Planning for Christmas

Saturday, Todd and I went to the winery where it all started for us back in 2006.  We started making wine because of the Grape and Granary in Akron, OH.

We went there for the ump-teenth time and had a nice wine tasting to decide what we will be making here at home for Christmas gifts.  We have decided on 4 different wines.  Each batch of wine makes 30 bottles, so we will have 120 bottles of wine to savor throughout the year and to give away as gifts.

I am so excited!
We didnt buy any of the kits, because there is a place closer to where we live that sells them for a bit less than the Grape and Granary.  It will be like buying 3 - get one free.  And let me tell you, I love free! Not only that, we are really trying to pay off the last credit card by July 1st (I moved it back one month because it will be nearly impossible to pay off $4,980 in the next two months AND go on two 4-day weekends away!)

We are also going to try our hand at making beer for the holidays.  Alot of people in our family are drinkers, so these are perfect gifts.  Not only are they perfect gifts, they are different, and they wont be very expensive for us to make because we have all the equipment. 

Am I the only one thinking about Christmas already? :-)

Our Busy Day!

Today was a busy, successful day for us.  I bought a Groupon for a sushi place down by Todd's parents house, and we decided to go use it today.  We planned our whole day around this sushi place.

We woke up early, had breakfast at home, and then hit the road by 8:15.  By 9, we were at Walmart to pick up new socks for Todd.  His are all holey and worn out.  It's been over a year since we got him new socks.  We used the balance left on a gift card and then paid $9 and some odd change out of pocket.  Todd now has 14 new pairs of socks and puppy has flea medication for 3 months. 

Then, we went to Gordon Food Service.  I have wanted to make a recipe from another blog of sesame chicken.  Well, we had no sesame seeds!  Our local store didnt have any and neither did Aldi's.  Gordon Food Service has 19 oz. for $7.98.  I was not willing to spend that much on sesame seeds.  So we went on our way.

The next stop was to see my old house in Akron.  It is all beat up and it breaks my heart.  I put my blood, sweat and tears into that house.  There was an Asian market around the corner from my Akron house...and it didnt open until 10.  DOH! It was 9:30.  So we went to our favorte thrift store in Akron.  I ended up coming home with 4 new shirts for work and a new pair of brown dress shoes.  All for $7.75! 

Todd came home with 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of jean shorts and 7 t-shirts.  Some of his t-shirts were $0.75.  The one pair of jeans was $0.90!  His was more expensive at $20.98 cents after all was said and done.  And we picked up a $2 wine rack.  We make so much wine, it will definitely go to good use!

My new clothes (and shoes)



Todd's new clothes

Todd's Favorite New Shirt (Mr. Happy Homeowner)
He said it is EXACTLY how he feels about our house!!

Afterwards, we went to Marcs to look for sesame seeds.  Low and behold, they had 11 oz. bottles for $0.98!  We bought 2!!! I was so excited and so glad I didnt let Todd talk me into buying the ones from GFS.

Then, off to my dad's house we went.  We spent about an hour and a half there seeing my dad, his wife, and Natlie.  Oh how I love that little girl.

After that, we went to Todd's parents house and visited for a couple of hours.
Target, the Record Exchange, a couple other stores and then we went to sushi.

Busy! Busy! Busy! 
But we had a great day.

Is This Cheap or Frugal?

I am known for trying to save money.  Everything Todd and I do, we try to save money...without living like misers.  I'm sure alot of people think we live like misers, but I have the bank statements and credit card statements to show that we dont!  We used to spend too freely, which is why we are working so hard at saving to get out of debt. 

At any rate, we received an awesome Keurig Coffee Machine for Christmas from my mom and Doc.  This is a picture of it:

I had been contemplating buying one of these for myself with my allowance money (we get $25/week to spend on whatever we want,) but I had talked myself out of it.

So, we got the machine and an amble supply of k-cups to keep us well-hydrated for a couple of months.  I have been looking at prices for the k-cups, and they are EXPENSIVE!  Yes, if I bought Starbucks every day, this would seem like a huge savings to buy this single-serve machine and the supplies, but I dont.  I drink coffee at work only, and buy myself creamers for $1.99/bottle. 

I dont like the fact that the k-cups are plastic, and I'm sure they take forever to disintegrate in a landfill, and I really dont want to pay $0.50+ per cup of coffee.  So, Todd and I have been looking at ways to SAVE while using this great gift.

So, we found this refillable cup on Amazon.com for $14.95 (free shipping if we order $25+ worth of products.)

Todd despises coffee.  He cant even handle the scent of coffee.  Mom gave us some Chai Latte K-cups, and Todd LOVED it! However, they cost about $1/cup.  No thank you.  We will not be paying $1/cup for Chai Latte.  However, I found this item that we will be purchasing.

 This is a 6 pk of 10 oz. Chai Latte that could be put into the reusable k-cup to be made into Chai Tea Latte.  I cant determine the price per cup, or what the "break even" point would be without getting these two items first and testing it out, but I know it'd be alot less expensive than $1/cup!  Plus, I plan on using SwagBucks to purchase these items, so our out of pocket expenses would be minimal.

We will not be purchasing these items today, tomorrow, or even next month (I have to accumulate more SwagBucks!)  But when our supplies get a little lower, we will definitely be making the investments listed above and be more cost-conscious of our daily coffee/latte's!

I love our new gadget from mom, but I love it even more than there are other alternatives to expensive morning drinks that enable us to use this new toy at a fraction of the cost!

How Low Can You Go: Beer!

I have talked about doing homemade gifts in 2011 and less purchased items.  I was sitting at work last week, and I thought about Todd and his beer.  Todd loves beer.  He likes the dark, bock beers.  All of a sudden, a light went off in my head.  I am going to try to make Todd beer!  We make our own wine and have all of the equipment needed.  I found several websites that have instructions, and there are a few YouTube videos as well.

I saw online that there are these adorable brown plastic beer bottles that can be purchased from Amazon.com (swagbucks!) for $14.  I was so excited I found them.  They are reusable! Just wash them out and then rebottle in them with the next batch!  Then I remembered what this is really about.  It’s not about the LOOKS of the bottled beer, it is about the TASTE and showing my creativity and love to Todd.  I can get plastic bottles from people here at work.  They drink bottled water like it’s going out of style (I wish they’d invest in a Kleen Kanteen,) and the bottles are always in the recycle bin.  There is a sanitizer that is used for wine and beer making that cleans them out thoroughly.  The only thing I will need to make the beer is malt.

Another great thing from what I’ve read about the beer-making process, it doesn’t take NEARLY as long as wine does.  Todd could be drinking his homemade beer within 2-3 weeks of me starting the project. 10 gallons could be made for the price of the malt and some sugar.  It was recommended that if I want to bypass the sugar (which I do because the least amount of ingredients used, the better my chances are to making great tasting beer,) I could double-up on the malt and leave the sugar out.  SO…because we have a 6 gallon carboy instead of a 10 gallon bucket, and the malt comes in 4 lb cans, I am going to make 4 gallons of beer for Todd.  I came up with this number after doing some math.  I did some research and found that the malt I would want to buy to make a dark bock for Todd would be less than $15!  This malt would make 4 gallons (of the double-malt, no sugar mixture) which is equal to 32 – 16 oz. bottles of beer.  How much would the beer cost per bottle, you ask? $0.47!

I probably wont start the batch until February to be ready for his 40^th birthday.  I am going to try to hide it from him so that it will be a surprise.  I cant wait!  I am horrible and keeping surprises.  Can I do it?!? We will find out!

Ways to Save Money

I have been thinking alot about the New Year lately.  The New Year is like a new, fresh start, where I have all of these things that I want to do and learn. Some years, I fail miserably, other years I dont do too bad.  Not only do I have my "2011 Asprirations" already written out and ready to conquer, but I want to try to find ways to save money. 

Todd and I are pretty cheap frugal.  We do pretty well, I think, when it comes to alot of things.  However, there is always room for improvement.  We (aka Todd) spend money at times when we shouldnt or when we dont need to.  So, I've been thinking of ways to help save money into the New Year.

This is what I've come up with:

• Start searching with Swagbucks while at work (I use Google to search alot and could probably get quite a few points throughout the year) and redeem them for Amazon gift cards to use for gifts throughout the year.
• Bake more from scratch
• Use the envelope system as Dave Ramsey teaches for our entertainment budget
• Stay home and enjoy each other more doing things we already have or things we enjoy doing together
• Make a small batch of laundry detergent from scratch and use when doing my laundry to help save on buying detergent.
• Grow veggies that produce alot and take up minimal space (so I can can/freeze more veggies)
• Buy apple trees when on clearance for our "home orchard."

I bought an adorable plastic coupon/envelope with dividers in it to help with our "cash envelope" system I'd like to put in place.  I was thinking about putting the grocery budget in this as well, but then decided against it.  I like that Todd can go out and pick up some things before work at WalMart if he needs for his lunch (alot of times, it's just lunchmeat) and I can track it with Mint.com.  I can see what we spend per month on groceries really easily using the program.  The main reason I wanted the cash envelope is because we (me) are short-changing ourselves out of the "fun money" we get every month.  We have $100/month to spend together to do fun things.  Well, many months, we dont even spend half of that.  But then I get cheap and tell Todd that we cant go to a baseball game, or a basketball game because I dont want to spend the money.  WE are entitled to go if we want to because we dont spend nearly as much as what's in our entertainment budget.  So...this way, we will accumulate our money throughout the year, and if we want to go on a night out on the town in Cleveland that may cost $250, and we've got the money in the envelope, there is no way I can say, "No, we dont have the money."  It will be right there for both of us to see.

Staying home and enjoying each other - I would like to do that alot more.  I have really been lacking in the bedroom with my husband (TMI!)  I would like to enjoy one another again openly and freely without any restraints. Maybe we can commit to one day a week, just him and I, in the bedroom, nothing else.  Breakfast/Lunch & Dinner in bed.  Not only in the bedroom, but also just here around the house.  I miss playing Wii Sports with him, or watching a movie with no interuptions (internet or animals.) I would like for us to start reading the Bible together and talk about whatever is on our minds.  I would also like to help Todd out with some of the home improvements around the house.  All of this, which costs nothing (unless we get pregnant.) 

I have made my own liquid laundry detergent in the past for the both of us to use.  Todd works hard, and gets REALLY dirty.  Not only at work, but around the house.  He has mentioned that he didnt like using the homemade detergent.  That is fine.  We wash our clothes seperately (most of the time) anyways.  So, I was thinking that if I make a small batch of detergent, I could use it to use my laundry and towels, and then we can use the regular detergent for his dirty, nasty clothes.  This way, we're not spending alot on detergent throughout the year, and I am a little more earth-friendly with my wash.

In 2010, I had a whole row on green beans.  We love greenbeans in our house.  Todd loves them fresh (I liked canned until I found out how great fresh can be from the garden this year!)  Those greenbeans took up a whole row in our garden.  I had planted bush beans.  The same goes for the roma tomatoes.  I planted a whole row, and then some of the larger variety on a trellis.  Those two things took up about half of the garden space I had.  I was informed that roma's were best for sauces.  Well, there were just too many of them, and they were alot of work.  So, this year, we will have lots and lots of tomatoes, but they will be on a trellis.  The same goes with the green beans.  I will buy the trellis variety this year and have several of them.  There is alot more room in the garden when veggies grow UPWARD instead of out. 

As for the trees, last year, we bought 1 apricot tree, 1 dwarf plum and 2 pear trees at a fraction of the cost (at the end of the season - Father's Day.)  We love apples.  Squiggy eats them, Lana eats them, we eat them...everyone loves them.  I'd like to purchase apple trees around Father's Day and plant them so that in a few years, we will have apples to pick.  We could have bought some in 2010, but I wasnt very comfortable with even the 4 trees we bought.  I didnt know how to take care of them, or if they'd ever produce fruit.  I'm not sure if the trees we bought will produce, but I know what I need to do to help them along.  What's another 2-4 trees, right?

While we are on the topic of fruits, I would also like to put in a row on blueberry bushes in the back of the house.  I want to be picking fruits/veggies throughout the whole season!  From Spring (strawberries) through Fall (Apples & Blueberries!)

Do you have any other suggestions on how we can save money in 2011?

Eating What We Have

Since the end of last month, Todd and I have been trying to eat what we have in the fridge, freezer and cupboards.  Before we went on our weekend getaway, we had literally nothing in our fridge but condiments.  Todd went out shopping with his mother that Monday and we were on our way home together (him from his mom’s house, me from work.)  The question was: What’s for dinner?  He had a coupon for $1.00 off a pizza.  I had been fretting about paying off his vehicle, and didn’t want to pay $8 for a pizza.  I was thinking long and hard about what we had in the fridge and cupboards, and I brought it up

By being a little creative, we’ve saved a bit of money on groceries.  Right now, we still have chicken drumsticks in the freezer (can easily make 1-2 more meals,) canned vegetables, and fish fillets.  We will definitely have to go grocery shopping this week, and it will most likely be a big one, but the two weeks we’ve been scrimping are helping us to get his car paid off that much quicker.

that we could have loaded baked potatoes with chili on them.  He was fine with that.  That saved us $8 ordering a pizza.

Then, the next day, we were stumped again.  What could we possibly make?  We had nothing in the fridge, a can of spinach in the cupboard, some ground beef, some diced tomatoes and some homemade tomato sauce.  So… he made two homemade pizzas.  One of them was an alfredo (he made the alfredo sauce himself with what we had,) with spinach and diced tomatoes, and the other was a sausage pizza with sausage, tomato sauce and cheese.  Todd found a recipe to make ordinary ground beef taste like sausage with a few ingredients that we had in the spice cabinet.

Brunch / Food

Well, it’s official, my mom, her husband and my niece will be at our house on Christmas Eve for brunch. Also, a friend from work and her husband will be spending the night at our house on New Years Eve.  So I will need to make 2 different brunches, two weeks in a row.

Do you have any irresistible brunch recipes you could share with me? Suggestions?

I would like to make a skillet-type breakfast bake, sweet rolls, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns and a coffee cake (possibly blueberry.)  I will have OJ, milk, and apple juice.  Maybe I should also have some fresh fruit.

Because on both days, our company will be there for an extended period of time, I will also have to make other dishes for snacks and for lunch/dinner.  I am thinking shrimp cocktail, steaks, baked potatoes, green beans, dinner rolls and possibly one or two items in the crockpot.  And you know me…there HAS to be a dessert or two (or 5!)

**Update, my co-worker and her husband, who are coming over for New Years Eve suggested snack-type items to eat throughout the countdown.  I’m perfectly fine with that!  So, I am thinking: fondue (with bread, apples, celery, carrots,) fruit platter, veggie platter, sweedish meatballs (equal parts ketchup & grape jelly,) chips and dip, ranch coated oyster crackers, and maybe a lasagna. 

Can you tell I have OCD?  I tend to go a little over-board, but I cant wait to have people over!  Needless to say, I think I’m going to have to increase the December Grocery Budget.

Retirement

I don’t know if I could ever retire.  On Thanksgiving break, I had Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off from work.  Todd and I were together Thursday and Friday, and then he had to go to work on Saturday and Sunday.  By Saturday, I was bored out of my mind!!  There is only so much I can do online, only so long I can play with the animals, and straighten up the house.  OK, I’m sure I could have done a better job cleaning up the house, but that wasn’t happening.  TV was boring. I didn’t even cook (I know…what a lazy bum!)  To be honest, I didn’t even get dressed Friday, Saturday or Sunday (TMI!)  When I went out to feed Squiggy and Lana, I went out in my robe.

I like to think that I could retire and find things to do, but it wasn’t happening Thanksgiving weekend!  I don’t really have any hobbies.  My animals are my “fun time,” and sometimes, even they get on my nerves.  I probably should have listed some of my gift items on Etsy, but didn’t.  Oh well.

Then I start to think that this doesn’t only effect when I “retire,” but if I choose to stay home with children in the future.  Could I have a schedule and get everything done within the day?  Would I actually clean the bathroom floor, or scrub the kitchen sink?  I despise cleaning (but love coming home to a clean home.)  Would I go absolutely crazy if I stayed around the house 7 days a week?  If it’s anything like Thanksgiving, I may need to reconsider my future plans!

Hair

I have had my hair cut twice at a “Best Cuts” or “Great Clips” with coupons ($12 or less per cut!) in the past and have always had to go home and fix the cut.  My mother was a hair dresser which is why I never had my hair cut, permed or highlighted professionally.  If I ever needed anything done, she would do it for me.  When I moved out, I started doing it myself (with an occasional cut from her here and there.)

Todd has become a master at cutting the back of my hair.  Before our trip this weekend, I asked him to cut my hair.  There is a length in the back that my hair curls under nicely without me having to do anything to it.  It is “above the mole.”   So…he did it!  A few snips, and voila!

Since I got out of the hospital last year, I started to lose a lot of my hair.  It was coming out in clumps in the shower, every time I would brush my hair, I’d have to clean out the brush, and I shed all over my clothes, my coats, everything.  I lost a good bit of hair.  Well, now that it’s coming back (thank goodness,) it’s a bit wavy!  I never had wavy hair in my life.  It is very thick and very heavy.  But for some reason, it likes to flip out like this!  This is my hair after a blow-dry and some hairspray.

It is definitely not perfect, and I will probably find longer strands for the next week that I will snip here and there, but to me, there is nothing like a free haircut! J  And it’s so easy to do (especially with layers, because you cant really screw up layers!)

((Please dont mind no clothes in the above picture. I probably should have put a shirt on before the picture was taken. Oh well, maybe next time.))

Prepareing for our Trip

 As you can imagine, Todd and I are getting more and more excited for our trip to Florida.  I have received an itinerary from the wholesaler that we won this trip through, and it is making the trip even more real.  We were informed that each room has a furnished balcony with a water view!  Not to mention plush robes are provided and a microwave and fridge in our room! 

I am still working on the parking situation for Cleveland Hopkins Airport.  I am torn as to who to choose for parking the car for nearly 4 days.

Todd and I will both have a carry-on to help save money.  Otherwise, we would have to pay $25 per bag we check.  When we went on our honeymoon in 2007, the airline lost our luggage. Luckily it was on the way HOME! We don’t want that to happen on this trip, nor do we want to pay to check a bag.  Todd is planning on taking a leather duffel bag on this trip and I am planning on taking our backpack. 

We have several rolling carry-ons, but they are not very convenient, in my opinion.  Plus, we like to take our backpack when we travel anyways, so this will cut down on what we take.  I like taking a backpack on our daily excursions because we can put snacks, camera, our Garmin and any souveneirs we pick up along the way…on our back!  I am not taking my purse at all. 

I have decided that I am going to K-I-S-S on this trip.  I am going to be packing the following in my backpack for the trip: 2 pairs of shorts, 3 shirts, 1 pair of PJ’s, 3 pairs of panties, 1 extra bra (yes, I wear my bras more than once between washes), 2 pairs of socks, slip on shoes, toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, hairspray and deodorant rock), iPod and camera.  When we get to the hotel, I will put everything in the dresser drawer, and we’ll have an empty backpack for our daily excursions.  I am not taking my laptop on this trip (Todd is bringing his NetBook) nor am I taking any books.  A lot of times, we pack so much into a day, we don’t have time to read!  By the time we get back to the hotel, I am exhausted and go to bed.  If I DO have time to read, I put some books on my iPod in case I want to read on the plane or at the beach.  If I want to check my emails, I have my iPod, or if I want to write a blog, I have the iPod or NetBook. 

When I mentioned to Todd that the rooms have a fridge and microwave, I was thinking we’d go pick up some snacks at the local Walmart (2 miles away from the hotel.)  I was thinking a nice bottle of wine, some popcorn, apples, granola bars and poptarts (breakfast is not provided at the hotel from what I understand.)  Todd brought up an even better idea.  He is talking about ordering a few large portions of Chinese or Mexican take-out and taking it to the hotel for mini-meals when we are there.  It would be a lot less expensive to eat at the hotel than to eat at all of these nice restaurants.  We will also bring my Kleen Canteen so we can fill it up with water and not have to pay for $1+ pop.  Another thing to put in the backpack on our excursions!

When we travel, we like to eat a continental breakfast at the hotel (usually for free!) and then we pay for a late lunch/early dinner.  This normally holds us over until the next morning.  That will change on this trip.  I am thinking poptarts or oatmeal will be eaten in the morning before we head out of the hotel, then we’ll have our snacks as needed and then eat a 1:00 lunch or so.  Maybe a snack/mini-meal when we get back to the hotel.

Do you have any other suggestions for us to help save money on this trip?

Heat

We broke down several weeks ago and turned on the heat in our house.  There were a couple of nights that got below 40 degrees, taking our house down to about 60.

Our home is heated with propane gas.  We have a 500 gallon tank in the back that we have to fill twice a year.  I am always thinking of new ways to reserve of resources (and save money!)  We have a fireplace in our Family Room.  I love wood fireplaces; however, Todd is completely convinced that they are not efficient.  He states that most of the heat goes straight up the chimney and out of the house.  So…to try something different, we bought a pot-bellied stove.  Todd installed it in the fireplace.  We found out that the bricks in the fireplace soaked up too much of the heat and left the room chilled.

We went to Lancaster County, PA (Amish Country) and stayed in a Menonite Cottage a year or so after having the failed pot-bellied stove.  The cottage had a propane fireplace that we used almost every night and just adored.  It looked so much like a real fireplace with wood burning!   Todd went online to take a look to see how much they cost.  He was always under the impression that they were $500+.  He found out that Home Depot had them available for less than $250! We ordered one right away.  Since then, we have been in warm bliss.

Todd installed the propane logs in the fireplace and put a heat-deflecting shield in the flew (spelling?  It sounds like “flu) of the fireplace.  This keeps the heat in the Family Room, which is our most-used room in the house.  Todd also installed a ceiling fan that we turn on as soon as the propane logs are turned on to circulate the warm air.  Within minutes of turning on the propane logs, the room is heated up to a comfortable temperature!

In the past, we tried to have our house heated with the furnace solely.  We went through 500 gallons of propane in ONE MONTH (Mind you, each fill up is over $600!) I am so glad we have come up with another source to heat our home more efficiently, and mainly in the room we use the most.

Our house was built as a small home.  Well, the previous owners put on several additions, and our home is an “L-shaped” home.  To heat up the one “wing” of the house, we use the propane logs.  The other side of the house, we use a pot-bellied stove that we stoke with wood in the Winter-time in the Living Room.  This keeps both sides of the house nice and toasty.  Our bedroom is located behind the Living Room.  Because the Living Room has vaulted ceilings, we didn’t get much heat into our bedroom.  This year, Todd rigged up a fan in the wall as well as a vent that will blow the hot air into our bedroom!

I call hubby “Super-Todd” because he can do pretty much anything.  I am so blessed to have a man that cooks, cleans, mends clothing (yes ladies, he is the one that sews in our house), decorates, works on the house, cuts wood and works on the car…just to name a few!  Our home would not be livable if it weren’t for his many talents.  And it wouldn’t look nearly as nice as it does today.  I am one lucky gal.

What do you do to save money?

I am always looking for new ways to save money.  What do you do to save money?

We do the following:

• Use Restaurant.com coupons (but only when we get them for 75%+ off!)
• Go to the dollar theater ($1.50/person thanks to inflation)
• Shop at thrift stores
• Shop at Aldi’s mainly, and then get meat on sale at local stores
• Make our own wine
• Do car repairs / home repairs ourselves (meaning Todd does them all! J )
• Eat In – we only go out to eat about twice a month
• Pack our lunches (though I DO go out to eat every Wednesday with a co-worker.  That comes out of my allowance money.)
• Compare prices on utilities to get the best rate
• Todd and I cut our own hair

The New Mortgage

Todd and I signed the paperwork a couple of weeks ago our refinanced mortgage.  Just to recap, we originally bought our house in 2007 – got a 20 year, 5.99% loan.  3 years later, we refinanced for 15 years at 3.85%.  We are cutting 2 years off of the mortgage, have a lower payment every month (not by much, but it still counts!) and will save over $25,000 in interest charges.

If we pay an additional $150/month, the mortgage will be a 10 year mortgage.

How awesome is that?  I would be 40 – Todd would be 50 if we were to pay the additional $150/month.  

We are on a debt payment budget right now, and strongly believe in Dave Ramsey’s teachings.  That being said, I am thinking about straying a bit from Dave’s teachings and pay the additional $150/month while paying down our other two debts (Todd’s vehicle loan and his credit card from BEFORE we were married.)  I am considering trying to start selling items on etsy.com and making this extra $150 so that it does not effect the other parts of the budget.

Do you or have you sold anything on etsy?

What are your thought on this?  Are we doing the right thing?

Retirement:

I have always enjoyed working with numbers as well as dreamed of an early retirement (like now!)  I also really enjoy watching numbers increase when it comes to my savings and investments (who doesn’t?).

Every so often, I check to see how my 401K at work is doing.  As of last week, I had a little over $24,000.  I have been in this position as a Purchasing Agent for 8 years, and all I’ve accumulated is $24,000?  I am a bit embarrassed about that.  I have been investing in my 401K since 2003!

I then found this article online:

http://www.moneyunder30.com/how-much-in-401k-at-30

I am 29 years old, and I make a little more than the number listed for 29 year olds, yet have $6,000 less in my 401K than what is listed as a suggestion!

This is even more motivation to get Todd’s vehicle paid off (soon!) as well as his credit card so that we can start investing with an ELP (Endorsed Local Provider) of Dave Ramsey’s in our area. I realize time is of the essence, but I wish I would have been more responsible before I was married and socked a lot more into the retirement account.  I suppose it doesn’t help that I lost over 18% when the market crashed a few years ago.

How are you doing with your retirement fund?  Are you on track?

How to Save on Christmas

It is coming … Christmas!  I love Christmas-time.  I enjoy spending time with the entire family, laughing and playing games, cooking and eating together, and exchanging gifts!  I could do without receiving any gifts, but I love to give gifts.

 I’m not sure how I would feel about gift giving if I were rushed and choosing from bare isles the day before Christmas.

 I start my Christmas shopping January 1^st of every year.  At this time, there are so many items that are on sale for 75% + off.  For instance, my mom adores Celine Dion.  So, as a gift, she is getting Celine Dion perfume from WalMart that was marked down 75%.  My father-in-law is difficult to buy for because he wants for nothing and has it all.  Well, because I have been keeping an eye out for everyone, I found the perfect gift for him! If I didn’t have 12 months to look around and prepare, I’d be stressed around the holidays.

 I love clearance and sales.  If there is an item on sale that I want, I try to determine who I could give it to as a gift.  This way, I get a good deal but it doesn’t clutter the house!

 This only works well if you have a designated spot to hide all of these items throughout the year. It also only works if you remember what you bought for everyone or have it written down to refer to. Because I am so stocked up on gifts, I don’t have to worry about shopping for birthdays.  I pick something out of the stash and whatever is left, they get for Christmas.

 My favorite stores to shop for sales the first two weeks of January:
WalMart
Bath & Body (lotions & body wash are $4/each the 2^nd week of January, I think it is! I stock up and give as gifts throughout the year)
Kirklands
Big Lots (all year round)
Cracker Barrel (the stores have a clearance corner that I get a lot of gifts from throughout the year!)

 My favorite gift that I am most excited to give this year: a DVD teaching a couple how to salsa dance.  I bought it for my father and his wife as a “date night” gift. I bought this gift on clearance from a store that was closing. I am currently looking for a restaurant / lounge to purchase a gift certificate for the two of them to go to dinner and show off their new moves!

Quote:

"Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship"- Benjamin Franklin

From All Things Frugal.com

Quote:

"I went to the bank and reviewed my savings.  I found out I have all the money I'll ever need.  If I die tomorrow."

~Henny Youngman

Jeff Yeager  The Ultimate CHEAPSKATE'S ROAD MAP TO TRUE RICHES

Our Spend-Free Weekend!

Todd and I only get every-other weekend together due to his rotating schedule at work.  That being said, we like to go out and have lunch together and do something fun one day of the weekend, and the other is spent at home getting things done.

This weekend is the first weekend in a LONG time that we had an absolutely spend-free weekend.  We didn’t spend a dime.  Or even a penny for that matter!  We probably SHOULD have (we ran out of dog food Monday morning – she got some cat food to substitute, apples, and stale bread), but we didn’t.

How could this be?  Saturday, I went to visit my father and his wife along with my two adorable nieces.  Todd stayed home because he wanted to get some projects done around the house (he’s making Squiggy’s bachelor pad outside.)  Sunday we stayed around the house and relaxed a bit.  I walked the dog, cooked some muffins, picked berries, read a book and watched a movie.  Todd watched a football game and relaxed.  It would have been really easy to order pizza, but we ate leftovers instead.

This may seem like no big deal to many – but for us, it is huge.  Even though our weekends are never really expensive (we only get a $100/month entertainment budget), this goes to show that we CAN do it.  And to be honest, I think we should do it more often!

Do you find that you spend more easily on the weekends?

If so, on what?

How We Saved Over $750

Over the past few months, I have been listening to Dave Ramsey’s FREE podcast on iTunes.  I’ve read his books over the past year and have been inspired, but listening to his podcast has really helped me get “gazelle intense.”  I decided that I wanted to see what we could do to lower our monthly utilities.

It started with a flier in the mail for Satellite.  The flier was for a package costing $29.99.  I knew we paid A LOT more than that from the same company.  I asked Todd to call the company.  Needless to say, we got $15/month knocked off of our bill just for giving them a call.   $15 x 12=$180/year

 Trash:  We have had our current trash company since we moved into the house in 2007 because they were the only ones that would service our area.  I noticed that there was another truck in the area and found them online.  When I called to get a quote – it was HALF the price of the company we are using.  So, instead of paying $96 every 3 months, it is now $43 every 3 months.  $53 x 4 = $212/year

DSL: We had a promotion on our DSL for one year that expired.  So, I paid the new price of $56 for a month.  I decided to shop around to see if I could do better.  There was another company offering DSL for $29.99.  I called the original company and let them know that I found a better price and that I’d like to stay with them.  They matched their competitor’s price for me!  The contract is extended for $29.99/month until next year.  The customer service rep said to call again next year and they will re-adjust it again to keep me as a customer.  The bill per month now: $32.  $24 x 12 = $288

 Mortgage :  Todd and I have a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) on our house when we bought it  3 ½ years ago.  It was a 20 year loan at 5.99%.  I found out that we could get a 15 year mortgage for 3.85% from the same bank we use.  By making this change, we are saving $15/month on our mortgage payment, cutting 2 years off of our mortgage and saving $25,000 in interest over the life of the loan (assuming we’d pay the loan off in 15 years.)   We will pay an additional $150/month toward the mortgage and it will be paid off in 10 years.  We are winning all the way around with this deal.  $15 x 12 = $180

That right there saves us $860 a year and we haven’t had to adjust our standard of living.  It is amazing what these companies will do to keep your business!

I did this with our propane carrier as well.  They jacked up our rates and I refused to lock in.  I called and told them that I had a quote from another supplier.  The lady was not very pleasant on the phone, so I informed her that we would be discontinuing our service with them as soon as our tank was out of propane.  We got a letter in the mail from a Manager who lowered our rates and is locking it in for a year!  We are saving $300/year and staying with the same company.

 There is ONE LAST THING we saved on this past month.  3 years ago, when we first moved into our house, I got a speeding ticket on a back country road on my way into work (yes, I am a speed daemon : 61 in a 45.)  Insurance for our two cars was over $550 every 6 months.  Now that the ticket dropped off the insurance, our insurance is now $320 for 6 months! That is $230/half we are saving.  This has helped me see the cost of speeding and has helped control my lead foot!

 I did not include the last two items in my total (which would be $1620/year!) because not everyone has propane and not everyone is reckless with their speed. Everything else was easily negotiated and took less than an hour to negotiate a savings of $860!