Ask story's money: Budgeting for variable expenses

My first question for Ask Story's Money comes from my good friend Elizabeth who blogs at She Likes Stripes:

I definitely still need help with budgeting, like how do you know what your monthly gas budget is? or groceries? Coming as someone who has no budget set right now (and I suppose that's probably also due to the fact that i'm coming off of 4 years of living alone) ... how do you set those numbers when you're pretty sure you already spend too much? ... Or how do you allow yourself little treats (like new shoes here and there, things for fun) amid trying to be super frugal because you know you have big things to save up for?

The first step to budgeting for variable expenses like this is to know how much you already spend. There are various software and online solutions for this, but for me the easiest way is just to sit down with your credit card or bank statements and start adding. Depending on how much time and patience you have, you can do one month or do three months and average them.

Odds are, the first time you do this exercise, you will be a little horrified. Most people have no idea where their money is going.

So how do you figure out how much you "should" be spending?

1. You can look at the national averages or recommended percentages for grocery budgets. Unfortunately I think this is probably the least useful
way to do this because there are so many variables at play.

2. You can figure out how much you can actually afford to spend. This requires you to really sit down and make a full household budget, listing all your regular expenses and your income. If you are currently spending more than you can actually afford to in a sustainable way, this is crucial.

3. You can set incremental goals. For the most part, I think this is where most people should be. Try to gradually reduce your grocery spending a little bit every month until it reaches a point at which you feel more comfortable.

How to actually reduce this? Is a much bigger question and one for another day.

Have a question? Leave it in the comments or send me an email.

Menus and freezers and budgets, oh my! (Part 2)

Okay, so in part 1 I said that next time I would talk about how I shop. But I also said I'm not good at sticking to a plan. So today instead, I'm going to talk about how I cook to freeze. There are three main strategies I use, and they work well for different things.

1. Freezer Day

The idea here is to block out a day (usually a weekend) and to just make a whole lot of food to put in your freezer. Some people call this Once a Month Cooking, and actually make 30 different meals in one day, but I have never managed to do anything like that. Usually I just choose one thing to make a lot of, or a few things that have common ingredients.

For example, this past weekend, my husband and I made 15 pans of lasagna. This honestly isn't much harder than making one or two pans of lasagna. Mixing a ton of filling isn't any harder than mixing a little. We just made the sauce, cooked some ground beef, then assembly lined the lasagna in disposable foil loaf pans. We had extra sauce so I froze that in Tupperware containers for easy spaghetti nights.

I find that this method works really well for me for most casseroles, where cooking the ingredients is really the most time consuming part, and having them pre-assembled means a super easy dinner. I don't pre-bake them; I just bake them on the day I plan to eat.

The problem with this method is that it takes a huge time commitment. Especially with a toddler running around, it's hard to block out that much time. My husband and I ended up doing the bulk of the prep after bedtime, and were up until 11:30 cleaning up. Boo.

2. Just make extra

This is actually the method I prefer. Instead of trying to make a month or a year's worth of something, I just make a little extra. Since it's just the two (and a half) of us, and most of my recipes are for four, I usually have extra anyway. Sometimes I go one step further and double it. Then after dinner, I pack up the extra and freeze it.

This is so easy because it doesn't take any extra time at all in my dinner prep, and gives me fully cooked, microwavable dinners for nights when I don't have time to cook. I like to do this with chili, sausage and peppers, shredded meat for tacos or sandwiches, stews, or anything that might require a long cooking time the first night.

3. Prep and freeze

Some things are just better if you make them the night of, but you can make your life easier and save money by doing the prep work ahead of time. For example, I keep a bag of diced carrots, onions, and celery in my freezer. I can dice it during naptime and then just grab a handful when I need it. I also buy bell peppers when they are on sale (because holy crap they get expensive), cut them into strips, and freeze them in freezer bags. You can even cook your meat ahead of time for recipes that use cooked meat. Browning an entire 3 pound package of ground beef doesn't take any longer than browning a single pound, and then you have some options for fast cooking dinners. Baking a whole bunch of chicken breasts ahead makes life easier too - just defrost as many as you need to make quick enchiladas, salads, or sandwiches.

Some people will even prepare and measure the ingredients for a specific recipe into a freezer bag. For instance, you could freeze sliced peppers and onions along with a chicken breast in a bag for quick, no prep, fajitas. Just dump the whole bag into a pan and sautee it up. I don't have much experience with this, but it's something I'd like to try more of.

Menus and freezers and budgets, oh my! (Part 1)

Anyone will tell you that meal planning is the key to saving money at the grocery store. As far as I can tell there are two main strategies for menu planning, as it relates to saving money.

The first strategy is to plan an entire week's worth of meals before you go to the grocery store. Make a list of all the ingredients you will need for your dinners, as well as anything you may need to make breakfasts and lunches. Buy only those things.

The idea here is that you save money by avoiding impulse buys, by avoiding extra trips to the store mid-week when you realize you forgot something (extra trips which inevitably lead to impulse buys), and by avoiding food waste when you buy something because it looks good but have absolutely no idea or intention of using it.

You can save even more money if you make your meal plan with your grocery ad next to you, planning the main ingredients around what happens to already be on sale. You end up with a little repetition of meat this way, unless you have a lot of great sales, but you can save big.

This is a great way to grocery shop. It is efficient, frugal, and can be very successful. But it's not what I do.

The buy ahead principle

Instead, my goal is to have everything I need for an entire week's worth of meals before I go to the grocery store. On Friday, before I go shopping, I survey my freezer and pantry and make a meal plan based on what I already have. Some of the meals are things that I've cooked ahead and stashed in my freezer. Some of the meals are quick cooking staples in our house, or easy crockpot recipes, that I just keep the main ingredients of onhand. But the idea is before I go to the store, I should be able to count at least 7 easily available dinners in my house. I double check all the extra ingredients and sides for each meal, and add any that I'm missing to my list, but it is a very small part of my weekly grocery list.

Why?

There are a few main reasons for this. The first is that I'm generally just not good at sticking to a plan. When I count my 7 meals of the week, I know I won't get to all of them. I'll probably have a leftover night. I may have a sandwich night. We may go out. DH or I may decide we don't want to eat anything I planned and just make a frozen pizza. If I bought only the week's worth of meals, I would lose that flexibility.

The biggest reason, though, is saving money. I try to buy things only when they are on sale. Other than fresh fruit and milk, which we buy almost every week, almost nothing enters my house that wasn't at least 50% off. This saves me big at the grocery store.

How?

The basic principle here is that you need to start small. Every week, you can add just one extra meal to your freezer stash. This way you won't go crazy overbudget or make yourself crazy with all the cooking.

Then as you start to develop a freezer stash, you'll be able to spend more of your budget on stockpile items and less on weekly need items. If I know I have 5 containers of chili, 5 containers of slow cooked taco beef, and 3 lasagnas in my freezer? Then each week's meals become very easy to plan.

The plan is to write part 2 about how I shop, and part 3 about how I assemble freezer meals, and possible a part 4 with recipes. But I'm not good at plans. Leave a comment letting me know how you meal plan, or what you would like to know about my meal planning and shopping, and we'll play it by ear, okay?

Saving Money: Restaurants are my Kryptonite

I love eating out. I love the food, I love the social aspect. I love getting out of my house, and not having to clean up or wash dishes. I thought once I had the baby I wouldn't do it anymore, and the budgetary problem would take care of itself, but then I had to go and have a happy, social baby who I could take everywhere. (I know, cry me a river, right?)

We eat out at least once a week. Usually more. I know, I know that the best way to cut down on this expense is just not to do it. I know. But it brings us both such joy that we don't want to cut it out entirely.

When we lived in a college town, it was easy to find cheap casual restaurants and to find coupons and deals for them. Here, not so much. So, in order to subsidize my eating out habit, I've had to get a little more creative. Here are some of the ways I'm trying to make eating out more affordable:

• Drink water. Every single time. When a soda costs as much as a salad, it's just ridiculous. I'm not there for the soft drinks anyway.
  
• Go to lunch. Honestly, with the baby, it's easier anyway, and a lot of the nicer places we go to have a lunch menu with lower prices for the same great food.
  
• Split an entree. Okay, my husband isn't big on "sharing" (did I mention we really like food?), but sometimes if the plates are big enough he can be convinced to split one with me and get a salad or appetizer to go with it.
  
• Get gift cards. I use my My Points and my credit card points to get gift cards for places we typically eat.
  
• Get coupons. I have not had the greatest success with Restaurant.com or Groupon, but some people do. I have had success by signing up for email or mailed coupons from restaurants we regularly go to. I also sign up for frequent visit/stamp clubs.
  

I am so open to tips, as I need to fuel my restaurant habit. How do you save money while eating out?

Saving Money on Groceries Part 2: Lists

Once you have a handle on your budget, pricepoints, pantry, and repertoire, you can finally get into the nitty gritty of actual shopping. There are two main types of list that you need for good grocery savings:

A need list

Your need list will consist of all the things that you absolutely need to buy this week. To begin with, it helps to make a really detailed meal plan: list every single main dish and side item you will need for every breakfast, lunch and dinner you will eat this week. Include snacks that your family has to have. Then go to your pantry and see what you already have. Make a list of every item that you need to buy to make your meal plan work. You don't want to have to run back out to the store mid-week - you'll waste gas and probably spend extra on impulse buys.

Now, how can this help you save money? Well a few ways. First of all, preventing all the extra trips is huge. Also, for a lot of people, having meals planned and on hand can prevent those quick fast food meals that add to your budget really fast. Even if you get a day or two off, you can always look back at your initial plan and know that you have everything you need for enough complete meals for the week.

The big savings come, though, when you make this list strategically. Start to plan your meals around both your pantry and the grocery ad. For example, if pork chops are on sale, and you have applesauce in the pantry, you have the makings of a great meal. You just need to add a vegetable and maybe a starch and you're good to go.

A stockpile list

In addition to looking through your grocery ad for items that would make good dinners this week, start to look ahead to the future. If you have an idea of what your family regularly uses, and you know the normal pricepoint for each of those items, you can start to stock up when the items are cheaper than that. For instance, if your family eats a lot of pasta, and pasta is on sale for half your normal buy price, buy as many as you can afford! Over time, two things will happen: as your pantry gets fuller, your need list will get shorter and your buy prices will get lower. As your need list gets shorter, you will have more money to buy stockpile items. As your pantry gets fuller, you will be able to wait for lower and lower prices, eventually getting to the point where you can get most items for close to free. This is when you'll start to see the biggest grocery savings.

Next time I'll talk more about how to stockpile, with coupons and matchups, and some great resources to help you do that.

A new to us car?

My husband and I both drive fairly new cars, the newer of which will be paid off within the next month. The plan when we bought them was to keep them until they died, but since then life has changed a little. After a baby and a move to a state that actually has winters, my 2 door and his subcompact sedan just don't meet our needs anymore. We really feel like he needs a car with 4 wheel drive so that he can get to work when it snows and ices(after being stuck at the bottom of a hill for literally half an hour once this winter), we need at least one car that can haul a fair amount of stuff for when we travel, and I would be much happier with a 4 door car (although I can deal without, it's just a little hard on my back.

The plan right now is to sell the 2 door, get an AWD hatchback or crossover for my husband, and keep the sedan for me. This is doable even if we buy a new car, but then we'd go right back to having a car loan again which ANNOYS me to no end. Whenever I feel like we are making progress, it seems like we are just treading water.

Hubby has started feeling the same way, though, so he asked me to run numbers on how much car we could buy in cash. I ran the numbers and came up with a potentially good sized chunk of money, although not nearly enough for any new AWD cars. Neither of us has ever bought a used car before, except for the clunkers we drove as teenagers. Does anyone have good tips on how to find a good late model used car?

Saving on groceries, part 1: The Basics

As part of my resolution to save money this year, I wanted to work on tackling my grocery budget a little, and I thought I would run a mini-series on ways to spend less on groceries. Before we can get started on juicy insider tricks, though, we have to make sure we have our basics in line. Make sure you consider all of the following:

Your budget. A lot of bloggers talk about starting with your budget as if that were an easy task. Before you can cut back on your grocery spending, you need to know three things: how much you can spend, how much you do spend, and how much you want to spend. If you haven’t been actively budgeting so far, this may involve a lot of math and spreadsheets, and at least sitting down with some receipts or bank statements. You can’t just take someone else’s grocery budget and shoot for that because everyone’s situation is different. You need to actually do all the work.

Your priorities. Is it important to you to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables? To have meat every day? To buy some things organic? Or are you just trying to get everyone fed? Wherever you are, and whatever you want to do, is okay, but it’s going to affect how much you can save and how much you need to spend. This is one reason why comparing yourself to other people is not useful.
Your repertoire. What do you and your family actually eat? What products do you use? If you regularly make only 5 different meals, and they are affordable for you and it works for your family, there’s really nothing particularly wrong with that. Use that list of meals to make your grocery list and stop buying stuff you aren’t going to use, no matter how cheap it is. However, if you are interested in trying new recipes, you can save money by planning meals around the sales. I love allrecipes ingredient search for this; it allows you to search for recipes based on what ingredients you want included (or not included).

Your pantry. If you are starting from scratch and don’t have any food, you are obviously going to spend a little more on staples than is someone who has a fully stocked pantry. If you have a stocked pantry, take inventory. Make sure you aren’t rebuying things just because you can’t find them, and see whether certain things are accumulating because you are buying them without any real purpose or intention.

Your pricepoints. One reason that it is useless to compare yourself or your budget to other people is that grocery prices vary so widely from one area of the country to another. If you're just starting out, you could consider making a pricebook - essentially, you track the prices of your most commonly purchased items over time and at different stores. If you don't have the time for that, at least develop an awareness for the "normal" price and the "good" price for the things you buy all the time. There's no way to know whether a deal saves you money unless you know what you're paying now.

Your time. How much time do you really want to invest in lowering your grocery bill? Do you have the time to go to several stores a week? To dig through forums, or visit a few blogs? Remember to search for that balance in your life instead of trying to meet someone else’s challenge.

So where am I in all this? I currently have a pretty well stocked pantry and a pretty fixed repertoire of meals, but I’d like to try a few new meals. I have a lot of different spices that I would like to plan some meals around. I’m currently spending about $300 a month, but would like to modestly lower that to $250, while keeping as much of my food natural and organic as possible. I am ready to start shopping at more than one store a week if I need to, as long as I can get in and out quickly.

Want to join in? What are your grocery goals?

Frugal Friday: Cutting the water bill

So, in evaluating our budget for our Saving in 2011 goal, one of the areas I wanted to address first was our utility bill. The bills themselves gave me an answer as to where to begin: my water bill was through the roof.
Water is a bill that I haven’t really thought about much because usually when we lived in apartments, it was included in the rent. When we moved into the house, I remembered being told that “water is cheap” – which is true compared to electricity and gas. However, if you don’t keep track of your usage, it’s also a place where you can waste a lot. So, I decided to spend the month attacking it. Here are the steps I took to monitor and decrease our water usage.
(Note: If your water bill is through the roof, the first thing you should always do is check for leaks. Check all your faucets, see if any of your toilets are running. This is waste that’s just pure waste. However, if you’ve done that, move on and look at your usage.)

Easy

1. Wash full loads. This is the easiest tip of all because not only does it not involve any sacrifice, it actually involves doing less work. Instead of doing laundry, just. . . don’t do laundry. I don’t like to pile it all up, but instead of doing laundry every day, I skip every third day. I also don’t run my dishwasher unless it’s full, and have been pushing to go from every day to every other day. This takes a little more planning so I can make everything fit and so I don’t run out of bowls.
   
2. Use “light” cycle. Also a no brainer. I set my dishwasher to light cycle and my washer to “light soil.” These are shorter cycles that use a little less water. Probably not a huge difference, but for every cycle, it helps.
   
3. Take back to back showers. With the weather as it is, it’s been taking especially long for our water to get warm, which means running the water for a while before we can stand getting in. If I shower immediately after my husband does, I don’t need to let it run first.
   
4. Wash pots and pans while the dishwasher is running. Same idea as above. The water is already hot, so I don’t need to let it run before I can wash things.
   
5. Scrape, don’t rinse. Another tip that involves less work! Most decent dishwashers don’t require dishes to be rinsed first. Scrape off all solid particles into the trash and throw them right on in.
   
6. Lower your flow. If you don’t already have a super low flow toilet, you can make it a little lower by putting a brick or a plastic bottle of water in the tank. You might not want to do this with a low flow toilet because it will decrease your flushing action even more.
   
7. Turn off your icemaker. Okay, I felt dumb about this one. It’s January. The ice that’s already in there will last me an awfully long time.

Moderate – These tips require a little work or sacrifice, but are definitely doable.

1. Turn off the water while you brush your teeth, for goodness sake. This one is a no-brainer for me, but somehow it makes hubby feel better to have it on. Some gentle reminding, however, can work wonders. 
   
2. Take shorter showers. Okay, I like luxuriating in a 30 minute shower as much as the next gal, but honestly with the baby, these days I like sleep better, so this one has been pretty easy to establish. I don’t wash my hair every day which makes this easier, but mostly if you just get down to business, your shower will be short enough. Aim to decrease by even 5 minutes a day.
   
3. Wear your clothes more than once. I don’t mind at all wearing the same pair of pants or pajamas more than one day, but you have to go on your level of squeamishness here. Think about, though, those big bulky sweaters and hoodies that you wear over your own clothes. Hang them back up instead of throwing them in the hamper. They aren’t dirty. Honest.
   
4. Practice smart dishwashing. There is a technique here. First, fill any pots with stuff stock on them and let them soak. Here’s the trick: use that same water to wet your utensils and miscellaneous stuff. Either fill the pot with the water running off everything else, or fill the pot, then swish the items around in the water. Then, with the water off, wash everything with a soapy cloth or sponge and set it aside. Turn on the water once to rinse everything clean at the same time. Maybe not the clearest explanation, but play around with it and look for ways to use less water. Often they are more efficient in terms of time as well.
   
5. Use the same glass or mug all day. Use the utensils that you cooked with to eat with. Man, if it means less washing, I’m down.

Hard/extreme – may not be suited for all readers – or, you know, for me.

1. Turn off the water in the shower while you wash your hair, lather yourself up, or shave your legs. I am a fan of this idea in theory, but dude, it’s cold. If you’re tougher than me, though, go for it.
   
2. Don’t shower every day. I could totally pull this off, especially with being home now, except for hubby’s judging stare. Oh, and the spit up in my hair.
   
3. If it’s yellow, let it mellow. Another one I’d probably try if I lived alone but that would not go over so well otherwise. Consider guests’ feelings as well, please.
   

Since I am clearly not so extreme, I’d love to hear your suggestions on ways to save water. My most recent water bill was much lower (err, so much lower I’m thinking the last reading might have been a fluke, but oh well! I’m still saving money and going green!), but I’m always looking for ways to conserve even more. For more frugal ideas check out Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom.

Saving in 2011

So one of my goals for the year is to trim the budget a little bit so that we have a little more breathing room and can start making progress on some of our savings. I thought I'd briefly break down some areas where we can save money and which I will be attacking in the months to come.

1. Utility bills. One area that I would like to trim the budget a little is my utility bills. My water bill in particular has been running pretty high, but I could also cut back on my gas and electricity. This is an area I would love to trim because it's both frugal and green.
   
2. Other household bills I'm not sure how much leeway I have on the cable, internet, phone, etc. because we just switched to a new promotional bundle a few months ago, but these are things that are always worth keeping on top of. Also, I should check our cell phone bill for any extras we could cancel.
   
3. Groceries At one point, I was quite the coupon queen (or at least the coupon princess), but with less time and all my life changes I have let this slack. While I don't think I'll be on Extreme Couponers any time soon, I would like to cut this to a level that is in balance for my family.
   
4. Restaurants This has been our Achilles Heel for a while. I would like to cut back, but I'm not sure how well that would go over, so I'll try to explore some other ways to save.
   

Does anyone have any other suggestions for budget areas to examine, or anything you'd like to hear my talk more about?

Stop waiting and use your stuff before it expires!

I recently was trying to get stuff organized and in sorting through everything found the following items, all of which were expired:

• Several high value coupons, including a few free item coupons
  
• A $15 facebook ads credit
  
• A coupon for a $20 Target gift card for completing a baby registry (which I did)
  
• A $25 cash card from Huggies Enjoy the Ride (Oh the pain! The shame!)
  

It made me literally sick to my stomach to essentially throw away over $45 just because of my procrastination and lack of organization. In truth I knew I had the cash card, but didn't realize it had an expiration date on it and was saving it. Why was I saving something that could essentially be used as cash for any of my everyday purchases? Partly because it's a pain to use, but really mostly because it was something I had won, and so I wanted to use it for something special for me. So I waited just long enough to not be able to use it on anything.

There is surely a lesson to be learned from this. Keep track of what you have by going through things regularly instead of twice a year. Check gift cards and coupons for expiration dates immediately and make little reminders for yourself if those dates are short. But mostly... stop waiting. There will never be a perfect moment to use something, so take the plunge and just use it while it's still good. You'll get your value and save yourself this sick feeling.

Baby stuff is expensive

I'm expecting my first baby in September and we're trying to stock up on gear and supplies. We were fortunate enough to have a shower where some very generous relatives gave us a lot of the more expensive essentials (crib, pack and play,car seat, stroller, swing) and thanks to coupons and some great deal sites I have already started a fairly large stockpile of diapers and wipes. I thought I was doing well.

Until we started shopping to fill in the rest of the things that we needed. In the past couple weeks we've spent a few hundred dollars just on somewhat small things. I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Everyone writes about how babies aren't really that expensive, but I'm starting to not believe that. I don't feel like I'm impulse shopping or falling prey to a lot of marketing, but I don't have any way of knowing.

There are some things we've seen that I know I realy don't need. For example

• Pacifier wipes/keepers
  
• Wipe warmer
  
• Diaper stacker
  
• A lot of dresses/outfits
  

There are things that I'm pretty sure we do need:

• Onesies in a few different sizes
  
• Socks
  
• Receiving blankets
  
• Crib sheets
  
• Waterproof crib mattress pads
  
• Changing table covers
  
• Burp cloths
  
• Towels and washcloths
  
• Thermometer
  
• Safety gates
  
• Outlet covers/cabinet latches
  
• Monitor
  
• Nursing attire
  

And things that we think we want although maybe don't need

• Boppy/nursing pillow (and waterproof covers)
  
• Diaper pail (and refills)
  
• Baby bathtub
  
• Extra car seat base
  

It adds up to a lot of money very quickly, even if we don't get a lot that we consider extra - and I know I'm still forgetting stuff. I am trying to shop for deals, but it's hard when you feel anxious to just get everything done. Does anyone have advice for things on my need or want list that I could remove, things I don't list that I need, or ways to save money on all of it?

Trying to keep my frugal cool

So even though I moved to a much cooler part of the country this year, I still can't seem to get away from the heat waves. Temperatures here are tipping 90 this week, and I am definitely feeling the heat. Because I'm worried about the effects on my body of overheating at this particular moment, I'm not sure I can keep the air off as long as I have been, but here are some strategies I'm trying to use to hold out a little longer:

1. Keep an eye on the outside temperature. When it drops into the low 70's, open up the windows and air out the apartment. The movement of the air makes a big difference in how cold it feels. However, when the outside temperature is above 80, it's much better to keep the apartment sealed and try to keep the heat out.

2. Turn everything off. Okay, so my laptop is on, but the TV and lights are off, chargers are unplugged, and I'm avoiding running laundry or washing dishes during the hot part of the day.

3. Drink lots of cold water. I have a pitcher in my fridge, but I'm trying not to open it too often, so I am keeping two tall stainless steel water bottles alternately in the fridge. The water stays cooler longer in the bottle than it would in a glass so I can enjoy cool water longer without wasting energy. When it gets even hotter, I may keep a glass of ice too and just pour the water from the bottle over the ice every few minutes.

4. Take cold showers. Normally I shower at night, but if I'm home it's better to take a cool shower at the hottest part of the day and then leave my hair wet to keep me cool a little longer.

5. Air dry clothes. The dryer puts off a ton of heat, and when it's this hot, the clothes dry pretty fast. I don't have a clothesline, so I just drape things over chairs and set the chairs on my deck.

6. Wear seasonally appropriate clothing. I wore a tanktop and my husband's shorts (I don't have any I can fit into anymore) and only got dressed more than that when I had to run errands.

7. Relax. This is not the weather to do any labor intensive chores or to try to do a lot of exercise. I mostly am just sitting around, reading, writing, getting my little hand chores done (like fixing a seam on some pants and filing my papers). When it cools off this evening, I may try to get a more intense house cleaning session in.

8. Eat light and cool food. I absolutely will not turn my oven on once it starts getting hot in the summer. Mostly I rely on my crockpot and toaster oven, neither of which put off as much heat, and sometimes my stovetop, but on days like today I prefer to just eat salads and sandwiches anyway. Cold food won't raise your body temperature, and lighter fare is easier to digest.

When frugality stops being flashy

Five years ago, I had just gotten engaged, quit my job, and moved halfway across the country to be near my honey. It was the first time I had really had any major life change so dramatic (but not seemingly, the last time), and I was riding quite the natural high. At the same time, I suddenly had a ton of time and not a ton of money. Although I had some money coming in, I was majorly committed to finding ways to make my savings stretch and last.

So I started doing research. I went online and read every frugal blog I could find. I read Dollar Stretcher every week. I checked out The Tightwad Gazette from the library and read it cover to cover. I baked my own bread and made my own ketchup and salad dressing. I unplugged my chargers and turned off my water heater during the day. I was on a mission and it was all so very exciting.

But here I am now, all these years later, trying to remember where I found that love. Frugal people are still awesome and I love reading inspirational writing on frugality, but when I read tips I feel like "Yeah, yeah, been there, done that." I have had to discard things that don't work for us (hubby doesn't like sandwiches on homemade bread), and have become very routine about the things that do work for us. In a lot of ways, I have already achieved the simple quiet life that was my goal: I can afford to stay home for a while, and we really only spend money on things that matter to us.

But I want that thrill back.

It's not that I'm going to fall off the wagon and stop being frugal just because it's boring. I know what my efforts have accomplished, and in all honesty most frugal things I do are just easier than their counterparts. It's just that when I was filled with glee over each new frugal discovery it was easier to keep making more discoveries, to keep learning and connecting. I wanted to tell the world about what I was doing, to teach and to help other people; now it just seems so obvious to me that I don't bother.

But when I think about some of my younger friends who are just getting married, I realize that they don't know what I know, that for them these things are still hard and different - and perhaps a little bit exciting. So perhaps the best way to regain the frugal love is to teach it, to see other people's joy as their lives get simpler and better. Because I think that would be quite the thrill for me.

For more frugal inspiration, check out Frugal Friday at Life as Mom.

Saving for a house

Now that we're finally getting settled in and planning to stay in one place for a while, we've been talking about buying a house. Especially now that the tax credit has been extended to June, we've been trying to accelerate the efforts. I'm trying to put all the pieces together, ask all the right questions, and do all the right things, but it seems like there's a lot to know. My first inclination is to just pile up as much money as possible and wait, whereas my husband's inclinations is to get out there and look at houses and talk to mortgage people as soon as possible. I have a feeling there must be a balance somewhere in between. So for right now the goals are as follows:

1. Save at least $30,000 for a down payment. We can do this by allotting as much as we can out of our monthly budget to savings, and also by putting all extra income and windfalls directly into the savings account. In order to do this soon, I'm going to step up my efforts to find a "real" job, get as many hours as I can at my part time job, and max out as many of my extra cash opportunities as possible.

2. Talk to a few mortgage brokers to see how much we qualify for, if there are any issues with our credit we need to clean up, and what the best mortgage rates are going to be.

3. Look at some houses in the area to get a more concrete idea of how much we can expect to pay. We've already checked some listings online and been to a few open houses, so we have a rough idea, but we're going to try to do this a little bit more.

4. Make a budget based on our current (fixed) income and our estimated house payment, and spend at least 3 months living on that budget, putting the difference between our current rent and the estimated house payment directly into savings. This will assure us that we can afford to make the house payment, even without any increase in income.

I know there's more to it, but this is where I'm going to start from. Time to get things moving a little.

Where I get coupons

I originally wrote this for a friend of mine who wanted to know where I kept finding high value coupons and how I managed to get great deals, but I thought some of my readers might benefit from it too.

Word of Mouth coupon sites (that mail out full size products and coupons for free products)

Bzzagent Sends big packs of free stuff, but you have to take surveys to qualify for campaigns, and then report back on how you spread the word to earn points and get into a higher qualifying bracket.

Psst Randomly will send you coupons for General Mills products.

Kraft First Taste Same, but for Kraft. Also sometimes has high value printable coupons on the website.

Vocal Point Kind of like Bzzagent, except you don't need to report back. I have a hard time finding offers on their website, but sometimes they send stuff out randomly.

SC Johnson Regularly gives out SC Johnson gift packs that come with lots of coupons


Coupon clipping sites

These are coupon clipping services that charge a handling fee for multiples of newspaper coupons.

The Coupon Master
Coupons Unlimited



Blogs I read to find out about new deals, etc.

Money Saving Mom posts deals for lots of grocery, drug and big box stores
Freebies 4 Mom mostly posts freebies, but also posts rebates and printable coupon deals

Saving money while moving

So, we're moving in a week (a week!) and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. In the midst of all the packing, decluttering, reorganizing and relocating, it's easy to get caught up and not worry about saving money. What I've realized, though, is it makes me feel a little more normal to try to continue saving money even as my life is turning upside down.

1. Sign up for hotel points clubs and frequent flyer miles programs, so that I can earn rewards for things that hubby's work is reimbursing us for.

2. Avoid switching to paper plates, etc until the last possible minute.

3. Sort through my books and figure out which ones to sell to the used book store.

4. Pack up a bag with some granola bars, a box of cereal, and some easy microwaveable shelf-stable food to eat on travel days, and avoid some restaurant meals.

5. Come up with creative ways to use all the food in my fridge and freezer, and try to eat at home every meal until we leave. (The last day, I'm going to invite all of the grad students in hubby's old lab to come raid the fridge and keep whatever they want so I can avoid wasting it.)

6. Call cable and internet companies in new city to see what discounts are being offered. If I don't get a good deal, I'll try to wait a month or so and just do without.

7. We have movers who are being paid my hubby's work, so I don't need to acquire boxes or pack, but I'm still planning to donate or get rid of a lot of things so we can move to a smaller apartment, and save a ton of money.

8. Use upromise insurance center to request renters insurance rates for the new apartment.

9. Print coupons for most of our favorite fast food and fast eating restaurants and put them in a folder to bring on the road.

My mind is spinning, trying to come up with more things. Does anyone have suggestions?

Some tips to save money shopping for organic food

The more we hear about our food and the entire food production industry, the more a lot of us start to get scared. Buying more organic food is a great option to protect both your family's health and the health of the planet, but it can be very expensive. It is, however, very possible to eat more organic food without breaking the budget by implementing some simple (and some less simple) strategies.

• Eat less meat and dairy. Probably the easiest way to save money shopping for organic food is to eat less meat and dairy - a proposition that isn't very appealing to most people. Meat and dairy, however, have some of the highest concentrations of any food we buy, and also tend to have the biggest price differential between conventional and organic. It doesn't make sense to feed your family organic carrots and conventional hamburgers, but it also isn't viable for many families to eat organic, grass fed beef every night. The best thing to do is to shoot for a balance. Consider having more meatless meals, so that you can afford to splurge on the organic stuff when you do eat meat, or at least to switch one meat meal a month to organic.
  
  
• Join a CSA. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. It is basically a system where customers by a "share" in a farm's produce for a season. Members pay upfront, giving farmers much needed startup capital, and in turn often get first pick of the produce for the rest of the season. This can be (although isn't always) the most affordable way to buy local, organic food. Check out Local Harvest to see if there is a CSA in your area.
  
  
• Look beyond Whole Paycheck. Most local grocery stores, and even Walmart, offer organic food these days. Ethical issues aside, shopping at these larger stores can be a great way to save money while still getting organic.
  
  
• Buy in bulk. Natural food stores and some grocery stores often have bulk bins for grains, fruit, and some other products. Generally this is less expensive than buying the same organic products pre-packaged.
  
  
• Cook more from scratch. While organic Oreos or organic mac and cheese can be very appealing, try to focus on buying whole, unprocessed organic products and creating your own meals from them. This will save you money and be healthier (and probably more fun!)
  
  
• Use coupons. Whether or not you are a coupon queen, you can probably benefit from organic food coupons. Because organic food companies tend to be smaller, they don't often have coupons in the Sunday paper because they are very pricey to run. About Frugal Living has a great list of organic coupons that you can print or request online, but go ahead and try emailing any organic company you enjoy. The smaller companies are much more likely to mail coupons directly to you if you ask for them. Also, Go organic for Earth Day and Mambo Sprouts both offer booklets with coupons for a number of different brands of organic food.
  
  
• Focus your organic dollars. If you have read much about organic food, you've probably heard of the dirty dozen, the twelve most pesticide-ridden products. If you can't afford to buy everything organic, focus on them. Also, consider changing your eating patterns. Some foods are much less expensive in their organic form than others. Eating more carrots and fewer apples, for example, could save you a ton of money.

Ways to Save Money this summer

So, once again it's summer and I find myself with plenty of free time and less than plenty of money. Oh, I have some savings, but I have no full time job nor am likely to especially soon. More time, less money, means it's a great time to start refocusing on ways to save.

• Turn off the lights. Maybe turn off the computer too. It's amazing how much energy we waste during the course of a day.
  
  
• When I'm home by myself or when we're both going out, turn the air way up (or off altogether). I really don't like the way air conditioning feels, and I'm willing to be a little warmer. I can wear shorts or drink ice water. Also, I need to check the thermometer on my porch and open the windows when it's cooler out than in, and batten down the hatches when it's hotter.
  
  
• Hang my laundry. I've never done this before, but I'd imagine it'll dry very quickly in the 100 degree weather.
  
  
• Cook from scratch. During the crazy last month of the school year, we ate out a lot. A lot. I plan to change that this summer. I would like to go even further, though, and try making yogurt,cheese, pasta, and more of our bread.
  
  
• Use up the stockpile. I'm moving in the relatively near future so it's time to stop buying so much and start using it up. If I wasn't moving, I'd be reluctant to use up (or I might have to rebuy everything at full price), but I'd still try to use down a little to get through the income gap.
  
  
• Find fun, free things to do. Since we live near a college, there are lots of free lectures and forums, and I am relatively sure there are some free outdoor concerts and movies too.

Anyone have any more great suggestions on things I can do this summer?

How I save money on cleaning supplies

I don't use them.

Okay, so maybe this post was a teaser. Were you expecting recipes, money saving tips, ways to stretch a bottle? I've been there, done that, and the truth is most of it just isn't worth it.

True, I do have a bottle of Windex under my kitchen cabinet, but it's the same bottle I've had for 3 years, and it's still more than half full. And sure, I've been known to work some magic with some baking soda and vinegar, and I do use commercial dish soap. But most of the time, for most cleaning jobs? I don't need any cleaning products.

It happened somewhat slowly. At first I was gung ho about mixing up a spray bottle of vinegar/water to keep on hand and using that to clean the counter every night. Then, when that started to run low, I just added more water because I was in too much of a hurry to take out the vinegar. Then I added more water.

A few months later, I realized I had been cleaning my counters with just water every night with no noticeable difference.

My floors usually get wiped down with a damp rag, either wrapped around my mop or just moved around with my foot if I'm feeling lazy. My mirrors get wiped down with a microfiber cloth - sometimes with some water, sometimes dry. My dusting is done with a feather duster, which I shake outside.

I've seen recipes for homemade cleaning products, and to be honest I couldn't be bothered. I mean, I can see using some alcohol or bleach on my counters when I have been working with raw meat - although to be honest, I think soap probably does the trick. But did you notice recipes for window cleaner always have blue food coloring?

Now maybe I just don't keep as clean a house as some people. I don't feel the need to wash my windows with ammonia every week, or to turtle was my shower walls. But as far as I'm concerned, a spritz of water and a bit of elbow grease keeps my house plenty clean enough. It saves time, money, and the environment. The trifecta!

Read more frugal tips at Frugal Friday hosted by Life as a Mom.

When the spender becomes the saver

So my very spendy husband said to me the other night (when I was nearly asleep in my chair), "Why are we spending $60 a month on phone and DSL? We only get the phone line so we can have the DSL, and we could get shiny, speedy cable Internet for way less than $60."

Me: "Ummmmmm but DSL used to be cheeper?"

Him: "See, the cable company website has this $30 a month for 6 months offer. We'll be moving in about 7 months, so we can just cancel when it goes up."

Me: "Ummmmmmmmm"

Him: "We'll call tomorrow and switch. Then we'll be saving $30 every month."

Me: "Ooookaaaaaay...."

Him: "And we can get free Cinemax from Dish Network because we have paperless billing, so I called and signed us up for that, and then set the DVR to record a bunch of movies, so we can watch them when we have friends over or are looking for something to do."

Me: "Sounds .... good....?"

Him: "Ooooooh. . . IPod Touch....."

Me: "No."

Woo hoo, maybe it wasn't all a dream.