Frugal Mania

This recent post on Tight Fisted Miser had me wondering about how people think about their spending habits and what frugal might mean to people in various walks of life.

In this post we are going to start at the beginning and take a good look at our spending habits and how we can better make decisions about what is and is not frugal and what areas we are willing to make changes on – or not.

The first step in the process of learning to spend less, live more frugally and eventually save money is to know exactly how much you are spending.  This is probably the most crucial step as well as the majority of people don’t have a true understanding of where their money goes.  The easiest way to accomplish this is to get a receipt for every penny to spend, every time.  Keep the receipts and put them in an envelope.  At the end of each week, take out your receipts and break down what you have spent into categories.  Some of the basic categories I use are:

• Entertainment
• Food
• Fuel and Auto Expenses
• Home Bills
• Reimbursable Expenses

HELPFUL TIP:  One suggestion that may help you better make this sorting idea work for you is to have an envelope for each category you are using and putting the receipts into the correct envelope as you bring them home.

Once you have your receipts sorted you should have a real idea of how much money you spent that week.  Now look deeper, especially into the negotiable expenses like food and entertainment.  Specifically you should look for items that you may not need or could spend less by buying in another way.  Fast food for example, should be eliminated in most cases.  Bite the bullet and bring your lunch from home.  Buy coffee on the way to work?  Stop.  It will cost you less to make it at home and bring a thermal mug with you.  Most offices have coffee and you will survive the commute with a mug you brought from home.

This is a tough sticking point for a lot of frugal newbies – they don’t seem to understand that spending five bucks at the local fast food drive thru every day adds up quickly, and that by packing leftovers or even a sandwich at home to have for lunch can save you a lot of money!

While I am on that particular soapbox, I need to tell you to stop buying bottled water.  Unless you live in third world country with filthy ponds as your only water source you are wasting money.  If you are worried about contaminants in your tap water, get a filter.  They’re cheap.  Work with me here, people.

In order to get a handle on our spending, we have to know what we are spending and make some tough decisions.  It takes dedication and most of all, will power. If you are truly dedicated to improving your financial situation though, it is entirely possible.  Thousands of people are doing it every day and you can too, no matter what your situation is.

What would we do without the phone?  Old Alexander Graham Bell (or Antonio Meucci, depending on your particular school of thought) would never believe what his simple invention has become.  The phone has become an indispensable part of most of our daily lives.

With land lines, cell phones, car phones, smart phones and now VoIP  Internet phone services, being connected is easier (and more expensive) than ever.  What can you do to save money without losing your ability to stay connected?  Here are a few tips:

Home Land Lines

How much do you actually use yours?  In my house there are two calls that come in on my home land line number – my mother-in-law and telemarketers.  Next month we are dropping the land line entirely.  Relax Mom, you have our cell phone numbers.

If you can’t drop the land line entirely, take a look at what you are paying for along with the very basic service. You don’t need the bells and whistles.  Really. In all probability you don’t need long distance on your land line since your cell phone gives it to you for free.  Drop the long distance carrier and you will drop the monthly fees associated with it.

Drop call waiting.  Before it was invented, people got a busy signal, they knew you were on the phone and they called back.  Nowadays people (my mother-in-law) expect you to answer even if you are on an important (telemarketing) call.  The nerve!

Cell Phones

Okay now let’s be realistic.  You are in your twenties, thirties or beyond.  What do you need with 1500 text messages a month?  How many times can you possibly send “OMG!”, “O RLY?” or “SRSLY!” before it gets old?  Drop the text package and save some green every month. OMG.  SRSLY!

VoIP and Internet Telephony

• Skype
  By now we have all heard of Skype; the VoIP (Voice Over IP) Internet phone service that costs next to nothing.  By paying only an annual fee, you are able to make and receive telephone calls through your computer’s high speed Internet connection for no additional cost.
• magicJack
  This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen, and all the kudos must go to by dad who told me about it a few weeks ago.  The magicJack plugs directly into the USB port on your computer and works just as a standard wall jack would with any telephone, allowing you to make and receive all the free phone calls you like in the United States and Canada.  There is currently a free 30-day trial offer going on as well.  The magicJack itself cost about twenty bucks and you are able to use it for a month to try the service for yourself.
• Phonehog
  Sign up and agree to receive advertising offers and you will receive a free phone card and the advertisers pay for the minutes on your card.  A great idea for emergency phone calls when you are away from home.  What about signing up and giving the card to your kids?

Surprisingly (at least to me), I get email from readers on a regular basis asking me for additional information on a post or even posing their own questions.  This is one such question that I found particularly topical for a post here at Frugal Mania:

Dear Frugal Michael,

I’ve been very good about using frugal ideas around the house and your recipes are the bomb!  I do have a question for you though.  My husband and I have been working really hard to get ourselves out of debt and we are finally in a position where we can start putting a little bit of money aside every month or whatever.  We want to start investing or saving but don’t really have a clue where to start except for maybe getting a savings account at the bank.  can you help?

Cynthia in Asheville

Dear Cynthia,

Thanks for taking the time to write!  I was in the same position recently and spent some time investigating my options for saving and growing my savings (both of which are important).  I actually closed my 401k because it wasn’t doing very well and I didn’t have much money in the account anyway.

I considered Certificates of Deposit but the rates are in the toilet – much like the economy is these days.  My grandparents grew their money quite well with CDs but at that time they were earning 14% or higher for a 12 month CD and I can’t get that sort of rate no matter how much I invest.  I do have an account at ShareBuilder and even have a handful of stocks  but the stock market is (you guessed it), in the toilet.  What to do?

The savings account at my credit union doesn’t have a rate of return that was appealing to me whatsoever, so I ended up opening an online savings account with HSBC, and I am now earning a respectable (at least in the current economy) 3.50% APY on my modest savings.

What I recommend is to look at how much you have to invest in savings and try to commit yourself to a set amount each month – even in that amount is no more than five dollars.  That money will grow over time, and with a savings account like the one I set up, you do have an ATM card that allows you to access the money in case of an emergency.

Whatever you decide, definitely start saving for a rainy day right away.  The longer you wait, the closer those rainy days may be!

Making Credit Work For You

Make your credit cards pay you, not the other way around! There are tons of card companies these days that offer ‘pay you back’ incentives – usually one to two percent (1-2%) of your purchases. If you are lucky enough (like I was), you’ll find that even your debit / check card will offer you some sort of rewards program. When I realized that I was already involved in a reward program at my credit union, I was able to redeem the points I had already earned for a $100 VISA gift card, all for doing nothing other than using my debit card like I would have done anyway. If that ain’t a deal, I don’t know one.

If you are like most people, you have more than one credit card. While the most important considerations should always be the interest rate and total debt on your cards, you still owe it to yourself to find out if any of your current credit cards offer cash back or rewards programs. After all, you might be entitled to something you didn’t even know was available!

Give your credit card companies a call – heck, at least this time you won’t have to cringe when you talk to them!

This post is the first in a series on frugal savings. The entire series is catalogued in the “Money” category for easy reference. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, or if you want to see your favorite frugal tip on Frugal Mania, just leave a comment on any post.

You know all that stuff sitting in your garage that you don’t use, don’t want to throw away but just can’t seem to get around to taking to a local charity’s donation center?

I’ve got the perfect solution for you – Freecycle it!

Freecycle is one of the coolest ideas I’ve seen in ages, and as a member myself I can personally attest to how great it works. The entire premise is perfect for frugal types like me. When you visit the website, you can search for the mailing list of the group in your area.

If you need something, you post to the mailing list in your area telling the other members what you need. Likewise if you have something to give away, you can post about that too. The only hard and fast rule is that all items have to be free, though the specific rules for posting to the list may vary depending on your local area, so be sure to read the details that you’ll receive in your welcome email!

If you’re anything like AntiChristy over at Urban Ecoist, you have tons of stuff that would be perfect for Freecycling!

Frugality isn’t really a leisurely pursuit; it’s more of an obsession.

When you see a penny laying there all lonely in a parking lot, do you pick it up or are you worried what the other shoppers might think? What if that shiny coin were actually a five dollar bill?

“See a penny, pick it up. All day long it brings good luck!”

My granny taught me that catchy little rhyme when I was still shorter than she was, and it was a lesson well learned. I’ve been picking up loose change anytime I see it ever since. And so should you.

I haven’t met many people who don’t have some half hazard method for wrangling their loose change. Some of them just take it out of their pockets and leave it wherever they happen to be at the time. Today we’re going to take the first step in making those cents make sense.

It all starts with a jar.

Find a jar, a cup, or some other sort of container that you don’t need and place it near the spot where you most commonly empty out your pockets. Every time you walk in the door, empty your loose change into your container and leave it alone.

For the next thirty days, you are declaring a moratorium on coin spending. If you break a dollar bill for ninety cents, the dime needs to go into your jar. If you find some spare change when you vacuum under the sofa, jar it. At the end of thirty days, count it. If you have a savings account, deposit it. If you don’t, you need to get one. This is found money, but it isn’t allowed to be spent just yet. We’re building to something here.

A large percentage of the people I meet don’t have a red cent in savings and at least ninety percent of those people are no more than two paychecks away from being destitute. By doing nothing more than saving your pennies for a rainy day, you are steps ahead of ensuring that such a downpour doesn’t wash you down the drain.

Washington Mutual offers a free online savings account that currently earns 3.30% APY (Annual Percentage Yield). Let’s take a look at how your pennies can add up over the course of a year:

For simplicity’s sake, let’s begin with $3.30. Every month you deposit $3.30 (that’s $.11 a day) into a savings account that compounds monthly with a rate of return of 3.30%. At the end of the first year you will have about $43.62 in your savings account. I know that doesn’t sound like much money, but remember we are talking about saving eleven cents a day in this example. What if you saved $1.00 a day? $5.00?

The point here is that you save something. Chances are really good that you are never going to miss the change that you rarely spend anyway and by keeping it all in one place you are making it much easier to save it for your future.

Curious about investing? Rick @ My Stock Winners offers some great inside tips to get you started!

Michael the Frugal Maniac

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. Ours’ was blessed and we had a wonderful day together. Of course, my inner frugalista is still shuddering because I spent more than I wanted to, but I did shop smart for things that my family had to have on the table to make their Thanksgiving feel just right. I hope that all of you had an equally blessed Thanksgiving day.

So, it’s on to Hanukkah and Christmas. I’ve already posted a bit about my frugal Christmas gift ideas. When you are shopping, remember that frugal and cheap aren’t the same thing. Frugal brings to mind positive connotation of someone who avoids excess and waste. Cheap incites a negative vibe and is often synonymous with a lack of quality. Don’t buy cheap gifts for your friends and family. In fact, I would so far as to suggest that you not buy gifts at all if you do not have the money to buy or the time to make quality gifts. Quality is not always expensive, however.

You probably already know if you are a smart, frugal person or simply cheap. If you are not sure, however, ask yourself these questions: What do I feel in my heart about spending money on other people? Am I motivated by fear to hold on to money tightly? Do I feel shame for spending money on things that are “wants” instead of needs? Does my thriftiness negatively affect my family?

Spending money is not a bad thing. It is a necessary thing. Being wasteful or buying to excess or spending money on items that are not worth their cost is not smart. The frugal person knows there is a time to spend and a time to save and they do both with a level head.

Where have I been? To busyland and back, that’s where. I’m running to keep up. Fortunately for me soccer season is over for my boys and coach dad. And that reminds me . . . I’m suppose to be calling about basketball sign-ups today. *sigh* The to-do list is never too-done, right? But, alas, Thanksgiving is planned and shopped for. Embarrassingly I overspent by a landslide after adding dishes per request and reviewing portion sizes. I heard on the news this morning that the price of turkey has gone up this year and I agree. I swear my little five-pounder was only around $10.00 last year. Honest! This year it was around $15.00.

So, where’s the menu I promised? Here is what we’re so very blessed to have this year for Thanksgiving dinner:

Turkey
Ham
Macaroni and Cheese
Cornbread Dressing
Sweet Potato Casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Two types of rolls
Biscuits
Green Beans
Carrots
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Cherry Cream Cheese Pie
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cranberry Grape Juice
Cranberry Sierra Mist

This will feed us on Thanksgiving and straight through until the weekend is over. Given what I did and did not have on hand already(such as the turkey brine ingredients that I assumed I had already but did not) I probably spent about $70 on Thanksgiving. That’s four days of meals for five people. We’ll have leftovers of turkey pitas, turkey salad, turkey and ham sandwiches, etc. I also will cook a whole chicken to use in the cornbread dressing, so we’ll have those leftovers as well.

Now, enough talk about the planning and preparing! I’m ready to eat!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you are blessed this entire holiday season.

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Will you be watching any football over the Thanksgiving holiday? We’re big Auburn Tigers fans here and our rival game with the Crimson Tide is Saturday. War Eagle!

This week is budget week on the The View. Each day the ladies will be wearing outfits that cost less than $100. *yawn* Wake me up when you find one for less than $40, shoes and other accessories included. Oh, no, I’m not kidding.

Now I realize that they record the show in New York City and the cost of living is much higher there than here in the South East or other parts of the country, but don’t they have Target there? eBay? Overstock?

I know some of you are thinking, “Buying new? No way! Not when there is a thrift store near!” And I see your point. You can get brand name clothes for pennies at your local thrift store. I have to admit, though, that I have trouble with buying secondhand clothing from people I don’t know. While I would accept hand me down clothes from family members or close friends, I don’t like clothes from the thrift store.

So, I keep it frugal at Target, Goody’s, Overstock, and, yes, even Walmart if I see something cute. I *heart* Old Navy (as you might have guessed if you’ve been reading here long) and the clothes filling my children’s closets are more than half Old Navy brand clothing.

But back to budget week at The View! I can fill my closet with a whole season’s worth of brand new outfits, including shoes (I don’t do jewelry and won’t until my children are older as my toddler loves all things shiny.) for $200. Naturally I am unimpressed with one outfit for under $100.

‘Tis not to be, this thirty dollar Thanksgiving dream of mine. My husband gently told me that he would not appreciate a glazed turkey ham and instead requests “the real thing”. My oldest two sons agree and are looking forward to ham. I also heard “Um, sure. A chicken will be fine instead of a turkey. I mean, it’s not traditional, but, yeah, that’s fine.” Oh, it is SO not fine! So, turkey it is. The ham and turkey alone (small ones, too, since I’m only feeding two adults and three aged 6 and under) will cost me $30! My new goal is somewhere around $60 now but the menu hasn’t been completely nailed down. I hope to do that today and then I’ll post it. I realize that a sixty dollar Thanksgiving is still not expensive if it includes everything from the meats to the desserts, but I’m a little bummed nonetheless. Ah, well, I have to admit that I will certainly enjoy the turkey and ham.

So, what would I have prepared if I only had $30 to spend? Here is the list:

One turkey ham ($2.50 at Walmart) with this glaze (all ingredients on hand–$0)
One whole chicken-3-4lbs ($4.00–Walmart) cooked in the crock pot with various herbs that are on hand.
Cornbread dressing (most ingredients on hand, I’d leave out the celery, use chicken thighs that I have already and purchase eggs–$1.50–the remaining half dozen could be used in other recipes that day. )
Stuffing–My father would die if he knew, but my stuffing comes from a box ($1.50–Great Value) and I add cranberries ($2.00) and pecans ($1.50)
Macaroni and Cheese–1 box of macaroni ($1.00), Cheddar cheese soup ($1.00), 1 lb Colby cheese ($3.50)
Sweet potato casserole–My husband likes this dish prepared without a lot of extras, so ($2.00) for the sweet potatoes and ($1.00) for the pecans, and the butter, vanilla, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and milk are all regular ingredients in my pantry and fridge.
Green beans with almonds–Frozen,($1.50)
Glazed carrots–carrots on hand, cooked in a sauce of brown sugar and butter.
Homemade bread–I always have the ingredients for homemade bread on hand to pop into my $7-at-the-thrift-store-bread-machine.
Pumpkin pie–Pie shell ($1.00), canned pumpkin ($1.50), other ingredients on hand.
Cherry cream cheese pie–Pie shell ($1.00), cream cheese ($1.00), cherry pie filling ($2.00)

Voila! A complete Thanksgiving meal for less than $30.00!

Turkey Talk!

‘Tis the season to spend money, fa la la la la . . . or not! For frugal folks this time of year is both scary and exhilarating. While it’s fun to find great gifts for next to nothing, there is always the fear that it won’t work out. Let’s be honest, buying all of your gifts from the local dollar store is cheap. Of course, it’s doable, but many of the items are just not gift material. I believe in giving gifts that show good taste and are of good quality. Sure, you find add-ins and supplements to a great gift at the dollar stores, but a nice Christmas present does not consist of two glittery teddy-bear-in-a-Santa-hat figurines and a lavender scented candle from the Dollar Tree.

Still, Christmas gift giving does not have to be costly. Check out some of these ideas for inexpensive Christmas gifts.

1. Give food. For co-workers, teachers, the mail man, etc. try a gift of raw honey in a pretty, decorated jar. Homemade hot cocoa mix in a nicely decorated air-tight container is also a great gift. Cookie mix, pancake mix, a bag of gourmet coffee, a box of nice herbal tea, or a small box of good quality chocolates are also great Christmas gifts.

2. Give books. Remember my post about online book buying clubs? Now would be a good time to join and get several books for a very, very low price. When you are choosing your free or low priced books keep your friends and family in mind and pick books that they would enjoy. Remember to allow time for shipping. When buying Christmas gifts for your children remember that books should be an important part of a child’s life. Children can never have too many books, in my opinion.

3. Make a photo album. This is a great gift idea for grandparents. I made a scrapbook for my mother in law’s birthday one year. I included pictures of my boys alone, together and with her. Print pictures on card stock if this is an otherwise too pricey project.

That’s all I’ve got for today, but I’m keeping my eyes open for more frugal gift giving tips! Feel free to comment with your own.

Good Monday Morning to you! Did you notice the gas prices this weekend. Ugh! They are up, up, up again. Suggesting that my readers buy more efficient cars is silly because many of you are frugal out of necessity and a new car is not in the works right now. Of course, using a bicycle, walking and even public transportation can help your budget. Do those things if you can. I know first hand that sometimes it’s simply not possible to use anything other than a car.

I live 7 miles in one direction from my oldest son’s school and 11 miles in the other direction from my younger sons’ preschool. The grocery store is 11 miles away. While I have two different road options, one is the interstate (high speeds, low gas mileage) and the other is a “through town” route with many starts and stops. So neither route is particularly gas mileage friendly.

Here are some tips for helping gasoline to take you further:

Use cruise control if possible for highway driving.
Drive slowly and gently. Don’t make fast starts or stops. Driving over 60 mph reduces fuel efficiency.
Keep your tires properly inflated and your engine tuned.
Skip the additives that claim to boost your fuel economy. Most don’t really make a significant difference.

This time of year the following issue is, well, a non-issue, but what’s the story on driving with the windows down vs. using the air conditioner? Here is a great article about that debate! It seems that it really depends on fast you are going to be driving. This time of year we are more concerned about how long our cars are idling to warm up, though, aren’t we?

Check out this interesting blog about relationships

I hope that you had a great Halloween! I’ve got candy stored for Christmas stockings, Valentine’s Day and Easter. The kids are already over the candy for this holiday, thank goodness.

Up next? Thanksgiving! What’s on your menu this year? I’m planning mine now. My goal is to keep Thanksgiving dinner for a family of five under $30. Lucky for me, a small turkey will feed my family and several sides and a few desserts will do the trick.

Another good thing about Thanksgiving that can help with frugality is the fact that when many people get together everyone is usually responsible for one or two items. This provides plenty of food but keeps the cost per person at a manageable place.

Don’t forget about Thanksgiving sales at the grocery stores this time of year. Stock up on non-perishable sale items that you can
use all year ’round. A turkey dinner in March is not a bad idea!

If you can’t find a good sale on turkey (unlikely, but just in case) use chicken instead. Or, how about a vegetarian Thanksgiving?

This time of year many grocery stores will offer a free turkey to customers who spend a certain amount of money in a certain amount of time at their store. Remember that unless you were already planning to spend this amount, it’s not really a saving situation. It might be cheaper to buy your normal amount of groceries and buy a turkey yourself. If you use this time of year to stock up on certain items, though, you might be able to take advantage of the free turkey. (Or, if you’re feeding three growing boys and a husband who works 80 hours per week!)

When I finish planning my Thanksgiving menu I will post it (with recipes) and we’ll see if I stuck to my $30 goal!

Check out this great food history blog!

Did you happen to catch yesterday’s Oprah? The mother of six has spent her family into financial ruin. And her husband has not stepped in to help stop the madness. The family seems to be a picture perfect suburban family with a great home and money to burn. However, they have burned all of their money until none is left.

Of course, the reasons are psychological. The mother is trying desperately to fill an emptiness or whatnot. I am not here to judge as there was a time in my life when I was less frugal. (Granted, not to the financial devastation of my family.) Seeing this show served as a reminder to me that I should be thankful that it was fairly easy for my family to give up things such a big house in the ‘burbs and brand new cars so that I can stay at home with my children. My family has health insurance, two cars, and we own a with enough room for everyone to have their own space. We have plenty of food and new clothes when we need them. The blessings are endless. By embracing frugality we have been able to live comfortably.

If we had stayed in the town we were in (the town we adore and hope to move back to once I am working again!) after I quit my job we would have been in over our heads with “Keeping Up With The Jones’s”. I feel like moving away from that life, even though we had to move away from the best school system in the state, gave us perspective. We can move back and get the benefits of living in a great town without the baggage of playing the money games that people play. We are happy here with less and I think we will appreciate having more someday than we would have if we had not been forced into frugality.

I can promise this: No matter how much money I make I will never make daily visits to Starbucks (especially when I can make it at home for so much less!). Who would voluntarily waste money like that? Someone who is missing other parts of his or her self, that’s who!

Here is a great post about starting a business from home!

If you are reading this you either think you can’t afford to decorate (or redecorate) or you don’t want to waste any money when you do redecorate. Due to our busy schedule, my husband and I have owned our home for four years and not gotten together about the decorating of it until recently. For nearly four years we have lived here with the same white walls that the seller so nicely painted for us so we would have a blank palate on which to add our favorite colors and decor. Finally, at the end of the summer we started talking color!

Our oldest two sons’ rooms were the first to be done. I did each room for under $50! For my middle son’s room, his favorite color green (Lily pond green, to be exact) was painted on the walls, covering the ugly wood-colored molding at the top and creating the look of a higher ceiling. The paint is the Color Place brand from Walmart in a satin finish (easier to clean) and was $12 per gallon. I bought SpongeBob appliqués to decorate the walls for $10.00. He already had a SpongeBob comforter. I bought a set of SpongeBob sheets and because he doesn’t like to sleep under a flat sheet, I use the fitted sheet for his bed and the flat sheet was made into curtains. The sheet set cost $17.00. His room is bright and colorful and he loves it. It only cost me $39 to decorate.

My oldest son loves his Thomas and Friends comforter, so of course we went with that theme. The walls were painted Nimble Blue (or Thomas Blue as I called it immediately when I saw it). Appliqués were applied. I couldn’t find Thomas sheets, but I found Thomas fabric to match his comforter and for $12, I made two curtain panels.

My dining room will be complete with color, cushions and a table cloth. My living room needs color and throw pillows. We’ve recently rearranged it to bring new life to the room.

Decorating does not have to be expensive. A few touches and PAINT! can give your room a new look for very little money.

Read about National Kitchen and Bathroom Month.