

It all started when I reached 200 pounds.  That might not seem like a lot, but at 4’10” tall, it really was.

At the time, I was still in debt to my parents, still in debt to my GMC for my car.  I was working as a long-term temp, which meant I didn’t enjoy the same benefits or sense of security that comes with full-time employment. 

Despite my financial situation I knew my medical situation was just as important, and, after seeing my weight start with a “2” the first time, I thought it might even be more important.

I tried dieting on my own, but I was too out-of-shape to exercise much and I found I wasn’t changing my eating habits all that much.  Instead of eating an entire bag of Doritos, I would eat one serving, true; however, I still wasn’t eating vegetables.

So I signed up for a diet program and they gave me a piece of paper where I would write down everything I ate and three times a week I brought it to them and they looked at it and said “you need to eat fruit” and “try adding in any vegetable at all besides green beans.  Here’s a list of 50.  Certainly you can find one you like?”   Helpful tips like that.

It wasn’t a wide open food diary; it was fill-in-the-blank.  Vegetable:  _____   Carb: ________  Even my 10 glasses of water: ___   ____   ____  ___   Well you get the idea.

This plan worked.  Weight came off. Vegetables were consumed.  I paid through the nose for that photocopied piece of paper week after week, but it got results.

I moved away when I was offered full-time “permanent” employment, and I was no longer being given my little piece of paper.  I thought that would be OK, since by then I knew the rules and kept lettuce and green peppers on hand.  I even ate grapefruit without making too sour of a face.

When the weight started creeping back on, I made my own piece of paper.  It looked just like the expensive one, but did not have the same magical ability and the weight did not stop creeping up.

For a time I tried enlisting my boyfriend to be the tough guy and demand to see the piece of paper filled out weekly.  Unfortunately he’s not a tough guy and I don’t like people telling me what to eat. Heh.  So that failed.

The problem, I decided, was that since I no longer carried a whole folder around, I left the piece of paper at home and I didn’t carry it with me, and so it never got filled out.

On a whim, then, I spent $15 on the DietMinders Journal.  It was a book I could carry everywhere, not a single sheet of paper that would crumple.  It was heavy and too in-depth and I didn’t like having to THINK so much every time I ate.  I believe I filled out a day and a half of that journal. 

When I got an IPod my first “app” was a nutrition program that let me tap in my food for the day and it told me my calories.  This I kept up with for several months, actually . . . until I realized it wasn’t actually effecting my eating choices or having any impact on my weight.

Sometime after that came two books by Jillian Michaels, a pedometer, several DVDs and The Biggest Loser’s “6 weeks to a Healthier You.”   It’s been 6 months and I am still on chapter two of that one.

At some point came the calorie count book.  Not a little one, a GOOD one.  It’s double the size of my thesaurus.

I knew all the gimmicks were a waste of money so next came a lovely Moleskine journal which would let me track my eating AND my life.  Too bad it’s dated because it’s already out-dated.

The visits to the dieticians each led to packets of papers and lists of tips and tricks to try and the online community has led to 6 emails a day.

These all cost too much money to just be tossed away, so they fill a file cabinet drawer, along with the Weight Watcher’s points program guide my best friend sent me after she had success with it and the “Great American Slim-Down” plan I wisely purchased from Larry North’s late night infomercial back on college.   They’ve been lugged from apartment to house and they’ve been displaced and piled and set on shelves and in cabinets and tossed on the floor.  They’ve rarely been opened and they take up space I could fill with things I like.  Giving them up, though, seems like acceptance of the 200lb person I didn’t want to be and don’t want to be again.  Tossing them away feels like accepting the medical and life issues that let the contented person of 130lb wake up one day back at 170.

It all ended, though, with my latest purchase.

Trust me.

It’s slim, it’s simple.  It fits in my pocket.  I keep my calorie counts in it and add them up.  I’ve been doing this for a few weeks now, every day.

It’s a calendar I got at Target.

It cost me 50 cents.

I’ve lost 7 pounds.   In two weeks.  After four months of 8 hours or more at the gym each week and losing NO weight.

I’m eyeing that drawer and wondering if it’s time to say goodbye to what probably adds up to a week’s pay.

COUPONS!

Before I was broke, I rarely planned anything out in advance enough to use a coupon.  Sure, if I HAD a Burger King coupon, I would use it . . . but then again, you’ve probably noticed you always spending more on fast food to qualify for the coupon, then you would have spent without it.

When I was broke, I never used coupons because my intent was to never buy anything.  I certainly didn’t want to look at ads for things I couldn’t buy on the chance there was a coupon for a necessity like bread.

As I started the transition from broke to unbroke, I didn’t use coupons because I never had, so why start now?  And besides, the whole thing seemed very out-dated.  Young, modern women don’t carry an envelope of coupons to the store!  Plus, I am eating “healthy” and you never see coupons for vegetables!

Then I moved in with him and watched our combined grocery bill rise to a point that it actually gave my recently-broke-self chest pains to think about it.

So I started cutting coupons and looking at ads and I used a few coupon websites and I went to the store and I bought all the stuff I had coupons for . . . and I spent more than I ever had, or ever have since, on a single shopping trip.  Our pantry had never been so full.    I didn’t just buy what we needed, I bought everything that I thought we COULD use, since I had a coupon for it.

It’s been a year now, though, and I am starting to perfect it. I am visiting my grocery store’s website and getting coupons for store brands and using the ads to make my list and then the coupons to add to the savings.  I am doubling up coupons when possible and I am trying, desperately, to plan some sort of menu each week and not bring in food that doesn’t have a purpose.

That process is probably a blog all to itself and, frankly, there are a lot of blogs and websites out there already dedicated to couponing. 

What I do want to share though, is a few things you should never, ever, EVER buy without a coupon.

1)      Anything at Bed Bath & Beyond.  Did you know their 20% off coupons on their flyers never expire? Even though they have an expiration date?  I never knew this, I told thought he was going to get me yelled at buying a blanket with a four year old coupon . . . but she took it without batting an eye.  What’s more, the time he tried to use a coupon that had been emailed to him, the cashier said “We can’t use the ones that you print at home after they expire. Only the formal ones don’t expire.”  Confirming it was an actual POLICY and not just laziness on date-checking.  Everything I have ever bought there without a coupon I instantly regret.

2)      Pillsbury, anything.  These are coupons that are available on every coupon website and show up every week in the newspaper. 

3)      Kraft brand.  Especially Velveeta

4)      Anything that I would classify as pickles ~ Things most of us eat but don’t “need” from cereal to snack crackers to juice boxes.  If every time you glance at the weekly coupons they are there. With the advent of online coupon sites you don’t even have to plan ahead.  You’re out of Cheerios? Print a coupon (or download it to your smart phone, if you’re one of THOSE types).

5)      Toiletries, especially toothpaste, for the same reasoning as above.

6)      Oil Change or other basic car care.  Again, the ads and coupons are coming in the mail all the time.

7)      ANYTHING ONLINE.  You’re already online.  Look for a coupon code.

She Didn't Even Know I Blogged

A funny thing happened today.  A coworker, who is not even aware of this blog but knew I had been through bankruptcy, asked my advice about a financial matter.

Not about being broke, or slashing budgets or about getting rich.

She’s gotten herself out of debt and has long-since slashed her budget.  She might even teach me a thing or three about that.  And, like most of us, she’s still so busy looking back and trying to make sure she doesn’t fall back into the debt hole that she hasn’t a chance to look up and think about climbing Money Mountain.

She’s slipped a bit, recently.  Has a balance on her credit card again that can’t be paid off in just one month.    But tax returns are coming and she wants to apply it to free herself again. 

She’d like to reach a settlement.  Pay a bit less then she owes and call it even, but she doesn’t want to stop buying her account for three months so that the credit cards are willing to work with her.

So we talked.  Long-forgotten phrases like “My financial situation has changed” and “I’d like to discuss my pay-off amount” and even “who do you recommend for credit counseling?”  came flooding back.

It made me smile.  Not to be asked advice ~ I know where she’s at and I know that, ironically, had it been me asking the question she would have given me the same answers I gave her, because they are answers we all know.  She’s asking because she’s scared and unsure and, just like me with my stupid $5 medical bill, just wants it all to be over.

It made me smile because it was just one more reminder of how much in the majority we are.  The sensible ones (at least I am NOW).  The frugal ones.   We are a movement taking over this country and this world.  And I think that’s kind of cool.

And I will try very hard to remember that the next time I long for a $400 kitchen appliance I have no need for and no room to store.

Justifying My Addiction

If you haven’t heard of Tastefully Simple, well, I pity you, first off.   But I don’t want to rub it in, so let me just say it is a home-party based business, which offers food (both ready-to-eat and mixes) that claim to be both simple and, yes, tasteful.

I have an addiction.  I admit that.  There are few meals in my house that don’t have at least a shake of one TS seasoning or another.

If you have ever attended a party of a home-party based business, you can guess that these items are not inexpensive.  Many of their items are priced well-above similar items at the grocery store, and I feel a bit of guilt considering spending nearly $8 on a box of brownie mix when I know I have a Duncan Hine’s coupon at home that would bring that mix to under $1.

So how does my tight-fisted heart justify a love for possibly over-priced convenience items?

The seasonings!

Dried Pesto seasoning, which lasts much longer than jarred pesto and is actually less expensive than even homemade pesto (and I don’t care how easy pesto is to make at home I am not making it at home because the thought of cleaning up from that makes me not hungry.)   You add a bit of olive oil; heat it up, and its pesto.  Or you use it dry in just about anything from eggs to pasta sauce and its flavor.  We use it on pizzas instead of sauce and he douses his turkey sandwich to add flavor. 

Simply Salsa is meant to make a can of diced tomatoes into instant salsa.  It does that, but it also turns an avocado into guacamole and tilapia into a southwestern dinner.

I could go on, but I am actually getting hungry and Tastefully Simple isn’t actually paying me.  So.

My point is that it’s important to splurge on good seasonings.  Pasta and eggs are two extremely inexpensive foods, but you can make them into 50 completely different dishes with a bit of seasoning. 

Not the old, expired, smells-like-nothing spices you got from your mom that time you wanted to make crockpot chili and didn’t even have a crockpot. 

Fresh spices.  And not just spices but seasonings, which take the guess work out of everything.  Basil and oregano are both great, but Italian seasoning and mozzarella tossed on a tortilla and microwaved makes the whole house smell like pizza.

OK.  It’s officially dinner time.

Home Usage Audit

When you’re broke, there is an awareness of every resource that you use. 

You’re not going to dirty two plates, just for SANDWICHES, and then have to clean them!  Think of the hot water! The soap!   Oh no.  You’re going to make your sandwich and set it on a paper towel (or, a napkin left over from when you used to eat fast food). Then after you eat YOUR sandwich you will make another, put it on the same paper towel and deliver THAT to your partner.   Nickels and dimes add up!

When you’re broke, you are seeing how little shampoo you can use and still feel like you have clean hair.  You’re putting extra laundry in the washer and using a bit less detergent.  No bottle of ANYTHING ~ food, cleanser or chemical, is considered EMPTY until it’s remained upside down for at least a day, and possibly been rinsed out. Or cut open and scrapped.

Overtime, though, that level of commitment to saving every resource goes away.  You throw away the “empty” dish soap bottle without bothering to put it in a sink full of hot water and dirty dishes just to “see” if the water suds up.

Last year, I made a crazy (for me) splurge.  I purchased hair conditioner at the hair salon.  At the NICE hair salon.  I purchased a $25 bottle of hair conditioner that was half the size of my $1.06 Suave conditioner.  Clearly, it was a moment of clouded judgment that only freshly cut hair and a scalp massage can create!

However, that bottle of conditioner led me to an amazing discovery.   The amount of conditioner I need to use is roughly the size of a pea.  A small, undernourished, shriveled-up pea.  That bottle of conditioner lasted me 10 months. 

This could, legitimately, lead me to the belief that the $24 conditioner is actually better than the $1.06 conditioner.  However, that is not the conclusion I chose to reach.  Instead, I chose to believe that every so often it’s important to be kicked back into consciousness about the little things we use all the time, every day, and probably use too much of.

I am proposing February to be Home Audit Month for the Unbroke! 

Don’t groan, consider:  It’s a short month.  You’re all caught up from the hoopla of the winter holidays and summer is a long way off.  You really have nothing better to do this month.

Every time you use . . . anything . . . take a glance at the instructions for recommended amount.  The quarter sized amount of shampoo.  The single tablespoon of salad dressing and the single pump of hand soap. 

I use dry laundry detergent, and it comes with a handy dandy scoop.  In thinking about this home audit thing, and how people try to trick us into using more then we should, I brought that scoop to the kitchen and I took some measurements.  The provided scoop holds exactly 1 CUP of detergent.  On the scoop there are a series of ¼” wide stripes, and the instructions for use are to fill the scoop to the bottom of the lowest line.  According to my measurements, that is roughly 1/6^th of a cup, or 8 teaspoons of detergent.   No wonder when he does laundry he mentions there are undissolved clumps of detergent still.

Think about it, just for the next four weeks.  Maybe you’re fine, but maybe you’ll find yourself going an extra week or two on the many household items that add up over time.