10 Things You Don't Need To Waste Your Money On

What is this called: A $1 candy bar bought 5 times a week for a year equals $260.

That's easy! It's simple math.

No, actually it's called "perspective."

Want some more?

The average cost for a single trip to a nationally recognized coffeehouse is $3.25, according to CBS News. Bought five days a week is $16.25. That's about $65 a month and $845 a year. Even if you don't buy it every day, or maybe buy cheaper coffee, you're still spending the equivalent of a car payment.

Point being, it's something you don't need, especially if you're in debt. Every day Americans are wasting tens of thousands of dollars on stuff they don't need.

Here are 10 things that most people could probably do without. In fact, I'm more than sure that anybody could do without.

1. Up-Sizing Your Order

All you want is lunch, but the teenager on the other end of the speaker has been trained to rope you into purchasing more with a plethora of options. "You want a cookie with that? How about a super-sized drink? Apple pie? Extra fries?" Whatever the options, a lot of people are saying "Yes!" because, hey, it's only an extra buck, maybe even 50 cents. ... Who cares?! You're not 15 anymore. Stop giving in to the peer pressure and just say no!

2. Purebred Dogs

My wife has fallen in love with a new kind of dog breed, a cross between a Husky and a Pomeranian, called a Pomsky. I'll admit, they're deliciously adorable. They're also about $4,000. Let the pompous wealthy develop their expensive dog breeds for the sake of having something expensive. Meanwhile there are plenty of loving dogs (and kitty cats) that make up in loyalty what they lack in pedigree. Save a dog. Save some cash. Gain a friend. Sounds good to me!

3. Private Education

What do Starbucks' founder Howard Schultz, fashion entrepreneur Ralph Lauren, Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs, and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino have in common—aside from the fact that they're all millionaires? They all went to cheap, lowbrow high schools and colleges. Not to mention John D. Rockefeller, John Glenn, Mark Twain, Henry Ford, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, and Albert Einstein, among many, many others.

Listen up America! An alma mater isn’t going to guarantee your sweetie a six-figure income—only hard work and determination can do that. I spent seven years working for a wealthy couple whose two children graduated ivy league colleges and struggled for years afterward trying to find jobs, and even though they're both employed now mommy and daddy are still paying some of their bills. So before you pay for another tuition hike, make sure you’re actually getting a better, safer or more faith-centered education for your money. And absolutely do not go into debt for it.

4. Lottery Tickets

For every 259 million people that play the Mega Millions lottery, only one will strike it rich. That's right. One.

Gosh'um golly gee whiz, I love perspective!

Want some better odds? Did you know that if you invested $100 a month in a good retirement plan for 40 years, you’ll almost always retire a millionaire? The math is simple. Lottery tickets = money leaving your pocket. Planning and budgeting = a little thing called prosperity.

5. Brand-Name Medicine

I was a seasonal allergy sufferer for almost twenty years. As a little kid I remember just laying on the couch and sneezing again and again and again and again all afternoon. Over the years I've tried countless brand name drugs to battle my allergies. Some worked well enough to clear me up for a spell, others didn't work at all. Then one day my wife and I saw a huge bin at Walmart filled with cheap allergy medication—$1 a box for 12 pills. I figured, why not? And you know what? It was the BEST allergy medicine I've ever used. Brand-name drugs usually have the same exact ingredients as their generic counterparts. So read the labels and buy your meds based on what’s in them, not based on who’s advertising them.

6. At-Home Parties

You’ve been invited to yet another jewelry party. Last month it was tote bags, and before that it was essential oils. But your best friend is hosting this one, and she’s asked you to come along as a favor. So you RSVP—even though you never make good decisions in a room full of women eating, drinking and writing checks for fun. Next time, if you can’t afford it, say no. Blame the budget if you have to. A true friend will understand.

7. The Newest Gadgets

Zombies are all the rage on TV and in the movies these days, but the there's a genuine zombie apocalypse happening in our streets every time a big gadget company releases a new version of the latest thingy. People swarm to the nearest store in droves to buy a thing with more storage space or a bigger screen or more megapixels or faster processor or whatever. Look, does your phone still make calls? Does your computer still turn on—maybe it doesn't boot up like a shiny new Mac, but it still works doesn't it? Relax, people. Whatever it is, chances are, you don't really need it.

8. Car Payments and Leases

Given the choice, would you rather pay someone else $500 a month, or pay yourself $500 a month? Thought so. Instead of buying a car on payments, hunt for a vehicle you can actually afford right now—even if it’s just a $2,000 get-you-to-work-and-back beater. And in just three short years, you’ll have enough money saved for an $18,000 look-at-you-now beauty. Then you can take that $500 car payment and put it in the bank every month for 40 years. That's $240,000, not including interest!

Peeeeeeerspective!

9. Singing Birthday Cards

That hilarious singing birthday card may be cute, but it’s not seven dollars cute! Plus, your brother-in-law is just going to throw it away in a week’s time. So save some cash by grabbing a generic card for a buck or two and writing a meaningful message inside. What you say will mean so much more than the paper you say it on.

10. Bottled Water

There’s really no excuse to buy something that’s practically free. And yet, in 2012, Americans spent more than $11.8 billion on disposable water bottles. Come on, folks. This one is really dumb, especially considering a group of German researches discovered in 2011 more than 24,000 chemicals on bottled water. Furthermore, a study from the Natural Resources Defense Council has shown that the quality of tap water is held to a much higher standard than that of bottled water. So if you're an avid drinker of bottled water, here's a money-saving that could potentially save you hundreds of dollars a year: buy a 32oz Camelback water bottle and fill it up with water every day. Drink at least one every day. You'll be richer and healthier!

In Closing

It's not fair to dog those of us who can afford private tuition or a nice new car, so, if you can and you want to, by all means, go for it. But if you're still paying down debt, catching up on bills, or stockpiling your emergency fund, these expensive life add-ons need to wait.

What about you? What things are you throwing your money at that you could probably live without, or at least long enough to gain some financial traction?

Cost-Saving Vacation Tips

Traveling from Vermont to Hawaii isn't easy. It's a 22-hour journey of driving, flights, shuttle busses, layovers, and more flights, all culminating in an epic collision between an exhausted traveler and some faraway hotel's welcoming bed pillow.

Such an epic journey isn't easy on your finances either, but it doesn't have to break the bank, and it certainly doesn't have to involve going deeper into debt, so long as you plan for it smartly.

Here are some of the ways that Danielle and I saved money on our trip to Maui.

Know What Kind of R&R You're Looking For

It's dangerous to go on vacation with nothing but vague notions of rest and relaxation in your head. Everyone wants to kick back on a vacation, but if you don't think of HOW you're going to kick back you run the risk of making the dollars in your wallet an endangered species.

For me and Danielle, having a nice hotel in Maui wasn't a priority because the type of vacation we wanted involved a lot of activities, not the least of which involved spending loads of time on the beach. As long as the beds are comfortable, we're not picky. For us, the hotel room is just a place to crash after a long day of doing stuff.

If, however, your dream vacation is all about lounging around the resort with a good book, watching TV, or admiring the view from the pool, than maybe you'll want to put a little more money into your hotel. This means, of course, that you should reel-in the rest of your vacation spending.

Pack Food ... or Have a Grocery Budget

Food, glorious food! One of the greatest reasons to go on vacation is to eat food. Sometimes it's the whole reason you go on vacation—to eat exotic foods! The problem is that beyond that lonely concept people don't put much effort into planning what they're going to eat while they're on vacation. They just wake up one morning and realize, gasp, we need food! This usually results in paying for last minute room service or eating out, like, a lot.

Pack food. Bring snacks, like granola bars, trail mix, muffins and water. When you get to your destination go grocery shopping and make plans to prepare at least half your meals yourself. Our hotel in Maui came equipped with a fridge and small stove which made it easy to scramble some eggs in the morning, and the nearby beach had grills handy to barbecue some chicken we bought at a grocery store down the street. We grilled enough chicken for four meals for less than $8. Eating out for those four meals would've easily cost us $100.

Pack Conservatively

Unfortunately the airline that Danielle and I were flying with had a $35 cost per checked bag, outrageous when you consider the exorbitant cost of plane tickets these days. We knew we would have at least one checked bag, but with some careful packing we were able to get everything we needed into our carry-on luggage. Did it mean making some sacrifices? Yes. (I had to leave behind the navy blue belt that matches me red shorts, but I was pretty sure I would survive.)

Have a Budget

You budget for your electric bill. You budget for your mortgage. You budget for birthdays and Christmas. So budget for your vacation! Decide—not how much you're willing to spend—but how much you can spend, and stay within that limit. If, with two days of vacation left, you've maxed out your allotted spending money and the kids want to go mini-golfing, say, "Sorry, kids. Jake and Danielle say 'no.'" Shoot me an email. I'll send you our PO address and your kids can write us a nasty letter.

Remember that Not Everything Has to Cost $$

While there are some vacationing things that are going to cost money no matter what, NEVER forget to check the area for free fun. Danielle and I made a list of hiking spots we wanted to visit in Maui as well as some historical landmarks. Maybe hiking and sightseeing isn't your thing, but there were also art shows, music, playgrounds, beaches, and other free stuff that we could've enjoyed.

Plan Your Vacation At Non-Peak Times

Granted, this might not always be possible due to your schedule, but usually the best rates at hotels and resorts are during times when they don't see as much tourism traffic. If you know where you want to go, do some Googling and find out when their off-season rates come into play. You could save yourself a bundle of money.

Use Your Judgment

Obviously a family of five doesn't have the same flexibility as a young couple with no kids, or an older couple who are all done going through the Baby Steps to financial freedom. Know your limits. Talk with your spouse. Pray about it beforehand. Put together a vacation that works for you in the here and now. It might not be that dream vacation you've always wanted, but don't worry about that. You'll get there eventually. Try to keep your eyes focused on the end game.

Keep pinchin' :-)

One Of My Greatest Money Saving Tips

I try not to go shopping unless I have a plan. Some days I can go into a store and not purchase anything, just enjoy the "window shopping" experience, but there are other times, times when I go in without a plan, that I end up purchasing things I either don't need or don't have in the budget.

Here's what I mean by "shopping plan":

Whenever I go on a shopping trip and stick to this plan I'm usually quite successful and don't leave the store with that guilty feeling of going over budget. I not only enjoy the trip a lot more, but I enjoy the items I purchased even more. Going shopping with a budget plan is also motivation to hunt down good deals and maybe even have a little money left over to purchase a few "wants" :-)

Do you have a plan when you go shopping? Is there something you do that isn't on my list? Please share!

Keep pinchin' ;-)

Taking The Zap Out Of The Electric Bill

This past winter our electric bill seemed to sky rocket! It was CRAZY, and for this penny pinching girl, unacceptable!

For a year and a half it had been holding steady at $50-60 a month. Mind you we don't use the dryer—preferring to hang our clothes to dry when possible—we unplug things we aren't using, and turn off lights in rooms we aren't in, all in an effort to cut down electric costs. We were doing well for a time.

Then, all of a sudden, we got a bill in excess of $80! Not once, not twice, but many times. Our bills were $85 or more. This was NOT ok!

After taking the time to do some investigating I was able to pinpoint what I thought was the problem. A year before I had changed over our electric supplier because they were significantly cheaper than the only distributor we had available to us. I made a fatal mistake with this decision though, because the price I locked in at was only good for six months. After that I needed to lock in a different price. I forgot about this, and consequently put us into the variable price plan that changes from month to month.

Realizing this so late in the game didn't help matters, because locking in at the current price of almost DOUBLE what we were paying before wasn't cool.

So I decided to see what else was out there.

Thankfully I was able to do all my investigating online because I HATE calling people. (I'm not kidding. I usually make Jake do all the phone calls, and I handle online stuff.) Anyway, as I was investigating I found that there was a new electric supplier for our state, and, lucky for me, they had the best going rate. We're in the same situation though where I have to lock-in the rate in six months, but hopefully by then we will have moved so it won't matter. Plus, I think I learned my lesson.

Happy ending to my story: the last two months our bill has been back down to right around $50! When you have a zero-based budget—meaning, all of our money is accounted for and allocated—an increase of $30-to-$40 a month for electric ruins the whole thing!

Moral of my story: don't hesitate to shop around for the best rates. Electric, gas, oil, groceries, repairmen... Don't think you don't have options. And, if you get yourself into a short term fixed rate, make sure you follow up with it and re-enroll!

Keep pinchin' ;-)

Breaking Free Part 5: The Art Of Sustainable Sacrifice

It's been two years since Danielle and I started down this road toward debt-free living. It's been a challenge, a fun ride, a ministry, and a blessing, all rolled into one adventure. This week we'd like to look back on our journey, share some of the intricacies of how and why we do it, and hopefully encourage you to gain some ground in your financial battle.

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Saying that I don't complicate things is like saying a full moon doesn't throw a monkey wrench into the Wolf Man's daily grind.

I have a tendency to immediately over-think and over-complicate things, but when Danielle and I first started budgeting I forced myself to be intentional about keeping it simple. In fact that's one of Dave Ramsey's key points in Financial Peace University. He calls it KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

So, first, we followed the plan. Simple.

Then we wrote our entire budget out on paper to make it easier to work with. I even used a pencil instead of a pen. Simple.

When we compiled our budgetary needs we put them into a small number of categories. For example: instead of having budget lines for cleaning supplies, tools, and home repair, we have one line item called Home Needs. See? Simple.

We found that a successful budget needs three main things in those first few months:

1. Discipline. You've got to keep at it. You've got to do the work. You've got to set it up and make your money work for you.


2. Realistic expectations. Unplanned expenses are going to happen, and the money to cover them has to come from somewhere.


3. Flexibility. A budget is rarely going to work properly from the get-go. It will need adjustment.

After about six months we had the budgeting thing down to a science.

Spend Less, Earn More

When it comes to paying off debt, Dave Ramsey points out that the two things that contribute the most to attacking debt are spending less and earning more. I'll give Danielle the most credit when it comes to earning more. That girl can work like a dog when she's got a goal. She took a lot of extra jobs on top of her full time job to earn extra money.

And when it came to spending less we both made a lot of sacrifices. We didn't cut out restaurants and movies at first, but over time we cut back at these things more and more with the understanding that we couldn't give them up forever.

That's what sustainable sacrifice is all about—sacrificing unnecessary expenses to accelerate progress for a period of time. The idea is to stay motivated as you see your sacrifice enabling you to get ahead in other areas financially. If you can get debt free in one year by sacrificing deeply, go for it! Otherwise, take a good look at your budget and determine what expenditures you can cut back and for how long.

In our case, we knew we'd have to sacrifice for about five years at least, and we made decisions based on what we thought we could handle for that amount of time. Had we gone into it without a determined timeframe we—mostly I—would've gotten too discouraged and probably given up.

I Gotta Have My Cookies

Sustainable sacrifice isn't about depriving yourself of everything you enjoy. It means being intentional about telling your money where to go. If you want to spend some of it at Dunkin Donuts, that's fine, just make sure you plan for it. Otherwise you get fat.

Oh, wait. Wrong topic. Well, it still sort of applies. See, now that my wifey is into being a Beachbody coach, and now that I've seen the tremendous success she's had with eating right, I've decided to work on adding a better dietary plan to my workout routines. But, like my personal spending money, if I don't have some junk food to look forward to I'm going to get real discouraged real fast.

So I prepared an entire batch of chocolate chip cookies and divided them up into little freezer bags of three. Every Saturday I know I have that beautiful, chocolaty sweetness to look forward to. If i didn't have that, I wouldn't keep track of what I was eating. A candy bar here. A brownie there. I wouldn't know from one week to the next how much junk food I was eating.

Knowing I've got cookies coming on Saturday makes the sacrifice during the week sustainable.

Sustainable sacrifice.

Now, just as a quick side note, the types of sacrifices that move the debt needle the fastest are monthly sacrifices like cable TV, subscriptions services, and the like. Maybe for this summer you decide not to purchase a golf membership. (I know, heresy!) Or if cutting out television entirely isn't an option, maybe a cheaper package with fewer channels is the way to go for the next year.

Making sustainable sacrifices will help you make progress, which will help keep you motivated to make more sacrifices to keep on keeping on.

What sacrifices have you made to dump debt?

Other posts in this series:
Part 1: My Personal Wake-Up Call
Part 2: How To See Some Hope
Part 3: Overcoming The Comparison Trap
Part 4: The Things We Didn't Give Up

How To Afford Vacation When You Can't Afford A Vacation

Since getting serious about paying off debt the hubby and I decided to stop putting money toward vacations for a while. I know, I know. Crazy, right? We just figured that since we're young and don't have any kids we could live without expensive vacations.

Besides, we had squirreled away some money into a vacation fund which we decided to keep on hand in case either one of us was ever in danger of internally combusting without some kind of a vacation. Fortunately that hasn't happened.

In fact, fortunately, we have been blessed with many astoundingly affordable vacation opportunities in the last year or so, which can only attribute to God's grace. We got to go to Boston for a night; enjoyed a weekend at Old Orchard Beach, ME; and, of course, our infamous trip to NYC to be on the Katie Couric show (which you can read about here if you're awesome). And all of these vacations cost us little to nothing.

Now, granted, life isn't always so cooperative. Some people really struggle to find vacation time. In fact, we have some friends who went through our Financial Peace University class this spring who live for vacations. Cruise ships. Beach resorts. They look forward to it every year. It was a huge sacrifice for them when they cut back on some of their vacation expenses.

Jake and I know how hard it can be to make such sacrifices. When it comes to vacations though, there are lots of affordable alternatives that can do the trick until you've paid off enough debt to be able to afford that luxury cruise.

For this summer, my original idea was to camp out in our back yard, make the house off limits—except to use the bathroom—and cook all our meals over an open fire. Romantic nights under the stars. Just me and the hubby in a tent in the backyard. Close to nature. Deer. Bears. Ticks. Oddly enough, he wasn't thrilled about this idea, but I have no idea why ;-)

We considered staying at home for a week, making a plan to do some kind of activity every day—hiking, biking, kayaking, or some other free activity in the area. This idea was more palatable, because, honestly, sometimes after a vacation you come home and are just as tired from all the traveling and busy activities as you were when you left. So the idea of staying home and just relaxing was rather appealing.

The other idea was to do something with my family. In the past they have rented a cabin on a lake in Vermont, and so we talked with them about possibly renting something together.

All of us talked about a bunch of ideas, but nothing seemed to solidify.

And summer was upon us!

I needed a vacation. I didn't need to go anywhere or do anything special, but I needed some time off. Jake, ever the odd one—I love you, honey!—doesn't ever seem to need a vacation. I think before we were married it had been two years since he last took one.

Anyway, time was running short.

My dad—ever my hero!—happened to do some work on a camp at a lake in Groton, VT, and in exchange negotiated a week of vacation there. Ironically, the camp was right next to the one that he spent time at as a boy. Small world.

My parents are awesome, and whenever they get the opportunity to do something like this they never hesitate to get the rest of the family involved. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents... even my oldest sister from Florida, along with her husband and brand new baby girl—who is sure to be the hit of the week—are coming up from Florida.

And I. Can't. Wait!

I know getting a free week at a lake isn't an option for everyone, but my point here—as it has been in previous blog posts—is that there is almost always some alternative available if you take the time to look. I have a friend who recently camped-out in the backyard of a friend who lived a few miles from Hampton Beach. Not only did she get to catch up with some friends, but they also got a free vacation!

Maybe there is something you could do for someone else in exchange for a discount on a campsite, cabin, or other vacation spot. Maybe you have friends who would be willing to join you in sharing the expense of a vacation.

This may not be ideal, but, again, it's not forever. These are alternatives to help get you through these penny pinching years. The bottom line is that even if you have little to no money in the budget it doesn't mean you can't have a fun and memorable vacation. What it all comes down to is: how creative can you be?

Let us know some of the great things you have done on a staycation or awesome free vacation spots you have been blessed with.

Keep pinchin' :-)

Transformation Tuesday

I promised some pictures of the progress we are making on the second floor of our house, but then we found out that our realtor was going to be showing it to some prospective buyers on Saturday. In the mad rush to get our house organized and the inch of debris on the upstairs floor, we got a wee bit busy. In fact, I think between Thursday and Friday we must have spent about 20 hours working on it.

But here are the fruits of our labor!

This is the before photo of the ugly green wallpaper room. Thankfully I was able to pull it off pretty easily, and so this became my fastest transformation to date.

After peeling off all the wallpaper, prepping the walls with join compound, sanding them down, and painting them grey, this was the outcome. I also spent a fair bit of time on my hands and knees cleaning up old paint drops and spills. Look at that floor shine!

We didn't get a before picture of what we call the "upstairs living room," but it had the same awful textured walls as the first bedroom I redid.

After lots of scraping, peeling, mudding and sanding—and by that I mean a LOT of scraping, peeling, mudding, sanding—we were finally able to paint it this great color called Surfer. In the picture it looks more blue than it actually is, but I love it! I love it so much it almost made me reconsider selling the house. Then I reminded myself that I can paint a room this color in our next house :-)

We're still working on the second floor bathroom, and there's a kitchen and dinning room to do as well, but with the interested buyers we have looking at our house right now we may not ever get the chance to get it done.

Happy Transformation Tuesday!

Keep pinchin' :-)

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Months ago I wanted to try making my own dishwasher detergent because I knew it would be a lot cheaper to make it than it would be to buy it, and... well, I just love DIY projects! So when I ran out of my last bit of store-bought soap last week I decided it was now or never.

I gathered the required ingredients: Borax, Washing Soda, Epsom Salt and Lemon Juice. Fortunately I already had most of the ingredients, which I had bought previously to make my own laundry detergent, or to cook with, except for the Epsom Salt, but I had been meaning to buy that anyway.

I measured out:

—1 Cup Borax
—1 Cup Washing Soda
—1/4 Cup Epsom Salt

into a large bowl and mixed it up really well, making sure there weren't any clumps.

Then I took 1 cup of the mixture and put it into another bowl and added

—4 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice

and a tad bit more after mixing it together in order to get a sticky, but not sopping wet mixture.

When you add the Lemon Juice it makes it all fizzy, which is fun to watch :-)

I then placed the mixed-up goop into little silicone baking cups (you can also use ice cube trays, I just didn't have any), which I had lined with plastic wrap to protect.

I repeated the process with the second cup, making about 22 little cubes of Dishwasher Soap and placed them into the window to dry over night.

I popped them out the next morning and used my first one. The dishes all came out clean! All in all it probably took me maybe 10 minutes from start to finish, including clean up, but minus all the lovely photos I took for you all.

Hope you enjoy, and if you are leery of using the Borax you can still make this up, just omit it and either double up on the Washing Soda and Epsom Salt or make less and use less Lemon Juice.

Keep pinchin' :-)

A Little Sweat Equity Can Go A Long Way

Jake and I are getting ready to put our house on the market. Turns out our "forever home" isn't as "forever" as we thought it might be. It's a long story. You can read about it out here...

here...

and here if you're curious about the whys behind our pursuit of a drastic life change.

So in preparation for our realtor who was coming over to look at the house, I went upstairs to do some cleaning. Jake has been doing a little cosmetic work up there and the floors needed a good sweeping. Upon entering what we fondly refer to as the "rain room"—named such because the previous occupants had textured the walls with a thick white putty that made it look like angular rain—I noticed that Jake had done a little scraping to see if it was possible to get the texture off.

So I peeled off a little bit more. And then some more. Aaaaand then some more. And then my interest in sweeping the floors vanished and the rain room became my White Whale. I was now Ahab, determined to conquer it at all costs.

The textured walls of the "rain room."

The wallpaper came off with a little elbow grease, hot water, and a... scraper... big fat knife thingy. (I don't know what that tool is called.)

Peeling off the wallpaper.

All wallpaper successfully removed!

Yay, the wallpaper was off! I felt so proud of myself!

There were lots of little holes in the wall that needed filling. Marks left over from the trim molding. Screw anchors stuck in the sheet rock. A massive mess at my feet. Puttying that needed to be done. Taping. Sanding. More puttying and taping. Painting. Cleaning...

What had I gotten myself into?!

Regardless of the overwhelming nature of my little DIY kick, I was determined to get it done. Weigh anchor and set sail!

I did discover one interesting thing about myself after sanding down all the joint compound, and that's what my hair will look like in 40 years or so.

Dani in 40+ years

Lovely.

The mess before the beauty

Most of our upstairs is covered in beautiful hardwood floors, so, out of curiosity, I peeked under the rain room's ugly carpet to find more gorgeous hardwood flooring. Why anyone would have wanted to cover this up is beyond me.

So long, carpet! To the plank with ye!

After spending a good portion of three days working on this room I feel like the outcome was definitely worth it. No longer does it have thick, textured walls that look like a tsunami, but instead a classy room that will hopefully entice potential home buyers or vacationers looking for a place to rent.

Sweat equity is the best way to increase the value of your home, or at least help turn it into a place that you're proud of.

And I don't think my DIY kick is over just yet. So now it's onto the "weird old-fashioned light switch" room.

Keep workin' :-)

The New Normal

It's funny how easily one can adapt so well to change when you put your mind to it. Three years ago I would have found many of the things that the hubster and I do to save money today to be an inconvenience, but now they have instead become second nature.

I was thinking about this today as I was getting "free" heat—AKA opening up all the doors in my house to let the warm air in so that when it gets cold tonight I won't have to turn up the thermostat to make it warm. Growing up I never would have thought of doing something like that, but I've learned to see the value in some of these small money-saving matters and nowadays I do them without really thinking about it.

And it's also sort of a game to me—I always check the thermostat before I open up the house to see how many degrees it goes up. Today it went for 65 to 68! Which is pretty good in my opinion :-)

Here are a few other things that have become my new normal:

• Hanging the laundry up to dry instead of using the dryer.


• Planning trips into town in order to save on gas.


• Baking bread.


• Making my own laundry soap.


• Unplugging appliances and electronics when not in use.


• Driving a little bit slower on the interstate to save gas. (My husband discovered that if he goes 60mph as opposed 70 he can get about 20 MORE miles per tank.)

When you start on the journey to debt free living it might feel uncomfortable, inconvenient, or just plain annoying, but if you stick with it, over time, it can become your new normal, and that new normal will thank you when you are finally debt free!

Keep pinchin' ;-)

Developing An Attitude Of Gratitude In Your Kids

"Why is it that a two-year-old is often happier playing in the box a toy came in rather than playing with the actual toy? Why is it that children living in poverty in third-world countries seem happier and more content than kids in wealthy nations? Because neither is caught in the trap of comparisons. They don’t know what they are missing out on. They are simply grateful."

That's the idea behind Smart Money, Smart Kids, a brand-new book out by Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze. Literally, it just came out today. I think.

I remember one Christmas when I was a kid, probably eight years old, I was tearing open presents like a madman... er, boy. My stack of presents was pretty big, and was piling up so fast that I couldn't unwrap them fast enough. I was oblivious to everyone else in our small crowded living room—my cousins Nick and Danny, my aunts and uncles, my sister Tess, my parents. I couldn't think of anything else but me. Me and all those glorious presents that just kept on coming!

I don't remember being aware of Philip until my dad tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to come into the bedroom. He closed the door behind me and told me that Philip was a foster kid, just a little older than me, who had been sent to live with my aunt and uncle the day before Christmas. No one knew he was coming, so no one had gotten him any presents. I remember feeling a little embarrassed at that point by all the presents I had so greedily been diving into.

Dad made me put on my coat and boots and we drove into town looking for a store, any store, that was actually open on Christmas. When we found a little hardware/convenient store, dad took me inside and asked me to pick out a couple presents I thought Philip might like. I found a radio-controlled car and an action figure. We took the toys back to our apartment, wrapped them, and gave them to Philip.

I don't know if Philip expected to get anything for Christmas or not, but being a boy of around 10 or 11, I'm sure he was hoping for something. The look on his face when I handed him the presents was one of surprise and happiness. He had that radio-controlled car racing around the kitchen in just a few minutes.

I tell this story because I think, more often than not, we see kids on Christmas throwing temper tantrums because they didn't get what they wanted, or they didn't get enough. I tell ya, it was an eye-opening thing for me to witness a kid like Philip endure a Christmas fast while I was enjoying a Christmas feast.

In their book, Smart Money, Smart Kids, Dave and Rachel talk about raising children who are sincerely grateful for what they have. How do you teach a child to develop an attitude of gratitude? How do you show them what it is to appreciate what they've got?

I think for my kids it's going to involve taking them to a soup kitchen or homeless shelter on Christmas Eve where they can help serve the less fortunate at a time when they're getting plenty. I want to give them a visual picture to keep in mind whenever they think they don't have enough, or complain because of what they have. Because I'll tell you this, after I gave those presents to Philip and went back to my stack of gifts—which had grown considerably in the time it took my dad and I to go on our brief shopping trip—I didn't have the same greedy, gimmie-gimmie attitude. I was sort of blown away by what my dad had done, and embarrassed that I didn't see the need that he saw in Philip.

"We all have things to count as blessings, but we also have a tendency to lose our sense of awe and our sense of gratitude. Make sure your heart is full of gratitude for the blessings in your own life. Let your children witness this in you, and they will want to respond with gratitude for the blessings in their own lives." —Smart Money, Smart Kids.

What has it been like for you teaching your kids to be grateful?

Keep pinchin' :-)

Seven Things I Don't Really Need: Part 2

Yesterday, I recapped Dave Ramsey's "Buyer Beware" lesson from Financial Peace University, which was all about how to guard ourselves from clever advertisers who try to entice us into buying tons of products we don't really need. (Click here to read about it if you're awesome.)

I gave you Dave's list of seven common things people buy that they don't really need, and I promised to give you mine. So, without further ado, here are the seven things that Jacob Grant finds difficult to resist.

1. Eating out. It's not just the food I like, but the experience of going to a restaurant, being served, and not having to do the dishes. I love being given a menu and examining all the various foods to eat, whereas if I stay home and open my fridge, my options are a little less varied. Dani and I have decided not to spend a lot of money on restaurants right now and instead pour every dollar we can into paying off our mortgage. The sacrifice has been... unpalatable.


2. Movies. I'm a movie nut. I love watching movies. I love collecting movies. When it comes to buying my favorite flicks on blu-ray I prefer to get my hands on whatever multi-disc, specially-packaged, extended director's cut with tons of special features that I can. I've had to significantly cut down the number of movies I purchase, which means I'm much more careful about which ones I buy.


3. Coffee. I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but I do enjoy specialty lattes and those warm, minty drinks that Dunkin' Donuts serves up at Christmas time. I splurge every now and then, but not as often as I'd like.


4. A super-powered cell phone. I think, today, cell phones do for a person's prestige that luxury cars did twenty years ago. Before the cell phone, a car was one of the best ways to identify someone's status in society, but today I think the cell phone has taken over. Nowadays people walk around with their cell phones out, texting or browsing the web, just to show off. I had a smart phone once. I loved it! It was a cool little device, but all the bells and whistles that it provided just weren't worth what it was doing to my wallet. And I didn't need a phone threatening to augment my ego.


5. Jackets. My wife has come to believe that jackets are to guys what shoes are to women. I didn't realize this until I got married and starting asking my guy friends about their inclinations toward jackets and the general consensus was, yeah, guys dig jackets—like, a lot. It's silly, but whenever I see a cool jacket I get this little surge of impulse spending within me.


6. Batman stuff. As much as I dig movie stuff, I dig Batman stuff even more. For the past 10 years or so I've been working on a collection of 1:6 scale action figures. I have several Batmen and a large section of his rogues gallery, but there's so much more! Every now and then I scout out some prices and add a figure to the wish list, but it's been a while since I've actually purchased one.


7. Junk food. Ooh-ho! There's nothing I like more than buying a package of Oreo cookies along with a new blu-ray and throwing myself down on the couch for some good ol' movie-watching-Oreo-dunkin'-R&R. Junk food is not only bad for my wallet, but bad for my physical well-being, but still, even that double-edged sword of logic doesn't keep me from indulging every now and then.

So, now that I've aired my dirty laundry, what's yours? What products do you easily succumb to purchasing?

Keep pinchin' :-)

I LOVE Sales!

I love getting things on sale, and once I've gotten them for a great price it's hard to ever pay close to whole price again.

For example, a few years ago I snagged a pair of Banana Republic jeans for around $5. Since then the lowest price I have ever seen them is $20-30, and even though to some that might be a great deal, for me it's hard to pay that price again. Recently I found out that one of the Aeropostale stores in my state was going out of business, so I made my way over and came out out of the store with two pairs of jeans, two pairs of sweatpants, one sweater, and four pairs of socks—a $250 retail value—for about $50! Yeah, I think I scored pretty well that day.

When I go shopping I always have to keep a few things in mind though:

Do I need it? Am I just purchasing this because I think it's a great deal and it's something I want, or is it really something I need? If it's just a want I try to only purchase it with my personal spending money or money I've been gifted. If I always purchase items because they are a great deal, they can easily become a lousy deal because I spent money on things I didn't need.

Will I really wear it? In the past I have been guilty of purchasing items that I needed, but maybe they weren't exactly what I wanted. Like the time I bought a pair of jeans that were really cheap, but I didn't like how they fit, and in the end I didn't wear them much. Now I try to make sure that not only is it a good deal but it's something I feel comfortable in so that I'll get my money's worth out of it.

Is it really trendy? Sometimes I am guilty of wanting new clothes just because I want the latest styles. I'm not usually big on following the latest fashion, but sometimes I get sucked in. Like leggings. At first I swore I'd never wear them, probably because I usually saw them worn inappropriately. Then I bought this cute sweater dress, that ended up being too short for me to feel comfortable in tights, so I thought I would try leggings, and I LOVED them! I love to wear them around the house with baggy sweatshirts, as they are so comfortable.

For Christmas my awesome husband gave me a pair of purple fleece-lined leggings, and after wearing them for a day—and LOVING them—I saw an ad online for six pairs for $29. Leggings might not be "trendy" for long, but I don't care, I'll keep wearing them until I've worn them all out!

With these three thoughts in mind I am able to better use our clothing budget, buy items that we need and will wear, and consider whether or not the investment is worth it.

Do you have any secrets to great deals, or things you keep in mind when purchasing clothing? Leave us a comment to let us know!

Keep Pinchin' :-)