Drop the land line???

We have talked about dropping the land line. I want to, but we have young kids, and I like the idea of having the easy 911 and access on the regular phone. One day my elementary school daughter came home from school on the bus while I was in Africa, instead of staying at the after-school program, simply because she (and the school) forgot I was away. She had a key in her backpack, let herself in the house, and calmly called a neighbor a few blocks away. She announced that she was at home alone. The adult friend rushed over in a panic to take her home with her until dinnertime, when my husband got home from work. My daughter remained calm. What would she have done if there wasn't a phone to use? I'm not quite ready to offer a cell phone to my 2nd grader... On the other hand, I think she could have found another neighbor within closer walking distance to help out, but still... I know it was a freak event, but I do want to get rid of that land line. But is the money saved worth the worry? How does it work of you need to call 911? Does anyone know?

Radio, Radio!

I just finished an phone interview with the Clark Howard show just a few moments ago. It will air sometime in the next few days, hopefully before I head to the airport to leave for Ethiopia. Although his radio show doesn't air in the DC area, we'll be able to listen to it online. You can click here to go directly to his website, and you'll see the links on the top-left to find a station near you. I hope you'll tune in and let me know what you think. I can't believe I forgot to mention my blog! Duh!

Clark Howard is all about saving money. As he said at the start of our show, he's cheap, and not afraid to admit it! Seems like I'll need to read more of his website, and start to Tivo his show on CNN. One of his goals is to provide "a roadmap to financial stability." Sounds good to me! Anyhow, you'll see he has lots of great topics related to what I've been blogging about - saving cash - and more!

Saving Cash - Day Whatever

The last week has been a long one for lots of health and personal reasons, pretty much rendering me brain-dead by the time there's enough peace in the house to think about blogging. We are definitely spending money again, but we haven't been monitoring it too closely. That could be terrible, I know, but I don't think we're really doing any "rebound" spending. After we get back on our feet again, and into some more normal routines, we'll take a look at everything. Maybe Thanksgiving morning will be a good time to catch up on our finances and we can give thanks that we stopped spending money for 2 weeks earlier this month!

I am still working on planning meals and sticking with the plans. Shopping lists are getting better organized.

We went out to dinner spontaneously with friends on Friday night, and spent way more than we really wanted. Have to say though, it was a big deal for me to be able to eat normal food again, after two weeks on the low iodine diet. And it was fun to be out with some friends!

Some of my upcoming blog ideas:
Holiday shopping - budgets and ideas for gifts with websites to make it less costly
Can we pull off another two weeks of not spending money?
How are we REALLY doing on saving cash?
What is the CVS game? Can I really get stuff for free regularly?
Can we really trim costs on our regular expenditures like insurance, utilities etc?

If you have anything you would like to see me blog about, let me know.

And after bringing up the thyroid issues over the last two weeks, I wanted to make sure I let you know that all the tests came back negative, meaning there's no sign of any cancer right now. Yea! Now if I can get my regular thyroid meds to get me over being hypothyroid, I could actually write a clever blog, clean all the clutter in my house, get the holiday shopping done before Dec 1, and still have time to eat bon-bons on the sofa... One thing at a time, I guess!

Saving Cash – Day 4 – Habits: Saving Money is like Dieting

Woo hoo! Without even making a conscious effort, my husband and I compared notes at the end of the day, and neither of us spent any money. I wonder how long it takes to make a habit… I think the two week experiment was a good way to kick-start a good habit (of not spending money) and also to be conscious when we do need to spend. Not spending any money for two weeks was a bit like the first two weeks of a new weight-loss diet. The beginning is very hard, and you have to think about every time you open the fridge. What will you eat? For me, there's a sense of loss at first, because bad habits must be faced and splurges must be curtailed. You have to be honest with yourself.

But then, there's the honeymoon stage. A high, of sorts. Every few days you see that you are losing weight. For a few days, you think, I can live without spending money. Look at the money I'm saving! This is awesome!

And then you hit a wall. There's something you must have, and whether it's saving money or losing weight, in both cases, I think what you want is FOOD. Not just any food. It's not something especially crucial to healthy living. It's probably a high-fat, high-calorie comfort-food. What will you do? Will you buy it? Will you eat it? How much willpower do you have? This is when I think it is important to have a goal in sight. Know WHY you have taken this challenge. Have some small goals, and have some big goals.

Whether you count calories, fat grams, Weight Watchers points, grams of carbohydrates or protein, the accountability involved is quite a bit like tracking your spending. Lucky for us, debit cards, credit cards, and checks can all be downloaded with great ease to software like www.Mint.com, Quicken or Money. All you have to do to see how much you spend is look at the pretty pie charts and bar graphs. However, you can live with your head in the sand if you never look at your finances… If you can keep paying all your bills, you don't feel the pain so badly. If you spend a lot of cash though, you have to track it the way you track food that enters your mouth when you're dieting. You have to write it down. I think we all know that it's easy to lose track. Three dollars here at the coffee shop, six dollars here for lunch or $19.99 for some new clothes doesn't seem like a big deal, until you add it ALL up. And then, you realize all of a sudden that you have spent $1300 on things you could have done without! Or if you are not watching what you eat, it's an extra spoonful of sugar here, pouring some random amount of oil into the pan, eating the bagel your son didn't finish at breakfast… It adds up. A lot of extra calories turn into pounds. There's no avoiding it. Or at least that's what happened to me.

So when you want to trim the fat, you have to do it consciously. Most of us won't save money by accident, and it seems that few of us will lose weight without doing so consciously. I guess I'll leave it there for today…

Day 11 – The Cheat-Sheet

So we're in the home stretch. Just a few days left. Will we rebound out of control, buying everything our little hearts desire? Funny, but I'm not really desiring much, except to stockpile some fruit!

I'm preparing for next Monday when I actually go to the grocery store again. I have a typed up master version of my typical shopping list, and I've been looking it over. In the book I borrowed from the library the other day, Living Rich by Spending Smart, by Gregory Karp, he suggests that we should stockpile food on sale for our best savings. He asserts that most people can save up to 20% by stockpiling on food and non-food items. (Based on our guestimations, 20% saved on grocery store purchases would be $1500 - $3000 a year!) In the world according to Karp, we should buy items on sale, use coupons, stock up, try store brands, and even consider a second freezer which will pay for itself over time. It's important to know the best prices for the items one tends to buy, so you can snatch an item when it's a great deal. Or buy as many as you are allowed to, or can afford!

I am goal-setting now. Making a plan. I don't want to go crazy. I'm still feeling miserly and we still have a fair amount in the cupboards…

First, I want to buy the things we really want, or need. So far, that list includes fruit, espresso, extra -virgin olive oil, onions, bay leaves, eggs, yogurt for the kids, no-salt added diced tomatoes, no-salt Dijon mustard, applesauce, and gas for our two cars. The kids want cream cheese for their bagels again; we were completely out when we started the experiment and they have been good sports about giving up their "favorite" breakfast item. (Their "favorite" changes about every four days.) I also want to head to the post office to mail a gift to a friend who recently had a baby.

Next, I want to identify the grocery store products that we use on a regular basis, and I will look for coupons and stock up on what we can. I intend to create meal plans around what we still have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer. Unless the item is very greatly wanted or needed, or very reduced, I don't want to buy it!

I started looking at the grocery store's circular fliers to find low sale prices and I'm noting them directly on my master shopping list. That way, we have a low-price goal, and if we forget what a good price is for a particular item, we have a cheat-sheet. Some people can just remember the best price per pound for 7 different cuts of various meats, but not us. We need the cheat-sheet!

Day 10 – Break-down

Yep, we had to give in before we actually had a real break-down. Not mental, mind you, but money. We bought gas today. Believe me; we debated it for quite some time before we agreed to put 5 gallons into the Beetle. My husband had to leave for work at 6:30 am today to attend a conference which was on the other side of DC, and then had a work dinner afterwards at a different location. He didn't have any carpooling options, so we considered the metro. Maybe we had some old metro cards somewhere in the house that he could have used for fares. Maybe I could have driven it up the hill to my son's pre-school, and could have put it in neutral to coast down the hill to save gas. Or maybe it was just time to spend a little money. Diesel costs more than regular, and our Beetle is a diesel, so I'm guessing he spent around $13. But he was getting a free breakfast, lunch and dinner today, so that was probably well-worth it!

Another near break-down almost occurred today when I realized my morning drink of choice will be no more. My lovely double-espresso with a tiny spoonful of raw sugar is finished. I must switch to decaf espresso or regular coffee. I can do either, but I do really like to have at least one double-espresso a day. (Yes, I hear the violins playing for me…)

Our fridge is looking very empty. I should probably clean the inside of it while there isn't too much to move around. I think that was a Fly Lady task for today, but I might not get to it until tomorrow.

On a healthy note, I'm getting back into the routine of making homemade bread in our Zojirushi bread machine. It's so easy to do; my 4-year old did most of the measurements independently today. The clean up is fast and simple, and best of all, we have hot bread every other day! Yum!

Day 9 - Getting creative, Looking for more Ideas

First, I was listening to radio station WTOP in the DC area this morning, when I caught the tail end of some frugal living news story. I checked out their website, and they have some good stories to read at http://www.wtop.com/?nid=765&sid=1418799. I'll be checking those out as I have more time this week.

The Washington Post also had an interesting article in the Heath/Wellness section today. Free ways to work out... Apparently Lululemon, a clothing store, offers free yoga classes. Cool! www.lululemon.com. I know there's one at Tyson's Corner mall; if I could ever get out for a long enough period of time without kids in tow, I might give it a go! And there's a woman's-only walk/run group that gives you a free shirt if you attend 4 times before Christmas, and all kinds of extra goodies - www.potomacriverrunning.com. I might just go check that out some evening. There's another place in DC that offers free yoga classes to give back to the community. Sounds good to me! Karma. What goes around comes around, eventually! I think that's the way our friends, family, and neighborhood work as well.

Now we are running out of some items and need to figure out what we'll do. Sugar is getting low, which I need for making my homemade bread, which is a current necessity with my special diet. But I could probably substitute honey, so I think we can make do a bit longer. Or we could try one of my impulse purchases a few months ago - agave nectar - which I had read is a good sweetener subsititute for sugar. So I guess we're ok there.

Olive oil! We don't have much left. This is a crucial staple in our household. We make our fried eggs (and my boring 3-egg white omelettes) in it, we use it in our daily vinaigrettes, we sautee veggies in it. This is our liquid gold. Because I can't eat any dairy or soy now, I'm even drizzling olive oil on my homemade bread. I don't think drizzling canola oil would have the same effect! But we do have other oils on hand, so I tried a peanut oil for my vinaigrette, and it was different, but tasty. I think we can survive this one, but it will be tough!

Gas. My husband and I traded cars on Monday, so he could use my Toyota for his longer commutes, leaving me with the nearly-empty Beetle. This morning, the empty warning light came on. It's a long uphill walk to my son's pre-school, a walk which would probably take well over an hour with a little guy. He rides his scooter and two-wheeler well, but the hill is very long and steep. It would be dangerous in either direction. We can probably do one more roundtrip in the car, but I'm not really sure we should try to eke out many more miles than that. I probably have 1/2 gallon in the shed for the lawn mower, but that does sound a bit extreme. We will have to ponder this dilemma. We may have to give in to buying a gallon or two of gas to make it through to the end of the 2 weeks.

But... I am actually looking around the house for things to sell, so we can justify the purchase of gas or anything else that comes up. I found a few things that we could put on Craig's List - one is a great Le Creuset Square Grill Pan that retails at $150. I'm sure I didn't pay that much for it, but I think I can still sell it at a bargain for someone else, and still make some good money. I love the piece, but the only purpose it serves us is taking up room in the cupboard. We much prefer to use the grill outside or broil in the oven, so it's something we have only used once. Wish me luck!

As I look for items to sell on Craig's List, I am also gathering various Senegalese products I have on hand that a friend of mine plans to sell in her shop. Together, we'll donate the proceeds to my struggling friend in Dakar who is trying to save money to open her own shop in Senegal. I might try to get a picture up on the blog so you all can see what's we're working on.

I guess that's about all for now. I found some free coupons for our local frozen custard shop, so the kids and I are going to walk over so they can indulge in a kiddie cone. Then we'll head over to the library to drop off last week's borrowed videos, so we don't get any late fees! That's the last thing we need now!

Day 7 – The Two Week Experiment Is Half Way Done, Or Is It?

A week ago today we decided to stop spending money for two weeks. In the end, if my husband's work expenses are reimbursable, we spent no money beyond the usual "bills" and we didn't even mooch much off our friends. I know we have saved a lot of money, but more than anything, I think we welcome the chance to reevaluate our spending habits and enjoy the challenge.

Tonight we asked the kids what we could do to save even more money. They suggested we start selling things to earn money – such as lemonade, cookies, and cupcakes. In the middle of our dinner-time discussion, we all ran off to turn off lights – and found six lights throughout the house to turn off. We all need to be more aware of saving electricity. The kids know we need to save resources, so they mentioned saving water. Our older daughter suggested we refill our water bottles with tap water (which we already do) but to only do so when we are really, really thirsty. We assured her that we will not be thrifty about drinking water from the faucet, but we could think about other things. She proudly announced that she took a 3-minute shower this evening, which was true. The conversation turned to heating the house. It was suggested that we shouldn't use the heat "unless we are freezing".

To stay warm in a freezing house, the kids suggested we could do the following:

1. Wear socks.
   
2. Wear a sweater or sweatshirt.
   
3. Sit criss-cross (so your feet are tucked under and stay warm)
   
4. Rub your feet, both with your hands, and by rubbing your feet together, because rubbing makes things hot.
   

Here's what we spent:

1. Business lunch and parking – husband – probably reimbursable
   
2. All normal utilities and mortgage as they were due
   
3. Son's pre-school tuition and daughter's music lessons for the month of November
   
4. "Discretionary" expenses that are paid for in advance – cable, cell phones, TIVO, Netflix, YMCA membership, Vegetable CSA Farm-Share, Milk and Egg Weekly delivery, etc.
   

Here's what we probably saved – about $500-$600 for the week:

1. Daily lunches at work for husband – average $5 - $10 a day – so let's say $35 for the week.
   
2. Dinner at our favorite local Mexican restaurant – around $60.
   
3. Trips to Dunkin Donuts (for coffee only, believe it or not) – around $10 for the week.
   
4. Double espresso with whipped cream – a few times a week – around $7 for the week.
   
5. Grocery store purchases – I was going to do a "big shop" last Monday when we got this started, but didn't – saved about $200 probably.
   
6. Pedicure – I love to have one after a trip to a hot, dry, sandy West African country - around $25
   
7. Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings - $15
   
8. Buying wine for company - $25
   
9. Buying special food for cooking for company - $50
   
10. Buying extra milk since we ran out early- $4
    
11. Buying fruit (we actually bartered some kale and collard greens for fruit) - $3
    
12. Buying eggs (we actually owe someone some greens for the eggs we got from them) - $3
    
13. Clothes purchases - $50?
    
14. Electronic gadgets - $50?
    
15. Downloading music from I-Tunes - $10?
    

Scary. Depressing. But there's still hope for us... I hope!