Pay Attention!

Hi everyone! I apologize for the delay in posting. Summertime is always an adjustment in our household. First I will give you the good news. Since my last post, I have finally graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Science. I have also been actively looking for and applying to jobs. At first, I was only looking at careers relevant to my degree, but given our latest turn of events, I have resorted to looking at retail jobs as well. Desperate times require action! In other great news, my in-laws came to visit to meet their great-grandchild. It was wonderful to see them and as an added bonus, my father-in-law, who can fix anything, fixed my stove burners and our broken fence gate! Yee haw! That’s two less things to worry about. Now, I will move into the bad news.  We are in a major financial crisis.

I know, I know that you are thinking, “Wait – I thought a major financial crisis is what started this blog in the first place!” and you are right. We thought we hit rock bottom right after Christmas when I started this blog and we cut up the credit cards. Well, after our grandchild was born, everything was thrown into chaos and we did not stick to our budget. Her health and safety were a priority and we used up all of our savings in addition to spending beyond what we were really capable of spending. We also maxed out a credit card to attend a family wedding over 1,000 miles away. Family is important – very important. However, in hindsight, I am thinking that there must have been a better financial way to go about things. I could have gone to garage sales and thrift stores to find baby items. We could have driven to the wedding and saved a few hundred dollars. However, what’s done is done and now we are really facing the consequences of our actions.

We have been struggling financially like teenagers who have run away from home – it is really ridiculous! Only we have kids to take care of! We have no savings, and we are down to nothing in our checking. This is SO scary without credit cards to fall back on. We have a tiny bit of cash to make it until payday, which is in five days.I guess this is what happens when you don’t pay attention! Getting out of debt takes constant vigilance. I’ve been paying credit card bills without looking at what my family needs to survive. At this point, I am not even paying our student loan payment (we put it on forbearance again! ARGH) and we are paying the minimums or less than the minimums on the credit cards. Given our current situation, I should have stopped all credit card payments if I was paying attention enough to see this looming financial disaster.

Here are some really poor financial decisions that have happened lately. First of all, both our our cars have had serious issues in the last month. We opened a credit account with the auto repair company to get the work done. Ugh! I am so ashamed! I’m not sure how we could have done that better at this point. I suppose we could have only fixed one car and let the other one sit until we had the money to fix it. Secondly, our oldest son still living at home needed his wisdom teeth out ASAP. He just had his braces come off a few months ago, and his wisdom teeth were threatening to make his teeth crooked again. We had to apply for dental credit to get this done as well. Luckily, insurance covered about half of it, but credit is credit. Thirdly, it is summer. I confess. I signed the kids up for activities. Soccer camp for one – $112. Guitar lessons for another – $65. Horseback riding for another – $80. The kids are getting older, yet they are not old enough to get a summer job. In my opinion, they need SOMETHING to keep them occupied. In my opinion, this is much less than most kids do over the summer. However, it is money that we didn’t have to spend. We have also been spending a lot more on groceries – over $1,000 a month for the last few months. See what happens when you don’t pay attention?! Yes, we have two very tall teenagers and a growing elementary school child at home, but that is outrageous and I am totally to blame.

Okay, confession time is over. Now back to good news.My husband has decided to take over the budget – hooray! Obviously, I am not very good at it. We discussed expenses together and worked out a plan. Starting with the next paycheck, a significant amount is automatically going into savings. For the time being, I will not be getting my hair colored at the salon (I’ve only been going four times a year, but it’s crazy expensive!). I will not be buying new clothes for anyone – thrift stores only for now if something is needed. We cut out the land line and cable. It’s a bare bones budget, but it is worth it. My husband also put in a budget category for fun family activities! Yay! That is really important – our kids are growing up so fast and we need to enjoy the time we have with them.

Happy summer, everyone! Keep on working those budgets and ALWAYS pay attention to where your money is going!!!

Shopping for Appliances the Frugal Way

When my husband and I bought our home over four years ago, the kitchen was (and still is!) my least favorite room in the house. All of the appliances were from the late 1980′s with the exception of the electric range. The photo on the left is a photo that I took this morning of our actual range from 1979 – it was installed when the house was built. As you can see, it is a tolerable color (thank goodness!) – not the usual avocado green or mustard yellow. It worked perfectly up until about four months ago – the exact time that our savings was completely depleted. When it rains, it pours, doesn’t it? Can you see the little notes on the knobs that say “Do Not Use”? The electric coil burners have been going out one by one and now we are down to two small coils. The oven still works, although it runs rather hot (25 degrees F over what it should be, to be exact), but I can adjust for that. Since we do not have any extra money to spend on a new range, we are living with it. Our credit cards are still destroyed and we are living without them. In the meantime, I have been shopping around to see what is out there. When we have some extra cash to finally replace the range, we will get a good deal because I am doing my research.

The first thing that you should ask yourself when buying an appliance is if it can be repaired or not. The coils on our range cannot be replaced because they have actually fused themselves to the appliance and cannot be removed. This also makes me think that our stove has become a fire hazard as well. Sigh! Many times a repair can be made that will fix the issue with your appliance at a fraction of the cost of buying a new one. Call several appliance repair shops and get price quotes.

Another place to check for bargains is Craigslist. I have been poking around here to see what might be available. I have found several nice electric ranges that are around $100-$200 less expensive than buying new. Usually the people selling the ranges have remodeled their kitchen and are replacing a perfectly good appliance. Some of these appliances are very inexpensive, but if you look at the photo that goes with it, you will see why. The cheapest appliances usually look like my range – OLD and on their last legs. If you shop carefully and move quickly to get what you want, great deals can be found here. You could also ask family members or friends who are remodeling their kitchens.

If you are going to buy a new appliance, compare prices. It may be easiest to go to the store closest to you or the store most familiar to you, but shop around and you could save hundreds of dollars. If you can, wait until the holiday sales come around. I recently saw some very good deals over Memorial Day weekend.

Patience is the key, my friends. Believe me, I am going to need it because as I was reheating a cup of coffee this morning, my microwave made a horrible noise and I fear it is about to die as well… C’est la vie!

. . . and we’re back!

Wow. Has it really been several months since my last post? Things have been really crazy on the home front. First of all, my husband and I unexpectedly became grandparents in February. Since this news came out of nowhere, we had not budgeted for the arrival of a baby in our family. Needless to say, we used up all of whatever savings we had (not that much there in the first place!) making sure that our granddaughter and her parents had what they needed to get started on their parenting journey. Secondly, since our son and his girlfriend are still in high school, I volunteered to babysit so they can finish the school year. I have been taking my last college classes online while babysitting an infant during the day. Of course, I still have three of my own children to take care of as well. Whew! Totally exhausting.

Unfortunately I had to quit my retail job about a month ago. The very early morning hours working shipment, then coming home to classes and babysitting, was just too much for me. I was not functioning well. As they say, when mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy. That was certainly the case in our house. I had no time to budget, no time for the grocery menu planning, no time for anything it seemed. So, I quit. Even after I quit, things seemed hectic. I really forgot how difficult it is to take care of a newborn!

Well, this month I am accomplishing a goal that I set out for myself over twenty years ago. I am finally getting my BA in two weeks. It hardly seems real! At this point, all of the tedious coursework is done and I am wrapping things up. I am taking a few months off to give my own kids some much needed attention and to give myself some badly needed rest and relaxation. I have started back up faithfully with our budget and menu planning. No more eating out on crazy weeknights – we are ready now.

Although we had a few serious financial setbacks, we are still better off than we were in January. Admittedly, it is not by much. As of June 1st, we have only paid off $1500 of the debt that we started with on January 1st. After a month or two, I plan on starting a serious job search. Once I start working full time by the end of this year, we will be able to really put a dent in our financial mess! We are still forging forward despite my lack of employment and we’re ready to work with that “gazelle intensity” once again.

Hang on folks, another post is on it’s way. I promise!

Debt Reduction Update

Hi everyone! Life has been very stressful and crazy lately, above and beyond my last post about work and school. My husband and I found out last week that our 18 year old son just had a baby girl… 2 weeks prior! Very, very stressful times, folks. Needless to say, with the baby supplies that we had to buy, our debt reduction plan has been somewhat slowed down. However, our total debt as of today is $174,326. Our debt has still gone down by $721 – even with all of the added financial burden and stress, we are still reducing our debt. Our emergency fund has definitely come in handy! An emergency fund is a necessity!

Need to take a break, folks.

Hi readers!

I am going to have to put this blog on hold while I finish up my BA degree. I finish in June, and I’ll be back then with lots of great get-out-of-debt information. I want to keep posting my family’s progress each month with paying down our debt, but other than that, I’ve got to focus on school and family. I also finally received more work hours, but it’s draining all of my energy! Keep on plugging away at that debt folks – we can do it!

The Latte Factor

I’m sure many of you are familiar with David Bach and his books. He mentions the “Latte Factor” which is according to his website, “based on the simple idea that all you need to do to finish rich is to look at the small things you spend your money on every day and see whether you could redirect that spending to yourself.” Well, I quit drinking coffee about 3 days ago. Initially, I chose to do this because of health reasons (I was drinking almost 500mg of caffeine daily!), although now that I think about it, my husband and I have spent an awful amount of money on coffee in the past. In our heyday of insane credit card use, we may have gone out for coffee 2 times per week at about $9 each time. That adds up to about $20 per week, $80 per month, or $960 per year!!! That is a lot of money, folks. It is frightening to figure out how much little purchases like this can add up quickly. If you happen to pay for your coffee with credit cards (which we did quite frequently), take into account the interest you will pay as well. Scary numbers. Today is the first day that I feel somewhat normal – the excess caffeine must have been affecting my sleep without me realizing it because I pretty much slept all weekend. I’ve been drinking lots of green tea to help me along. Yes, green tea contains caffeine, but significantly less than coffee. I have not had any bad headaches – only a faint one and a “foggy” sort of brain for the time being. Not great for getting up at 4 or 5 am for work and taking night classes, but I need to think of the health benefits.

Cutting out the excess spending may be painful at first, much like quitting my coffee habit, but the end results will be worth it. Somehow my husband and I have paid off exactly $2,000 in debt last month. Without using a single credit card! Our total debt as of February 1st, not including our mortgage, now stands at $175,047. Still a mountain of debt… but it’s LESS than last month! This is the first time in I don’t know how long that our debt has actually decreased. This is great news and I am feeling happy and optimistic today despite my decaffeinated state.

Impulsive Spending! Yikes!

Hi everyone! I hope you all have had a nice Monday. I spent it trying to re-brainwash myself to STOP spending!!! We were doing so well with our budget and we blew it this weekend. I got a refund check from money leftover from new student loans. Nothing huge, but it gave me the feeling that we have lots of cash to spare. This is not the case, nor has it EVER been the case! Let me tell you what went wrong this weekend…

Well, the refund check arrived on Friday and we promptly deposited it. We discussed in full where this money was going to go. Since it is technically still debt, we were planning on paying off higher interest debt with it (We have 2 cards with almost 30% interest). I had the day off from work on Saturday, so I had a lot of homework to catch up on. It is an online class on the science behind cooking, and my lab assignment was to make a souffle and discuss the science behind lofty egg white foam, etc. Well, the recipe called for 8 ramekins. I only had 4. Instead of asking my neighbors if they had any ramekins to spare, I went out and spent $14 on 4 new ramekins. Not smart. Then, since I was making the souffle until 5pm, dinner was not ready, so we ordered take out and spent another $30!!! Ugh! It’s spiraling downward, people! Then next morning, I had to be at work at 6am, so on my lunch break I spent $4 at Starbucks on a latte and a Sunday newspaper (I did use the remaining $2.50 on a cell phone rebate card). As I was leaving work, I was tempted by the sales I see all day at work and left with $52 worth of clothing for my kids!!! As I left the store, I knew this was a HUGE mistake. Ugh. We spent $100 total that was not budgeted for! What caused me to spend all of this money?

First of all, I have been utterly exhausted. Staying continually motivated takes energy in itself, so I need to make sure that I am getting enough sleep every night. This is really hard because my husband is a night owl and I like to hang out with him after the kids are in bed. Guess, we’ll just have to make sure they are tucked in earlier. Maybe I would have been more likely to go out and ask my neighbors for ramekins if I wasn’t so exhausted.

I also need to stay healthy since it is easy to get depressed about everything when I am sick and then the house gets trashed by the family. Moms, you know what I am talking about here! I have been fighting a cold for weeks now. Nothing full blown, but a nagging cough going on. I’ve been taking my vitamin D but have been lagging on the exercise front. I’ve been running 3 miles every other day this week and I notice a huge difference in how I feel. I cleaned the house today and it makes me happy to be in an organized space.

I really don’t know why I spent all that money at the store where I work. I didn’t even buy that many things: socks and leggings for my youngest, khaki capris and flats for my middle child, and a pair of shorts for the oldest. I guess the overspending had to do with my overall mood. The gloomy winter days and the very early morning work hours just took their toll on me, I guess. I have to say that in the past, we could have spent $200 in a weekend without even blinking an eye – so we are not back to where we started. I guess that $100 will have to come partially out of the February grocery budget and partially out of that student loan check. YUCK! Today, I did not overspend, the kid’s lunches were packed and I kept repeating my mantra “Just one day at a time.” Gosh, being on a budget is a lot like dieting, isn’t it?!

Live Like No One Else…

Hi folks! Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything, but I finally have been scheduled more work hours. Financially, this is great, but add homework, college classes and the kids to the equation, and it gets a little messy. I’ve been having to wake up at 4 or 5 am all week to get to work. I am constantly repeating Dave Ramsey’s phrase, “Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.” However, how long can I continue on like this? It’s only been a few weeks and I am already beat. Our debt is so huge that it’s going to take ten or more years of gazelle intensity. It is really discouraging. By that time, our kids will be grown up. How does one stay motivated?

We are keeping up with the budget, but we are still unable to pay the minimums on the credit cards. The annoying calls from the credit card companies are starting – no angry people yet, but I’m expecting it to happen eventually. One good thing is that DH and I paid a whopping minimum payment on our largest student loan – $774. We cannot continue to have it grow and gain interest. Of course, this means that our grocery budget will have to be cut even further. Sigh!

To stay motivated I am trying to get plenty of sleep, take my vitamins (especially vitamin D), and eat lots of fruits and veggies. I’m sure things will get better once I graduate in June. I just have to keep on truckin’, people.

Dump the Land Line…?

Dumping the land line and relying only on a cell phone for your main form of communication seems to be a trend these days. My sister and her husband do this. They don’t have any problems. Why am I having such a hard time with this decision? There are a few reasons, but I am not sure that they are good enough to continue to pay for a land line.

The first reason why I have not canceled the land line is because we currently pay only about $16.95 per month through our cable company and this includes long distance. It’s a promotional rate, however. When it expires in the next year(and I’m not exactly sure which month this is going to happen) the price will go up to $39.95. Perhaps then I’ll feel better about canceling it. The other thing I am worried about is that we get a bundled rate for internet, cable and phone. What will happen if I cancel the phone and go back to basic cable for $15 per month? I’ve been wanting to do this with the cable for awhile now. The Disney Channel is driving me crazy!

What about all of my contact information for work and school? I suppose this is a lazy excuse. It shouldn’t take that much time to update my phone number. I am also worried that if there was some kind of emergency and I was unable to charge my phone if the electricity was out, how would anyone get in touch with me? That may be a legitimate concern.

Supposedly it is now alright to dial 911 from a cell phone and if you are unable to talk, many metro police departments can pinpoint your location from cell towers. That makes me feel a little better.

There are also some alternatives to land lines… Does anyone out there have any experience with Ooma? There are some up front costs, but it allows you to make free phone calls using your high-speed internet service. I’m curious about this – leave a comment if you know anything about it! Vonage is about $24.99 per month and it also uses your internet service. I know that a lot of people use Skype to communicate as well. Skype offers a “pay as you go” plan as well as a monthly plan.

Truthfully, this all seems too complicated to me. I think I’d rather just eventually cut the land line and rely on our cell phones – currently everyone in our house (except our 8 year old) has one. Now all I have to do is call the cable company to figure out when our phone rate will go up and then I’ll know when it’ll be time to dump the land line. Do you have a land line? Do you regret not having one? Tell us about it!

Budget Family Travel

Travel? Yes, travel! You know, that thing called a vacation that so many of us are lacking these days? I’m bringing up vacations because we are currently planning a trip out of state for my brother-in-law’s wedding in April. I’ve got to plan this out since I can’t just charge it up on the credit cards. It’s not an option – at all! Eeek! How are we going to do this? Very carefully, that’s how!

The very first thing that I had to do was to compare the cost of flying vs. driving. My first stop was to look up the gas mileage of our minivan at www.fueleconomy.gov. According to the website, it is “maintained jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The site helps fulfill DOE and EPA’s responsibility under the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 1992 to provide accurate MPG information to consumers.” I had no idea this site was out there! Lots of good information can be found here. I found out that my minivan gets about 17 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. Much better than I thought, actually.

I then went to GasBuddy.com to find out what the average cost for a gallon of gas is these days. According to the website, it’s at about $2.72 per gallon, and it seems to be increasing. For my calculations, I’ll use $3 per gallon just to be on the safe side, and the highway 24 mpg. I calculated the total miles we’ll travel on Google Maps. (It’s 1,356 miles – yikes!) I discovered that we’ll spend approximately $340 on gasoline round trip.

Since our kids are older, we are going to try and do this trip in two full days. I looked up the hotel, and for our big family, one room is about $95 for the night. I’m going to round up and say it’ll be $200 round trip for hotels. What’s left? Food! For the first day, I’ll pack food for breakfast and lunch and which will keep the cost down. I’ll also pack LOTS of snacks – gotta keep those kids fed and happy in the car, you know! Since we’ll be spending most of the time out-of-state with family, I’m going to set a food budget of about $200. The total cost of driving for our family turns out to be around $740.

For calculating the cost of flying to our destination, I use Expedia.com. I can also calculate how much a rental car will cost. The total cost of flying – just flights and rental car – is $1426. That’s a difference of $686! Guess, it’s driving for us.

Although I would LOVE to use our tax refund to pay off debt, it is looking like we are going to have to use it for this trip. One question that you should always ask is:  Is it really worth it to take a vacation at this point in time? Can you really afford it? Well, if I asked myself that question right now, the answer would be no – we cannot afford this. However, family is extremely important to me and a wedding in which our youngest daughter is going to be a flower girl is an experience not to be missed! Family is the exception to the rule in my opinion, just don’t use credit to get there!

If you decide to put off a vacation far away in exchange for – dare I say it – a “staycation”, find a local blog that highlights free events in your area. I regularly visit two blogs that focus on fun free things to do here in Portland, Oregon. Check out Around the Sun and Portland on the Cheap. You will not be disappointed!

If you are interested in reading more about planning a frugal family vacation, Get Rich Slowly has a new post on this topic. Read about it here. Mommysavers also has a post about this topic. Lots of great information can be found. The key is to do your research, compare prices and decide if it is really necessary. Happy traveling! Have a great weekend everyone.