“Ways I Save Money” Archive

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Week Three of No Dining Out…

I didn’t plan on doing a weekly update about the ‘No Dining Out’ policy but this week was too weird to keep to myself.

I drove past Taco Bell last night, my ‘go to’ fast food joint, and thought, “I can’t wait to make spicy enchiladas for dinner tonight!!”

A few minutes later as I sat at a red light, it hit me…

I wasn’t tempted to stop and was actually *gasp* excited to make my own meal.

What is happening to my brain!?!?

Some nice perks of the no dining out policy:

Clothes fit VERY nicely and…
I’m UNDER budget!!

YES!!

Posted by Beks on July 23, 2010 at 5:00 AM in Ways I Save Money | 11 Comments »
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Week 2 of No Dining Out…

This week wasn’t as bad as I expected. I’ve been planning meals a week in advance and have been able to trim our unwieldy grocery budget. I go into the grocery store with a plan and stick to it! Well… except for the 99 cent bag of red licorice. We all have our vices.

This was the first week we had to expose our ‘no dining out’ policy to friends. Hmph.

My husband and I joined my brother and his wife while they searched for a new home. After a few hours of driving neighborhoods and meeting with realtors, we were starved. My brother drove down a fast food laden street and said, ‘Where do you guys want to go to lunch?’

My husband gave me ‘the’ look. The look that said, ‘You came up with the no dining out policy, therefore, you should explain it.’

I flubbed out something Yoda-ish, ‘We can’t…uh… 60 days of no dining out… money…tight…save, trying to …err…uh…home, eat at.’

‘OK Captain Crazy’ he replied, paused, then added, ‘We need to save money too since we’re buying the house. Good idea – well, what I could understand of it.’

We’re getting there. A little bit at a time. Sure folks think I’m nuts but since I’m so close to the debt free finish line…

I could care less.

Posted by Beks on July 16, 2010 at 5:00 AM in Life Experiences, Saving Money, Ways I Save Money, food | 19 Comments »
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Car Maintenance…

A few days ago, I got in my car and closed the door. The reminder sticker from the oil change place fluttered down from my windshield and landed on my lap.

Annoyed, I muttered, ‘Stupid cheap oil change reminder stickers. These things can’t even stay on the glass for longer than…’

OK, so before I finish this sentence, remember, I don’t drive very much since I started using public transit as a way to save money.

The sticker was…

*gulp*

7 months old.

I was so busy paying attention to the mileage, I missed that my last oil change was in early November and perhaps I should change it.

I’m annoyed that I’ve slacked on my car maintenance (other than the maintenance scheduled for later this month) but pleased at the fact that I average 4,500 miles a year! Before I started using public transit, my mileage exceeded 25,000 – 30,000 each year!

It’s not the most pleasant or convenient way to travel, but the savings is amazing.

I understand that public transit simply won’t work in some areas and a lot of people have to drive. How many miles do you put on a year?

Posted by Beks on June 12, 2010 at 6:35 PM in Ways I Save Money | 20 Comments »
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How to avoid paying too much in interest…

Oops! Thanks to a heads up from readers, I realized I was paying my bills incorrectly!

I know, I know, leave it to me to figure out how to pay my bills wrong.

I haven’t been requesting my lender for Auto Loan 2 to place all payments toward principle and not advance the payment! I’m left paying a little more interest than I should be paying.

Even in my non-debt reduction days, I always paid a little more on my car payments. I’d let it get a month or two ahead and consider it my rainy day fund. If I couldn’t afford my car payment one month, who cared? I wouldn’t get penalized for not paying. But now that I’m a YEAR ahead in payments, perhaps it’s time to request all payments from here on out go toward the principle.

If you are pushing forward on those car payments (or mortgage payments, or student loan payments), remember to request a principle reduction.

And thanks to my readers for making the catch!!

Posted by Beks on June 7, 2010 at 5:00 AM in Reducing Debt, Ways I Save Money | 9 Comments »
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When Target is too fancy…

My local Target, spurred by the upgrades in the closest Walmart, recently converted to a SuperTarget. Target spent the last six months upgrading the store and adding a grocery department.

I love this economy. Suddenly merchants have to work hard for my dollar.

I’ve started shopping at Target rather than Albertsons or Vons since the produce and meat products are significantly cheaper. And, to make things even better, Target has been regularly mailing coupons for beef, eggs, and produce.

I thought life couldn’t get better… until Target upgraded the shopping carts. As I grabbed the new odd looking cart, it soundlessly maneuvered the aisles. The cart turned on a dime without so much as a squeak in protest. The smile quickly melted when…

WHAM

A mother, who had been quickly breezing the aisles, let go of her cart with her child buckled in the seat and it slammed into mine. She wasn’t paying attention when she let go and naturally assumed the cart would stop when she did – just like all the other crummy carts Target used to have. Sadly it did not, and her cart hit my unmoving cart with such force, I’m quite sure her child suffered whiplash. Her cart bounced off mine and, thanks to the amazing maneuverability of the new carts, went back to exactly the same position it was when she let it go. Rather than apologize for her error, she thought I had hit her cart and screamed ‘WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING!’ while grabbing for her wailing child.

So…

Dear Target,

I liked the other noisy, crummy, dirty carts better. At least I didn’t get yelled at in the produce aisle with those things.

Bring them back.

Shopping Cart

Posted by Beks on May 17, 2010 at 10:43 PM in Ways I Save Money | 7 Comments »
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Your Friday Giggle…

I’ve been working both jobs this week and I’m running a little low on energy. Pulling together any sort of dinner at home is a step up from going out and I succeeded every night this week (even though a grilled chicken soft taco from Taco Bell was calling my name).

Since we used our grocery money last week to fix some electrical work, I made remarkably cheap dinners this week including… Hamburger Helper with turkey.

Ground turkey meat was on sale for $3.50 and Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganoff was $1. We stretched 3 meals out of that $4.50. Please do me a favor and… don’t tell my mother I used Hamburger Helper.

As I stirred the turkey and read the box, I laughed over the ‘Clint’s Crop Shop’ website information printed on the back. HamburgerHelper.com allows you to upload your photo with a Clint Bowyer photo. I have no idea who Clint Bowyer is – but my nephew is a huge NASCAR fan.

Sure I’m tired and sure the meal selection wasn’t that great this week but we ate for 75 cents a serving AND… I got a good laugh.

Here’s for you Gage. Auntie Bekah is best friends with Clint Bowyer… and apparently Hamburger Helper gloves.

Clint'sCropshopPhoto

Posted by Beks on May 14, 2010 at 5:00 AM in Ways I Save Money | 6 Comments »
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When You are Desperate for Cash…

As soon as my husband and I received our paychecks a week ago, I wrote a check for $1,000 to Toyota. If I don’t pay this chunk immediately, I miraculously find ways to spend it on anything other than debt reduction.

The VERY NEXT DAY, the electrical went out in our garage. My husband said he was more than willing to prolong repairing it but couldn’t because he thought it was ‘potentially life threatening’ blah, blah, blah.

I offered to avoid the garage area, the open electrical box, and the live wires near the light switch but for some reason, he didn’t trust me to remember not to touch the switch while hungrily running to the garage freezer for a pint of Ben and Jerry’s – plus, there was some mention of a ‘potential fire hazard’.

The cost of the repairs? $150.

The amount of cash in our account? $162.

The amount of food in our fridge? None.

Our grocery budget funded the repairs.

It’s times like these, we are supposed to dive into our emergency fund. Electrical/housing/safety problem definitely qualifies as an EMERGENCY but for some reason, I can’t touch that cash without feeling uneasy.

Instead, I looked around my house for something to sell.

My eyes fell on a lamp, still in the box with a receipt taped to the top, which I purchased 2 weeks ago. The lamp in our living room broke and all we have is a fixture with a bare bulb. I bought a $40 floor lamp from Target to replace it but felt uneasy about spending money so I left it in the box while I debated it.

While I stood in the returns line to get back some cold hard cash for groceries, my sister called. When she asked what I was doing, I told her I was returning a lamp for grocery money.

You know you’ve reached a certain consistent level of crazy when your sister doesn’t hiccup over the above statement and simply says, “Cool. Anyway, are you coming to mom and dad’s today?”

Posted by Beks on May 4, 2010 at 5:00 AM in Saving Money, Spending Money, Ways I Save Money | 15 Comments »
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