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?

Taking Vacations With the Baby Steps

Jake and Danielle on vacation in Maui.

If you're like most people, you can only work, eat, sleep, and play through your weekly grind before the itch to "get away" starts making your insides raw.

But how do you take a vacation and have a good time when you're working your way through Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps to financial peace? I mean, the Baby Steps aren't exactly the best place to be when you want to blow $5,000 on a tropical getaway. Well, here's the good news: you're a fool if you sound like this *in a nasally tone* "We can't go on vacation. We need to save our money. Dave Ramsey says so."

Chill, bro. Or sis. Whoever you are. Vacations are not NOT possible. They CAN happen no matter what baby step you're in. But here's the tough news: you're going to have work at it.

Obviously, the decision to take a vacation is dependent on where you're at financially. If you’re on Baby Step 1 or 2, you’re either building a $1,000 emergency fund or paying off your debt with the debt snowball. In other words, your budget is probably tight—especially if you’re paying off debt aggressively, which you should be. In this case, your options might be limited, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a fun, relaxing vacation. For now it might have to be a staycation, or an inexpensive camping trip, but it's not impossible. Get creative!

If you can manage—and budget for—a short weekend getaway, then go for it. Just remember, the beach and the mountains and all the fancy resorts can wait until you’re out of debt. They’ll still be there, and they will be an awesome reward for busting it and getting out of debt. The main thing is that you don't incur MORE debt by going on vacation.

If you're into Baby Step 3, you’re out of debt and starting to save your big emergency fund, which is three to six months of expenses. Now you can take a little bit of a breath. You’re still saving aggressively and putting all that money you were using to pay off debt toward the emergency fund. But you are also in a good situation where you can take a little bit of that and go on a vacation paid for with CASH. No credit cards here. Woot-woot!

It's important to not go too crazy though. Give yourself a budget, and keep yourself within that budget.

By the time you're into Baby steps 4 through 6, you're in an awesome spot! You’re out of debt, and you’ve saved up a large emergency fund. You’ve started the process of investing 15% of your household income retirement and you've begun saving for your kids' college funds. An annual summer vacation shouldn't be a problem. Just put it in the budget and set a little money aside every week. Even if it's just $100, that's $5,200! Pack up the van and take the kids to Disney!

Your income will determine what’s reasonable for you to do when it comes to vacation spending. Higher earners will obviously be able to afford pricier vacations, but the point here is to go somewhere and remain debt free. Say it with me now: No. More. Debt.

When you've made it all the way through the Baby Steps, don't forget to be generous. Take some family or friends with you on some of your vacations. Be an encourager and a motivator to people who haven’t reached this point in their journey yet. Be generous with your money and even more generous in your spirit. Everyone’s journey will be different. Some people are able to go through the Baby Steps quickly, while it takes much longer for others.

Keep that dream vacation in mind and use it to motivate you to work through the Baby Steps. Remember, getting out of debt and learning to live debt free won't take you forever. This is just a phase of life. The good times will come. You just need the dedication and a little patience to get there.

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 1: My Personal Wake-Up Call

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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I can't name a date and time when it happened, but it was shortly after Danielle and I were married, and when it happened it was like a train pulling into the station, towing with it freight car after freight car of realizations and harsh realities.

I realized I couldn't eat out whenever I wanted.

I realized I couldn't spend every weekend at the movies.

I realized my collection of Batman action figures wasn't going to be growing anytime soon.

I realized that I suddenly had a mortgage and a bunch of other financial responsibilities that took priority.

Most importantly, I realized that I had a wife who had this innate need within her to feel cared for, and my going around spending our money all willy-nilly style was going to make her feel insecure. I realized that I needed to step up to the plate of manhood and aim for the bleachers.

I'm glad this all dawned on me when it did, but I just wish it had happened sooner. I tell you guys, you men, if you're not developing good money habits right now the struggle to keep your head above the financial waters is going to multiply when you get married, buy a house, and start a family. If you've got boys you're raising you need to start preparing them for this because the early years of married life are nothing but a time bomb waiting to happen for someone who is completely unprepared to handle the larger financial responsibilities of life.

Thankfully, the Lord put it on my heart to take Financial Peace University about three months after Danielle and I were married, after we had been through three tumultuous months of arguing over money matters, wondering if our differences in this area were going to drive us apart.

Dave said two things that really made sense to me.

Saving money is about emotion

Dave says, "Personal finance is 80% behavior and only 20% head knowledge." If you want to improve your financial situation, you need to change the way you FEEL about money. If you want your sons and daughters to grow up with a responsible approach to handling finances, you need to make sure they develop healthy feelings about it.

There are different ways of doing this, but it begins with getting out of the "credit card" mindset that permeates today's culture. When you pay cash for something, you FEEL the money leaving you. This is not true with credit cards. Paying with plastic develops a disconnect between people and money.

Saving money is about contentment

"Saving money is about emotion and contentment," says Dave. "When you aren't overspending to impress others, you can win."

Comparison is a dangerous trap. It kills contentment, and if you can't model contentment in your life then your kids will never learn it either.

Dave says, "Being content is the spiritual state of not needing something else to feel whole. When you're content, you're not motivated to buy stuff... Don't get sucked into the illusion that you'll be happy when you have that new car, that new home, or $1 million in the bank. Stuff does not equal happiness."

We'll talk more about contentment on Wednesday in "Overcoming the Comparison Trap."

But, for now I'll just say that learning about how Danielle felt about money, understanding how I felt about money, how to be content and less concerned with keeping up with the Joneses was a real eye-opener for me.

What it really boiled down to was choice. Choosing to be content is immediately freeing. You can choose in any given moment to be content or not. Choosing to not concern yourself with what others think about you or your spending habits is a huge leap toward finding true financial peace.

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

A Shopping Spree With My Hubby

Going clothes shopping on a budget can be hard, but if you do it right you can replace the "hard" with pure "fun!"

Before we were married, both Jake and I had very different approaches to clothes shopping.

Jake would shop for clothes whenever he needed, buying many things he didn't need, whether he really had the money or not, and almost always he would be totally unaware of just how much money he was spending.

And I, ever the saver, would save and save and horde and horde my money until I could go on a huge shopping spree and splurge all I wanted. But at least I always knew to the dollar how much I had spent, she says proudly :-P

There are pros and cons to both methods, but, in the long run, neither are very responsible because neither one is really in control of the money. Back then, the money that we were spending wasn't allocated for clothes, wasn't accounted for on a budget, and wasn't part of a larger plan. Money that isn't part of a plan is money that just goes away.

Well, not anymore!

Last week Jake and I got to experience clothes shopping the way it should be. We had been saving money in our clothing budget for a while now in anticipation of needing to get a few new things. Our shopping trip required some planning because in our area you've got to drive at least an hour to get to any real good shopping places.

We began by going out to eat with some gift certificates that we had been saving, which not only covered the cost of our meal but also the tip. A free meal for two? You betchya!

Now onto the more interesting stuff. Shopping!

My strategy was to look for those clothing items that we really needed first, and then, if there was any money left over, we could purchase things we wanted.

When I enter a store I usually head to the back of the store first, or to wherever I know that they hide their best deals. I know marketing experts think they're being clever by pushing new merchandise "sales" near the entrance, but they don't fool me. I start at the back and work my way forward.

Few ladies have the luxury of being married to a man who likes shopping, or at least tolerates it well, but my hubby rather seems to enjoy it—so long as he gets to buy something. He's even learned some of my shopping strategies and is getting better and better at hunting down good deals—between two different stores he found three pairs of jeans all for about the price of one. He also hunted down a good deal on workout clothes.

I scored some great deals on some sun dresses and workout clothes—and splurged on a new pair of hot pink and black flip-slops.

When we returned home and I tallied everything up I was surprised to find that we had only spent about two-thirds of what we had budgeted. That was a great feeling for two reasons:

1. It's always fun to have a successful shopping trip where you found some great deals and saved a lot of money


2. But more importantly, Jake and I are finally learning to do this whole shopping thing the right way. Our money is working for us instead of slipping through our fingers. Every month there's a little bit more in savings, and the money in our budget for things like clothing grows a little bit more, which means there's more available when we need it.

It's times like these that make me realize how well our financial plan is working. Except it's not our plan. I shouldn't even call it Dave Ramsey's plan. It's simply a biblical way of handling money. It's how God has been telling people to manage their money since mankind had money. And when you think about it you realize that it's the best, most common sense way of handling money. It's less stressful. It's not challenging. It just takes time, discipline, and a little bit of practice.

Ok, a LOT of practice. In fact, Jake and I are still practicing, but more and more we're seeing the plan work! And I'm so thankful that we have a God who has it all laid out for us! We need only follow the plan.

So how do you score great deals on clothing? Do you go often to look at deals or plan a big trip? Tell us all about it in the comments below.

Keep pinchin' ;-)

10 Things I Hate About Saving Money

In all honesty, as much as Dave Ramsey has saved our finances, and probably even our marriage, his principles can be a real drain on life sometimes. Especially if you're a free-spirited spender like moi.

Now, for Dani and I, when we get down about things, we'll make a rap music video or find some other creative ludicrousness through which we can vent our frustrations.

Sometimes, however, you just gotta let it out. So here's my top 10 reasons why I hate saving money.

1. I AIN'T GETIN' ANY YOUNGER

A screenshot from our trip to
Cedar Point video.

Bush Gardens. Disneyland. Sea World. The world's tallest roller coaster. Scotland. I want to enjoy these things while I still have youth and vibrance to enjoy them.

2. I AIN'T THE OUTDOORSY TYPE
I don't mind a nice hike from time to time. I enjoy family picnics and bike riding, camping, and boating, but my real passions are indoors—art, writing, movies, books. Sometimes it's not easy to enjoy the indoors for free when there's three new blu-ray movies that just came out or the next installment of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series to read.

3. SPEAKING OF MOVIES
I love the whole movie-going experience. The audience reaction. The surround sound. The dark. The smell of overpriced popcorn. Sadly, my theater-going excursions have drastically diminished over the last couple of years. I don't mind being more selective about which movies I go see, but, dang it, sometimes I just want to BE at the movies.

4. THE LUNCH DATE
Back before I knew how much money I was wasting on eating out, I never gave it a second thought to have dinner with a cousin or my dad or call up my mom and say, "Hey, how 'bout lunch!" Now I have to plan weeks in advance for these sorts of things, if I can afford them at all!

5. I NEED MORE USEFUL STUFF
Not useLESS stuff. UseFULL stuff. Dani and I budget for everything—well, we try to—but even still there's some things that there's just no way to budget for right now. Stuff like bicycles, kayaks, power tools, and games for entertaining friends, are just impossible to find money for when you're trying to break free of debt.

6. WHEN I FEEL LIKE BENG ALL ROMANTIC
When the wifey and I were dating, it was fun to buy her flowers and chocolates and cards and things like that. Now that we're married we find that although that stuff isn't as essential to building intimacy and romance as it once was, it's still fun every now and then. With such limited flexibility in our budget,  however, it's hard to justify spending $30 on a bouquet of flowers.

7. TREATING OTHERS TO SOME FUN
I would love to have extra cash to treat my little nephews to some ice cream, or take some friends out for a round of mini-golf. Assuming the financial burden on behalf of someone else so they can have some free fun is, personally, a lot of fun! And I miss being able to do that.

8. MR. FIX-IT, I AM NOT
At the very mention of something breaking down I get this hot little knot in my chest. I hate engines. I hate plumbing. I hate repairing things. I'm not good at it. I would much rather pay someone else to do the fixing and make sure the job is done right than waste hours of my own time bumbling through something that a professional can do in 10 minutes. Dealing with stressful repairs while on a tight budget means finding ways to bury that hot little knot and fix it myself.

9. FOOD IS MORE COMPLICATED ON A BUDGET
Sometimes I have a tiring day at work. Sometimes the wife does too. Sometimes, when we're both exhausted and it's 90 degrees outside and neither of us feel like making anything I want to just make the executive decision to bring home a pizza. Mmmmm yea.... no. Not in the budget. Sigh.

10. "GET ME OUTTA HERE!"
There's a hilarious scene in the movie "Happy Gilmore" where Adam Sandler's character Happy is bringing his grandmother to a nursing home.

"This place is perfect!" Happy says as they roll up the driveway. "You're going to make friends in no time."

Suddenly a crazed-looking woman throws herself onto the hood of the car and screams desperately, "Mister! Get me outta here!"

And that's kind of how I feel sometimes when all this penny pinching starts to get on my nerves. One eye kind of goes askew. My face contorts. And I'm tempted to run up to total strangers and beg them to help me get free.

And now, if you don't mind, I'm just going to pick my tongue up, hop off my soapbox, and wander to a small little corner to weep.

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' ;-)

Jake's Take: A League of Their Own - It's The Hard That Makes It Great

Deriving financial insights from today's blockbusters and yesteryear's classics.

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Economically, times are tough right now. Most people are sailing into financial headwinds with no idea of what they’re going to do to get survive. In tough tough times, the mettle of individuals is tested and their resolve to hold fast to their financial goals is put through the ringer. But you know what?

“It’s the hard that makes it great.”

There’s a wonderful baseball comedy from 1992 about the short-lived all-female baseball league during World War II. Geena Davis plays Dottie Hinson, a level-headed gal waiting for her husband to return home from the war when she decides to take up baseball. To everyone’s surprise, she’s not just good at it, she’s amazing.

By the end of the film, however, Dottie is facing a whole host of issues: she and her sister have become rival opponents, her husband returns from the war, wounded, and her team is about to enter the playoffs. Dottie decides to quit the team and return home, which is when the team’s manager, played beautifully by Tom Hanks, confronts her, demanding to know why.

“It just got too hard,” Dottie says.

“It’s supposed to be hard,” Dugan retorts. “If it weren’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.”

Now, granted, saving money and paying off debt is hardly the level of great as the all-American sport of baseball, but Dugan’s point remains: if it were easy, everybody would do it. If it were easy, no one would be in debt. If saving money were easy, we wouldn’t be in the economical straight-jacket we’re in. It’s hard. But it’s the hard that makes it worth it.

No matter what you’re facing right now, don’t give up. Maybe it’s a lost job, maybe it’s medical bills, or school. Accept the fact that these challenges are going to slow you down, maybe even set you back, but they will pass. Keep moving forward. Getting out of debt and building wealth is going to get hard, but the biggest reward is going to come to those who persevere in the hard times.

Keep pinchin' :-)

Jake's Take: Jurassic Park - The Power of Purchasing Decisions

Deriving financial insights from today's blockbusters and yesteryear's classics.

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If you read my post yesterday about that classic children's book "The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies," then today's little side-trek down movie lane will make perfect sense.

When it comes to making purchases, especially ones we’re really excited about—e.g. a new car, that power tool we’ve always wanted, that new dress—we can get a little blinded by our “want.” When your brain is running strictly on “purchasing mode” it can be hard to be objective.

A great movie that illustrates this point is the epic dinosaur disaster film Jurassic Park. The movie poses a lot of interesting questions about ethical behavior, thought before action, careful consideration and consequences, but none are presented more potently than early on the film when it’s being explained how the dinosaurs were created.

First, the parks’ visitors are taken on a spectacular tour of the laboratories where they’re told just how the genetic material to produce cloned dinosaurs was found and harvested. After a lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo, one of the visitors, a mathematician named Ian Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum, explains the faulty notions of the entire effort. He says the park’s scientists had become so preoccupied with whether or not they COULD create dinosaurs that they never once stopped to think if they SHOULD create dinosaurs. Malcolm ultimately predicts the destruction of everything they’ve created at the hands of their creations and, sure enough, the dinosaurs get lose and start eating people.

Think how differently your world would be if you spent half as much time thinking about whether or not you SHOULD do something, as opposed to just whether or not you CAN do something. Just because we CAN buy a brand new car, doesn’t mean it’s the best decision for us at the time. Just because we CAN buy that new dress doesn’t mean we can’t buy it cheaper elsewhere. Think of how different our world would look if we applied this thinking to every area of our lives—just because we CAN eat that whole package of cookie dough, doesn't mean we SHOULD; just because our president CAN legalize certain drugs, doesn't mean it's a good idea. Oh, the way things would change.

It pays to step back and think through our purchasing decisions. So the next time you feel that little swell of purchasing power rising within you, go home and sleep on it. Dream about dinosaurs eating people, and maybe you’ll reconsider.

Keep pinchin' :-)

A Valentine's Day Suprise

Two years ago the hubby and I were engaged when we celebrated our first Valentine's Day together. Not only was it a special day because we were engaged, it was also the very first Valentine's Day that I had ever celebrated in a relationship with a guy. So Jake knew it had to be good.

He told me he was going to plan everything, and talked it up for weeks. He would drop lines like, "I know the chef at the exclusive restaurant we are going to, and he's really great." All along I kept telling friends that I wished we could just make dinner and stay in because we were getting ready to have a wedding and were considering buying a house, but I was prepared to accept whatever special thing he did for me.

When the night arrived, I got all dressed up and drove over to his grandparents house where he was living at the time. I walked in, talked to his Grandma who was making Chicken Parmesan, and then Jake came downstairs and we set off. We hopped in the car and then prepared to drive to this "exclusive restaurant," so exclusive, he said, that you needed to know the owners to get in. I was a little bummed that we would be spending all this money on a dinner for one night, but I wasn't about to say anything because I didn't want to spoil it for us.

About halfway down the driveway, Jake stopped the car right next to his grandparent's front porch. He pretended like he had forgotten something and jumped out to go back inside. Instead he walked around to my side of the car and opened the door. "I didn't know they had valet service here," he said in a surprised tone.

He took me inside and upstairs to the apartment area where he was living, a space he had transformed into a dining area for two. "See," he said, "I told you: a restaurant so exclusive you need to know the owners to get in."

The room was filled with candles, a table for two, a dozen roses, and romantic music. His grandmother wasn't the one making Chicken Parmesan. It was him. He had cooked for all four of us, and though his grandparents enjoyed their Valentine's Day meal downstairs, Jake and I enjoyed our "exclusive restaurant" treatment upstairs.

After dinner we enjoyed attempting to learn how to dance for our wedding to an instructional DVD that Jake had bought, and then we spent lots of time cuddling. It was the perfect first Valentine's Day. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Happy Valentine's Day from the Penny Pinchers!

Keep pinchin' :-)

My First Attempt at Freezer Meals

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned wanting to try out freezer meals. I decided to try out the 12 Freezer Crock Pot Recipes at lovingmynest.com, which I liked because they didn't have "Cream of" anything in them, and they looked like healthier meals. I decided to make just one batch because I wanted to make sure we were going to like these meals before I made multiples. Plus, with just Jake and I in the house, I'm guessing we will probably get around 24 to 30 meals out of them, which is a lot more than a normal family. Below is a picture of some of my ingredients.

It took me about three hours to get all of the ingredients out, chop/cut everything up, label the bags and then put them together, plus clean up.

I figured I spent about $70 to get all the ingredients on this list, which was available on lovingmynest's blog with the recipes. I did omit a few ingredients that Jake and I don't care for—such as onions and peppers—however I did use some onion powder for flavor. In the Pork and Veggies meal I omitted the mushrooms, then to beef it up I added some celery, corn and green beans.

Below is a picture of some of the freezer meals all bagged and ready to be frozen.

Overall the process of creating these freezer meals was fairly easy, and because I was using someone else's plan I already had my shopping list and recipes figured out, which I'm sure saved a ton of time. 

What I really love about these freezer meals is that because I made them from scratch I know what's in them, I know they're healthy, and they taste pretty good too! The hubby and I had the beef stew last night and both of us were raving about it. I'm now looking forward to trying them all!

Have you tried doing freezer meals? If so, do you have a favorite recipe you would share with us in the comments below?

Keep pinchin' :-)

How My Tasmanian Devil Coffee Mug Tested My Discipline

Before Dani and I took Financial Peace University, I was never very good at budgeting. However, one habit I got into that helped me a lot—a habit I would eventually learn is actually recommended by Dave Ramsey—is using cash.

I had three coffee cups set up on a book shelf in my room—one of them was a super-groovy Tasmanian Devil mug that was so impossible to drink out of that it simply became a "piggy bank" of sorts—and every week after I cashed my paycheck I would "deposit" the necessary cash into one of those three cups—one for bills, one for spending money, and one for anything I was saving money for, e.g. photography equipment, larger expenses. At the end of the month I'd take the cash to my bank, make the deposit, and send out the checks for my bills the next day.

Despite the obvious flaws in my system—I would never recommend leaving that much cash just sitting around in your room—it kept me from over-spending each month. Well, almost. I wasn't as disciplined as I am now and I would occasionally find myself dipping into one cup or the other to make ends meet.

The cash system is great, but with it must come a fair degree of discipline. If, like me, you need help in that area, it might be worth it to seek out a financial accountability partner, someone who knows your financial situation and can encourage you in your efforts to get out of debt and build wealth. Also, breaking down your "cups" into more specific categories can help you know exactly how much you have to spend on different things.

Today, I've traded in my three cups for a specific savings sheet, which breaks down all the areas in which we are saving—house repairs, water bill, business, kids etc. I've disciplined myself not to spend beyond what we've saved in those categories. It wasn't easy. It took time. Discipline is like a muscle, and the more you flex it the stronger it becomes.

Don't feel like you need to dive into this budgeting thing with both feet... however, don't just dip a toe in to test the waters either. Start with some coffee cups, but keep going. It WILL get easier.

Keep pinchin' :-)

Ten Ways to Save

People are always asking me what are some ways that we save, so I thought I would share a few things that have come to mind.

1. We turn down the heat, especially when we are going to be gone or at night. They say you can save 3% on your heating bill for every degree you go down.

2. We hang all of our laundry up to dry. In the summer we use a line outside, and my husband set one up in our upstairs porch if it's raining. In the winter we hang the clothes on a drying rack next to our wood stove, which dries pretty fast. Then we toss it in the dryer for about 10 minutes to help remove lint and soften the fabric.

3. We wash and reuse plastic Ziploc bags—well, until they get a hole in them or become so greasy that we can't get them clean.

4. We try to use rags over paper towels whenever possible. Someday I would like to make these awesome reusable cloth towels, but until then I just have rags.

5. I make my own laundry detergent—which I plan to write a "how to" blog the next time I make it, with pictures of course!

6. I don't buy many pre-made meals or food, but instead basic groceries that I know I can make many different things from. I would love to be really organized someday and have a meal plan or do freezer meals, but until then this has worked for us.

7. I try to do all of my trips to town at once. I don't like making a bunch of 20 mile round trips, so when I am out I do it all. Sometimes, when it's convenient, we carpool with friends.

8. Both Jake and I have trouble sleeping without some kind of white noise in the background, like a fan, but we traded running our fan all night for a sound machine that makes various white noises. We noticed a significant difference on our electric bill when we did this.

9. I try to buy decorations after the holidays when they are on sale. This week I scored some Christmas wreath mesh and a candle for 90% off, taking the cost from $44 to $4!

10. Instead of going out on expensive date nights we do free at-home or local dates, part of my year of dates for my husband that I gave him for his birthday. Stay tuned for some pictures of some of the ones we have done these past couple months.

So, there you go! Ten ways we have saved during our journey to debt free living.

Keep pinchin' :-)

A Cheap Way to Move Snow

It's time to shovel snow again! (And that exclamation mark is not intended to convey enthusiasm.)

Shoveling our driveway is one of the ways that Dani and I have decided to save money. Sure we could hire a plow truck like the majority of other people on our street, but with the rising cost of fuel plow trucks are expensive to hire. Other means of moving snow are pricey too—the last John Deere snowblower attachment I looked at was almost a thousand dollars. So, no thank you. I'll stick to the push shovel. Besides, it's a good workout!

To some people this sounds ridiculous. They can't imagine shoveling for an hour and a half just to clear the driveway. But just because we've decided that moving snow by hand is an acceptable sacrifice to make on our journey to debt-free living, doesn't mean it's right for you. Everyone has to find those things that work for them. The important thing is that they find them.

Some of the other choices we've made, include:

• Instead of buying firewood that's already been cut and split, we bought what's called "log length" wood. We had to chainsaw it all up and split it ourselves, but the price for a cord of log-length is about half of what it costs for a cord of pre-cut.


• We've eliminated restaurants from our budget completely. This is a big sacrifice for me because I love eating out, but, A) we're saving about $500 a year, B) eating out isn't all that healthy anyway, and C) it's not forever. (Thank God!)


• We unplug electronics if we're not using them because TVs, DVD players, stereo systems, computers, and other electronics draw a lot of power even if they're off. Believe it or not we have noticed a difference in the electric bill.


• We pretty much live in just the downstairs of our house. The upstairs is all closed off for the winter with the upstairs thermostat turned down to about 55.

Some of the things we do are minor annoyances that just take some getting used to—it took a month for me to start remembering to shut off the power strip to the TV whenever I was done watching a movie, but now I do without even thinking about it. Other things take some serious dedication—you think I want to be outside shoveling snow first thing in the morning?!

These are some of the things that work for us. I'd be curious to hear what works for you. You might have some great ideas!

Now, you'll have to excuse me, last time I looked it was snowing outside.

Keep pinchin' :-)

Choices, Choices, Choices...

It's all about choices! Every one of us makes choices every day—whether or not we realize it—as to what is important to us, how we want to live, and where our money will go. Jake and I make very careful choices based on the type of future we want to have. Sure we could live it up like most Americans today, but in 30 years those people are going to be just as broke as they are now while Jake and I, hopefully, will be living peacefully in financial security.

But this type of living does not mean that we are poor. Some people may think that, but we're certainly not. We could very well go out to eat several times a week and spend money on ridiculous cable TV packages and brand name clothes, but we choose not to.

This type of lifestyle—which we jokingly call "penny pinching"—is a choice that we feel God is calling us to make. We believe it's the right choice, not just for the hear and now, but for our future family. It's a lifestyle that's not for everyone—although it probably should be ;-)—because it takes a lot of hard work and discipline. To make it succeed, you really need to know what you want out of life and you need to be willing to do whatever it takes to get there.

Do we stray sometimes? Sure. Is it hard to keep on track? Yup! But here are some ways we stay motivated:

1. It's my dream to be a stay-at-home mom. I believe I told this to my hubby very early on, before we were even officially "dating." I needed him to know how important it is for me to be at home with our kids, and that I don't want to have other people raising them, such as babysitters, daycares, schools, etc. Much to my delight, this is one of the first things we agreed on as we pursued a relationship with the end goal of marriage in mind.


2. We want to adopt. This was another thing we agreed on early in our relationship. We both have a heart for adoption and believe God has called us to care for orphans.


3. We want to be "hilarious givers"—as our pastor would say—able to spontaneously, without reluctance, give to those in need. We want to give back the blessing of abundance that God is giving to us.

None of these three goals would ever be realistically possible as long as we have debt. In order for me to stay home with our children I'll need to substantially cut back my hours at work and probably quit my job, which means losing half our income, and that's a pretty big deal. Adoption costs are astronomical, especially if you want to do so internationally, which is our hope. And, finally, we can't be generous, spontaneous givers if we don't have any extra to give.

So, for now, does that mean we don't go out to eat very often or see every movie we want in the theater? Yes, but we are having a blast doing this, and anytime we start to get down or think this isn't going to work God does exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or think, which encourages our hearts to keep on our crazy path to financial freedom.

Keep pinchin' :-)

With Time and Discipline

Saving money is not natural. At least not for someone like me who has a deeply engrained love of stuff. I don't consider myself materialistic, but I do enjoy buying stuff. It doesn't help that I have an innate inability to understand math. Long story short: money flows through my fingers like water over rocks.

So when it comes to saving money I think I had more of an uphill battle than my wife did. I had to not just learn the spending habits taught through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, but I had to unlearn the spending habits I had taught myself through years of irresponsibility. And believe me, I didn't want to. At the mere mention of making a budget I would feel ill. But I knew that through time and discipline it would work. How did I know that?

Because of video games.

Video gaming is something I actually gave up about five years ago, and believe me, THAT wasn't easy either! I loved video games. I had an X-Box, a Playstation, and tons of games. I was that gamer who had to play every game to 100 percent completion. I would stay up late playing because I couldn't stop, and consequently I'd oversleep and be late for work. Video games were destroying my productivity.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not condemning video games, nor am I condemning video gamers, because I know plenty of people who game for an hour and stop and go to bed. For them it's that simple. But it wasn't for me.

So I gave it up—got rid of my game systems and all my games—which was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. For about a year I regretted it. But something interesting began to happen. I started finding new hobbies. I started being more productive. I started meeting new people. I met a girlfriend—astounding!—and we eventually got married. And today I don't miss video gaming. In fact someone gave us an X-Box this past summer and I've barely touched it. I don't have time for it, but more importantly I've found that my personal likes have shifted. Video games just aren't my thing anymore. Through time and discipline I was able to change my feelings about something that was detrimental to my life.

When it comes to finances, the same strategy applies. You need time and you need discipline. Changing my spending habits drove me nuts at first because when all the new blu-ray movies came out on Tuesday I couldn't go buy them all! But here's what happened instead. I started seeing results in our budget. I started seeing that debt go down and our savings go up. And, I got to tell you, that feeling was better than going into Walmart to buy the latest Batman movie. Through time and discipline I was able to see the big picture. Through time and discipline I was able to change, not only my spending habits, but how I feel about money.

So if this mathematically-challenged, free-spirited geek can learn to manage money better than any monkey with a proper budget can too! So now that you've got no excuse, what are you waiting for?

Keep pinchin' :-)
Jake

Making vs. Saving Money: Both Are Important!

When it comes to getting out of debt you have to adopt a "whatever it takes" mindset, because if you're half-hearted about it or if you don't follow through you'll either keep repeating the same money mistakes or you won't ever be able to correct the ones you've made.

So get creative with your thinking. How can you earn more money to pay off that debt? Remember, whatever it takes! ... Well, apart from selling yourself on a street corner, that is. Begin by evaluating any talents you may have that you can use to either make money or save money. This will play a big part in paying off your debt early and then staying out of debt for good.

Now you may read this and think that you have nothing that could save or make you money, but everyone has something. You just have to do some self-searching, and maybe wander a little outside your comfort zone, but if you're resourceful and creative with implementing this it can help take you further into debt-free living!

Lucky for me I married this amazingly creative, artistic genius—go ahead, be jealous—and this has helped tremendously. Jake has a photography business and specializes in wedding photography and also does lots of family and individual portrait sessions. Thankfully, his day job allows for some flexible hours so he can often work his two jobs around each other. Jake also acts as a freelance writer for several newspapers in the area and also does some photography for them also. His graphic arts talents get him hired for various odd jobs like illustrating books and designing covers. Check out his website at www.isleofturmak.com.

I’ve also been able to find a few ways that I can contribute in this area, and though mine might not be as profitable every penny helps. I have been able to sell crocheted hats around Christmas time—anything from Hello Kitty to Monsters, Inc., and I enjoy using this as a creative outlet. I hope to crochet enough over the next year to build a small army's worth of hats and mittens that I can take to a craft fair, or sell to the Marine Corps. Whatever comes first. I'm guessing craft fair. I've also done some babysitting, which is great because I love kids and I've found it to be a good way for me to meet new people in my area.

With the holidays upon us, Jake and I have been thinking about what gifts we could make for family and friends. Not every single gift we give is homemade, but each one we do saves money, and is more special to the recipient. My husband made this beautiful watercolor painting for my grandparents of their beloved dog Buttons, which they both loved.

Giving gifts is certainly an area of struggle for many people living on a tight budget. I know many people decide to simply not give gifts when they're in a season of slaying debt, but Jake and I like giving gifts too much for us to cut it out completely.

So maybe you aren’t artistic. Maybe you can hardly draw a stick figure. But if you look hard enough you can find something you can do that can either save you or make you money.

Let me know if you come up with any!

Keep pinchin' :-)