Category: financial freedom


Aug
2012

Frugal Friday – Our Top 8 Frugal Family Travel Tips

categories: budget, family, financial freedom, frugal, toddlers, travel
Here’s our little family high atop the continental divide near Cottonwood Pass in Colorado.  We took an incredible 8 week road trip this summer and spent as little money as possible.  We mulled over what we did right and how we screwed up and decided to share the good with you first.  Drumroll please…
1. Bring your own food for the road.
2. Grocery shop and cook at “home.”
3. Find FREE entertainment wherever you are.
4. Make the trip the thing, not souvenirs.
5. Ask for favors.
6. Utilize local resources.
7. Find travel deals online.
8. Piggyback on a work trip.
Let’s dig a little deeper.
1. Bring your own food for the road.
We packed lunches for driving days, kept an ice chest full of drinks and snacks, and brought reusable water bottles.  If we hadn’t prepared we would have spend an average of $5 per stop on snacks and drinks and $15-20 on lunches.  That adds up really quickly.  The bonus to this tip is that you can make the snacks and meals as healthy as you choose and not be bound by whatever fast food you can find.  If you do order fast food, order a bigger meal for yourself and share it with your child (if they are small enough), rather than ordering a kid’s meal.
2. Grocery shop and cook at “home”.
Stay in places with kitchens or kitchenettes whenever possible.  You will save so much money cooking at home.  Grocery stores in tourist towns can be pricier than at home, but most chains are interconnected so you can use your saver cards from home.  We meal planned throughout our time so that we wouldn’t waste food and wouldn’t be caught by surprise when dinner time came around.  We did go out to eat several times, but we used online menus to check out the restaurants beforehand.
3. Find FREE entertainment wherever you are.
Hiking, biking, exploring, window shopping, cruising around, and seeing the sights are all usually free.  Pick one activity that costs money and try to make the rest of your fun free.  We paid for one activity the whole trip (riding the ski lift at Red River) and it was well worth it.  Look for local entertainment guides that often contain coupons for activities.
4. Make the trip the thing, not souvenirs.
It is incredibly tempting, especially when traveling with kids, to become convinced that you must buy that t-shirt/stuffed animal/taxidermied jackalope/etc.  You don’t need it.  The trip is what you came for, not the junk.  You took your child on an amazing vacation.  They don’t need anything but memories to prove it.  If you love souvenirs, pick one thing that will remind you of your vacation to take home.  I like shells found on the beach, river rocks, and other found objects.  I also love a good Christmas ornament.  Magnets and coffee mugs are good, cheap reminders of your trip that you will actually use daily.
5. Ask for favors.
We asked our friends for help, and they responded generously.  What do I mean?  We ask to borrow houses, stay on couches, and get “friends and family” rates on vacation rentals.  A friend’s guest room is way better than a hotel any day of the week.  You would do the same for them.
6. Utilize local resources.
Ask locals for help with recommendations, must do activities, restaurants, etc.  They will usually be excited to help you.  We also found the welcome centers and Chambers of Commerce to be helpful in several towns.  Become a pamphlet reader.  Look for local blogs.  Do your research.
7. Find travel deals online.
We used Travelocity‘s Secret Hotel deal, Priceline’s Name Your Own Price app, and the GasBuddy app, several times.  We used VRBO to find rentals.  Read reviews online and listen to them.  We got burned by ignoring bad reviews of a hotel.  There are tons of great online resources for couch surfing and house swapping as well.  Again, do your research.
8. Piggyback on a work trip.
I know this may seem random or complicated, but it worked really well for us.  I had to be in Colorado for a month for work, so we planned our crazy road trip around my work trip, because my company paid for our mileage there and back.  This won’t work unless you travel for work, but might be easier than you think.  Our friends the Mitchells took their family to Disney World and got their mileage and most of their hotel paid for by his work because he decided to drive to Orlando for a conference instead of flying by himself.  Genius.
There you go friends, our top 8 travel tips for now.  We’ll be back later with our top blunders and screw ups.
What’s your best frugal family travel tip?

Follow Becca’s board Family Travel on Pinterest.


Nov
2011

Frugal Friday – Buying a Used Car with CASH

categories: financial freedom, frugal, our financial story, shopping
Meet Betty, our new-to-us ride.  
Isn’t she lovely?
Here is her story.
After much discussion, Jed and I decided it was time to purchase a car.  We already have 2 cars, both completely free to us thanks to the generosity of Jesus/Young Life donors/family.  Those cars are 10 and 20 years old respectively.  We love them in their old age, and are so thankful for their faithful service. Big Red, Jed’s 20 year old GMC pick up has developed some issues that are pretty serious, so we know her days of dependability are numbered.  We thought about waiting until she died a natural death, but decided the wiser thing to do would be to start the search for our next car while we still had the flexibility of two working cars.  
My 10 yr old XTerra has almost 150,000 miles on her, so we thought it would be good to make her our secondary car before the miles get too high.  We also discussed going to one car, but our current living/working situations don’t allow for that.    
We set a budget of $10-12,000, knowing we could pay cash for that.  We are FAR from wealthy by American standards, but we have worked hard to save most of my paycheck each month for over a year.  We also have a 6 month emergency fund built up that we didn’t touch for this purchase.  
We started looking on Craigslist for lots of different models.  We both like Tahoes, Outbacks, and other small SUVs and station wagons.  We looked at mini vans, but just couldn’t do it.  Not that there is anything wrong with mini vans.  They are great, I’m sure, just not for us right now.  We test drove cars from dealers and individuals, including 2 Tahoes that I’m pretty sure were stolen or from police auctions.  SOOO SKETCHY.  
We looked at used car dealers in our area that were part of bigger dealerships with good reputations.  At one dealer we found a 2005 Honda Pilot listed at $16,915.  She was beautiful, but way out of our price range.  We wanted around 80,000 miles or less, she had 81,000.  She also came fully loaded with leather, a sunroof, DVD, 3rd row, rear air, and more cup holders than you could ever want or use.  Right off the bat the salesman told us he could mark her down to $13,900, because she was a Honda on a Chevy lot.  Still way out of our range.  We drove her, and she was such a smooth ride.  We went home, ate lunch and let Fisher take a nap.  We checked the Kelly Blue Book and her Carfax.  The Carfax came back saying that she was worth $330 more than the KBB value, which was $18,600.  Whoa.  So, she was offered to us at $5000 less than the KBB value.  She was still over our budget by almost $2000.  Not ok.  Then we pulled up the dealer website to look over the details again, and noticed that the rock bottom internet only price they had listed was $12,500.  Hmmm.  That might be doable for a car that is far beyond anything we had hoped to find.  
We went back to the dealer that afternoon and told our salesman about the internet price.  He said he would have to honor it.  We went for it, on the contingency that our trusted mechanic could take a look at it first.  He asked us about financing, and we told him we were paying cash.  That threw him off completely.  He didn’t really know what to do, and said no one had done that since he had been there.  
They wouldn’t let us use our debit card or write a check, so we had to wait until Monday morning when I could go to the bank and get a cashier’s check.  I handed the check to the dealer, they gave me the keys, and we were done.  No car payments for us!  We love our new ride and are so thankful to not have a big car payment every month. 
Why pay cash?  Interest my friends, interest.  Let’s do a little math.  If we put down $1000 and financed $11,500, we would actually end up paying over $1000 extra for our car.  Yikes.  That’s a lot of money.   
Have you ever paid cash for a big purchase? How did you make it happen?  Would you do it again?


Nov
2011

Frugal Friday- Halloween Costumes

categories: baby, budget, financial freedom, frugal
Halloween has come and gone, but I had to share my cute little bear with y’all.  Fisher was asleep before the first trick-or-treaters hit our house, so we had to do a little photo shoot earlier in the evening.  We set him up on a vintage quilt with pumpkins in his little bear suit.  Here are the best things about his costume, besides the obvious cute factor.  
It was free.  
My mama and her bff bought it for Fisher from the Carter’s outlet.  Thanks Mom and Tricia!  
It is a legitimate piece of clothing.  
It is a full suit with feet and a hood, made for real wear, instead of a cheap-o costume made for one time use.  It will be his winter coat until he grows out of it (which may be sooner than I’d hoped).  
It is warm and comfy.  
He loves wearing it.  
I’m hoping we can go this route in the future, wearing real clothes that can useful in daily life as a Halloween costume.  I’ve seen so many DIY costumes that use this kind of practicality across the internet and I think it is genius.  With a few handmade accessories, you can turn an outfit into a costume for a day, then wear it for the rest of the season.  I’ve also heard about great finds at consignment stores and garage sales, since most costumes are worn only once.  
How do you save money on costumes?  

Feb
2011

Frugal Friday – Budget Busting Temptation

categories: budget, financial freedom, frugal

Everyone has a weakness, something that tempts you no matter the consequences.  When you are trying to stay on a budget, temptation seems to pop up everywhere.  Lately I’ve been tempted to spend all over the place.  Cute maternity clothes call to me from the racks saying, “You need cute clothes, buy me!”  And there’s the baby stuff.  Oh, the baby stuff.  It calls to me from the stores and my inbox saying, “Doesn’t your baby deserve the best? If you want to be a good mom you’ll buy me.  Aren’t I the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?”  We also get tempted by budget busters like vacations and dining out, things we “deserve” because we have been so frugal.

How do we deal with all of this spending temptation when we are trying to save for our first house and baby?
We do our best to stay on budget, and we keep our budget flexible adding and changing things when needed.  We are going on an overnight getaway soon, a little babymoon, so we budgeted for it over several months so we don’t have to stress about the expense.  I got a little extra clothing money last month so I could buy more maternity clothes.  We are putting off as much baby spending as possible until after our baby showers, and budgeting some each month so that when we need to buy stuff we will have the cash ready.  We struggle daily with the temptation to forget our budget and spend whatever we want, because we do have a big savings fund.  Sometimes it is hard to not spend because we worked so hard to save up that money and be debt free.  I think what really keeps us grounded is that we are on the same page with money all the time, and make sure to work through it if a conflict arises.  This has been the best thing ever for our marriage and our finances.

What are your budget busting temptations?  How do you avoid giving in?  

Jan
2011

Frugal Friday – My Favorite Frugal and Financial Posts of 2010

categories: budget, financial freedom, frugal, our financial story

Last year was a landmark one for our family. We moved again, began the journey to parenthood, and accomplished a number of financial goals. I’ve compiled a list of my favorite frugal and financial posts from 2010. It was fun for me to look over the posts to see how we’ve grown. I hope you enjoy them. Click on a title to check it out.

Dinner at Home
Estate Sale Decorating
Frugal Pregnancy Tips from Friends
Renting vs. Buying a House
This is Dallas – The Dallas Lifestyle
Frugal Date Night
An Ode to Aldi
Cooking with Friends
The Baby Steps – How Dave Ramsey Changed Our Family
This year our financial goals include saving for our baby and our first house.
What are your financial goals for 2011?

Dec
2010

Frugal Friday – Our 2nd Cash Only Christmas

categories: budget, financial freedom, holiday, our financial story

There are many things that I love about the Christmas season. I love the meaning, traditions, decorations, time with family, time with Jesus, singing carols, the movies, and the giving and receiving of gifts. I do not love holiday stress, busyness, and money worries. Last year was our first year on the Dave Ramsey plan, and we were newly debt free. We budgeted for Christmas presents and used only cash and debit and it was so freeing. We loved it so much that we did it again this year.

We budget how much we want to spend on each other, our families, charity, and our friends, and then we pull the cash out each month and keep it in our gift envelope. Christmas comes every year and is not an emergency, so we want to make sure we are prepared so that we can be generous with our gifts. We pull out gift money through out the year to cover wedding and birthday gifts, and starting in September we add to the amount significantly to cover our Christmas gifts. Because we pull out money in September, October, and November, we didn’t have to take out much in December at all. We take our budgeted amount out of the envelope and use it to buy the gifts. If we buy something online with the debit card, we put that amount back into the bank. It feels so good to have the money to buy each other and our loved ones gifts without any stress.
We don’t have to worry about the credit card bill showing up in January reminding us of our mistakes. We have no money stress about Christmas. We remember the weight of credit card debt and never want to feel it again. Many of our friends and family have asked us why we would want to miss out on the airlines miles or rewards that come with many credit cards. We’ve heard from lots of people that they use credit cards because of those rewards. To us they just aren’t worth it. Credit card companies offer rewards so that folks will spend more, and studies show that is exactly what’s happening. We are completely convinced that no one beats the credit card companies. They always win. They make so much money off of the debt people incur to get some miles that I would rather not help them. Many friends claim to pay their bills off every month, and while I want to believe them, statistics show that it can’t be true all the time. You get behind one month or are late with one payment, and you’ve lost all the reward money you earned. We’ll pass on that. We have too tragic a history with credit cards and both of us have made HUGE mistakes in the past. Kudos to you if you can beat the system, but it isn’t for us. What’s in our wallet? Cash, baby.
Here’s some great info from Time magazine online on credit cards and their reward systems:

On the surface, it would seem like credit card issuers are foolishly giving away money with cash-reward cards, and that a cardholder getting 1% or 2% back is reaping in easy money. The reality is much different. Simply put, the study says:
The main objective of the card companies is to increase card spending that may result in cardholder’s debt in the future.
And based on the figures, the card companies achieve wild success in this objective. More spending. More debt. But hey, you get those occasional $50 cash-back checks in the mail! At least, that is, if you remember to keep track of your rewards and order the check—because these programs typically don’t give you cash back automatically.


For the consumer, getting cash back is of course better than getting nothing—but only if you don’t increase your overall spending due to the perverse incentives inherent in cash-back cards. Spending a dollar to get a penny back doesn’t make sense.
But what if you were spending the dollar anyway? Then it seems silly to not get the penny-per-dollar reward. The problem is that it’s all too easy for consumers to justify extra spending with credit cards. Studies show that you’re likely to spend 12% to 18% more with a card compared to cash. And when you’re vaguely aware that every item you pick up shopping gives you a little more cash back, well, then you’re even more likely to place more stuff in your shopping cart.


Read more: http://money.blogs.time.com/2010/12/29/the-reward-for-cash-reward-credit-cards-higher-bills-more-debt/#ixzz19di5oNSR


How do you budget for Christmas?

Oct
2010

Frugal Friday – Pregnancy Tips Part I

categories: baby, finances, financial freedom, frugal, pregnancy


This whole pregnancy thing is so new to me, and I have been getting tons of great advice from friends, online friends, and total strangers. I’m a member of the Frugal Living community on Blog Frog, so asked those fun folks for their best frugal pregnancy tips to share with y’all. They came up with some great stuff! I’ll share all of the tips with you over the next few weeks.

Frugal Pregnancy tips:

“Borrow.

Have a friend who was just pregnant? Talk to them about maternity clothes. Maybe they’ll let you borrow some shirts.

You don’t have to have every cool thing they make for babies. I’d splurge on a cradle swing even before a crib.

Talk to friends and neighbors who are all done having kids – esp if they just had their last kid. They’re dying to get rid of their old stuff. Check for safety issues.

Make sure your car seat is less than 3 yrs old.

Don’t pay any medical bill that hasn’t been through your insurance. I overpaid the doctor’s office because they insisted on a certain amount that *they* expected. It took a WHOLE YEAR to get my refund check.”

– from Heart Baby Home

“This may sound silly to you but I just had a baby and this my personal experience. With my first, I craved taco bell like no tomorrow. And I ate it all the time. And whatever else I craved. With the baby I just had I craved pizza all the time. Instead of ordering out for it, we did homemade pizza and almost always had some in the fridge. When I was hungry but didn’t know what I wanted I would eat cereal. I had a ton in my stockpile and after awhile that’s what I craved. Those two things helped me save money on my cravings while pregnant!”

– from Fabulessly Frugal

“Always try the cheaper brands first. My babies all did fine with the off brand diapers and I saved nearly $10 on a big box (buy the big box) each time. This is the same for wipes, food, bottles, etc.

Breastfeeding isn’t for everyone, but if you can, it’s the way to go. There are so many benefits for mom and baby, but it is a big money saver. Formula is about $22 a box and will probably get you through a week. Do that for a year and then move into sippy cups when baby can have cow’s milk.

Also, get items that grow with the baby: a crib that turns into a twin bed, a car seat that grows with baby,

And, don’t buy what the baby doesn’t absolutely need. Unless the baby really needs it, don’t introduce the pacifier, or the bottle, etc. Once you buy one of those, you will buy 40!

Our baby started eating the same things we were eating as soon as he could have solid foods. A $6 mini food processor makes your meal edible for the baby. Since we get vegetables from the garden and meat from the farm, we know the baby isn’t getting overly-processed foods either.”

– from Keeping Up with the Joneses

“These are all great ideas. “Don’t buy what you don’t need”…I agree. I never had a changing table and I never missed out. I know several of my friends that said that was a useless item. If you feel you must have one buy one that grows with them like Kimberly said. In this case get a dresser with a changing pad on top.

I would not forget about thrift stores and yard sales too. You can find really awesome clothes for you and your baby all up until they are about 3-4 years old. Most people have too much stuff for their baby that is never used or maybe used only once and that includes clothes, and bedding.”

– from Saving Your Green

“And all you need is sleepers and onesies for the first few months. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive.

Somewhere for them to sleep, if even a pack&play next to your bed or cradle/basinet/baby moses basket for first couple of months too.”

– from 3 Boys and Adoption ?!?

I would love to hear all of your Frugal Pregnancy tips as well. Share them with me in the comment section!


Oct
2010

Frugal Friday – Rent vs. Buy

categories: budget, financial freedom, frugal, our financial story
Is it better to rent or buy right now?

$190,000 3 bed, 2 bath, 1580 sq feet
This one is in a great neighborhood, with a great elementary school, but a TOTAL fixer upper.

3 bed, 2 bath, 1085 sq. feet $189,000
This one is in our current neighborhood and is pretty much the norm. Dallas is just soooo expensive, it is out of control. We looked at one house that was 890 sq. feet for $179,000. That is pure craziness.
The American dream tells us that we should own a house. Before we found our new rent house, we debated whether or not this was the right choice for us. Would it be better for us to continue to rent for now, or buy a house? We’ve looked at houses, looked at our options, and decided that for now, it is better for us to rent.
We want to save up a 20% down payment, so that we don’t have to pay P.M.I., and because that’s what Dave Ramsey recommends. Well actually he recommends paying cash for a house, but that is unfortunately unrealistic for us. If you can’t do that, Dave recommends paying 20% and doing a 15 year fixed rate mortgage, and then pay it off early. The interest you pay on a 30 year mortgage is seriously out of control. I’m excited that we are taking it slow and waiting for the right time, but I’m impatient. I want to have my own house and decorate it to my taste! Other factors for us include:
We don’t know how long we want to live here. Don’t get me wrong, we like it here, we just don’t know what the Lord has for us long term.
We don’t want to use our emergency fund for a down payment.
Dallas real estate prices haven’t really gone down at all, and are still really crazy high (in my opinion).

Want to find out if you should rent or buy?
The calculator above is pretty useful.
For discussion: Do you rent or own?
If you own, what made you take the plunge?
Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

Sep
2010

Frugal Friday – Financial Peace University

categories: finances, financial freedom

One year ago, we were in the middle of Financial Peace University. It rocked our world and changed our financial future forever. Now we are debt free, have a 3 month emergency fund, and are saving for a house and baby, and investing for retirement. That is a world away from where we were, and we owe it all to the Dave Ramsey plan. Because we believe so strongly in his plan, when we heard our church was offering the class we had to volunteer. I can’t make it every week because of my work schedule, but Jed is committed. He is a gifted teacher, and is so excited about sharing our journey with the folks in the class.

He had class tonight, and the 15 people added up their debts (consumer – non house) totally $304,000 for the group. Wow. I can’t wait to hear their stories of freedom in a few months or years. The class is 13 weeks long, and according to Dave’s website over 1 million families have already gone through it. Each family pays off $5300 in debt and saves $2700 in just 90 days on average. That is truly awesome.

I think this may be Jed’s new ministry. He gets so fired up about financial freedom, and loves sharing it with everyone he knows. Being able to do so in an environment where people actually signed up to hear about it is a great fit for him. I want to support him as he helps others along in their financial journey. Hopefully he can officially become a FPU coordinator and lead more classes. Teaching others will help to hold us accountable as well.

How does your family hold itself accountable financially?

Need a budget? Do it here in 2 minutes:



Aug
2010

Frugal Friday – Dallas Dinners Under $20 Part I

categories: dining out, financial freedom, frugal, restaurant review

Since we started our Total Money Makeover one year ago, we are on a strict budget to help us reach our financial goals. We realized that we were spending WAY too much money dining out. This city has a million great restaurants to tempt us, so we had to take control of the situation. We now limit our monthly dining out budget to $150. We could easily spend that on one meal in Dallas, but we try to make it stretch as far as possible. To do that, we have to find affordable fare, and we have. I’ve decided to share our favorite Dallas dinners under $20 with y’all. The opinions are completely ours, and we are in no way affiliated with or being compensated by the restaurants.
Tony’s Pizza and Pasta has been around for a long time, and is located on Northwest Hwy in East Dallas. They advertise that everything is prepared fresh and cooked to order, and the place is BYOB. They brought garlic rolls out before the meal, for free, and I was hooked.

Shrimp Scampi – $8.95
I love shrimp, but Jed is not a seafood guy. I have to order them when we are dining out since I can’t cook them at home. To find a good shrimp dish for under $10 is pretty much a miracle, so I was really excited to try the shrimp scampi. It did not disappoint.

Calzone $4.95
Jed loves a calzone, and we actually tried this restaurant solely because they served them. He let me try one bite, and then took down the whole thing.
Overall we give Tony’s Pizza and Pasta an 8 out of 10. It was not the best meal ever, but it was definitely great for the price, and we will be back. I would say it is better than most Italian chains (Olive Garden, etc), and I prefer local, family owned anyway. If you live in DFW, check it out.
Where do you dine out on the cheap?